memeorandum: Matier & Ross: Speier lays groundwork for congressional run (San Francisco Chronicle)

6:15 PM ET, November 20, 2007

Top Items:

McClellan points finger at Bush, Rove — Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan names names in a caustic passage from a forthcoming memoir that accuses President Bush, Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney of being "involved" in his giving the press false information about the CIA leak case.

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, Wonkette, Comments from Left Field, Macsmind and Tom Watson

ABCNEWS:

Bush: Clinton Understands White House Pressure — Exclusive Interview Details President's Thoughts on 2008 Race, Last Year in Office — President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush said Tuesday that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's experience as first lady has prepared her to handle the "pressure" …

Editor and Publisher:

Scott McClellan's Book Coming in April — Admits Wrongdoing in Clearing Rove and Libby in CIA Leak Case — NEW YORK To no one's surprise in a world where top White House aides with any president eventually write a book about it, former Press Secretary Scott McClellan will be coming out with his volume in April.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Carpetbagger Report, Booman Tribune, Blog and News Tidbets, The Next Hurrah and Prairie Weather

Ali / Think Progress:
McClellan's tell-all implicates Bush in Plame scandal.

Discussion: Salon, The Huffington Post, Shakespeare's Sister and Digg

Marty Griffin / KDKA-TV:

Wounded Soldier: Military Wants Part Of Bonus Back — The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments. — To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, TPMmuckraker, Say Anything, Shakespeare's Sister, The Volokh Conspiracy, QandO and WTF Is It Now?!?

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:

Wounded soldiers asked to return signing bonuses — When Jordan Fox was serving in Iraq, his mother helped organize Operation Pittsburgh Pride, which sends thousands of care packages to U.S. troops from his hometown, which prompted a personal "thank you" from the White House.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Salon, Outside The Beltway, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Balloon Juice and Hot Air

Matt / Think Progress: Military demanding bonus pay back from wounded vets.

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Court agrees to rule on gun case — After a hiatus of 68 years, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to rule on the meaning of the Second Amendment — the hotly contested part of the Constitution that guarantees "a right to keep and bear arms." Not since 1939 has the Court heard …

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Wizbang, ACSBlog, Comments from Left Field, Redstate and Daily Kos

ABCNEWS:

Supreme Court to Hear D.C. Gun Ban Case — Case Set to Be the First Second Amendment Issue Before the Court in 70 Years — In a decision that could affect gun control laws across the nation, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to carry a gun.

Discussion: Say Anything, NewsBusters.org and Outside The Beltway

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Supreme Court grants cert on D.C. Second Amendment case; Update …

Discussion: Associated Press, Fred File, michellemalkin.com, A Blog For All, Blue Crab Boulevard and Macsmind

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
High Court to Take D.C. Gun Ban Case

Discussion: The Gun Toting Liberal™, Wonkette and Cato-at-liberty

David Stout / New York Times:
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Gun Control Case

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Betsy's Page and Lone Star Times

Ben Smith / The Politico:

More detail on the controversial Iowa poll — I spoke this morning to a source closely familiar with the details of that Iowa poll that raised eyebrows last week, though he was unable to definitively say who sponsored the poll, and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Discussion: Pollster.com

Martina Stewart / CNN Political Ticker:
Poll: Clinton's lead shrinks among New Hampshire Democrats

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and MyDD

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Parsing the Polls: Inside the Post/ABC Iowa Survey

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Huffington Post and The Mahablog

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:
Why John Edwards Is In Trouble In Iowa

Discussion: MyDD, Burnt Orange Report, Daily Kos and Booman Tribune

Gina Kolata / New York Times:

New Stem Cell Method Could Ease Ethical Concerns — Two teams of scientists are reporting today that they turned human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without having to make or destroy an embryo — a feat that could quell the ethical debate troubling the field.

Discussion: The Corner, The New Republic, Political Machine, Hot Air, Liberal Values, Buck Naked Politics, The Strata-Sphere and Donklephant

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner: The Stem Cell Breakthrough and the "Necessity" of Evil

Joseph Bottum / On the Square:
Embryonic Stem Cells and Those Pro-Science Pro-Lifers

Discussion: New York Times, The Corner, The Atlantic Online and Political Machine

Martina Stewart / CNN Political Ticker:

Wrestler Ric Flair supporting Mike Huckabee — COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - In the race for presidential endorsements, Mike Huckabee has the kitschy pop culture celebrity vote on lockdown. — First it was martial arts hero and "Walker, Texas Ranger" star Chuck Norris, who appears with Huckabee in his first TV ad.

Discussion: Washington Post, Wonkette, Galley Slaves, Associated Press, The Hill, Political Machine, The Sundries Shack, Comments from Left Field, The Carpetbagger Report, The American Street, Riehl World View, TPM Election Central, Air America Radio, Hotline On Call and DownWithTyranny!

Jonah Goldberg / Los Angeles Times:

Ron Paul isn't that scary — It's that over-do-gooder Mike Huckabee who should be making conservatives nervous. — As the hopeless but energetic presidential campaign of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) builds momentum in name recognition, fundraising and cross-ideology appeal, media conservatives are beginning to attack Paul in earnest.

Discussion: BitsBlog, Reason Magazine, Publius Endures, TPMCafe blogs and LewRockwell.com Blog

Devin Culclasure / alligator.org:

Protesters arrested at Gonzales speech — In his first appearance at a university since resigning in August, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was met at UF on Monday with a mixture of cheers, boos and scattered interruptions by protesters, two of whom were arrested.

Discussion: Firedoglake, St. Petersburg Times, Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, Gateway Pundit, JammieWearingFool, TPMmuckraker, UrbanGrounds, Cliff Schecter, Norwegianity and Weasel Zippers

Faiz / Think Progress:

Bush Administration Stokes Fear Of Massive Army Layoffs To Force Congress To Drop Redeployment — The Bush administration is threatening that it will issue furlough notices to up to 150,000 civilian workers at military bases in mid-December if Congress does not approve unrestricted Iraq funding immediately.

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Firedoglake, The Carpetbagger Report and The American Street

Little Green Footballs:

YouTube: The Jihad-Friendly Video Sharing Network (Update: Convicted Terrorist Opens YouTube Account) — Sheik Faisel Mohammed was convicted of incitement to murder and stirring up racial hatred in Britain, and deported back to his native Jamaica. — And today we've discovered that Yousef al-Khattab …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and The Jawa Report

Billw / Crooks and Liars:

NYC Fire Chief: Giuliani 'Not Mr 9/11′ 'Not a Hero' 'He Ran That Day' — John posted yesterday about how Rudy is now "trumpeting his leadership in the wake of 9/11 in campaign mailings to voters in Iowa and New Hampshire" despite claiming all along that he wasn't running on his 9/11 record.

Discussion: My Two Sense and New York Post

Michael Calderone / The Politico:

At White House behest, NYT sat on scoop — When the New York Times published a front page story Sunday about the United States' and Pakistan's joint clandestine efforts to protect nuclear weapons, the newspaper offered a glimpse into a "highly classified program" the Bush administration long objected to seeing in print.

Discussion: Wonkette and About.com US Politics