memeorandum: Cheney says Iraq invasion “successful endeavor” (Tabassum Zakaria/Reuters)

1:20 PM ET, March 17, 2008

Top Items:

Kristol Fails To Check His Sources, And So Bungles Key Fact In Anti-Obama Column — Bill Kristol's New York Times column about Barack Obama this morning contains a major, prejudicial error. — Paragraph five: … The error is in trusting the source without checking.

William Kristol / New York Times:

Generation Obama? Perhaps Not. — Sunday evening, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner held a “Generation Obama” fund-raiser at Boston's Rumor Nightclub. In case you're not up on the Boston club scene, I should tell you that Rumor “brings together the sexiest and hippest people from around the globe” …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, USA Today, Ben Smith's Blogs, Marc Ambinder, Fox News, michellemalkin.com, Don Surber, Shakesville, Fact Check, Naked Politics, Political Machine, Scared Monkeys, NewsBusters.org, Publius Pundit and Balloon Juice

Rasmussen Reports:

Just 8% Have Favorable Opinion of Pastor Jeremiah Wright — Pastor Jeremiah Wright, who has become part of the national political dialogue in recent days, is viewed favorably by 8% of voters nationwide. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 58% have an unfavorable view …

Discussion: Commentary, Hot Air, Sweetness & Light, TPM Election Central and Gateway Pundit

Ronald Kessler / NewsMax.com:

Washington Insider with Ronald Kessler — Obama Attended Hate America Sermon — Contrary to Senator Barack Obama's claim that he never heard his pastor Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. preach hatred of America, Obama was in the pews last July 22 when the minister blamed the “white arrogance” …

Discussion: The New Republic, USA Today, The Corner, Jules Crittenden, Newsweek, Political Byline, FREEDOM EDEN, Top of the Ticket, Israpundit, Classical Values and Hot Air

Ross Douthat:

Falwell and Wright — Ezra Klein's a smart guy, so I'm assuming this is a parody of liberal cluelessness rather than the real thing: … What horses**t. If John McCain were an evangelical Christian and a longstanding member of Jerry Falwell's congregation, and if he had written a memoir describing …

Faiz / Think Progress:

Kristol commits major error in NYT column. — Marc Ambinder reports Bill Kristol's NYT column today contains “a major, prejudicial error.” Kristol asserts that Obama “was in fact in the pews” when pastor Jeremiah Wright blamed the “arrogance” of the “United States of White America” for much of the world's suffering.

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
I Don't Know What You Did Last Summer — Barack catches a break …

Discussion: Power Line, The Strata-Sphere, The Campaign Spot, Redstate, Fausta's blog, The Other McCain and Hot Air

Wall Street Journal:
Obama Under Fire As Personal Ties Stir Controversy

Discussion: Dick Polman's American Debate and New York Times

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The B Word — O.K., here it comes: The unthinkable is about to become the inevitable. — Last week, Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, and John Lipsky, a top official at the International Monetary Fund, both suggested that public funds might be needed to rescue the U.S. financial system.

Discussion: Megan McArdle, The Newshoggers, TPMCafe, Washington Monthly, The Glittering Eye, The Smirking Chimp, The American Mind, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Peking Duck, The Democratic Daily, AMERICAblog, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, The Mahablog, Connecting.the.Dots, Corrente and DownWithTyranny!

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard / Telegraph:
Foreign investors veto Fed rescue

Discussion: Sadly, No! and Vox Popoli

Reuters:
Bear Stearns Chairman Played Cards Amid Crisis-WSJ

Discussion: Shakesville, Eschaton, First Draft and Matthew Yglesias

Wall Street Journal:
The Buck Stops Where? — In the credit market panic that began …

Discussion: American Spectator and Donklephant

Megan McArdle:
Sold! — So JP Morgan has agreed to buy Bear Stearns at $2 a share.

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Bloomberg, Marc Ambinder, Associated Press, Hot Air, New York Times, Obsidian Wings and TigerHawk

Washington Post:
Fed Takes Broad Action to Avert Financial Crisis

Discussion: Associated Press, TownHall Blog and Reason Magazine

Glenn Thrush / The Swamp:
Clinton backs Fed, says economy's ‘in the soup’

Discussion: The Page

MarketWatch:
Fed acts Sunday to prevent global bank run Monday

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Grasping Reality … and Economist's View

Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:
JP Morgan Pays $2 a Share for Bear Stearns

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, CNNMoney.com, Think Progress, Washington Post, The Lede, Redstate, New York Magazine, Guardian Unlimited, Prairie Weather, Law Blog, Guardian, The American Scene, DealBook, Washington Monthly, Pressing Issues, The Moderate Voice and Marginal Revolution

Athenae / First Draft:
It's A Small Crime

Discussion: Liberal Fascism

Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Bush Is Becoming Hoover; Where is FDR?

Discussion: New York Times, Boston Globe, The Confluence and The American Mind

Ron Fournier / Associated Press:

ON DEADLINE: Obama walks arrogance line — WASHINGTON - Arrogance is a common vice in presidential politics. A person must be more than a little self-important to wake up one day and say, “I belong in the Oval Office.” — But there's a line smart politicians don't cross — somewhere between …

Discussion: TownHall Blog and MSNBC

Zogby:

Zogby Poll: U.S. Wants McCain to Answer the Phone — GOP presidential candidate seen as best to handle a 3 a.m. crisis at the White House — UTICA, New York - The recent Hillary Clinton campaign advertisement asking who Americans want answering the phone in the White House when a crisis erupts …

Discussion: Wake up America, Comments from Left Field and PoliGazette

Jill Zuckman / The Swamp:
Clinton: McCain would keep troops in Iraq 100 years

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Ben Smith's Blogs

Lesley Clark / MiamiHerald.com:

Democrats unable to agree on Florida do-over — The ongoing problem of how to resolve Florida's outsider status in the presidential race continued to divide Democrats. — AIM — lclark@MiamiHerald.com — As the Florida Democratic Party gets ready to decide Monday whether to pull …

Discussion: Commentary, Real Clear Politics, MyDD, JammieWearingFool and The Page

Detroit News:

Legislation for do-over is in limbo — Obama must agree to repeat election before bill is written — LANSING — State lawmakers looking at a Democratic presidential primary redo in Michigan appear to be locked in a standoff heading into a crucial week: Legislative leaders say the U.S …

Discussion: Redstate and TPM Election Central

Jeane MacIntosh / New York Post:

I WAS MCG AND WIFE'S THREE-WAY SEX STUD: EX-DRIVER — A former driver and aide to former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey yesterday made the bombshell claim that Dina Matos McGreevey must have always known her husband was gay - because he was the other man in bed with them.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, New Jersey Online, New York Magazine, Gothamist, JammieWearingFool and PageSix.com

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

Fateful Choice on Iraq Army Bypassed Debate — BAGHDAD — When President Bush convened a meeting of his National Security Council on May 22, 2003, his special envoy in Iraq made a statement that caught many of the participants by surprise. In a video presentation from Baghdad …

Discussion: Sic Semper Tyrannis 2008, TPMCafe, TPMMuckraker and Democrats.com

Scott Helman / Boston Globe:

Many voting for Clinton to boost GOP — Seek to prolong bitter battle — For a party that loves to hate the Clintons, Republican voters have cast an awful lot of ballots lately for Senator Hillary Clinton: About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show.

Discussion: The Caucus, MSNBC, TPMCafe, TPM Election Central and PoliGazette

Peter Wehner / Commentary:

The Religious Left — For the last quarter-century, the MSM has focused almost all of its coverage on faith on the religious Right. One of the consequences of all the attention being given to the hate-filled sermons by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright is that it will draw attention to the religious Left in America.