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The Flaws In the Iran Report — Rarely has a document from the supposedly hidden world of intelligence had such an impact as the National Intelligence Estimate released this week. Rarely has an administration been so unprepared for such an event. And rarely have vehement critics of the …
Discussion:
Atlas Shrugs, TBogg, The Democratic Daily, The Washington Note, American Footprints, New York Times and Buck Naked Politics
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Details in Military Notes Led to Shift on Iran, U.S. Says — American intelligence agencies reversed their view about the status of Iran's nuclear weapons program after they obtained notes last summer from the deliberations of Iranian military officials involved in the weapons development program …

Bush defends Iran policy amid doubts on new U.N. sanctions — WASHINGTON — President Bush worked the phones Tuesday to salvage his hard-line policy toward Iran, lobbying foreign leaders for tougher economic sanctions despite a new U.S. intelligence report that concluded that the Islamic republic halted …

A RARE MOMENT OF CANDOR — Dan Bartlett, on the White House's use of right wing blogs:
Discussion:
Chuck Adkins, RADAMISTO, TBogg, The Sideshow, Riehl World View, Roger Ailes and Shakespeare's Sister
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BARTLETT ON THE WINGOSPHERE....This is hilarious.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard


Landlord Describes Suspected Mall Shooter — Witness 'Kept Hoping God Would Spare Us' — OMAHA, Neb. — The shooter at Westroads Mall was identified as Robert A. Hawkins of Bellevue, according to the Sarpy County Sheriff's Department. — Hawkins, 19, had been arrested on a couple …
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Revenge of the Evangelicals — Remember how evangelicals had "matured"? Remember how the war on terror had replaced social issues? It shouldn't be hard, since all those things were being said a couple of weeks ago (heck, still being said maybe even a few days ago).

As N.H. Primary Nears, Clinton Clings to Narrow Lead — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a narrow lead over Sen. Barack Obama among Democratic presidential candidates in New Hampshire, a state whose primary her campaign has viewed as a potential firewall should she stumble in the Iowa caucuses …
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Obama: Many view Clinton negatively
Discussion:
Maggie's Farm

POLL: Clinton Fends Off Obama in N.H. With More Committed Support
Discussion:
The Trail, CNN Political Ticker, LiberalOasis, Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft, TPM Election Central and Pollster.com

Lenders Agree to Freeze Rates on Some Loans — The Bush administration reached an agreement with the mortgage industry on Wednesday on a plan to freeze interest rates for up to five years for a portion of the two million homeowners who bought houses in the last few years with subprime loans.
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EXCLUSIVE: Thompson S.C. co-chair weighs in on GOP rivals — MOSTELLER PREDICTS ROMNEY SPEECH WILL RAISE MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT MORMONISM — SAYS GIULIANI, MCCAIN HURT IN S.C. BY ABORTION, IMMIGRATION — COLUMBIA, S.C. (TPS) - Cyndi Mosteller, the former First Vice Chair of the South Carolina GOP …
Discussion:
Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Political Radar, Eunomia, Hot Air, The Atlantic Online and Riehl World View
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Hillary Campaign Acknowledges That County Chair Backing Hillary Passed Along Obama Muslim Smear Email — A day after the Hillary campaign hit the Obama camp for bullying voters in nasty phone calls, the Hillary crew has just acknowledged that an Iowa county chair volunteering …

America's Quiet Counter-Coup — A number of political observers have taken note of a momentous event in the U.S. government - a counter-coup that overthrew the Dick Cheney/neocon cabal that has been running U.S. foreign policy (if not the entire U.S. government).
Discussion:
skippy the bush kangaroo
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The Science of Gore's Nobel — What if everyone believes in global warmism only because everyone believes in global warmism? — The Nobel Committee might as well have called it Al Gore's Inner Peace Prize, given the way it seems designed to help him disown his lifelong ambition …
Discussion:
Climate Progress, Fraters Libertas, NewsBusters.org, Moonbattery and Blue Crab Boulevard


Law professors petition against on-campus military recruiting — Nearly the entire faculty of Stanford Law School has signed an e-mail to students encouraging those interested in a career in the military to meet recruiters off campus, a move that one Stanford alum argues puts the school at risk of violating the Solomon Amendment.
Discussion:
The Right Coast
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Cheney: Iraq to be self-governing by 2009 — Vice President Cheney today predicted Iraq will be a self-governing democracy by the time he leaves office, calling the current U.S. surge strategy "a remarkable success story" that will be studied for years to come.


The Inside Story Of The SwiftBoaters Finally Told — This is the most important book you'll buy this year: To Set The Record Straight, How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry, by Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler, with Forward by John O'Neill.
Discussion:
Bookworm Room


Justices to Answer Detainee Rights Question — When it comes to the rights of the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, the Supreme Court, and not the president or Congress, will have the last word. — That was the clear part of the message to emerge Wednesday from the Supreme Court argument …


Why the Pentagon Is Happy about the NIE — The latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran was the final factor in a military equation that now appears to guarantee that there will be no war with Iran during the Bush Administration. It meshes with the views of the operational types at the Pentagon …