memeorandum: The Case for Working With Your Hands (Matthew B. Crawford/New York Times)

9:00 PM ET, May 23, 2009

Top Items:

Andie Coller / The Politico:

RNC's below-the-belt shot at Pelosi — She's the 69-year-old speaker of the House of Representatives, second in the line of succession and the most powerful woman in U.S. history. — But when you see Nancy Pelosi, the Republican National Committee wants you to think “Pussy Galore.”

Discussion: Firedoglake, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Moderate Voice, Pam's House Blend, Gateway Pundit, The Sundries Shack, Big Brass Blog, Ben Smith's Blog, Riehl World View, Washington Monthly, The Rhetorican, Politics Daily, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Shakesville, Grasping Reality …, The Reaction and Balloon Juice

Darleen / protein wisdom:

Weekend giggle: Pussy hysteria [Darleen Click] UPDATED — The RNC uses images and audio from 1964's Goldfinger, where not only Bond but the CIA gets to play, to tweak Liar Pelosi and Hapless Gibbs. For a brief 3 seconds (at .40) SanFranGran is shown side-by-side with Bond villainess, Pussy Galore, and all kerfuffle breaks loose.

Discussion: Fausta's Blog

Taylor Marsh:

RNC Tags Pelosi ‘Pussy Galore’ in Video — At the end it says “Democrats Galore.” Imposed with a naked woman behind the tag line. Get it? Subtle it is not. But check out the video at around :40 seconds; a split screen that says it all. “Pussy Galore” is shown with “Starring Nancy Pelosi the Speaker” over “Pussy's” image.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Politics Daily, The Other McCain, At-Largely and American Power

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: The obligatory “RNC takes cheap shot at Pelosi” clip — I would have posted this sooner but I ended up locked in a two-hour Twitter battle over it, the highlight of which was my being compared to a hypothetical German in the early years of the Third Reich who refused to go jumping to conclusions about Hitler.

Discussion: Politics Daily, Macsmind and Politics and Critical Thinking

Drudge Report:

'WE'RE OUT OF MONEY' — In a sobering holiday interview with C-SPAN, President Obama boldly told Americans: “We are out of money.” — C-SPAN host Steve Scully broke from a meek Washington press corps with probing questions for the new president. — SCULLY: You know the numbers …

Discussion: naked capitalism, Scared Monkeys, Gateway Pundit, Wizbang, theblogprof, Six Meat Buffet, Classical Values, No Sheeples Here!, Don Surber, Patterico's Pontifications, Althouse, Daily Pundit and Pajamas Media

Washington Post:

In TV Appearance, Powell Plans To Answer Right-Wing Critics — Under intense fire from the right, former secretary of state Colin L. Powell is preparing to answer his Republican critics this weekend in a television appearance that is likely to add fuel to his long-standing feud with top conservatives in his party.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, NewsBusters.org, The Caucus, Hot Air, On Deadline, AMERICAblog News and New York Times

Wall Street Journal:

GOP Sees Road to Revival Starting at Guantanamo — Fights Over Prison Closure, Transfer and Treatment of Detainees Gives Republicans Momentum for First Time Since Election — WASHINGTON — Republicans have been able to drive the Washington agenda for the first time in months …

Discussion: Fox News, Washington Monthly and Commentary

Washington Post:
After Reviewing CIA Records, Lawmakers Still Divided on Interrogation Briefings

Discussion: Sweetness & Light, Emptywheel, Commentary and Gateway Pundit

Fox News:
Pelosi: ‘I Stand By’ Accusation Against CIA

Discussion: PoliGazette, Wake up America and The Iowa Republican

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

AN ALTERNATIVE MOTIVATION.... So, why has Dick Cheney been so desperate to hit the airwaves as part of his crusade against the White House? Explanations differ, but his desire to sell a memoir to publishers might have at least something to do with his efforts.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Raw Story, Balloon Juice and US News

New York Times:
Cheney Seeks Book Deal on Bush Years and More

Discussion: Hullabaloo, The Huffington Post, Connecting.the.Dots, NO QUARTER, The Page, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Washington Monthly

Tallahassee Democrat:

Candidate lockout — Crist's backing by national GOP is a disservice — For a generation, one of the defining tenets of the Republican Party has been that Washington should interfere as little as possible in local affairs. — The idea that government closest to the people knows what's best …

Discussion: News Press, The Moderate Voice and Not One Red Cent

James Fallows:

More on Google, Craigslist, and who's killing newspapers — A few hours ago I mentioned that a friend from Google had tipped me to a new Pew study showing how big a hole Craigslist (and similar services) had blown in the classified-ad portion of newspaper revenue.

Discussion: CNET News

Satyam Khanna / Think Progress:

Rove: Legal ‘Mess’ at Guantanamo Is Obama Administration's Fault — In his national security speech Thursday, President Obama addressed the controversy being stirred by conservatives over his decision to close Guantanamo. Obama forcefully said that he inherited a legal “mess” that has consumed his administration's time and energy:

Discussion: the joshua blog

New York Times:

U.S. Relies More on Allies in Questioning Terror Suspects — WASHINGTON — The United States is now relying heavily on foreign intelligence services to capture, interrogate and detain all but the highest-level terrorist suspects seized outside the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan …

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Obama Says Supreme Court Choice Is Coming Soon — WASHINGTON - President Obama, who has often cited intellect and empathy as qualities he wants in a Supreme Court nominee, said in a television interview broadcast on Saturday that he is also looking for “somebody who has common sense and somebody …