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

2:10 PM ET, February 22, 2008

Top Items:

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, Think Progress, JustOneMinute, Los Angeles Times, Don Surber, New York Post, Gothamist, Commentary, The Swamp, Poll Dancing, MSNBC, BuzzFlash.org and No More Mister Nice Blog

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, Booman Tribune, MyDD, Hold Fast, RobertEmmet and Riehl World View

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: The Jawa Report, Los Angeles Times, The Politico, Think Progress, Captain's Quarters, Washington Wire, michellemalkin.com, TIME: Swampland, Personal Democracy Forum, Hold Fast, The Moderate Voice, 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!, Outside The Beltway, MSNBC, AMERICAblog and Hot Air

David Brooks / New York Times:
The McCain World Rift

Discussion: Don Surber, The Plank and Reason Magazine

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

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

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Arizona Republic

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:

The CNN Democratic presidential debate in Texas — This is the transcript of the debate between Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on February 21, 2008 at the University of Texas in Austin. — CNN's CAMPBELL BROWN: And the candidates have taken their seats.

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

CNN:
Clinton faces claims of borrowed language

Discussion: The Daily Dish and KnoxViews

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

Discussion: The Campaign Spot

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
THAT LINE — I mentioned at the end of my debate blog …

Discussion: Time, The Washington Note, The Moderate Voice, Balloon Juice, The Democratic Daily, The Opinionator, Marc Ambinder, Ben Smith's Blogs, AMERICAN DIGEST, Classical Values, Comments from Left Field, Angry Bear and Spin Cycle

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, New York Times, Washington Wire 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: The Corner, protein wisdom, Hot Air, Flopping Aces, Danger Room, The Jawa Report, The Strata-Sphere and A Blog For All

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, Redstate, Commentary, culturekitchen, MSNBC, Suburban Guerrilla, Macsmind and NO QUARTER

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

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 and Hot Air

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.

Yahoo! News:

Exclusive: U.S. urges Pakistanis to keep Musharraf, despite election defeat — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan _The Bush administration is pressing the opposition leaders who defeated Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to allow the former general to retain his position, a move that Western diplomats …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Connecting.the.Dots

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: Little Green Footballs and 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