memeorandum: Clinton Sticking to Iraq Plan, No Matter What (ABCNEWS)

7:10 AM ET, March 18, 2008

Top Items:

Gov. Paterson admits to sex with other woman for years — The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state's new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs. — In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife …

The Politico:

Race uproar offers test for Obama — Democrats who worry that Barack Obama is untested can put their concerns to rest. — The inflammatory rhetoric of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has confronted Obama with the most severe test of his presidential campaign and, quite likely, of his public career.

Discussion: marbury, protein wisdom, The New Republic, Brendan Nyhan, JustOneMinute and Ben Smith's Blogs

Gwen Ifill / The Page:

U.S. SENATOR, — Washington, D.C. — GWEN IFILL: Senator Obama, welcome. — SEN. OBAMA: Thank you. — MS. IFILL: The president said today we are in challenging times. You said yourself that we are teetering on the edge of a potential crisis. When you watch what the Fed …

Discussion: Boston Globe, Power Line and TPM Election Central

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Testing Of Obama — Today will be a crucial day. It will be a day when we will discover if America's racial environment - and the emotions and feelings and anger and fears that it entails - can allow for a black man - with all that entails - to become president.

Discussion: protein wisdom

Press Association:

On Defensive, Obama Plans Talk on Race — Faced with what his advisers acknowledged was a major test to his candidacy, Senator Barack Obama sought on Monday to contain the damage from incendiary comments made by his pastor and prepared to address the issue of race more directly than at any other moment of his presidential campaign.

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Page and Associated Press

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Obama plans major race speech tomorrow — Barack Obama will give a major speech on “the larger issue of race in this campaign,” he told reporters in Monaca, PA just now. — He was pressed there, as he has been at recent appearances, on statements by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Ross Douthat:
Denominations and Double Standards

Discussion: Eunomia and The Corner

Lee Speigel / Political Radar:
Obama: Discussion Over Wright's ‘Stupid Statements’ Have Been a Distraction

Discussion: Spin Cycle and Cliff Schecter

Baltimore Sun:
Obama: Wait until Tuesday for more on Rev. Wright

Discussion: American Thinker, Political Machine, American Power and Don Surber

John M. Broder / New York Times:

Florida Democrats Won't Vote Again, Official Says — WASHINGTON — The Florida Democratic Party chairwoman on Monday officially buried the possibility of redoing the state's disputed January presidential primary, saying there was no practical or affordable way to conduct a new election.

Discussion: PoliGazette and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Florida gives up on re-vote — Florida Democratic chairwoman Karen Thurman sends out an angry email abandoning hope of a re-vote in the state: … This is a real setback for Hillary, who could have gotten both delegates, momentum, and — crucially — a stronger chance to claim a popular vote lead out of the revote.

Discussion: CNN, The Reaction, The Swamp, Megan McArdle, MSNBC, Jonathan Martin's Blogs and 2008Central.net

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
Poll: Majority of Democrats prefer Obama

Discussion: MyDD and TPM Election Central

Kate Phillips / The Caucus:
Florida Democrats Concede Defeat on Mail-In Vote

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Fox News, My Left Wing, TalkLeft, Hot Air and Wampum

Brendan Farrington / Associated Press:
Florida Dems abandon mail-in vote plan

Discussion: Wake up America, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Outside The Beltway, Political Machine and AMERICAblog

Mark Halperin / The Page:
Florida Democratic Party Letter on Revote Decision

Discussion: Trailhead, TalkLeft, The Confluence and Salon

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:

How Did I Get Iraq Wrong? — I DIDN'T. … An “anniversary” of a “war” is in many ways the least useful occasion on which to take stock of something like the Anglo-American intervention in Iraq, if only because any such formal observance involves the assumption that a) this is, in fact …

Discussion: alicublog, TigerHawk and Little Miss Attila

Ace / minx.cc:

WRIGHT: ISRAEL A “DIRTY WORD;” JOKES THAT BLACKS GET ALL QUIET AT MENTION OF ISRAEL — Scared to speak, he says. — Why? Would that be anti-semitism that many left-indoctrinated blacks are reluctant to to express out loud? — Well, Obama's 20 year political ally and spiritual mentor encourages …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and Israel Matzav

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard Blog:
Wright on Israel

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs

New York Times:

Bombing Kills 43 in Shiite Holy City in Iraq — BAGHDAD — A bombing on Monday evening killed 43 people near the Imam Hussein shrine in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, penetrating one of the most secure perimeters in Iraq. Iraqi police officers at the scene and several witnesses …

Discussion: The Reaction, KnoxViews and Redstate

Jan Crawford / Legalities:

Dirty Words — Holy @$#%! Here's a surprise: The Supreme Court is going to hear some bad language. — The justices announced today they're going to take up the issue of profanity on network television—and whether it's OK for President Bush to use the “S-word” when he's talking about Hezbollah …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times: Justices Take Up On-Air Vulgarity Again

Kos / Daily Kos:

The Clinton civil war — Al Giordano, on the laughable Clinton-supporters “strike” of this blog: … I would add one more item to the list above — this site has also been hostile to the corrosive consultant class that gave us our timid and weak party until Howard Dean shook it up in 2004.

Discussion: I Am TRex, Wizbang, Tom Watson, Booman Tribune, Comments from Left Field, AMERICAblog, Hot Air, Salon, The Democratic Daily, The Confluence, Publius Pundit, BartBlog, PoliGazette, Political Punch and The Field

Forbes:

Memo To The Fed: Stop Those Rate Cuts — The markets rallied last Tuesday in response to the Fed's growing assistance to holders of mortgage-backed securities. Yet many onlookers are convinced that an aggressive cut in the federal funds rate at the upcoming March 18 meeting is still necessary to avoid a painful recession.

Discussion: Greg Mankiw's Blog and THE LIBERAL JOURNAL

ABCNEWS:

Clinton Sticking to Iraq Plan, No Matter What — In Testy Exchange With Reporter, Clinton's Top Advisers Clarify Her Troop Withdrawal Plan — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is sticking to her plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, no matter what. — In a testy exchange with a reporter …

Discussion: Fact Checker

Skippy / skippy the bush kangaroo:

now if jeralyn and cliff were the only ones blogging, we'd be set — two of our good blog buddies, jeralyn merrit of talk left and cliff schecter of cliff schecter, were on msnbc this morning discussing how the dems are afraid that the blog wars between obama supporters and clinton supporters may destroy the party.

Discussion: Open Left, TalkLeft and Taylor Marsh

CREW:

Senator Vitter: “there is an enormous difference” between Spitzer's case and mine — Well, both cases involving prostitution. One key difference between Spitzer and Vitter is that Vitter is still holding public office: … Last July, CREW filed a Senate Ethics Complaint against Sen. Vitter.

Discussion: Daily Kos