Top Items:
James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
The Two Jokes — What makes Wanda Sykes's witless vulgarity amusing to the president? — Printer — Friendly — The White House Correspondents Dinner took place this weekend. As usual, the president was in attendance and a comedian provided the evening's entertainment.
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Dana Milbank / Rough Sketch:
Etch-a-Sketch: Limbaugh Edition — Good morning. — Today, let us try a new game in which I, the Sketchwriter, get you, the Sketchreader, to do my work for me while I go to the gym, eat lunch and listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio. I call this Etch-a-Sketch.
Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
WANDA SYKES' OFFENSIVE ROUTINE. — Wanda Sykes' comedy routine at the White House Correspondent's Dinner was really offensive. In it, Sykes suggested that conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is supported by Hamas, and that Islamists are “constantly issuing Limbaugh talking points.”
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
White House distances itself from Wanda Sykes's joke about Rush Limbaugh.
White House distances itself from Wanda Sykes's joke about Rush Limbaugh.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin:
Robert Gibbs doesn't like his boss's taste in jokes
Robert Gibbs doesn't like his boss's taste in jokes
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, WorldNetDaily, theblogprof, Don Surber, Weekly Standard, Gateway Pundit and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
New York Times:
Commander's Ouster Tied to ‘New Approach’ in Afghan War — WASHINGTON — The top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David D. McKiernan, was forced out Monday in an abrupt shake-up intended to bring a more aggressive and innovative approach to a worsening seven-year war.
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Fred Kaplan / Slate:
The ouster of Afghanistan commander David McKiernan could make—or break—the Obama presidency. — Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced this afternoon that he has “asked for the resignation” of Gen. David McKiernan, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, and that he plans to replace him with Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
Gates Recommends Replacement for Top Command in Afghanistan
Gates Recommends Replacement for Top Command in Afghanistan
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, The Note, ThreatsWatch, FP Passport, Outside The Beltway and The Daily Dish
Jerusalem Post:
Sheikh attacks Israel, pope walks out — Article's topics: Sheikh Tamimi, Benedict XVI — Chief Islamic Judge of the Palestinian Authority, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, launched a poisonous verbal attack at Israel at a Monday night gathering attended by Pope Benedict XVI.
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The Politico:
Pelosi: Torture protest improper in '03 — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi learned in early 2003 that the Bush administration was waterboarding terror detainees but didn't protest directly out of respect for “appropriate” legislative channels, a confidant of the San Francisco Democrat said Monday.
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Bob Graham: I Wasn't Told About Waterboarding Or EITs In My Briefing — Former Senator Bob Graham, who received a classified briefing on terror detainees during the same month in the fall of 2002 as Nancy Pelosi, was not briefed about the use of either waterboarding or enhanced interrogation techniques during …
National Post:
David Frum: Quick fix today, crisis tomorrow in Obama's White House — Something bad and dangerous is happening in Barack Obama's America. — The powers that the Obama administration claimed in order to arrest the financial crisis and mitigate the recession are being used and abused in ways …
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
White House To Declassify “Holy Grail” Torture Report That Could Undercut Cheney — There's a big piece of news about Dick Cheney and torture buried toward the end of this big Washington Post piece about the torture wars. — Specifically: The White House has decided to declassify and release …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Caucus, David Corn, Think Progress, ACS Blog, Donklephant, Raw Story, American Footprints and Taylor Marsh
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Satyam Khanna / Think Progress:
Lieberman breaks with Cheney: 'We're not less safe' under Obama. — Yesterday on CBS's Face the Nation, former Vice President Cheney repeated his claim that President Obama is making the country less secure. Notably, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who has largely agreed with Cheney on national security policy, disagrees.
Mark Blumenthal / Pollster.com:
The Edwards 2008 What-If — The publication of a new book by Elizabeth Edwards, and especially the revelation that she advised her husband against running in 2008, has created a lot of “what if” speculation about how the race might have been different. Two weeks ago, for example …
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Peter Hamby / CNN:
Romney camp hits back at Steele for Mormonism comments — WASHINGTON (CNN) - In an unusual move for the person tasked with being his party's top cheerleader, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele is shining a light on the political vulnerabilities of one of the GOP's top figures …
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Jay Cost / HorseRaceBlog:
It's Time for Michael Steele To Resign — On Friday, Michael Steele guest hosted Bill Bennett's radio show - and he got into a conversation with a caller on the subject of Mitt Romney's presidential candidacy. This caller - “Jay” (not me!) - had suggested that Mitt Romney could have won …
Fox News:
Pageant Double Standard? Steamy Photos of Miss Rhode Island Won't Threaten Her Crown — While racy photos of Miss California Carrie Prejean could cost the outspoken first runner up in the Miss USA pageant her crown, pageant officials don't seem to care about even steamier photos of Miss Rhode Island that appeared in a men's magazine.
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Greg Hengler / Townhall.com:
Gay Miss CA Director Goes Nuclear On ‘Henchman’ …
Gay Miss CA Director Goes Nuclear On ‘Henchman’ …
Discussion:
GayPatriot
Room for Debate:
Why Iran Freed Roxana Saberi — An Iranian-American journalist, Roxana Saberi, who was tried and sentenced to eight years in prison in April on charges of spying for Washington, was released Monday after an appeals court reduced the sentence. — Iran has detained several Western journalists …
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Jorr / Christian Science Monitor:
Biden insults President Obama's dog at Syracuse — It was as though Vice President Biden time-warped back to last fall. Because on Sunday he was in full campaign attack mode. — Oh, it was an idyllic setting. Nobody saw it coming. The vice president had just finished delivering …
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Meghan McCain at WHCD: “Does he even know who the f*** I am?” — Sadly obligatory. I've been monitoring her Twitter feed all day in hopes of an angry denial, but no dice. What are the odds that the daughter of a senator and a millionaire heiress would turn out to be a brat?
Hugh Hewit / www.washingtonexaminer.com:
Here comes California's May 19 Rebellion — California voters head to the polls next week with predictions of doom echoing in their ears if they decline to endorse the massive tax hikes prescribed for them by big Democratic majorities in the statehouse, Arnold and a handful of now ruined-politically Republican legislators.
Marisa Guthrie / Broadcasting & Cable:
Jon Stewart to Make History Special — ‘The Naturalized’ highlights the network's most ambitious programming slate — Jon Stewart, who knows a thing or two about irony, will create a two-hour special on a perfect target—the U.S. naturalization process—for History Channel, to air in the fourth quarter.
Discussion:
Media Blog
Mark Halperin / The Page:
Limbaugh on Cheney's Motivations — What motivates Dick Cheney? — He doesn't need the money. He has no further political ambitions. He is not hot for interns. He is not a torture freak. He knows that he is toxic and despised by the drive-by media and the Democrat party and the left in this country.