memeorandum: Britain 'no longer closest Bush ally' (Toby Harnden/Telegraph)

4:05 PM ET, October 3, 2007

Top Items:

Bush vetoes kids' health insurance expansion — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush on Wednesday vetoed legislation expanding a children's health insurance program by $35 billion over five years. — Bush exercised the veto at 10 a.m. ET before leaving the White House for a trip to Lancaster …

Discussion: Reuters, Power Line, Taylor Marsh, CQ.com, All Spin Zone, The Politico, NewsBusters.org, The Gate, Comments from Left Field, Burnt Orange Report, Wake up America, Three Wise Men, McBlogger and Right Voices

Jennifer Loven / Associated Press:

Bush vetoes child health insurance plan — WASHINGTON - President Bush, in a sharp confrontation with Congress, on Wednesday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have dramatically expanded children's health insurance. — It was only the fourth veto of Bush's presidency …

Discussion: MyDD, Pam's House Blend, The Opinionator, The Democratic Daily, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The Carpetbagger Report, Daily Kos, Left in the West, Truthdig and Macsmind

Jonathan E. Kaplan / The Hill:

SCHIP slips as Dems trip over message — Democratic leaders on Tuesday moved quickly to shift public attention to President Bush's expected veto of a children's health insurance program from a surtax to pay for the war in Iraq. — Democrats had been reveling in their good fortune …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Swamp and Right Voices

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy / The Huffington Post:
My Challenge to the President

Discussion: The Sundries Shack and Democratic Strategist

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Vetoland, Population: 4 — President Bush increased the number …

Discussion: The Anchoress

McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Bush veto strategy threatens Republicans

Discussion: New York Times, The Carpetbagger Report and Brendan Nyhan

Shaun Mullen / The Moderate Voice:
S-CHIP Bill Vetoed Behind Closed Doors

Discussion: Firedoglake and BlueOregon

Washington Post:

Clinton Widens Lead in Poll — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has consolidated her place as the front-runner in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, outpacing her main rivals in fundraising in the most recent quarter and widening her lead in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Edwards says Obama using stolen ideas — Former Sen. John Edwards's (D-N.C.) campaign widened its sights Tuesday to include Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and his foreign policy speech commemorating the five-year anniversary of his first speech against the Iraq war.

Discussion: The Politico, New York Times, Des Moines Register, protein wisdom, Taylor Marsh, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, CNN Political Ticker, Hot Air, The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway, The Swamp, The Caucus and Air America Radio

The Atlantic Online:
As Edwards Focus On Education, An Education Union Endorses Hillary Clinton

Discussion: AFT, Open Left and theGarance.com

Richelieu / Weekly Standard:
Media Blasphemy — Another day, another blasphemy …

Discussion: The Corner and The Fix

David Weigel / Reason Magazine:

Ron Paul: Five Million Dollar Man — Ron Paul's campaign confirms that it collected $5,080,000 in the third quarter of fundraising. That's more than double the campaign's second quarter haul of $2.4 million; it's also as much as "comeback" candidate John McCain has reportedly raised.

Discussion: blog.ronpaul2008.com, All Spin Zone, National Review and RealClearPolitics

The Atlantic Online:

Ron Paul Raises Five Times As Much As Huckabee — Oh me of little faith. Ron Paul cannot be dismissed as a gadfly; the chance for him to outperform expectations rises exponentially with additional million dollars he raises. 5.08m is real money. There must be, within the Republican Party, a vein of anti-war libertarian sentiment.

Discussion: race42008.com

Reid Wilson / RealClearPolitics:

Exclusive: Paul Tops $5 Mil For Quarter — Texas Congressman Ron Paul, an anti-war libertarian making his second run at the White House, will report having raised $5.08 million in the third quarter. The number, which rivals those of John McCain and Bill Richardson, was boosted thanks …

Discussion: Hot Air

Libby Spencer / The Newshoggers:
Ron Paul's grassroots problem

Discussion: Comments from Left Field and The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
RON PAUL RAISES $5 MILLION!

Discussion: The Fix

Patrick Ruffini:

Kos Traffic Numbers Inflated by 60% — Yesterday, I had the good "fortune" of being frontpaged on Daily Kos. The post sat atop the site for two hours. According to Google Analytics, the link produced 1,164 visitors yesterday. — For the traffic behemoth Kos is portrayed as, that seems low …

Discussion: Yourish.com, Riehl World View, Hot Air, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, techPresident, Outside The Beltway, Personal Democracy Forum and GINA COBB

Pamela Hess / Associated Press:

Senate Approves Intelligence Bill — WASHINGTON — The Senate has scrapped its bid to obtain the archive of daily intelligence briefings given to the president on Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion. — That request was among several controversial provisions dropped from an intelligence bill …

Voice of America:

Iranian University Invites Bush to Speak — An Iranian university has invited U.S. President George W. Bush to speak about such issues as the Holocaust, terrorism and human rights. — Iran's Fars news agency reports Ferdowsi University in the northeastern city of Mashhad asked Mr. Bush …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Comments from Left Field, The Newshoggers, Booman Tribune, At-Largely and The American Street

Griff Witte / Washington Post:

Pakistan Seen Losing Fight Against Taliban And Al-Qaeda — PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistan's government is losing its war against emboldened insurgent forces, giving al-Qaeda and the Taliban more territory in which to operate and allowing the groups to plot increasingly ambitious attacks …

Discussion: CBS News, The Swamp, PrairiePundit, ParaPundit, Middle Earth Journal, On Deadline and Truthdig

Paul J. Gough / Hollywood Reporter:

One-man show at ABC o'seas bureaus — NEW YORK — After two decades of cutbacks in international bureaus, ABC News is bucking the trend by creating one-person operations that will dramatically boost its coverage in Africa, India and elsewhere. — The small offices, staffed by a reporter-producer …

Discussion: CBS News and Romenesko

Darin Murphy / The Huffington Post:

Weak Has a Face, and It's Pelosi's — If there was any doubt before, which there wasn't, it's gone now. Watching Nancy Pelosi on The View yesterday morning provided the final proof that the backbone of the House is only as strong as its speaker. Her body language said it all.

Byron York / National Review Online:

Limbaugh Makes His Case — On Monday evening, September 24, Rush Limbaugh was struck by a story that appeared on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson. "A closer look tonight at phony heroes," Gibson said in his introduction to the report, which was about men who claim to be veterans but are not.