memeorandum: Sources: Top Bush Advisors Approved ‘Enhanced Interrogation’ (ABCNEWS)

3:30 AM ET, April 10, 2008

Top Items:

Sources: Top Bush Advisors Approved ‘Enhanced Interrogation’ — Detailed Discussions Were Held About Techniques to Use on al Qaeda Suspects — By JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG, HOWARD L. ROSENBERG and ARIANE de VOGUE — In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House …

Discussion: The Gun Toting Liberal™, RADAMISTO, The Reaction, American Street, War in Context, Think Progress, First Draft, Comments from Left Field, Balkinization, AMERICAblog and Concurring Opinions

Marc Ambinder:

War Crimes — A provocative headline, I know, perhaps needlessly so, but it remains one of those hidden secrets in Washington that a Democratic Justice Department is going to be very interested in figuring out whether there's a case to be made that senior Bush Administration officials were guilty of war crimes.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com and Weekly Standard Blog

Reuters:

Top Bush aides approved interrogation tactics: report — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush's most senior advisers approved “enhanced interrogation techniques” of top al Qaeda suspects by the Central Intelligence Agency, ABC News reported on Wednesday, citing sources it did not name.

Discussion: Cliff Schecter … and Shakesville

Balkinization: War Crimes Prosecutions in the U.S.? Dream On

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Obama Leads Clinton by 10 Points — Second double-digit lead for Obama in Gallup tracking — PRINCETON, NJ — For the third consecutive day, Barack Obama holds a significant advantage over Hillary Clinton in national Democratic preferences for the Democratic presidential nomination, now 51% to 41%.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, Comments from Left Field, PoliBlog (TM), The Daily Dish and TPM Election Central

Canadian Press:
Canadian voters ‘heart’ Obama despite NAFTA

Discussion: The Reaction, Political Machine and Don Surber

Chuck Todd / MSNBC:
McCain's path to victory

Discussion: Commentary and Washington Wire

CNN:
Obama shatters ad spending record

Discussion: The Swamp, MoJoBlog, Top of the Ticket, TalkLeft, Don Surber, Hot Air, Corrente and Political Punch

Ed OKeefe / Political Radar:

As Chicago Bids for Games, Obama Ducks Olympics Criticism — ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Barack Obama doesn't seem to want to talk about the Olympics or Senator Clinton's call for a boycott of the opening ceremonies on August 8, 2008. — At a town hall in Malvern, Pennsylvania …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, The Huffington Post, Trailhead, Redstate, Boston Globe, Patterico's Pontifications, SocraticGadfly and Liberty Street

San Francisco Chronicle:
Route shortened after thousands gather for S.F. torch run

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, The Lede, Fox News, On Deadline, MoJoBlog, A Blog For All, Associated Press, Philly.com, Political Machine and Patterico's Pontifications

CNN: House passes Chinese crackdown resolution

Cathryn Khalil / KLTV-TV:

Athens School ‘Attack’ Proven To Be False, Girl To Be Charged — There are major new developments today in the case of a supposed beating of a student from Athens Middle School. — Charges are being filed against 13 year old Melanie Bowers by Athens ISD through the Henderson County District …

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, Tyler Morning Telegraph, michellemalkin.com, skippy the bush kangaroo and Immigration Chronicles

Associated Press:
Texas Teen Hurt After Bringing Anti-Illegal Immigration Sign to School

Discussion: Roger Ailes

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Elton John: ‘To hell with them’ — There's a real crowd at Radio City, complete with scalpers, and lines around the block for Elton John and the Clintons. — Toward the back of one line: Frank Luntz, Lanny Davis, and Doug Schoen. ("I used to be in business with Mark Penn," Schoen joked.)

Discussion: New York Times, The New Republic, The Democratic Daily and Don Surber

Mark Leibovich / New York Times:

The Aria of Chris Matthews — Whenever Chris Matthews says something he likes, which happens a lot, he repeats it often and at volumes suggesting a speaker who feels insufficiently listened to at times. “Tim Russert finally reeled the big marlin into the boat tonight,” Matthews yelled …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, The Confluence, NewsBusters.org, FishBowlDC, The Other McCain, Media Blog, The New Editor, The Huffington Post, Shakesville and Romenesko

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

For Many, a Boom That Wasn't — How has the United States economy gotten to this point? — It's not just the apparent recession. Recessions happen. If you tried to build an economy immune to the human emotions that produce boom and bust, you would end up with something that looked like East Germany.

Discussion: TPMCafe, Big Brass Blog, ParaPundit, Wonk Room, The Huffington Post, Wonkette, The Big Picture, Economics Blog, RADAMISTO and Calculated Risk

Southern Political Report:

New InsiderAdvantage Poll — Latest InsiderAdvantage Poll Pennsylvania Primary: Clinton 48%, Obama 38% — A new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion poll shows Sen. Hillary Clinton regaining some ground she'd previously lost to Sen. Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary race.

Discussion: MyDD

Robert H. Reid / Associated Press:

AP photographer granted Iraqi amnesty — BAGHDAD - An Iraqi judicial committee has dismissed terrorism-related allegations against Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein and ordered him released nearly two years after he was detained by the U.S. military.

Discussion: Hot Air, Power Line, Little Green Footballs and The Jawa Report

Michelle Malkin:
The AP and Bilal Hussein: Story is not over

Discussion: Jules Crittenden and A Blog For All

John Sides / The Monkey Cage:

Implicit Prejudice Revealed: Opposition to a Woman President … That is from an interesting new paper by Matthew Streb, Barbara Burrell, Brian Frederick, and Michael Genovese (gated here, ungated here). — Here's the experiment, which was conducted in a March 2006 poll.

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
STUDY: 26% “ANGRY OR UPSET” BY FEMALE PRESIDENT....Last month …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

Rebecca Dana / Wall Street Journal:

CBS News, Katie Couric Are Likely to Part Ways — Barring a Change, Departure Could Follow the Election; — A Successor to Larry King? — After two years of record-low ratings, both CBS News executives and people close to Katie Couric say that the “CBS Evening News” …

Discussion: Gawker, The News Junkie, Ed Driscoll.com, Wizbang and Truthdig

Bill Scher / Today's Ideas & Actions:

Occupying Iraq Is Just Like Occupying ... Alabama? — Earlier this week, I mentioned that the conservative blog RedState is trying to pressure the traditional media to treat critiques of John McCain's embrace of a 100-year occupation of Iraq as lies and distortion.

Discussion: Liberal Values, Prometheus 6, The Carpetbagger Report, QandO, Democratic National Committee and If I Ran the Zoo

Canada NewsWire Group:

Commission Issues Statement on Decision in Maclean's Cases — The Ontario Human Rights Commission has decided not to proceed with complaints filed against Maclean's magazine related to its publication of an article “The future belongs to Islam.” The complainants alleged that the content …

Discussion: Overlawyered

Camille Paglia / Salon:

Hillary's slick willies — Does Hillary surround herself with girly men? Obama and the experience question. Plus: Lincoln, Madonna's new face and a Bush with real authority. — I would like to get your feedback on the subject of those who end up in Hillary's orbit.