memeorandum: Op-Ed Contributors: Reflections on the Invasion of Iraq (New York Times)

9:05 PM ET, March 16, 2008

Top Items:

Obama's church accuses media of character assassination — The Chicago church attended by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) issued a statement Sunday contending that coverage of his pastor's inflammatory remarks amounted to character assassination and “an attack on ... the history of the African American church.”

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, The Sundries Shack, Political Byline, Donklephant, Stop The ACLU and PoliGazette

Marc Ambinder:

An “Attack” On The Church — CBS News's John Bentley spent Palm Sunday at the United Church of Christ and was handed this press release:

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Other McCain and Ben Smith's Blogs

Sweetness & Light:

Pastor Wright Erased From Obama's Website — Just like in the bad old days of the Stalinist Soviet Union, an inconvenient personage has been airbrushed from the Barack Obama campaign's website. — Before, via Google's cache (as retrieved on Mar 8, 2008 20:01:06 GMT): … And the current page:

Discussion: The Jawa Report, JustOneMinute, Hot Air and Stop The ACLU

Little Green Footballs:

Obama Web Site ‘Disappears’ Radical Pastor — The official Barack Obama campaign web site has quietly airbrushed away any mention of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, with no statement or explanation. He was formerly the very first person listed on Obama's “Testimonials” page: Pastor Wright Erased From Obama's Website.

Discussion: Don Surber

Byron York / The Corner:

Axelrod: A “Major” Reason Wright Didn't Speak At Obama's Announcement Was...It Was Too Cold — Top Obama adviser David Axelrod just told reporters that the weather was one of the reasons Rev. Jeremiah Wright did not speak at Obama's presidential candidacy announcement last year in Springfield, Illinois.

Mark Steyn / The Corner:
Pew research center

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Mark Steyn / Orange County Register:
Obama's pastor disaster

Discussion: NO QUARTER, Blue Crab Boulevard, Betsy's Page and Patterico's Pontifications

Wall Street Journal:

Bear Stearns Closes in on Deal To Sell Itself to J.P. Morgan — Bear Stearns Cos. was closing in on a deal Sunday afternoon to sell itself to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., as worries deepened that the financial crisis of confidence could spread if Bear failed to find a buyer by Monday morning.

Discussion: Emptywheel, Dealbreaker, The Agonist, Grasping Reality … and Reason Magazine

New York Times:

JPMorgan Acts to Buy Ailing Bear Stearns at Huge Discount — Bear Stearns, facing collapse because of the mortgage crisis, agreed Sunday evening to be bought by JPMorgan Chase for a bargain-basement price of less than $250 million, the two companies announced.

Discussion: Crooked Timber, Obsidian Wings and Marginal Revolution

Gretchen Morgenson / New York Times:
Rescue Me: A Fed Bailout Crosses a Line

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Greg Mankiw's Blog and The New Republic

Think Progress:

One Year Later, Market Where McCain Strolled ‘Freely’ Is Controlled By Sadr, Too Unsafe For Americans To Visit — On April 1, 2007, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) strolled through the open-air Shorja market in Baghdad in an effort to prove that Americans are “not getting the full picture” of what's going on in Iraq.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Associated Press, The Newshoggers, The Seminal, Hullabaloo, Angry Bear and Political Byline

John F. Burns / New York Times:
Five Years — FIVE years on, it seems positively surreal.

Discussion: The Belmont Club, Political Byline, DownWithTyranny!, democracyarsenal.org, Hot Air, Right Wing News, JustOneMinute and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

New York Times:
McCain Visits Iraq to Meet With Officials

Discussion: AMERICAblog

ABCNEWS:

Bill Clinton: ‘Chill Out,’ Let Voters Decide — Former President Says Most Democrats Like Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — Bill Clinton, in an exclusive interview with Robin Roberts, said he thinks Democrats are torn between two candidates they like, and that it's time to “chill out” …

Discussion: TVNewser

New York Times:

Op-Ed Contributors: Reflections on the Invasion of Iraq — To mark this week's fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the Op-Ed page asked nine experts on military and foreign affairs to assess their previous and current outlook.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Balloon Juice, The Newshoggers, Right Wing Nut House, The Glittering Eye, toohotfortnr, TBogg, Unqualified Offerings, The Impolitic and Once Upon a Time

Ilan Goldenberg / democracyarsenal.org:

It's Not the Execution — The NY Times has its five year retrospective on the Iraq War and I gotta say I'm not impressed. There are nine pieces: Bremer, Perle, Slaughter, Pollack, Pletka, Fick, Eaton, Kagan, and Cordesman. I understand the need to bring in more conservatives for this piece …

Discussion: New York Times and Angry Bear

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: Juan Williams lowers the boom on Obama — By special request of Ace, who tells me his commenters were buzzing about it this morning. Williams has never had much patience for grievance culture so this shouldn't surprise. He's juggling a lot of balls here — the “authenticity” …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:

Newsweek Examines Eliot Spitzer's Life — In a very long article, Evan Thomas examines the life and background of Eliot Spitzer, trying to understand why he engaged in such reckless conduct. Shorter version: He was trying to please Daddy. — He describes Spitzer's family: … More...

Discussion: Newsweek

Chicago Tribune:

Obama prepares for full assault on Clinton — Contender to take aim at Clinton's ethics — PLAINFIELD, Ind. - Sen. Barack Obama is trying to air his dirty laundry — even some items that might appear just a little wrinkled — as he prepares a full assault on Sen. Hillary Clinton over ethics and transparency.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and The Swamp