memeorandum: Romney spends heavily, loans himself $8.5 million (Mark Silva/The Swamp)

1:55 PM ET, October 4, 2007

Top Items:

Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations — When the Justice Department publicly declared torture "abhorrent" in a legal opinion in December 2004, the Bush administration appeared to have abandoned its assertion of nearly unlimited presidential authority to order brutal interrogations.

Discussion: The Swamp, TPMmuckraker, Firedoglake, Los Angeles Times, The Politico, Associated Press, The Atlantic Online, Think Progress, Booman Tribune, Obsidian Wings, Last Left Turn …, Crooks and Liars, CNN, Wake up America, The Carpetbagger Report, WTF Is It Now?!?, Daily Kos, WorkingForChange, Chris Dodd National Blog, Empire Burlesque, The Sundries Shack, The Rude Pundit, Salon, Talking Points Memo, TalkLeft, Obama HQ, Blue Girl, Red State, Norwegianity, Three Wise Men, DownWithTyranny!, The Gate, rubber hose, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The Texas Blue, Jules Crittenden, Balkinization, The Heretik, cab drollery, Macsmind, Lean Left, The Poor Man Institute, All Spin Zone, Washington Times, Shakespeare's Sister, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Hullabaloo, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Truthdig, Washington Monthly, On Deadline, First Draft, Corrente, The Next Hurrah, Brave New Films blog, The American Street, Oliver Willis and Prairie Weather

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Perino: We Don't Torture Because We Say We Don't Torture

Discussion: The Swamp, The Carpetbagger Report and The Lede

Adam Zagorin / Time:
Selective Justice in Alabama?

Discussion: MoJoBlog

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Leahy Set to Schedule Hearings on Mukasey

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Corrente and RealClearPolitics

Rasmussen Reports:

27% of Republicans Would Vote for Pro-Life Third Party Instead of Giuliani — If Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination and a third party campaign is backed by Christian conservative leaders, 27% of Republican voters say they'd vote for the third party option rather than Giuliani.

Discussion: Election Central, TIME: Swampland, Taegan Goddard's … and MyDD

James C. Dobson / New York Times:

The Values Test — REPORTS have surfaced in the press about a meeting that occurred last Saturday in Salt Lake City involving more than 50 pro-family leaders. The purpose of the gathering was to discuss our response if both the Democratic and Republican Parties nominate standard-bearers who are supportive of abortion.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, Right Wing Watch, Democratic Strategist, MSNBC, Daily Kos, The Carpetbagger Report, Middle Earth Journal, Macsmind and The Right's Field

CNN Political Ticker:
Dobson to social conservatives: No pro-choice candidate

Discussion: The Hill

John Harwood / Wall Street Journal:

Republicans Grow Skeptical On Free Trade — WASHINGTON — By a nearly two-to-one margin, Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the U.S. economy, a shift in opinion that mirrors Democratic views and suggests trade deals could face high hurdles under a new president.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Huffington Post, The Hill, The Atlantic Online, SCSUScholars, CBS News, Jezebel, Middle Earth Journal, Fraters Libertas, MSNBC, Beliefnet, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Pollster.com and Cliff Schecter

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Romney spends heavily, loans himself $8.5 million — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney at an "Ask Mitt Anything" session at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., today. No word on whether anyone asked Romney for $8.5 million. AP Photo by Jim Cole — by Mark Silva

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker

Robert Novak / Real Clear Politics:
Romney's Religion — When Mitt Romney appeared last week …

Discussion: The Trail, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Beliefnet and Election Central

online.logcabin.org:
News & Views — Log Cabin TV Ad Campaign Sets the Record Straight About Mitt Romney

Discussion: Reason Magazine, The Corner, The Atlantic Online and Central Sanity

Roger Cohen / New York Times:

The New L-Word: Neocon — A few years back, at the height of the jingoistic post-9/11 wave, the dirtiest word in the American political lexicon was "liberal." Everyone from President Bush to Ann Coulter was using it to denote wimplike, Volvo-driving softies too spineless for dangerous times and too given to speaking French.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Van Der Galiën Gazette and The Atlantic Online

Tristero / Hullabaloo:

Dear Roger Cohen — I find it hard to maintain my composure when confronted by your blatantly misleading, self-serving, and malicious essay. … Let's stop right there. "Ousting Saddam Hussein" is not, and never was the issue. Roger, my friend, the world knows the truth …

Discussion: Eschaton and The Sideshow

Multi-National Force:

Iraqi Forces, U.S. Special Forces detain al-Qaeda financier, one other — Multi-National Corps - Iraq — Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory — APO AE 09342 — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — RELEASE No. 20071004-02 — Iraqi Forces, U.S. Special Forces detain al-Qaeda financier, one other

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Wake up America, Weekly Standard, Gateway Pundit, Kiko's House, Riehl World View and The Newshoggers

Washington Post:

Iraqis to Pay China $100 Million for Weapons for Police — Experts Fear More Will Go to Insurgents — Iraq has ordered $100 million worth of light military equipment from China for its police force, contending that the United States was unable to provide the materiel and is too slow …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The Corner, The Swamp, The Road to Surfdom and The Gate

George F. Will / Washington Post:

The Democratic Economist — CHICAGO — In his curriculum vitae, Austan Goolsbee lists as his "other interests" — other than teaching at the University of Chicago — two activities: triathlons and improv comedy. Evidently he is a masochist with a sense of humor, so he is suited to participate …

Discussion: The Corner, The Atlantic Online and Marginal Revolution

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Another Dimension Of The Thomas Smear — I spent some time last night reviewing some of the transcripts from the "high-tech lynching" delivered by the Senate Judiciary Committee to Clarence Thomas, just to refamiliarize myself with the actual testimony and evidence.

Discussion: The Anchoress, Bookworm Room and The Oxford Medievalist

The Big Trunk / Power Line:

Phony Democrats — In the recent past prominent Democratic officeholders have made remarkably insulting and/or counterfactual statements about our soldiers and their leaders. Among the recurring themes are the proposition that our troops are stupid and their leaders are liars.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Pol Watcher / Colin McEnroe:

This Is Your Elephant on Drugs — The new official logo of the 2008 Gop convention. I'm not kidding.

Discussion: Wonkette, The Right's Field, Sadly, No! and the albany project

The Atlantic Online:

When is Patriotism a Virtue — As promises yesterday, a post on patriotism, nationalism, left and right. Now it's true that you have some people on the left — and some people on the libertarian right — who adhere to genuinely post-national cosmpolitan views, but I think that's pretty rare.

Discussion: Winds of Change.NET