memeorandum: Top GOP boss to quit (CNN Political Ticker)

3:05 PM ET, October 19, 2007

Top Items:

An unlikely treasure-trove of donors for Clinton — The candidate's unparalleled fundraising success relies largely on the least-affluent residents of New York's Chinatown — some of whom can't be tracked down. — NEW YORK — Something remarkable happened at 44 Henry St., a grimy Chinatown tenement with peeling walls.

Michelle Malkin:
Won't you take me to Chinatown? — The Los Angeles Times digs …

Discussion: Right Voices and Riehl World View

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Hsu II? Hillary raking in cash from poor Chinese immigrants …

Discussion: Wizbang, Suitably Flip and JammieWearingFool

The Corner:

I'm Told — Senator Reid just went to the Senate floor and asked people to bid on the Rush letter. — 40-some minutes to go.... UPDATE: Here's a raw transcript from the Senate:

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Neocon News, Hot Air, Wizbang, Suitably Flip, A Blog For All and Blue Crab Boulevard

Little Green Footballs:

Harry Reid Hearts Rush Limbaugh — As the bidding draws to a close on his ugly smear letter, Harry Reid is now taking credit for raising money for children of fallen soldiers. … Hypocrisy so extreme it warps time and space. — UPDATE at 10/19/07 10:15:05 am: — The winner of the auction was philanthropist Betty Casey.

Discussion: The Corner, Don Surber, Hot Air, Bookworm Room and Say Anything

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:

Randi Rhodes Speaks About Non-Mugging, Raises New Questions — A DEEPER HOLE … Now that Air America Radio host Randi Rhodes has returned to the airwaves, at least one mystery has been solved: we know why her lawyer was in charge of making press statements.

Discussion: Neocon News, The Van Der Galiën Gazette and Chuck Adkins

BoreAmerica:

Randi Rhodes statement on "mugging"/falling down incident — Speaking on her radio show today, Air America Radio's Randi Rhodes spoke about her supposed mugging. She said she was watching football in an Irish pub and went outside for a smoke. The next thing she knew she was on the ground …

Discussion: Macsmind, Wake up America, The Mahablog, JammieWearingFool and Little Green Footballs

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Talk Show Host Randi Rhodes Explains Her Injury On Her Show

Discussion: protein wisdom, LTR, Moonbattery and News Hounds

Martin Kady II / The Politico:

Martinez resigns as general chair of RNC — Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) will resign as general chairman of the Republican Party today, saying he wants to spend more time on his work as Florida's GOP senator, Politico has learned. — Martinez, who took the job nine months ago as the public face …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker and The Swamp

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:
Martinez quits as RNC general chairman

Discussion: Salon and DownWithTyranny!

CNN Political Ticker:
Top GOP boss to quit

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

Michael Kinsley / Time:

Libertarians Rising — To oversimplify: Democrats are for Big Government; Republicans are against it. — To oversimplify somewhat less, Democrats aren't always for Big Government, and Republicans aren't always against it. Democrats treasure civil liberties, whereas Republicans …

Discussion: Liberal Values, Outside The Beltway, Reason Magazine, Washington Times and Punditry

The Raw Story:

Cheney hand seen behind leaks of 'misleading' stories — Allegations that a Syrian envoy admitted during a United Nations meeting Oct. 17 that an Israeli air strike hit a nuclear facility in September are inaccurate and have raised the ire of some in the US intelligence community …

Discussion: Soccer Dad

A'Melody Lee / Political Radar:

Brownback Weighs Giuliani Endorsement — ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: — A top adviser to Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kas., heaped praise on Rudy Giuliani on Friday and told ABC News that an endorsement of the former New York mayor is a distinct possibility before the first votes are cast in the Republican presidential contest.

Discussion: National Review

Mark Murray / MSNBC: Brownback says Rudy won't get nod

Michael Lacey / Phoenix New Times:

Breathtaking Abuse of the Constitution — Joe Arpaio, Andy Thomas and Dennis Wilenchik hit New Times with grand jury subpoenas — This newspaper and its editorial staff — both current and former — are the targets of unprecedented grand jury subpoenas dated August 24.

Discussion: New York Times, Gawker, On Deadline, Reason Magazine and LA Observed

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
Grand Jury Investigation Seeking Phoenix Newspaper's Reader Data

Discussion: Feathered Bastard and Washington Monthly

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

Dodd Goes to the Mat: Says He Will Filibuster FISA — He said he "might have to." And he will. — From the Dodd campaign: … Finally someone willing to filibuster and cut through the ocean of glue the Senate seems to be swimming in. — This is awesome. Go Dodd. — Update: Just added — YouTube above.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, DownWithTyranny!, The Impolitic and Mercury Rising

Opinion Journal:

What Happened at Haditha — The massacre that wasn't, and its political exploitation. — The incident at Haditha—or the massacre, as it is often called—is due for a wholesale rethinking. The allegations are that in 2005 U.S. Marines went on a killing spree and deliberately executed 24 Iraqi civilians.

Discussion: Fausta's blog, Bookworm Room, QandO and Blue Crab Boulevard

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Pelosi's Armenian Gambit — There are three relevant questions concerning the Armenian genocide. — (a) Did it happen? — (b) Should the U.S. House of Representatives be expressing itself on this now? — (c) Was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's determination to bring this to a vote …

Discussion: Power Line, The Atlantic Online, The Jawa Report, Central Sanity, Betsy's Page, Macsmind, Whiskey Fire, Jules Crittenden and Soccer Dad

Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:

Anti-War Veteran Quits Anti-War Organization — Frustrated by the lack of progress toward surrender in Iraq, veteran John Bruhns has quit the anti-war group AAEI: … I have a 'personal connection' to Bruhns: I've received at least one robocall from him (and if memory serves, several).

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Prominent Iraq veteran Bruhns quits major anti-war organization

Discussion: Don Surber

Fox News:

FOX To Air Controversial Documentary on Islam — A controversial film that PBS axed from its documentary series about the post-Sept. 11 world will be broadcast for the first time nationwide this week by the FOX News Channel. — The documentary, originally titled "Islam vs. Islamists," …

Discussion: Cliff Schecter, Hot Air and TVNewser

Ryan Singel / Threat Level:

Democratic Lawmaker Pushing Immunity Is Newly Flush With Telco Cash — Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) is reportedly steering the secretive Senate Intelligence Committee to give retroactive immunity to telecoms that helped the government secretly spy on Americans.

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation blogs, The Hill, Firedoglake, Death, Washington Post, Salon and The Agonist

Atrios / Eschaton:

Immunity — Unlike Ann Coulter, I'm no constitutional scholar, but I have been a wee bit puzzled why the prohibition on ex post facto laws would't prevent this telecom immunity bulls**t. Of course there's a prohibition on suspending Habeas Corpus, too, so what do I know.

Discussion: Instapundit.com and Lawyers, Guns and Money