memeorandum: A STRIKE IN THE DARK — What did Israel bomb in Syria? (Seymour M. Hersh/New Yorker)

9:30 PM ET, February 4, 2008

Top Items:

Jason George / The Swamp:

Hillary Clinton cries in Connecticut — NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Sen. Hillary Clinton teared up this morning at an event at the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked while in law school in the early 1970s. — Penn Rhodeen, who was introducing Clinton, began to choke up …

New York Magazine:

Breaking: Hillary Reemploys ‘The Cry’ — Yep, it's official. Hillary Clinton is running to be Crybaby-in-Chief. According to the Tribune Co.'s politics blog, the Swamp, Clinton teared up after a heartfelt introduction by a former colleague at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, where she worked in college.

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, Comments from Left Field, Wonkette and TIME: Swampland

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Poll: Obama erases Clinton's lead

Discussion: Washington Wire, Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, Zogby, Liberal Values, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Outside The Beltway, The Campaign Spot, Trailwatch, Spin Cycle, Wake up America, The Carpetbagger Report, The Strata-Sphere, michellemalkin.com, The Moderate Voice, Reuters, Firedoglake and Shakespeare's Sister

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Dole scolds Limbaugh — Bob Dole, the former Senate Republican leader, wrote an insistent letter to Rush Limbaugh on Monday and suggested that for the good of the party, the conservative talk-show host should stop his strafing of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Discussion: protein wisdom, Political Machine, Riehl World View and Boston Globe

CNN:

In letter to Limbaugh, Bob Dole defends McCain — BOSTON (CNN) — Former Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole on Monday wrote conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh defending John McCain as a “mainstream conservative” who had supported the party on critical votes during Dole's time as the Senate Republican leader.

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, The Reaction and Shakespeare's Sister

Tony Allen-Mills / Times of London:
Flawed Cindy McCain has a grudge list

Discussion: Truthdig and protein wisdom

Jill Zuckman / The Swamp: Bob Dole weighs in on McCain as a conservative

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:

Michelle Obama: I Would Have To Think About Supporting Clinton If She Is The Nominee — Imagine if Bill Clinton had said that? Michelle Obama needs to straighten this out immediately. Really bad stuff from the Obama campaign. — Update (TL): More than 300 comments, this thread is closing.

Discussion: The Opinionator, The Field, Rox Populi, US Presidential race 2008 real …, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Don Surber, Tom Watson and Salon

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
PULLING THE LEVER....So who am I going to vote for tomorrow?

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, TalkLeft, bustardblog, newsrack blog, Brian Beutler, BartBlog, The RBC, culturekitchen, HillaryClinton.com, The Agonist, The Crone Speaks, Tennessee Guerilla Women and RADAMISTO

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Republicans have become the credibility-free party — (updated below) — Substantial attention has been paid to the historic unpopularity of the Bush presidency, but relatively little attention has been paid to the accompanying collapse of the Republican Party's credibility.

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, The Carpetbagger Report, PoliGazette, LiberalLand, Firedoglake and protein wisdom

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
The Hub — I remember sitting in the media room at the Libby trial …

Discussion: Eschaton

Atrios / Eschaton:
Februrary Fund Drive

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, Brilliant at Breakfast and Suburban Guerrilla

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008 — Based on daily polling from Feb. 1-Feb. 3, 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — On the eve of the Super Tuesday election, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain closely matched in national Democratic voters' nomination preferences.

Discussion: Spin Cycle, Pollster.com, Comments from Left Field, Needlenose, American Power and Talking Points Memo

Josh Patashnik / The New Republic:

Vote McCain—Because Life Expectancy Is Going Up — The McCain campaign must be pretty spooked about conservative reaction to the story that their man isn't a full-throated Sam Alito fan. Today the campaign sent out an email to supporters trumpeting this Wall Street Journal op-ed …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Wall Street Journal:
McCain and the Supreme Court

Discussion: Hot Air, Stop The ACLU, AMERICAN DIGEST, Patterico's Pontifications, Rachel Lucas, Boston Globe, The Volokh Conspiracy, Balkinization, The Swamp, Macsmind and The American Mind

Little Green Footballs:

Muslims Enraged, Seething at Wikipedia — Apparently there are a whole lot of Muslims enraged and offended at Wikipedia, because there are ... gasp ... drawings and images of Mohammed in his Wikipedia entry. — Blasphemy! — So they're demanding that Wikipedia stop violating …

Discussion: Wake up America

Pat Doyle / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Clinton speaks to crowd of 4,000 in Minneapolis — Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke to a full house during her campaign stop at Augsburg College in Minneapolis Sunday afternoon. She signed autographs after her speech. — She called on 4,000 at Augsburg to help nation's economy work for all.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard

Ben Smith / The Politico: Empty seats

Marc Ambinder:

Plouffe Memo: We're The Giants, Baby — (not in so many words...despite or because of polls showing that Obama is now leading or tied with Hillary Clinton nationally.). … I'm sorry. Hold up, time out. What?? Unless every Obama adviser I've spoken to over the past year has out and out lied to me …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette, Salon, The New Republic and Comments from Left Field

Seymour M. Hersh / New Yorker:

A STRIKE IN THE DARK — What did Israel bomb in Syria? — Israel and the U.S. have avoided comment on press reports about a nuclear facility. — Sometime after midnight on September 6, 2007, at least four low-flying Israeli Air Force fighters crossed into Syrian airspace and carried …

Discussion: Mercury Rising and A Tiny Revolution

Marc Ambinder:

Feb 5 Projections: Revised — According to campaign sources, polling and stealing off other analysts, Hillary Clinton has an edge in New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas. — Obama has an edge in Idaho, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Alabama, Georgia, North Dakota and Illinois.

Discussion: Spin Cycle and AMERICAblog

Daniel J. Chacon / Rocky Mountain News:

DNC boost for sex biz — Denver can expect prostitution spike during convention — Political tricks may not be the only ones turned during the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August. — The sex and adult entertainment industries are expecting a boom in business …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!

CNN:

FBI wants palm prints, eye scans, tattoo mapping — CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) — The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists.

Discussion: Concurring Opinions, American Street and BlueHerald 2.0

Michael J. Totten:

The Final Mission, Part II — FALLUJAH - The United States military plans to formally hand over Anbar Province to the Iraqis this spring because the insurgency truly is finished in that part of the country. Most Americans have heard about the success in this province by now …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah and INDCJournal