memeorandum: Obama: Clinton blurring distinctions between us (CNN Political Ticker)

6:50 PM ET, October 2, 2007

Top Items:

John Bresnahan / The Politico:

House Dems push new tax to fund war — Three senior House Democrats are proposing a new tax to pay for the Iraq war, as well as vowing to oppose any funding bill for Iraq that does not include a policy for ending the conflict. — House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) …

Discussion: The Swamp, Redstate, On Deadline, Wake up America, michellemalkin.com, Democrats.com, unbossed.com, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Flopping Aces and Daily Kos

Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:

Democrats Seize on Limbaugh to Distract from their Iraq Surrender — The Senate yesterday passed the annual defense authorization bill with little fanfare. Although it was intended to be the vehicle for any Iraq restrictions Democrats could come up with, it passed by an eye-popping 92-3.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Roll Call and PrairiePundit

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:

Obey: No Iraq supplemental until course change — President Bush will not get an Iraq war supplemental spending bill until he changes course on the war, House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) said Tuesday. The powerful lawmaker also voiced his support for a "war tax."

Discussion: AMERICAblog, The Carpetbagger Report and Riehl World View

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:

Pelosi nixes idea of 'war tax' — All told, the Democratic proposal for an "Iraq tax" lasted about four hours. That's roughly the amount of time from when House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) gave life to the idea with his endorsement to when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) strangled it.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Blue Girl, Red State and QandO

Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:

Democrats Increase Domestic Spending; Propose Tax Increases for 'the War' — A little while ago I wrote about the plans of Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rangel to raise taxes by as much as $1 trillion over the next decade. Today several Democratic leaders in the House have debuted …

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Approps Chair Obey Says He'll Block Funding For War Without Withdrawal Date

Discussion: TalkLeft

Gen. Wesley Clark / The Huffington Post:

Take Rush Limbaugh Off Armed Forces Radio — Click here to email Congress to take Rush Limbaugh off Armed Forces Radio. — Last week, Rush Limbaugh labeled any American soldier who supports an end to the war in Iraq as "phony." We challenged Limbaugh through an email campaign …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Democrats.senate.gov, Think Progress, Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, The Carpetbagger Report, TPM Election Central and Riehl World View

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:
Are Media Wisely Running Away From Bogus Rush 'Phony Soldiers' Story?

Discussion: Fox News, Hot Air, HazZzMat, Let Freedom Ring and Wake up America

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:
Anti-Rush Limbaugh Smear Campaign, VoteVets.org

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House, MSNBC, JammieWearingFool, Little Green Footballs, Jack's Blog, Take Our Country Back, Hot Air and Riehl World View

Jackie Calmes / Wall Street Journal:

GOP Is Losing Grip On Core Business Vote — Deficit Hawks Defect — As Social Issues Prevail; — 'The Party Left Me' — \*country-region\*country-regionWASHING TON\*\* — The Republican Party, known since the late 19th century as the party of business, is losing its lock on that title.

Larry Kudlow / The Corner:
The GOP Has Some Re-Branding to Do — A couple of significant stories …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Maggie's Farm

Monday Morning Clacker / GreenMountainPolitics1:

We're No Senior Political Strategist, But We're Calling Bullsh*t On This — Jon Martin has gotten his hands on color-coded maps that Team Giuliani is using to show "what they believe to be Giuliani's anticipated general election strength versus Hillary Clinton compared to how other GOP candidates might fare against her".

Discussion: National Review

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Giuliani directs fire at GOP rivals

Discussion: Hot Air and The Caucus

Roger Simon / The Politico:
Expect less Mr. Nice Guy from Fred

Discussion: San Francisco Chronicle, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, The Caucus, The Swamp, Conservative Belle and The Impolitic

Horses Mouth:

A lot of people are talking about the big speech Barack Obama gave today calling for multilateral nuclear disarmament. But I wanted to focus in on what I think is a significant aspect of the speech that has little to do with the actual policy questions addressed here.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, The Atlantic Online and Obama HQ

The Politico:
Obama blasts senators who voted for war

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, PrezVid and Open Left

CNN Political Ticker:
Obama: Clinton blurring distinctions between us

Discussion: The Swamp

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

ISSA: WATCH OUT, WAXMAN — Rep. Darrell Issa went on CSPAN's Washington Journal this morning and had this to say about the House oversight committee's investigation of Blackwater (via Atrios): … Here's the video:

Discussion: The Gavel, Eschaton, TPMmuckraker, Calitics and The Carpetbagger Report

Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
Is Blackwater A Republican Company?

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake, The Carpetbagger Report and Corrente

Stanley Kurtz / The Corner:

Newsflash: Press Biased — Today, on the front page of The Washington Post, we see the third in a three-part series on roadside bombs in Iraq. The stories in this series have been centered on the top half of the page and highlighted in red (a device I don't recall seeing before).

Discussion: Wake up America, Weekly Standard, protein wisdom and Confederate Yankee

Rick Atkinson / Washington Post:
'You can't armor your way out of this problem'

Discussion: In From the Cold

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:

Clarence Thomas Takes the Low Road, and Should Recuse Himself from Key Cases — The new term has begun for a bitterly divided court in a dangerously divided nation, and the most visible event was a Supreme Court justice using the court's return as a book promotion to remind the world of his enemies, demons, biases and vendettas.

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org and TPMCafe blogs

ABCNEWS:
GMA Exclusive: Anita Hill

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Wire

Jonah Goldberg / Los Angeles Times:

The unspeakable American culture — Journalism's elite don't dare speak of the patriotism that holds this country together. — In a recent speech at the National Press Club, Katie Couric expressed somber disapproval of the jingoistic excesses after 9/11.

Discussion: Daimnation!, Blue Crab Boulevard and PrairiePundit

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

Countdown: Worst Person In The World — Download (1091) | Play (1532) Download (414) | Play (767) (h/t Heather) — Yesterday's Worst Person in the World honors should have come as no surprise to anyone reading the site yesterday. The gold went to movie review-cum-slavery apologist Michael Medved …

Discussion: White House

MEMRI:

Saudi Mufti Issues Fatwa Prohibiting Saudi Youth From Engaging In Jihad Abroad — Yesterday, on October 1, 2007, Saudi Mufti Sheikh Abd Al-'Aziz bin Abdallah Aal Al-Sheikh issued a fatwa prohibiting Saudi youth from engaging in jihad abroad. In his fatwa, he stated that setting forth …

Discussion: QandO

Associated Press:

Mobile phones seized in restive southern Thailand depict gruesome videos — PATTANI, Thailand: Police in insurgency-wracked southern Thailand said Tuesday that mobile phones seized from an attack site contain video clips showing suspected insurgents beheading their victims and in one case, cutting off a soldier's sex organ.