memeorandum: The Drug War, And Other Problems (Jonah Goldberg/The Corner)

2:45 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, CQ.com, Power Line, The Politico, Three Wise Men, Wake up America, NewsBusters.org, The Gate, Comments from Left Field, Burnt Orange Report, McBlogger and Right Voices

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: The Swamp 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, Daily Kos, Pam's House Blend, The Carpetbagger Report, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Left in the West and Macsmind

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Vetoland, Population: 4 — President Bush increased the number of vetoes issued during his administration by 33% today, torpedoing the S-CHIP expansion and setting up a major policy battle with Congress. With the Senate passing the bill with enough votes to overturn the veto …

Discussion: The Anchoress

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

Discussion: Firedoglake and BlueOregon

David Stout / New York Times:
Bush Vetoes Children's Health Insurance Bill

Discussion: Time, Daily Kos and Lawyers, Guns and Money

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

Discussion: The Sundries Shack and Democratic Strategist

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, CNN Political Ticker, protein wisdom, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Outside The Beltway, The Swamp, The Carpetbagger Report, The Caucus and Air America Radio

Quinnipiac University News and Events:

October 3, 2007 - Clinton Tops Giuliani By 11 Points In New York State, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Favorite Son And Daughter Dominate Party Primaries — Sen. Hillary Clinton leads the Republican front-runner, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani 52 - 41 percent in the 2008 …

Discussion: MSNBC, The Daily Politics, The Swamp and No More Mister Nice Blog

Richelieu / Weekly Standard:

Media Blasphemy — Another day, another blasphemy against rational political analysis by the media. This time, a new national poll from the Washington Post complete with howls of new insight: It's over. … Media polling is strange journalism. The media both creates a story by conducting …

Discussion: The Fix and The Corner

AFT:
American Federation of Teachers Endorses Hillary Clinton 1.4 …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Washington Wire

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

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.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, JustOneMinute, Think Progress, Weekly Standard, Wake up America, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Betsy's Page, Ezra Klein, PrairiePundit, TigerHawk, RIGHTWINGSPARKLE and Little Green Footballs

Media Matters for America:
FACT CHECK: "Phony Soldiers" and Limbaugh's Revisionist History

Discussion: Firedoglake, New York Times, Blogometer, DownWithTyranny!, Norwegianity, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Hullabaloo and MyDD

Hugh Hewitt / Townhall.com:
Rush And The Left's Great Snarl

Discussion: Power Line, The Radio Equalizer, Wake up America and michellemalkin.com

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, Middle Earth Journal, ParaPundit, On Deadline and Truthdig

Associated Press:

Soldiers hunt dissidents in Myanmar — YANGON, Myanmar - Soldiers announced that they were hunting pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar's largest city Wednesday and the top U.S. diplomat in the country said military police were pulling people out of their homes during the night.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Wizbang, Associated Press, The Sundries Shack, Jules Crittenden, Blue Crab Boulevard, Truthdig and AMERICAblog

John Stossel / Real Clear Politics:

Control Your Own Health Care — Candidates for president have plans to get more people health insurance. Some would compel us to buy it; others would use the tax code to encourage that. Regardless, insurance is the magic that will solve our health-care problems.

Discussion: Liberal Values, The Glittering Eye, QandO, Blue Crab Boulevard and PrairiePundit

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

Howard Kurtz: Media Covering Hillary's Laugh Because It's "More Fun" Than Covering Her Iraq Stance — Via Matthew Yglesias, The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz has weighed in with a long piece today on the fact that the press is lavishing a huge amount of attention on Hillary's laugh.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Carpetbagger Report, Brendan Nyhan, Sadly, No! and Shakespeare's Sister

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

Libby Spencer / The Newshoggers:

Ron Paul's grassroots problem — Paul has the most enthusiastic supporters in the race. I can appreciate their energy and motivation and for the most part I've found them to be articulate and reasonable people. But word up, your man is being perceived as the kook candidate …

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