Top Items:
Juan Cole:
Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2007 — 10. Myth: The US public no longer sees Iraq as a central issue in the 2008 presidential campaign. … 9. Myth: There have been steps toward religious and political reconciliation in Iraq in 2007. Fact: The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Dr. Sanity, Wake up America, Don Surber, The American Street, PBD, PoliGazette, Rising Hegemon, The Heretik and State of the Day
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San Diego Union-Tribune:
Romney symbolizes GOP's problems — It's doubtful that anyone needs any more reasons to explain why Americans are fed up with politics as usual. Nevertheless, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has given us one more. — Apparently when Romney said, “I saw my father march …
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Hillary Edges Out Oprah as Most Admired Woman in '07 — PRINCETON, NJ — For the sixth year in a row, President George W. Bush is the most admired man and Sen. Hillary Clinton the most admired woman in Gallup's annual survey. But neither winner had a very decisive win this year …
Discussion:
The Swamp, The Opinionator, Likelihood of Success, You Decide 08!, Dr. Sanity and PoliGazette
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Michael McAuliff / NY Daily News:
Dem voters no longer fighting battle of Iraq — The successes of President Bush's troop surge in Iraq are quieting things down in another, unexpected place: the Democratic campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire. — When asked, voters in the early presidential states all say the war in Iraq is important to them.
Discussion:
Wonkette
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Edwards Campaign's Closing Memo — In a new internal memo outlining the campaign's planned message in the final days before the Iowa caucuses, the deputy campaign manager for former senator John Edwards (N.C.) argues that his candidate's middle-class message is working while predicting …
Discussion:
TPM Election Central
New Hampshire Union Leader:
The Romney backlash: Conservatives are coming home — THERE IS A reason Mitt Romney has not received a single newspaper endorsement in New Hampshire. It's the same reason his poll numbers are dropping. He has not been able to convince the people of this state that he's the conservative he says he is.
Michael Isikoff / Newsweek:
Challenging Cheney — A National Archives official reveals what the veep wanted to keep classified—and how he tried to challenge the rules — J. William Leonard learned the hard way the perils of questioning Vice President Dick Cheney. The veteran National Archives official challenged claims …
Discussion:
Think Progress, Washington Monthly, TPMmuckraker, D-Day, The Carpetbagger Report, Secrecy News and Cliff Schecter
Dean Barnett / Weekly Standard:
While America Celebrates... Huckabee plunges. — WHEN WE PAID pundits try to provide campaign analysis, we often strain to find historical analogies. Although I'm not asking for sympathy, please understand that it's not easy. There have been only fifty-something presidential campaigns …
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
At 60% of Total, Texas is Bucking Execution Trend — This year's death penalty bombshells — a de facto national moratorium, a state abolition and the smallest number of executions in more than a decade — have masked what may be the most significant and lasting development.
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Matthew Yglesias, The Carpetbagger Report, Wonkette, Big Brass Blog, The Daily Background and Reason Magazine
Paul Krugman / Slate:
FORGET ABOUT BUSH—AND THE MIDDLE GROUND. — Here's a thought for progressives: Bush isn't the problem. And the next president should not try to be the anti-Bush. — No, I haven't lost my mind. I'm not saying that we should look kindly on the Worst President Ever …
Miss Mannered / My Left Wing:
Goodbye, Cruel Jews — I did not come to this site to fight in the Jew Wars. — I came to join with MSOC, in her words, to rage against the lying of the right, against injustice and cruelty. Instead, I found injustice, cruelty and hate directed at me. — I left, then, earlier this year …
Jack Fowler / The Corner:
Praise for Liberal Fascism — Charles Murray declares: “'It is my argument that American liberalism is a totalitarian political religion,' Jonah Goldberg writes near the beginning of Liberal Fascism. My first reaction was that he is engaging in partisan hyperbole. That turned out to be wrong.
Philip Kennicott / Washington Post:
Sooner or Later, Candidates Will Surely Look Lost — They have become a useful, though very tricky, class of images in this roller-coaster ride of a presidential campaign. Call them the “hangdog” candidate photographs: They capture the politician with eyes downcast, looking tired, stressed.
Reuters:
Iran needs no uranium enrichment: Russia's Lavrov — MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's delivery of nuclear fuel to the Bushehr power station makes it unnecessary for Iran to pursue its enrichment program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Macsmind
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Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
The Russian Conundrum — Russia has begun transferring nuclear fuel …
The Russian Conundrum — Russia has begun transferring nuclear fuel …
Discussion:
The Newshoggers
Matthew Hay Brown / The Swamp:
Bush signs budget; wants more money for war — The battle over the 2008 budget ended today aboard Air Force One, where President Bush grudgingly signed the $555 billion omnibus spending bill passed last week by Congress - while suggesting that he was still looking for areas to cut.
Discussion:
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