memeorandum: Democracies talk, tyrannies act (Mark Steyn/Orange County Register)

1:05 PM ET, September 30, 2007

Top Items:

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

9/11 Is Over — Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this: — "At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11.

Discussion: Eschaton, The Newshoggers, Wizbang, the talking dog, Conservative Belle, Wake up America, Sister Toldjah, Riehl World View, PrairiePundit, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Booman Tribune, The Oxford Medievalist, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Middle Earth Journal, All Spin Zone, Corrente and Thomas P.M. Barnett

Jules Crittenden:

Nation of Stupid — Tom Friedman: "9/11 has made us stupid." — Sure has made some people stupid, no question. Friedman is writing against Giuliani as the "9/11″ candidate, saying we need a 9/12 candidate. Which, as an attempt to be clever, is pretty stupid, too. 9/12, you'll recall, was the day after 9/11.

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM) and BartBlog

Warner Todd Huston / Stop The ACLU:

NYTimes: Thomas Friedman Wants America to Get Over 9/11 — Thomas Friedman thinks you are "stupid" if you still care about the atrocity committed against this country by Islamofascists in New York on 9/11/2001. He thinks "9/11 is over" and we all should just move on.

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Don Surber, JammieWearingFool and If I Ran the Zoo

Steve Benen / Talking Points Memo:

MCCAIN STUMBLES ON RELIGION — AGAIN — Perhaps the moral of the story is that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would be far better off avoiding religion as a campaign issue. It's been dogging him for years, and his fall from grace continues. — In 2000, the Arizona senator gambled …

Discussion: Eschaton

Matt Ortega / The Right's Field:

McCain: Constitution Established U.S. as Christian Nation; Suggests Religious Litmus Test — Senator John McCain is a shell of his former self. There was once a time when I greatly admired and respected McCain as a lawmaker, but his presidential ambitions have tarnished that image of him.

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast

Helen Kennedy / NY Daily News:
McCain: No Muslim president, U.S. better with Christian one

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Jihad Watch, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Take Our Country Back, Liberal Values, The Heretik, The American Street, Daily Kos and Little Green Footballs

Seymour M. Hersh / New Yorker:

SHIFTING TARGETS — The Administration's plan for Iran. … In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, A Tiny Revolution and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Frank Rich / New York Times:

Is Hillary Clinton the New Old Al Gore? — THE Democrats can't lose the White House in 2008, can they? — Some 13 months before Election Day, the race's dynamic seems immutable. Americans can't wait to evict the unpopular president and end his disastrous war.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Norwegianity, No More Mister Nice Blog, TIME: Swampland, Donklephant and Ezra Klein

Matt / Think Progress:

Kristol's Dark Humor: Bush's 'Heartless Assault On Our Children' Is 'A Good Idea' — On Fox News Sunday this morning, NPR's Mara Liasson said that President Bush's expected veto of an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which passed both the House and Senate …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Alexandra Zavis / Los Angeles Times:

Petraeus admits to rise in Iraq violence — The top U.S. commander, back from his trip to Washington, says Sunni Arab militants have carried out a 'Ramadan surge.' But he notes that the level of attacks remains lower than a year ago. — BAGHDAD — Gen. David H. Petraeus …

Discussion: The Newshoggers

Associated Press:

Report: Countrywide CEO Cashed Out — LA Times: Angelo Mozilo Cashed In $138 Million In Options Before Crash — (AP) Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo cashed in $138 million in stock options over the last year, switching his trading plans as the mortgage company went …

Mark Steyn / Orange County Register:

Democracies talk, tyrannies act — "I'm proud of my university today," Stina Reksten, a 28-year-old Columbia graduate student from Norway, told the New York Times. "I don't want to confuse the very dire human rights situation in Iran with the issue here, which is freedom of speech.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and PrairiePundit

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

Dangerous Logjam on Surveillance — When a nation can't solve the problems that concern its citizens, it's in trouble. And that's where America now finds itself on nearly every big issue — from immigration to Iraq to health care to anti-terrorism policies.

Discussion: The Sideshow and PrairiePundit

Agence France Presse:

US military deaths in Iraq lowest in 14 months — US military losses in Iraq for September stood at 70 on Sunday, the lowest monthly figure since July last year, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures. — The figure also marks the fourth consecutive drop in the monthly death toll following a high of 121 in May.

Discussion: Power Line and PrairiePundit

Orlando Patterson / New York Times:

Jena, O. J. and the Jailing of Black America — THE miscarriage of justice at Jena, La. — where five black high school students arrested for beating a white student were charged with attempted murder — and the resulting protest march tempts us to the view, expressed by several of the marchers …

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Little / Daily Kos:

UPDATED II: Fake [?] Anti-Troop Email Making RW Rounds — A Tale of Three (so far) Emails. — [UPDATE: Free Republic has it now. Comments. Are. Priceless. It's all "lefty Oakland's" doing.] — [UPDATE II: See below. Really. (And read Soonergrunt's comment.)

Discussion: The Corner, michellemalkin.com and Take Our Country Back