memeorandum: Clinton plays defense on Iran (Ben Smith/The Politico)

9:30 AM ET, October 22, 2007

Top Items:

Clinton Finds Way to Play Along With Drudge — As Senator Barack Obama prepared to give a major speech on Iraq one morning a few weeks ago, a flashing red-siren alert went up on the Drudge Report Web site. It read, "Queen of the Quarter: Hillary Crushes Obama in Surprise Fund-Raising Surge …

Discussion: Don Surber, Booman Tribune, La Shawn Barber's Corner, TIME: Swampland, DownWithTyranny!, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Assorted Babble and Brilliant at Breakfast

New York Times:
The Republican Debate on Fox News Channel

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report

New York Times:
At Debate, G.O.P. Race Becomes More Personal

Discussion: The Hill, The Carpetbagger Report, USA Today, NY Daily News, TIME, Brian Beutler, The Swamp and CNN Political Ticker

Deacon / Power Line:
A SLEEPING GIANT WAKES UP

Discussion: The Mahablog, National Review, Death and The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:
Live-Blogging the Republican Debate

Discussion: Washington Wire, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Instapundit.com, The Heretik and Zogby

Jamiecnn / CNN Political Ticker:
GOP candidates battle over conservative credentials

Discussion: The Politico and New York Times

Valerie Plame Wilson / The Huffington Post:

Finally Telling My Story — I'm Valerie Plame Wilson and I'm excited to be here and blog about my book Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, which goes on sale Monday, Oct 22. When my publisher sent me the finished copy earlier this week, it was thrilling.

Discussion: TalkLeft, JammieWearingFool and Hullabaloo

Larry Johnson / NO QUARTER:

Valerie Plame Wilson and the Ultimate Betrayal — Valerie's problem is her decency and humanity. She has reasons most Americans don't know to be really angry with George Bush and George Tenet but she has contained her rage. In a new tasty nugget in her book, Fair Game, she gives some details on the 2004 Al Qaeda threat to kill her.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Brilliant at Breakfast and State of the Day

Logan Murphy / Crooks and Liars:
Valerie Plame On 60 Minutes: "The President Is Not A Man Of His Word"

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, TBogg, Tennessee Guerilla Women, At-Largely, Take Our Country Back, The Democratic Daily, The BRAD BLOG, The American Street and The Belmont Club

Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:

Iraq and Turkey See Tensions Rise After Ambush — A brazen ambush by Kurdish militants that left at least 12 Turkish soldiers dead touched off a major escalation in Turkey-Iraq tensions on Sunday, bringing fears that Turkey would retaliate immediately by sending troops across the border into Iraq.

Discussion: The Swamp, FP Passport, The Glittering Eye, Needlenose, The Reaction, The American Street, Prairie Weather and Alternate Brain

Amit R. Paley / Washington Post:

Kurds From Iraq Kill 17 Soldiers in Turkey — U.S. Reports 49 Fighters Dead in Sadr City Raid; Residents, Officials Say Victims Are All Civilians — An audacious cross-border ambush by Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq killed at least 17 Turkish soldiers Sunday, ratcheting up pressure …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, BlondeSense and Unqualified Offerings

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Key Clinton Backer Rips Giuliani's Personal Life — Rep. Charles Rangel Apparently Refers to Giuliani as a 'Cheating Goddamn Husband' — Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., the dean of the New York congressional delegation, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, longtime political booster …

Discussion: Des Moines Register, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Fausta's blog, A Chequer-Board of Nights … and Weasel Zippers

Vikas Bajaj / New York Times:

Mortgage Security Bondholders Facing a Cutoff of Interest Payments — For all the pain in the mortgage market, investors who hold bonds backed by risky home loans have continued to receive their monthly interest payments — until now. — Collateralized debt obligations …

Irenep / Michael Yon:

Resistance is Futile — October 22, 2007 — Resistance is futile: You will be (mis)informed. — A gulf. — A gap. — A chasm. — A parallel universe. — All describe the bizarro-world contrast between what most Americans seem to think is happening in Iraq versus what is really happening in Iraq.

Discussion: Hot Air and Confederate Yankee

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Say What You Like, Just Don't Say It Here — The American commitment to free speech is the most robust in the world. But these days that tolerance stops at the border. — Two cases pending in federal court in Manhattan will soon test how far the government can go in keeping Americans safe …

Discussion: The Sideshow, The American Street and Bark Bark Woof Woof

David Segal / Washington Post:

Low Road to Splitsville — Right-Wing Publisher's Breakup Is Super-Rich In Tawdry Details — Looking for a perfect little weekend vacation this fall? Here's a travel tip you don't hear very often: Head to Pittsburgh. Right away. — Seriously, get in the car and read this story later …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Paul Krugman

Joe Nocera / New York Times:

Ready or Not, Here Comes the Fox Business Network — It was Thursday around 4:30, and I couldn't take it anymore. — All week long, I'd been sporadically watching Rupert Murdoch's new Fox Business Network, which made its debut on Monday. I was trying to figure out what, exactly …

Discussion: James Wolcott's Blog, No More Mister Nice Blog and Romenesko

Jan Moller / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

JINDAL WINS — He's the nation's first governor of Indian descent — BATON ROUGE — In a campaign that had the air of both the inevitable and the historical, Bobby Jindal was elected governor Saturday, claiming the electoral prize that eluded him four years ago.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Democratic Strategist, Bluey Blog and Redstate

Adam Nossiter / New York Times:
Indian-American Elected Louisiana's Governor

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Sweetness & Light

The Big Trunk / Power Line:

IT'S THE COVERUP THAT KILLS YOU, PART 3 — It's been another week without word from the New Republic on the status of its "investigation" into the columns of TNR Baghdad Diarist Scott Thomas Beauchamp. "The editors" have not spoken on the matter since their August 10 update.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Jesus' General:

Chris Dodd for President … Constitutional Issues … Dodd on FISA: … Dodd wants to bring the troops home now: … Dodd's campaign blog. — Dodd's campaign web site. — Donate to Dodd.

Discussion: Corrente

Los Angeles Times:

Winds drive Southland wildfires — At least 39 homes lost, 1 killed as region remains at risk from Santa Anas — Thousands of Southern California homes could be at risk in coming days as powerful Santa Ana winds continue to stoke wildfires, fire officials said.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, The Glittering Eye, Patterico's Pontifications and LA Observed

Rob / Say Anything:

Half Of Likely Voters Would "Never" Vote For Hillary — Yikes... It gets worse. This latest poll indicates an increase in the number of people who say they won't vote for her, and among older age demographics (who vote in much higher numbers than younger demographics) she's even more disliked.