memeorandum: House Passes FISA Amendments Act (Jesse Lee/The Gavel)

5:45 PM ET, March 14, 2008

Top Items:

On My Faith and My Church — The pastor of my church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who recently preached his last sermon and is in the process of retiring, has touched off a firestorm over the last few days. He's drawn attention as the result of some inflammatory and appalling remarks he made about our country …

Discussion: Washington Wire, The New Republic, The Swamp, The Jawa Report, The Sleuth, The Opinionator, Hot Air, American Street, TPM Election Central, Obsidian Wings, Donklephant, The Caucus and The Page

Ronald Kessler / Wall Street Journal:

Obama and the Minister — In a sermon delivered at Howard University, Barack Obama's longtime minister, friend and adviser blamed America for starting the AIDS virus, training professional killers, importing drugs and creating a racist society that would never elect a black candidate president.

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

IS WRIGHT A “DEATH BLOW” TO OBAMA? — Like a number of emailers, TPM Reader JB is wringing his hands over Obama's Rev. Wright: … Late Update: TPM Reader KR defends JB: … TPM Reader MS foresees this line of attack:

Discussion: Interesting Times

Tim Graham / NewsBusters.org:

Study: Broadcast Networks Fell Down on Covering Jeremiah Wright — As Jeremiah Wright's screaming sermons have gone from ABC across the media in the last 24 hours, many are asking: where were the networks on this story? It sounds like Obama's minister is less versed in the audacity of hope than in the audacity of hate.

Discussion: The Other McCain

David Brown / PittsburghLIVE.com:

Obama addresses Pa.'s importance, pastor's remarks — TRIBUNE-REVIEW — The following are excerpts of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's telephone interview Thursday with Tribune-Review reporter David. M. Brown. — Q: Gov. (Ed) Rendell and (Philadelphia) Mayor (Michael) …

Discussion: The Politico, Gateway Pundit, Guardian Unlimited, TPM Election Central, Hot Air, Guardian, Stop The ACLU, Spin Cycle, Obsidian Wings, Real Clear Politics, Media Matters for America, Centerpoint Review, The Current, Trailhead and protein wisdom

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Wright Stuff — It's nutty, offensive and paranoid stuff. And it is perfectly legitimate for reporters and voters to ask questions. It is not much nuttier than Falwell and Robertson, however. And I don't think it's racist to understand that the black church has a different cultural style …

Discussion: The Opinionator and Ross Douthat

Deacon / Power Line:
THE AUDACITY OF HATE, PART FOUR

Discussion: Doug Ross

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama camp: ‘Deplores divisive statements’

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Swampland, Commentary, Top of the Ticket and Obsidian Wings

Fox News:
Obama's Pastor's Sermon: ‘God Damn America’

Discussion: Channel '08

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
NO PLANS FOR WRIGHT TO STEP DOWN

Discussion: Riehl World View and Spin Cycle

Jesse Lee / The Gavel:

House Passes FISA Amendments Act — The House has just passed the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3773, to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes, by a vote of 213-197-1.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Newshoggers, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, The Washington Independent, DownWithTyranny!, American Street and MyDD

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:

House Passes Surveillance Bill — Ignoring Bush Demands, Measure Does Not Offer Telecom Immunity — A deeply divided House approved its latest version of terrorist surveillance legislation today, rebuffing President Bush's demand for a bill that would grant telecommunications firms retroactive immunity …

Discussion: TPMMuckraker, Salon, Electronic Frontier Foundation, TalkLeft, The Reaction and The Carpetbagger Report

Jim Oliphant / The Swamp:
FISA bill passes House; time for Spring Break '08!

Discussion: The Crypt's Blogs

Mark Schmitt / American Prospect:

WHY CLINTON DOESN'T WANT A RE-VOTE. — <p>p.s. Commenter <a href="http://www.nycweboy.com/ “>weboy </a>complained that I should have sought out more pro-Clinton blogs, and recommends a few, so I will link to Tom Watson's recent post, <a href="http://tomwatson.typepad.com/ tom_watson/2008/03 …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Matthew Yglesias, Associated Press, The Carpetbagger Report and American Street

John Kennedy / Central Florida Political Pulse:
Nelson Proposes Half Delegation For Florida Dems

Discussion: TPM Election Central and Hotline On Call

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
Report: Agreement Imminent on Michigan

Discussion: TPM Election Central, Washington Wire and Corrente

Steve Holland / Reuters:

McCain says al Qaeda might try to tip U.S. election — SPRINGFIELD, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday he fears that al Qaeda or another extremist group might attempt spectacular attacks in Iraq to try to tilt the U.S. election against him.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, TPM Election Central, Wonkette, The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway, Think Progress, Centerpoint Review, democracyarsenal.org and Real Clear Politics

The Huffington Post:

Bush “Envious” Of Soldiers Serving “Romantic” Mission In Afghanistan — President Bush let his inner adventurer out while discussing the state of the war in Afghanistan with military and civilian personnel. While those in Afghanistan detailed the logistical and diplomatic problems via teleconference …

Discussion: The Impolitic, The Smirking Chimp, The Carpetbagger Report, WTF Is It Now?!? and LewRockwell.com Blog

Matthew Yglesias:
The Romance of Empire — George W. Bush laments that his advanced age …

Discussion: Sadly, No!, Think Progress, Wonkette, AMERICAblog and Obsidian Wings

Bloomberg:

Obama Cuts Into Clinton's Delegate Lead Among Elected Officials — Barack Obama has pulled almost even with Hillary Clinton in endorsements from top elected officials and has cut into her lead among the other superdelegates she's relying on to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

Discussion: TPMCafe

Janny Scott / New York Times:

A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama's Path — In the capsule version of the Barack Obama story, his mother is simply the white woman from Kansas. The phrase comes coupled alliteratively to its counterpart, the black father from Kenya. On the campaign trail, he has called her his “single mom.”

Discussion: New York Post, The Campaign Spot, Jezebel, Lone Star Times, The XX Factor, American Street, Gawker, The Caucus, The Confluence, Comments from Left Field, Real Clear Politics, MSNBC and Prairie Weather

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Obama Leads Clinton 50% to 44% — McCain presents stiff competition for Obama and Clinton — PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton in national Democratic nomination preferences by a statistically significant 6-percentage point margin, 50% to 44% …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Mona Charen / The Corner:

Obama's True Beliefs — Derb: I am coming to believe that Barack Obama is one of the greatest con artists we've seen. His entire campaign has been about “coming together,” a post-racial consensus, etc. Any mention of his middle name was immediately condemned as ignorant fear-mongering.

Discussion: Salon

CNBC.com:

US Faces Severe Recession, Feldstein Says — The United States has entered a recession that could be “substantially more severe” than recent ones, former National Bureau of Economic Research President Martin Feldstein said Friday. — “The situation is very bad, the situation is getting worse …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder