memeorandum: An Answer! — Michelle Malkin replies to my challenge for a debate about S-CHIP. (Ezra Klein)

12:15 PM ET, October 11, 2007

Top Items:

CNN Pins Blame On Democrats For Right-Wing Smear Of 12-Year Old Boy — This morning, CNN aired its first report on the right-wing smear campaign against 12-year old SCHIP recipient Graeme Frost. CNN pinned the blame on Democrats for assault on the Frost family.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Garlic, Suburban Guerrilla, The Liberal Avenger and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Michelle Malkin:

My reply to Respectable Liberal Blogger Ezra Klein and his fellow travelers; Plus: Hillary threatens S-CHIP critics — Update 9:25am Eastern. Your S-CHIP editorial cartoon of the morning comes from Nate Beeler of the Examiner... Meanwhile, Time magazine recycles Democrat talking points and passes it off as reporting.

Time:

The Swift-Boating of Graeme Frost — A 12-year-old causes an Internet storm for speaking out in favor of the Children's Health Insurance Program. Says his father: "My family does not deserve this retribution"

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, Macsmind, The Sundries Shack, Cliff Schecter, Grasping Reality …, The American Street, The Carpetbagger Report, TIME: Swampland and Crooks and Liars

Ezra Klein:

An Answer! — Michelle Malkin replies to my challenge for a debate about S-CHIP. Her answer? Of course not. She's afraid to debate policy on the merits. She has no interest in "a good-faith argument." She's here to swing the hatchet, and lacks either the interest or the aptitude to rise above that station.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Sadly, No!:

Stalkin' Malkin is losing it — It's getting funnier and funnier. She's plunged straight off the deep end with this one: … Gad, it's like watching one of the Heathers write in her personal pity diary. All that's missing is angry complaints about Confederate Yankee and Ace turning into Swatch Dogs and Diet Coke Heads.

Discussion: RADAMISTO and Obsidian Wings

Lewis Smith / Times of London:

Al Gore's inconvenient judgment — Al Gore's award-winning climate change documentary was littered with nine inconvenient untruths, a judge ruled yesterday. — An Inconvenient Truth won plaudits from the environmental lobby and an Oscar from the film industry but was found wanting when it was scrutinised in the High Court in London.

Discussion: Gates of Vienna, Liberal Values and RADAMISTO

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Al Gore may have shot at Nobel Peace Prize

Discussion: Times of London, CBS News and Sister Toldjah

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:
Al Gore for President

Discussion: The Swamp

David S. Broder / Washington Post:

Another Voice in the Choir — Fred Thompson did not disgrace himself in his first formal debate as a Republican presidential candidate, but he also did not dominate the stage full of White House hopefuls in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday. — At least three others — John McCain …

Discussion: Boston Globe, The Garlic, The Moderate Voice, MSNBC, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Politico, Redstate, PrairiePundit and Middle Earth Journal

Gail Collins / New York Times: Calvin Coolidge Redux

Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:

Army Offers Big Cash To Keep Key Officers — The Army is offering cash bonuses of up to $35,000 to retain young officers serving in key specialties — including military intelligence, infantry and aviation — in an unprecedented bid to forestall a critical shortage of officer ranks …

Discussion: New York Times, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Outside The Beltway, Air America Radio, Connecting.the.Dots and Thomas P.M. Barnett

Thom Shanker / New York Times:
Marines Press to Remove Their Forces From Iraq

Discussion: The Swamp, Think Progress, Argghhh!, Op For, Hot Air, Air America Radio, Los Angeles Times, Brilliant at Breakfast, WorkingForChange and PrairiePundit

Lance / Maine blog:

The anti-MoveOn ads Google won't let you see — Robert Cox has a piece in today's Examiner about Google's restriction of ads I tried to place with them on behalf of the Collins for Senator campaign: … This story is currently #1 on the Examiner's 'most popular' list across the country.

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Moonbattery, NewsBusters.org and Conservative Belle

WorldNetDaily:

Giuliani 'doesn't deserve to live' — Terrorists threaten presidential candidate, cite Rudy's war stance, Arafat treatment — Saying Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani "doesn't deserve to live," Palestinian terror leaders are threatening to harm the former New York mayor …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Comments from Left Field, Israel Matzav and The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press:

Alberto Gonzales hires defense attorney — WASHINGTON - Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has hired a high-powered Washington lawyer to represent him in investigations of mismanagement of the Justice Department. George Terwilliger, a white-collar crime defense attorney …

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Shakespeare's Sister, CNN Political Ticker and The Newshoggers

Marcella Bombardieri / Boston Globe:

Clinton vows to check executive power — Would curb use of signing statements — Senator Hillary Clinton said yesterday that if she is elected president, she intends to roll back President Bush's expansion of executive authority, including his use of presidential signing statements to put …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Moonbattery, MSNBC and Reason Magazine

Susan Crabtree / The Hill:

GOP lawyer ties Rove to Siegelman case — House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) on Wednesday released an interview with GOP lawyer Dana Jill Simpson implicating former White House adviser Karl Rove in the prosecution and conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) on corruption charges.

Discussion: At-Largely, Donklephant and MyDD

Alex Berenson / New York Times:

Boom Times for Dentists, but Not for Teeth — For American dentists, times have never been better. — The same cannot be said for Americans' teeth. — With dentists' fees rising far faster than inflation and more than 100 million people lacking dental insurance, the percentage of Americans …

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, CBS News and Suburban Guerrilla

Ben Quinn / Telegraph:

Islamists damage giant rock Buddha — Islamist radicals in Pakistan have attempted to destroy an ancient carving of Buddha by drilling holes in the rock and filling them with dynamite. — The 23ft high image was damaged during the attack, which brought back memories of the Taliban's …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, TigerHawk and JammieWearingFool

Editor and Publisher:

Ann Coulter on CNBC Show: Jews Need 'Perfecting' — NEW YORK Appearing on Donny Deutsch's CNBC show, "The Big Idea," on Monday night, columnist/author Ann Coulter suggested that the U.S. would be a better place if there weren't any Jewish people and that they had "perfected" themselves into — Christians.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, Air America Radio and Cliff Schecter

Democracy Now:

EXCLUSIVE - Family Members of Slain Iraqis Sue Blackwater USA for Deadly Baghdad Shooting — Watch 128k stream Watch 256k stream Read Transcript — The Center for Constitutional Rights is filing a lawsuit today under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of the families of three …

Discussion: Think Progress