memeorandum: HALPERIN'S TAKE: Why a John Lewis' Defection Would Be Such a Big Deal (Mark Halperin/The Page)

9:50 AM ET, February 15, 2008

Top Items:

Black Leader, a Clinton Ally, Tilts to Obama — MILWAUKEE — Representative John Lewis, an elder statesman from the civil rights era and one of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's most prominent black supporters, said Thursday night that he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate …

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

WON'T GO THERE — In the thick of a campaign it is easy to overrate the importance of an endorsement or a political hit. But it is difficult to overstate the significance of John Lewis' switch from the Clinton to Obama camps because it is a devastating blow on two or three levels wrapped together in a single person.

Discussion: Eschaton

Mark Halperin / The Page:

HALPERIN'S TAKE: Why a John Lewis' Defection Would Be Such a Big Deal — Lewis is a universally respected, historic figure who is the first prominent Democrat to go from squarely in Clinton's camp to Obama's. The rationale he seemed to give to the New York Times strikes at the heart …

Discussion: The New Republic

David Espo / Associated Press:
Black Lawmakers Rethink Clinton Support

Discussion: The Field, Spin Cycle and The Politico

Anne E. Kornblut / The Trail:
Clinton Supporter John Lewis Has Second Thoughts

Discussion: Political Punch, Taylor Marsh, Balloon Juice and TalkLeft

Gateway Pundit:

RIOTS IN DENMARK! Muslim Youths Go On Torching Rampage — Rioting in Denmark! — “Immigrant” youths are torching cars and schools. — An elementary school was torched in the violence. — A fireman tries to put out a fire at Vaerebro elementary school that was set alight by demonstrators …

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, snapped shot, Atlas Shrugs, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Hot Air

Agence France Presse:

Copenhagen police arrest six in fifth night of riots — COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Six youths were arrested in Copenhagen for setting cars and dumpsters ablaze and throwing stones at police in a fifth night of riots in a predominantly immigrant area of the Danish capital, police said Friday.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, UrbanGrounds, snapped shot, Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Associated Press:
17 arrested after youths riot in Denmark

Discussion: Commentary

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

House Leaves Surveillance Law to Expire — WASHINGTON — The House broke for a week's recess Thursday without renewing terrorist surveillance authority demanded by President Bush, leading him to warn of risky intelligence gaps while Democrats accused him of reckless fear mongering.

Discussion: Salon, DownWithTyranny!, The Carpetbagger Report, Washington Post, CBS News, Pirate's Cove, The Seminal, DCist, Eschaton and The Politico

Peter Urban / The Connecticut Post Online:
Lieberman says some waterboarding OK

Discussion: Firedoglake

Hindrocket / Power Line:
Not Serious

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Capitol Briefing, michellemalkin.com and Gateway Pundit

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
West Wing Aides Cited for Contempt

Discussion: Political Machine, michael linn jones and KnoxViews

CNN:

Former student kills 6 at Northern Illinois University, sparks ‘chaos’ — DEKALB, Illinois (CNN) — A gunman dressed in black stepped from behind a curtain at the front of a large lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Thursday and shot 21 people, six of them fatally …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Telegraph, PoliBlog (TM), JammieWearingFool and Pharyngula

Chicago Tribune:
Five dead in NIU shooting

Discussion: Agence France Presse, On Deadline, Buck Naked Politics, Associated Press, CNN, Hot Air, Moonbattery, WBBM-TV, Connecting.the.Dots, Gateway Pundit, Wake up America, UrbanGrounds and TIME

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:

Large Union Backs Obama; Another Is Likely to Do Same — Giving Senator Barack Obama new momentum, one of the nation's largest labor unions, the United Food and Commercial Workers, endorsed him on Thursday. Another giant, the Service Employees International Union, was on the brink of backing him.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Nick Baumann / MoJoBlog: The SEIU Picks Obama

CNN:
SEIU poised to endorse Obama

Discussion: THE LIBERAL JOURNAL

bonner.house.gov:

Federal funding for organizations — One of the important functions of my office is to steer federal funds to legitimate, qualified projects here in Alabama's First Congressional District. As almost everyone is aware, billions of dollars are allocated by the federal government every year …

Discussion: Tapscott's Copy Desk

Redstate:
House Republicans Aren't Serious About Earmark Reform

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Hill and Porkbusters

Logan Murphy / Crooks and Liars:

Countdown Special Comment on FISA: President Bush Is A Liar And A Fascist — Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on today's Countdown was a scathing rebuke of President Bush for continuing to play the fear card, trying to scare the hell out of the American people and vowing to veto …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Bang the Drum, Salon, Hold Fast, The Gavel and Hullabaloo

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Confidence or Derangement? — “This is death by a thousand cuts.” That's what they keep saying about Hillary Clinton. — Think of what this week was for her. She awoke each day having to absorb new sentences in a paragraph of woe: — Three more primary losses, not even close.

Discussion: TBogg and alicublog

Associated Press:

Nicaraguan leader calls Obama's campaign ‘revolutionary’ — MANAGUA, Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega, who led the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua, says Barack Obama's presidential bid is a “revolutionary” phenomenon in the United States. — “It's not to say that there is already a revolution under way in the U.S. ...

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Soccer Dad and PoliBlog (TM)

Hillel Fendel / Arutz Sheva:

Mughniyeh Was in Midst of Planning Mass Terror Attack — (IsraelNN.com) A Kuwaiti newspaper reports that Hizbullah terrorist chief Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car-bomb attack in Damascus on Tuesday, was in the midst of planning major terrorist attacks in moderate Arab countries when he was killed.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Israel Matzav, Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

NUMBER 39 — Each year I allow myself this indulgence. Today's my birthday. I am turning 39. I can't tell whether that number sounds newly old to me or not. It seems a touch alien to me in a way that 37 and 38 didn't. But as Seneca says, Fate leads the willing and drags the unwilling.

Discussion: The Newshoggers

Guardian:

BAE: papers reveal Saudi threats — Spectre of ‘another 7/7’ led Tony Blair to block bribes inquiry, high court told — Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.

Discussion: Emptywheel and Jihad Watch

Timothy J. Burger / Bloomberg:

Obama's Chicago Ties Might Fuel ‘Republican Attack Machine’ — Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Hillary Clinton questions whether Barack Obama would be able to withstand what she calls the “Republican attack machine.” If Obama does become the Democratic presidential nominee, his Chicago ties might provide the fuel.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and TIME

Stable Hand / The Jawa Report:

Update..Video: Al Qaeda in Iraq BURNS Hostages ALIVE! — Just when you think it can't get any worse with alQaeda they now burn hostages alive. Video shows dousing their victims with some type of flammable liquid and throwing them into a burning pit while shouting “Allah u Akhbar”.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs