memeorandum: Rep. Renzi indicted on fraud, finance charges (Reuters)

2:25 PM ET, February 22, 2008

Top Items:

Michael Isikoff / Newsweek:

A Hole in McCain's Defense? — An apparent contradiction in his response to lobbyist story. — A sworn deposition that Sen. John McCain gave in a lawsuit more than five years ago appears to contradict one part of a sweeping denial that his campaign issued this week to rebut a New York Times story …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress, MyDD, Hold Fast, RobertEmmet and Riehl World View

New York Times:

The McCain Article — A recent New York Times article examined a number of decisions by Senator John McCain that raised questions about his judgment over potential conflicts of interest. The article included reporting on Mr. McCain's relationship with a female lobbyist whose clients often …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Horses Mouth, The Corner, JustOneMinute, Think Progress, Los Angeles Times, Don Surber, TIME: Swampland, New York Post, Gothamist, Commentary, Poll Dancing, MSNBC, BuzzFlash.org, No More Mister Nice Blog and Hotline On Call

The Big Blog:

Why we didn't run the McCain story — I chose not to run the New York Times story on John McCain in Thursday's P-I, even though it was available to us on the New York Times News Service. I thought I'd take a shot at explaining why. — To me, the story had serious flaws.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Jawa Report, Think Progress, The Politico, Captain's Quarters, Washington Wire, michellemalkin.com, Atlas Shrugs, Personal Democracy Forum, The Moderate Voice, Hold Fast, News Hounds and Wake up America

Washington Post:

FEC Warns McCain on Campaign Spending — The nation's top federal election official told Sen. John McCain yesterday that he cannot immediately withdraw from the presidential public financing system as he had requested, a decision that threatens to dramatically restrict his spending until …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Firedoglake, D-Day, The Caucus, The Seminal, TIME, DownWithTyranny!, Argghhh!, MSNBC, AMERICAblog, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air and The Raw Story

David Brooks / New York Times:
The McCain World Rift

Discussion: Don Surber, The Plank and Reason Magazine

Stephen Singer / Associated Press:
Lieberman defends McCain from suggestion of improper relationship

Discussion: DownWithTyranny! and BuzzFlash.org

Pete Abel / The Moderate Voice:
Fact, Fiction, Fickleness, and Fanaticism

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Arizona Republic

CNN: Ex-McCain aide: Times report ‘implausible’

Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press:

Congressman Charged in Land Deal — WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Rick Renzi has been indicted for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges related to a land deal in Arizona. — A 26-page federal indictment unsealed in Arizona accuses Renzi and two former business partners …

Discussion: Think Progress, RealClearPolitics and Emptywheel

CNN:

Arizona GOP lawmaker indicted — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Rep. Rick Renzi was indicted Friday on multiple federal charges, law enforcement sources tell CNN. — In a 35-count indictment handed up by a grand jury in Arizona, Renzi is charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering extortion and insurance fraud.

Discussion: Macsmind

Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press:
Congressman charged in land deal

Discussion: Muckraker and The Carpetbagger Report

Atrios / Eschaton:
Oh My — Congressman Rick Renzi (R-AZ) indicted.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and War and Piece

CNN:

Clinton faces claims of borrowed language — (CNN) - Hillary Clinton - whose campaign has spent the past several days pointing to instances of borrowed language in the speeches of rival Barack Obama - is being accused of lifting words from one very familiar politician: her own husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Moderate Voice, Balloon Juice, The Daily Dish and KnoxViews

Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
If Obama Went 0-for-10 . . .

Discussion: The Campaign Spot

CNN:
The CNN Democratic presidential debate in Texas

Discussion: National Review, The Newshoggers, TalkLeft, The Opinionator, The Fix, Gateway Pundit, The Garlic, About.com US Liberal Politics, Middle Earth Journal, Ben Smith's Blogs, Dick Polman's American Debate, Jules Crittenden, Firedoglake, Comments from Left Field, The Reaction, Washington Post, UrbanGrounds and Health Blog

Bill Schneider / CNN:
Debate analysis: Clinton didn't land knockout

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Boston Globe and After W

Walter Shapiro / Salon:
Hillary Clinton's Texas-size moment

Discussion: Guardian Unlimited, The Moderate Voice, Washington Wire, New York Times and The Carpetbagger Report

Stuart Koehl / Weekly Standard:

Obama Heard Wrong — There is a lot about Obama's story that makes no sense. Let us start with the opening line: … Well, captains command companies, not rifle platoons. A rifle platoon is normally commanded by a 2nd lieutenant, sometimes (if short handed) by a senior sergeant.

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Corner, Hot Air, Flopping Aces, Danger Room, Gateway Pundit, The Jawa Report, The Strata-Sphere, A Blog For All and Charlie Foxtrot

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Obama once visited '60s radicals — In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district's influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, JustOneMinute, Reason Magazine, Commentary, Redstate, culturekitchen, MSNBC, Macsmind, Suburban Guerrilla and NO QUARTER

Jim Forsyth / WOAI-TV:

Huckabee: A Deadlocked Convention is My Goal — Insurgent Republican giving up dream of winning in primaries — In an interview with 1200 WOAI news during his swing through Texas, longshot Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee outlined a strategy which has him not winning …

Discussion: All Spin Zone, Political Radar, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air and PoliPundit.com

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Try a Little Tenderness — Barack Obama's biggest draw is not his eloquence. When you watch an Obama speech, you lean forward and listen and think, That's good. He's compelling, I like the way he speaks. And afterward all the commentators call him “impossibly eloquent” and say “he gave me thrills and chills.”

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and No More Mister Nice Blog

Gerard Baker / Times of London:

Obama: is America ready for this dangerous leftwinger? — Listen to the rhetoric of Barack Obama ... For most ordinary Americans, those not encumbered with an expensive education or infected by prolonged exposure to cosmopolitan heterodoxy, patriotism is a consequence of birth.

Abe Greenwald / Commentary:

Reuters' Sadr Story Vanishes — Reuters, the news agency with a policy forbidding the word “terrorist” from their stories and a penchant for printing doctored photos as evidence of Israeli aggression, has done it again. — Yesterday, Reuters posted a story entitled “Sadr Expected to End Truce” …

Discussion: Reuters

White House:

Press Gaggle by Scott Stanzel — MR. STANZEL: Good morning, everyone. I was going to say, for those of you who have been traveling, welcome back — but I'm not sure if we have anyone — you're all well rested. — I'll go through the President's schedule today and then take your questions, and I can do the week ahead at the end.

Discussion: First Draft