memeorandum: Obama: Rezko was ‘a significant fundraiser’ (Abdon M. Pallasch/Chicago Sun Times)

1:20 PM ET, March 15, 2008

Top Items:

Call girl laments use of exotic photos — NEW YORK - The lawyer for the call girl linked to the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer lashed out at the media on Friday for thrusting the 22-year-old woman into the “public glare” without her consent and publishing revealing photos.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, New York Post, The Other McCain, TigerHawk, Connecting.the.Dots, Macsmind, JammieWearingFool and Political Byline

Daryl Lang / pdnonline.com:
Press Taps MySpace For Photos Of Spitzer Call Girl

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, NewsBusters.org, snapped shot and TVNewser

Abdon M. Pallasch / Chicago Sun Times:

Obama: Rezko was ‘a significant fundraiser’ — In an extensive 80-minute interview with the Sun-Times, White House hopeful Barack Obama laid out just how close he and indicted Chicago businessman Tony Rezko grew personally and financially. — Rezko could have donated as much as $250,000 …

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, TalkLeft, Rezko Watch, NO QUARTER, Scripting News and Eye on Rezko

Chicago Sun Times:

More Rezko dough found — For the first time, Sen. Barack Obama put a figure Friday to the amount of campaign contributions that indicted political fund-raiser Tony Rezko raised for the senator's campaigns, and the number — about $250,000 — was far more than he previously acknowledged.

Discussion: Chicago Tribune and Rezko Watch

David Jackson / Chicago Tribune:
Obama says Rezko played a bigger fundraising role

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, The Swamp, Pat Dollard, Publius Pundit, Scared Monkeys, The Page, Political Punch and Marc Ambinder

Jodi Kantor / New York Times:

Obama Denounces Statements of His Pastor as ‘Inflammatory’ — In the handful of years Senator Barack Obama has spent in the national spotlight, his stance toward his pastor has gone from glowing praise to growing distance to — as of Friday — strong criticism.

Discussion: The Corner, GetReligion, Riehl World View, The Moderate Voice, Outside The Beltway, The Caucus, American Power and Rezko Watch

Alex Johnson / MSNBC:
Controversial minister leaves Obama campaign

J. Bennett Guess / ucc.org:
Chicago's Trinity UCC is ‘great gift to wider church family’

Discussion: Associated Press, Booker Rising, UCCtruths and Tammy Bruce

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Wright leaves Obama campaign

Rich Lowry / The Corner:
Wright in “Dreams of My Father”

Discussion: Power Line, Commentary, PrestoPundit, Guardian Unlimited, QandO, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The New Republic and TPM Election Central

Hindrocket / Power Line:
OBAMA DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM WRIGHT

Discussion: American Thinker, NewsBusters.org, Open Left, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Steve Sailer's iSteve Blog, The Moderate Voice and The Anonymous Liberal

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Saddam's Dangerous Friends — What a Pentagon review of 600,000 Iraqi documents tells us. — This ought to be big news. Throughout the early and mid-1990s, Saddam Hussein actively supported an influential terrorist group headed by the man who is now al Qaeda's second-in-command …

Discussion: Firedoglake, protein wisdom, The Sundries Shack, Power Line, American Power, Lawyers, Guns and Money and Hot Air

Rukmini Callimachi / Associated Press:

Muslims nations: Defame Islam, get sued? — DAKAR, Senegal - The Muslim world has created a battle plan to defend its religion from political cartoonists and bigots. — Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, leaders of the world's Muslim nations …

Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY, Tammy Bruce, The Colossus of Rhodey, JammieWearingFool, Slog and Gateway Pundit

Anthony J. Diaz / Washington Post:

Hard-Won Progress In Baghdad — BAGHDAD — Since I arrived here last August, I have been struck by four things: the financial commitment we have made to reconstruction; the precipitous decline in violence; the inklings of representative government; and the small yet significant progress …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Hot Air, The BIDINOTTO BLOG and Neptunus Lex

CNN:

Sirius Radio launches ‘Client 9 Radio’ — NEW YORK (CNN) — For those who can't get enough of the sex scandal that brought down New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Sirius Satellite Radio has launched what it is calling “Client 9 Radio,” a special channel dedicated to covering all aspects of the Spitzer saga.

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

House Votes to Reject Immunity for Phone Companies Involved in Wiretaps — WASHINGTON — After its first secret session in a quarter-century, the House on Friday rejected retroactive immunity for the phone companies that took part in the National Security Agency's program of eavesdropping without warrants …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Swampland and Buck Naked Politics

New York Times:

Delegate Battles Snarl Democrats in Two States — Democrats in Michigan and Florida struggled Friday to resolve the impasse over their disputed January primaries, coming up with a plan to hold a June primary in Michigan while remaining deadlocked in Florida.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Classical Values, Tom Watson, TPM Election Central, Don Surber, Electoral-vote.com, Oliver Willis, Redstate and The RBC

Ben / Think Progress:

AP Says McCain Is A ‘Man Of The People’ For Taking Train Despite Noting He Rode First Class — Earlier this month, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) hosted a “thank you” Sunday cookout for over 40 reporters from a wide variety of news outlets at his vacation home in Arizona.

Discussion: Random House, Outside The Beltway, Associated Press, Oliver Willis and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Jim Yardley / New York Times:

Violence in Tibet as Monks Clash With the Police — Chinese security forces in Lhasa, Tibet, took cover during a fifth day of protests. The banner overhead reads, “Strengthen public safety management, safeguard political stability.” Beijing is facing the most serious demonstrations in Tibet since the 1980s.