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Kerry's Inner Circle Expands By / WaPo — Permalink From a tightknit group of experienced advisers, John F. Kerry's presidential campaign has grown exponentially in recent months to include a cast literally of thousands, making it difficult to manage an increasingly unwieldy policy apparatus. | |
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Greg Ransom: MORE — Kerry's Inner Circle Expands. James Joyner: Bush v. Kerry: Economic Teams — Brad DeLong argues that Kerry has assembled a fine economic policy team—actually, several of them, as evidenced by a piece in today's WaPo. Stephen Green: Read: [snipped quote] That last line reminds me of when President Truman said he wanted a one-armed economist — because... |
Gary Farber: The WashPo breathlessly announces: "From a tightknit group of experienced advisers, John F. Kerry's presidential... Daniel Drezner: Brad links approvingly (yes, approvingly!!!) to a Jonathan Weisman story in the Washington Post, which opens as follows:... Tyler Cowen: If that's not enough for you, here is the full story. My take: It is nice to see so many smart people involved. |
| Also: DeLong, Matthew Yglesias, Josh Chafetz, David Allan Pell, Captain Ed, Noam Scheiber, Hugh Hewitt, Taegan Goddard | |
Slim-Fast Sheds Whoopi Goldberg After Bush Riff Reuters — Permalink NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comedian Whoopi Goldberg will no longer appear in ads for diet aid maker Slim-Fast following her lewd riff on President Bush's name at a fund-raiser last week, the company said on Wednesday. | |
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Betsy Newmark: I'm sure the libs will cry about censorship when they hear that Slim Fast has dropped Whoopi as a spokeswoman. Captain Ed: Slim-Fast has terminated its relationship with Whoopi Goldberg, Reuters reports (via Memeorandum): loser KJL: LOSER! Slimfast drops Whoopi |
Xan @Corrente: Stay Fat ...if the only alternative is losing weight by use of this company's overpriced junk. (via abcnews.go.com)... Bird Dog: Apparently, the suits at Slimfast disagreed with Kerry's assessment and proceeded to fire Whoopi. I guess hate doesn't sell. |
How to stop Democrats from cheating WorldNetDaily — Permalink New Media is trumping elitist bias in many ways, but nowhere is it more evident than in the business of books. And no one could be happier about it than me. My new book is now out, and I hope you'll order a copy from the WorldNetDaily bookstore. | |
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James Joyner: Must-Read Blogs — Hugh Hewitt includes OTB in his recommended blog reading list in his WorldNetDaily column today. Captain Ed: Hugh's Adopt-A-Journalist Program — Hugh Hewitt, who has been a great friend to this blog and its two authors, writes... Hugh Hewitt: My WorldNetDaily column also focuses on the book and why the blogs helped it breakthrough to the top of Amazon. |
Mitch Berg: And I even moreso, after today's shout-out in World Net Daily, where he included me in his list of blogs that everyone... Joe Carter: Today, for example, Hugh has an article on World Net Daily in which he recommends fourteen different blogs to his readers. |
The Hostess Diary: My Year at a Hot Spot By / NYT — Permalink IT is near midnight and I am standing at the door of the restaurant with Kevin, the bouncer, patiently waiting for customers, so that I can turn them away. "Who are you here with?" I ask a man holding a woman's hand. "Just us," he says. | |
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Ogged: Anecdotal — Let's see, Star Jones humping on a bed; Monica fleeing Chelsea; Barbara Bush hurling on the... Holden: Barbara Bush on a Bar Hop — Somehow I don't think this anecdote will make the pages of Vogue: [snipped quote] From a lead provided by Froomkin. |
Tom Maguire: This is all very responsible, big-time journalism, folks. The Times, the Post, no worries. Where IS Dick Cheney? Lambert @Corrente: Bush twin watch: All the respect they deserve — Little Babs was such a sense of impunity! |
In Bush's War Room, the Gloves Are Always Off By / NYT — Permalink ARLINGTON, Va., July 13 - Shortly before 2 p.m. on Monday, a handful of President Bush's campaign aides huddled around two small speakers in a room that, with its shades drawn, was lit by the glow of 15 television monitors. They were listening to the voice of Senator John Kerry. | |
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Liz Cox Barrett: Today, the chosen two — The Los Angeles Times' Matea Gold and The New York Times' Jim Rutenberg — share with readers... James Joyner: Bush Campaign War Room — NYT - Strategy: In Bush's War Room, the Gloves Are Always Off "Shortly before 2 p.m. on... Nathan Hallford: A Glimpse Inside of the Bush/Cheney War Room, courtesy of the New York Times. |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: It's really appalling when major news outlets are more inept at picking up news than political campaigns are: [snipped quote] Yeah, I'd be embarrassed too. Hugh Hewitt: As a New York Times account of the Bush campaign's "war room" vividly illustrates, the Bush team watches every word... Taegan Goddard: Inside the Bush War Room — "Though far more technologically advanced," President Bush's campaign war room "was built in... |
Report Says British Data on Iraq Was Flawed, Not Distorted By / NYT — Permalink LONDON, July 14 — A British inquiry on banned Iraqi weapons reported today that Saddam Hussein had no significant, if any, stocks of chemical or biological weapons capable of being deployed at the time United States and British forces invaded Iraq last year. | |
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Steve M.: A U.S. congressional committee focuses the blame for intel failures on intelligence gatherers, or a British inquiry... Mary InLosGatos: Today's Butler report was downright harsh on the process, but didn't see that anyone had any culpability. |
David Allan Pell: That re-writing of history aside, it is interesting to note that although the report's authors insist that Tony Blair... Gregory Djerejian: Here's, btw, how the NYT is handling Butler/Niger to date....pretty de minimis fare, no? |
Red or Blue--Which Are You? By / Slate — Permalink Red and blue are states of mind, not actual states. Red and blue aren't absolute predictors of political leanings, either. There are plenty of blue cities in red states, red enclaves in blue states, red-leaning governors of blue states, people who vote Republican but are of a blue state of mind, and so on. | |
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Cori Dauber: Trust me! I live in a blue colony in a red state, so I should know — fun and entertainment for the whole family. Hanah Metchis: Red or Blue? Wondering if you're more of a "red state" or "blue state" person? Slate now has a handy quiz. |
Oliver Willis: How Blue? I took this test from Slate, and it said "You are in the middle". Bob: Purple — Proof that Unfogged is not biased toward the liberal blue-state state of mind: I'm right in the middle. |
How Niger Uranium Story Defied Wide Skepticism By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, July 13 - Soon after the Central Intelligence Agency heard in 2001 that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium from Niger to build nuclear bombs, the first doubts about the account were raised. | |
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Cori Dauber: Today on page A-12, not on the front page, comes a story headlined, "How Niger Uranium Story Defied Wide Skepticism." Tom Maguire: James Risen of the NY Times delves into the Senate Intelligence report (finally!) and tells us a bit about Joesph... Gregory Djerejian: A Revisionistic First Draft of History — You can be pretty sure that TPM is going to approvingly link to this James Risen piece in the NYT today. |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: BACKTRACKING — I see that the New York Times has finally noticed the many discrepancies that have been revealed in Joe Wilson's story (RSS link not yet available). Robert Cox: James Risen in The New York Times describing the recent Senate Intelligence Report focuses almost exclusively on the long discredited "Italian" forgeries. Glenn Reynolds: BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: The New York Times is finally reporting on the Joe Wilson fiasco, though in a fashion that tends to understate its importance. |
| Also: Holden, KJL, Ace | |
Ditka Says He Won't Run for U.S. Senate By / AP — Permalink CHICAGO - Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka said Wednesday he would not run for the Senate, leaving Illinois Republicans still without a replacement candidate less than four months before the election. | |
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Steve M.: OK — Ditka's not running for Senate, possibly because he was pissed off that the press showed up at a meeting he was going to attend with leaders of the Illinois GOP. Ezra Klein: Ditka's Out — That's a relief. |
Will Collier: Da End Of Ditkamania — Da Coach speaketh: [snipped quote] Ah, well. It was pretty damn fun while it lasted. |
Ditka says he won't run By / AP — Permalink Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka said Wednesday he won't run for the U.S. Senate, leaving Illinois Republicans still desperate for a replacement candidate. Ditka, who first told Illinois Republican Party leaders of his decision, made the announcement outside his Chicago restaurant. | |
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Ace: Daaa... Blues: Ditka Won't Run — It was a nice dream while it lasted. [snipped quote] he said. Yes, but that was one of your selling points, Mike. Christopher Kanis: UPDATE: It's official. |
ArchPundit: As You Know By Now — Ditka's Out! On to lucky contestant number 13! |
'Outrage' Over Sen. Clinton Not Speaking By / AP — Permalink ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The former chairwoman of the New York State Democratic Party on Wednesday called it "a total outrage" and "very stupid" that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has not been offered a prominent speaking role at the Democratic National Convention. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: BUBBLE, BUBBLE . . . Toil and trouble: [snipped quote] I suppose I can understand this. Captain Ed: The AP reports that Democratic officials are voicing "outrage" that Sen. Clinton has been denied a speaking role at the... |
James Joyner: 'Outrage' Over Hillary Clinton Not Speaking — AP - 'Outrage' Over Sen. Clinton Not Speaking "The former chairwoman of... Jeralyn Merritt: Here's an interesting statistic we received from the campaign by e-mail: [snipped quote] Update: Some are upset that Hillary wasn't invited to speak. |
'Democrats are shaking in their boots' By / Chicago Sun Times — Permalink Does Iron Mike know what kind of game he could be getting into? That is more or less the question a top Washington Republican was planning to ask Mike Ditka. | |
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H.D. Miller: Run, Coach, Run — Man, I'm hoping this comes to pass. [snipped quote] Oh man, oh man. I hope this happens. ArchPundit: Fornek from the Sun-Times reports that Allen flew out to talk to him. James Joyner: Chicago Sun-Times columnist Scott Fornek thinks Ditka is crazy to want to do it but some think the 'Democrats are shaking in their boots' over facing the popular figure. |
Ezra Klein: I can accept all the scandals, all the kinks, all the sex shows, but do they have to be so juvenile to boot? John J. Miller: HUDDLING — The Chicago Sun Times doesn't have any breaking news on Ditka right now, but it does report today on NRSC chair George Allen flying out to Chicago to meet with him. |
PI digs into Kerry's war past By / Dallas Morning News — Permalink AUSTIN - Opponents of John Kerry have hired a Dallas-area private investigator to gather information aimed at discrediting his military service, say several veterans who served with the Massachusetts Democrat in Vietnam. | |
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Captain Ed: It seems to me that this is a bad idea: [snipped quote] SBVT can do whatever they like with their money, and inasmuch as... Kos: The GOP desperately looking for dirt — Dirty Tricks 'R Us are at it again. [snipped quote] The Republicans are really sweating Kerry's war record. |
Attaturk: Sweet, Sweet Republican Love — Unable to share in that flaming love between a man and the Gamera of his choice, GOP... |
Jenna and Barbara, in Uniform By / WaPo — Permalink The president's daughters have emerged from their media-free zone of comfort into the flattering spotlight of Vogue. The August issue of the fashion magazine includes an interview with the recent college graduates as well as two portraits by photographer Patrick Demarchelier. | |
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Betsy Newmark: Robin Givhan has a gratuitously catty column about the Bush girls as Stepford Daughters and how Vogue never does realistic pictures or profiles of their subjects. David Allan Pell: Jenna, Barbara, Oscar, Calvin and Vogue — The Bush daughters are celebrating their official coming out into the... |
Susanna Cornett: I suppose politics could be the reason behind the catty snarkiness of this article about the Bush twins and their current foray as Vogue covergirls. Nathan Hallford: Perhaps A Tad Gratuitous, nonetheless, I give you the Bush twins making their Vogue magazine debut, and looking pretty good too. |
Teresa's Taxes NRO — Permalink Mrs. Kerry is filthy rich. Why is her taxable income so small? If John Kerry wins the presidency, his household will be the richest ever to occupy the White House. Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, controls a vast fortune estimated by a Los Angeles Times study to fall somewhere between $900 million to $3.2 billion. | |
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Edward Driscoll: DONALD LUSKIN ASKS A SIMPLE QUESTION: Mrs. Kerry is filthy rich. Why is her taxable income so small? Greg Ransom: MORE Donald Luskin — "Teresa Heinz Kerry & Taxable Income". |
Betsy Newmark: Donald Luskin argues persuasively that we need to have full disclosure of Teresa's tax returns. Here's one of his points. Will Collier: Sugar Mama — From Donald Luskin at NRO today: [snipped quote] Does anybody think this wouldn't be a 24/7 story if you... |
Senate Vote Blocks Effort to Ban Gay-Marriage in Constitution By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, July 14 — Backers of a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriages suffered a stinging defeat in the Senate today as opponents easily killed the initiative for the year in a procedural showdown. | |
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Daniel Drezner: In light of the Senate's rejection of a proposed gay marriage amendment, back in December I posted on "Why the Constitution will not ban gay marriage." Ken Masugi: The Federalism Excuse and the Preservation of Marriage — Republicans could not muster a majority to vote on the constitutional amendment to preserve marriage. |
David Allan Pell: Insane Eye for the Straight Guy — It should come as no surprise that the effort to amend the Constitution to block gay marriage got nowhere in the Senate. |
Senate Scuttles Gay Marriage Amendment By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - The Senate dealt an election-year defeat Wednesday to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, rejecting pleas from President Bush and fellow conservatives that the measure was needed to safeguard an institution that has flourished for thousands of years. | |
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Edward _: Here are a few examples (the BBQ analogy makes a brief return, don't fret): [quote] "In South Dakota, we've never had a single...[end quote] Steven Taylor: No Shock Here — Senate Scuttles Gay Marriage Amendment |
Quiddity: We read in this Yahoo/AP story, Senate Scuttles Gay Marriage Amendment, the following: "The vote was 48-50, 12 short of the 60 needed to keep the measure alive. |
Extracts from the Butler report Guardian — Permalink What the report said on ... Policy advice was not influenced so much by changing intelligence on Iraq as by two other factors which reinforced each other. One was a general concern about proliferation and the intelligence becoming available [from Pakistan, Libya, North Korea, Iran and Iraq]. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: And its summary (as noted in the Red State link provided above) said the following: [snipped quote] (Emphasis mine.) |
Jonah Goldberg: And here's a summary Here are two snippets worth highlighting: "We conclude that, on the basis of the intelligence... |
Knight Ridder Gets It Wrong By / Weekly Standard — Permalink President Bush continued to insist Monday that there was an operational link between former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida despite reports by the Senate Intelligence Committee and the commission that's investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that there was no evidence that Saddam and Islamic terrorists collaborated to kill Americans. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: MEDIA INCOMPETENCE MUST BE ENDEMIC — Stephen Hayes has been indispensable in clearing up the debate about prewar... Glenn Reynolds: KNIGHT-RIDDER GETS IT WRONG: Looks like the press is manufacturing Bush quotes again — you'd think it was an election year or something. |
Jason Van Steenwyk: Knight-Ridder Blows a Quote — Stephen Hayes busts Knight-Ridder for serial factual sloppiness. Brian Crouch: (Hat tip to reader Carl Peterson) UPDATE: The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes is all over Knight Ridder for their distortions.. Hide extended entry |
'Serious flaws' in Iraq intelligence BBC — Permalink The quality of the intelligence used to make the case for Britain going to war with Iraq has now been thrown into doubt, the Butler inquiry has said. The 196 page report says MI6 did not check its sources well enough, and sometimes relied on third hand reports. | |
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Josh Chafetz: THE BUTLER REPORT IS OUT, and it's pretty good news for Blair. The BBC has a roundup of key points here. Jan Haugland: Butler report slams intelligence, not Blair — Lord Butler's report into the pre-war intelligence on Iraq has just been released. |
Sadly @SadlyNo: A few quotes from the BBC so far... There was no recent intelligence that showed Iraq was of "more immediate concern" than some other countries when it came to WMD. |
Corrections NYT — Permalink An article last Sunday about surprises in politics referred incorrectly to the turkey carried by President Bush during his unannounced visit to American troops in Baghdad over Thanksgiving. It was real, not fake. | |
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Tom Maguire: One Real Turkey In Baghdad — Lots of real turkeys at the NY Times. Glenn Reynolds: ANOTHER MYTH PUNCTURED: FIRST THE JOE WILSON "BUSH LIED" STORY COLLAPSES — and now this, from the New York Times: "An... |
Cori Dauber: Now the New York Times is issuing corrections that presume that at some point they pointed out that the gal dern turkey was real. |
NYT PAGE ONE THURS: BUSH TO DROP CHENEY GOSSIP Drudge Report — Permalink The latest theory about Vice President Dick Cheney's future on the Republican ticket, advanced privately by prominent Democrats, including members of Congress, holds that Cheney recently dropped his personal doctor because of drug addiction so that he could... | |
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Tom Maguire: I Can't Wait — According to Matt Drudge, Ms. Bumiller gets 1,600 front page words to recycle Democratic gossip about something we were joking about a week ago. |
Stephen Green: Calling Condoleeza — Yet another flash from Drudge: [snipped quote] Yawn. |
Kerry Didn't Read Iraq Report Before Vote -- Aides By / Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic candidate John Kerry , whose campaign demanded to know on Wednesday whether President Bush read a key Iraq intelligence assessment, did not read the document himself before voting to give Bush the authority to go to war, aides acknowledged. | |
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Captain Ed: Within hours, Kerry's aides had to admit that Kerry himself never read the document before voting to authorize the war in Iraq (via Drudge): [snipped quote] Flip, meet flop. |
Tom Maguire: Can Anybody Here Play This (Or Any) Game? More from Kerry, King of Comedy, who appears not to be a chess player. |
What Did Bush Know? By / Slate — Permalink Several intriguing questions are raised by a story in today's New York Times, which reports that the White House is refusing to give Senate investigators the one-page "President's Summary" of the CIA's 2002 National Intelligence Estimate dealing with Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. | |
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Pie: One page — In today's Slate, Fred Kaplan asks: [snipped quote] Kaplan wonders how much attention was paid to dissenting opinions. |
Matthew Yglesias: Kaplan on the NIE Summary — This is (yet another) great piece from Fred Kaplan, but it's got an error: [snipped quote] As I was noting yesterday that's not what happened. |
Reintroducing the Candidate By / WaPo — Permalink Democratic Party leaders said yesterday they plan to make their nominating convention in Boston later this month a four-day reintroduction of Sen. John F. Kerry, enlisting his wife, children and former war comrades in Vietnam to make the case for a man they acknowledge remains an opaque figure for millions of Americans. | |
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Captain Ed: UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt has some good thoughts on this article (and you should buy his book, If It's Not Close, They Can't... Hugh Hewitt: The result is confusion in the Kerry camp and yet another planned "reintroduction" of Kerry, who is becoming the Joan... |
Noam Scheiber: BOUNCED OUT: Question: If it's true that the bounce either candidate receives from significant campaign developments is... |
On the phone with Ralph Nader Salon — Permalink Last Friday, Ralph Nader's campaign spokesman Kevin Zeese e-mailed Salon, saying that Nader wanted to speak with Salon editor David Talbot "about recent articles that have appeared in Salon concerning him and his candidacy." | |
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DeLong: Ralph Nader Speaks... Ralph Nader and his aide Kevin Zeese on the phone to Salon's David Talbot: "Salon.com News | On the phone with Ralph Nader: [...] Nader: All right. Joe Carter: Talbot, to his credit, has posted a transcript of the exchange between Nader, Zeese, and himself. |
Angry Bear: Grumpy Old Man — See this rather unfriendly (by both Salon founder Dave Talbot and two time presidential candidate Ralph Nader), but entertaining and brief, interview in Salon. |
Bush Twins Break Silence About Campaign, Parties By / Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shielded for years from public view, President Bush 's twin daughters have broken their silence in an interview describing a karaoke party at Camp David and how they surprised their father by deciding to join his campaign. | |
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Stephen Green: From a chat discussion with WaPo White House Briefing writer Dan Froomkin: [snipped quote] Now, I've read the Reuters... Clayton Cramer: Every Girl Needs a Father Like That — Jenna Bush describes the father/boyfriends interaction: "Jenna also described how the president interacted with the girls' boyfriends. |
Betsy Newmark: I don't have a picture to link to, but I saw the story on TV today about the Bush daughers' article in Vogue. |
The mollycoddling milksops of Manila By / Townhall.com — Permalink Add the flag of the Philippines to the International Hall of Appeasers. Sign this pitiful nation up for a lifetime membership to the Axis of Weasels. And remind me never again to brag about the proud fighting spirit of my ancestors. | |
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James Joyner: Mollycoddling Milksops of Manila — Michelle Malkin would have made a fine speech writer for Spiro Agnew, as... Michelle Malkin: THE MOLLYCODDLING MILKSOPS OF MANILA — Column's up: The mollycoddling milksops of Manila. |
SLZoll: Michelle Malkin Michelle disavows the Philippines as the country of her forefathers because its government is just a bunch of appeasers. |
Jon Stewart, Journalist? NRO — Permalink More than a Daily dose of news. Media critics often wring their hands over how so much of the youth demographic now gets its news with a twist — from The Daily Show and other late-night programs hosted by former standup comics — instead of straight, from serious talking heads like Dan Rather. | |
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Cori Dauber: Anyway, if you haven't been watching, NRO has a nice intro piece up today. And you should give it a shot sometime. |
Betsy Newmark: Catherine Seipp enjoys Jon Stewart despite his anti-Bush jibes. Perhaps, you could get better news reports from Stewart than from Peter Jennings. |
White House Talk By / WaPo — Permalink What's going on inside the White House? Ask Dan Froomkin, who writes the White House Briefing column for washingtonpost.com. He'll answer your questions, take your comments and links, and point you to coverage around the Web. Dan is also deputy editor of Niemanwatchdog.org. | |
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Stephen Green: Press Gone Wild — This is gonna get nasty. |
Tom Maguire: He links to a Dan Froomkin on-line chat, where Dan says: Dan Froomkin: I think it's, yeah, sort of open season now. |
Twisting at the Piggly Wiggly By / WaPo — Permalink You just never know which rock-and-roll legend you're going to run into in the checkout line of a Piggly Wiggly in Columbia, S.C. One of our far-flung correspondents found himself face to face the other day with Chubby Checker, who's hawking a new line of snack foods, including chocolate Checkerbars and Hot Twist Beef Jerky. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: BTW: On the subject of Tom Daschle's hug of Michael Moore, Michael Moore "stands by his comments," according to the Washington Post. |
Michelle Malkin: Moore says Daschle is a liar. There's a pot and a kettle. |
FOX's O'Reilly fabricated evidence of success of purported boycott of French imports Media Matters for America — Permalink Host Bill O'Reilly threatened Canada with a boycott like the one he advocated against France, then cited a phony statistic about the success of the French boycott. The threat came during O'Reilly's April 27 debate with Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Heather Mallick about Canada's harboring of two deserters from the U.S. military who have fled to Canada. | |
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Kevin Raybould: Fair and, oh Hell, You Know It's Crap — O'Reilly is a liar "O'REILLY: Now if the [Canadian] government — if your... |
Ezra Klein: Bill O'Reilly? A liar? |
Senate Blocks Bush Move to Ban Same-Sex Marriage By / Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Wednesday failed in his attempt to amend the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage when a divided U.S. Senate blocked the measure, virtually killing it for at least this election year. | |
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Kos: GOoPers couldn't even muster a majority for their hateful efforts to introduce discrimination into the Constitution. |
PinkDreamPoppies @Amptoons: I'm sure you've heard by now — From Reuters, some good news. |
Not safer, but better By / Townhall.com — Permalink President Bush declared this week that America is safer today because we toppled Saddam. I think this is absurd. We are not safer today because we toppled Saddam, or at least I don't think we are. Let me back up a bit. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Jonah Goldberg says it's not so but it's okay anyway: [snipped quote] That's an interesting re-interpretation of World... SLZoll: Jonah Goldberg Jonah doesn't care that there were no WMDs, because that wasn't his reason for ordering us to war in the first place. |
Jesse Taylor: He didn't do that today. |
Obama to Deliver Convention Keynote Address By / AP — Permalink BOSTON — Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's candidate for the Senate in Illinois, will deliver the keynote address at the convention, officials announced Wednesday. | |
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David Allan Pell: Meet Barack Obama — Senate Candidate Barack Obama of Illinois will deliver one of the keynote addresses at the Democratic Convention. |
Holden: Obama to Give Convention Keynote Address — The man is a rising star. Leads me to wonder who could be considered a rising star for the Republicans. |
Senate Scuttles Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage By / AP — Permalink The Senate dealt an election-year defeat Wednesday to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, rejecting pleas from President Bush and fellow conservatives that the measure was needed to safeguard an institution that has flourished for thousands of years. | |
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Chris Gruber: ;-) The Hate Amendment (the amendment banning gay marriage) failed in the Senate, according to the WaPo: [snipped quote] Oh, happy day! |
Holden: Hate Amendment Goes Down, 48 Yea - 50 Nay — I know you guys hate the rapid-fire posting, but this is something to celebrate. |
Topical Take Steyn Online — Permalink Let's say you're the head of government of a middle-rank power. You have no feelings one way or the other on the morality of things, morality being a simplistic Texan cowboy concept. In early 2003, what then would your line on Iraq be? | |
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Stephen Green: Required Reading — Mark Steyn vs the Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys. That is all. |
Tim Blair: UPDATE. Mark Steyn: [snipped quote] In other news brieflet developments ... I've always wondered what that meant. |
Mexico attorney general gets microchip implant Reuters — Permalink MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Reuters) — Mexico's attorney general said on Monday he had had a microchip inserted under the skin of one of his arms to give him access to a new crime database and also enable him to be traced if he is ever abducted. | |
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James Joyner: Mexico's Attorney General Gets Microchip Implant — CNN - Mexico attorney general gets microchip implant The headline is rather amusing. Patrick Belton: LA RESISTENCIA NO VALE NADA: Mexico's attorney general Rafael Macedo and several of his staff have been implanted with... |
Captain Ed: CNN reports on a new development for Mexico's war on internal terror, as it has started inoculating its political class... |
Mrs. Clinton Will Be in Boston, but Not at the Microphone NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, July 13 - The Democratic National Committee released on Tuesday its lineup of the big-name politicians speaking at the convention this month, and it included every major Democratic star except one. There were Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, near the top of the list. | |
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Captain Ed: Profiles In Political Courage — The New York Times reports this morning that the Democrats have left Hillary Clinton... Joe Gandelman: The New York Times story notes: (1) Speakers will include Bill Clinton, Jimmy CArter, Al Gore, Teddy Kennedy even "the wife of the Iowa governor made the cut." |
Tom Maguire: For example, Ms. Cutter was asked to comment on the surprising news that Hillary! would not be a featured speaker at the... Moe Lane: Another UPDATE: Constant Reader Gary Farber sees wilfred's Burlington Free Press and raises one New York Times article as proof that Sen Clinton won't be speaking after all. |
Underground Dwellers NRO — Permalink There are more than you might think. Last week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris issued a new report on the underground economy. | |
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Michael DeBow: Mapping the underground economy: Bruce Bartlett's NRO column today on this fascinating subject notes several recent... |
Greg Ransom: MORE Bruce Bartlett — " The Underground Economy". |
'Damned to hell' By / al.com — Permalink Alabama's ousted chief justice, Roy Moore, told Supreme Court Justice Gorman Houston that Houston was damned to hell for "covering God" when he moved a Ten Commandments monument from the judicial building rotunda, Houston told a civic group Tuesday. | |
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Steve Dillard: No, it's not another brilliant spoof by the Onion. It's just Roy Moore being his "normal" crazy self: Too funny. |
Steven Taylor: What is it with Guys Named "Moore"? 'Damned to hell' [snipped quote] Yeesh. Hat tip: The World Around You. |
Edwards's Lawyerly Style Drew Fierce Foes and Fans By / NYT — Permalink RALEIGH, N.C. , July 8 - John Edwards, a rich man who often talks about the ordinary people he represented in his years as a trial lawyer here, faced an unusual problem nine years ago. | |
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Nathan Hallford: The Style Of John Edwards: An interesting look at the lawyerly style of John Edwards, which drew foes and fans. |
Ann Althouse: The NYT has a good piece today about John Edwards' legal career: [snipped quote] Of course, former adversaries have reason to slant their portrayal of matters. |
Drip, Drip, Drip By / Opinion Journal — Permalink Kofigate continues. Another stack of secret United Nations Oil for Food documents has now reached the press, this batch procured by congressional sources and providing—at long last—a better view of Saddam Hussein's entire U.N.-approved shopping list. | |
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Tim Blair: STORY, POSSIBLY OF INTEREST, AVAILABLE — Claudia Rosett continues her epic solo run at the UN: [snipped quote] This gigantic scandal has received barely any notice in Australia. Stephen Green: Full details, and lack thereof, here. |
Cori Dauber: I doubt the mainstream press will give anymore of a damn then they did before, but for the few outlets that care this will be a bonanza, so lets sit back and watch the fun. |
Allawi's Bold Bid For Stability in Iraq By / WaPo — Permalink BAGHDAD — Iraq's new prime minister, Ayad Allawi, calls it his program of "outreach." Over the past several weeks, he says, he has been meeting secretly with supporters of the Iraqi resistance to offer them amnesty and a chance to participate in the political process of the new Iraq. | |
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Matthew Yglesias: Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy — David Ignatius is psyched: "Talk about stabilizing Iraq has mostly been just that — a wish list that has melted in the furnace of the Iraqi insurgency. |
Cori Dauber: And that might be an idea with some potential. |
Plame's Lame Game By / Slate — Permalink Two recent reports allow us to revisit one of the great non-stories, and one of the great missed stories, of the Iraq war argument. The non-story is the alleged martyrdom of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wilson, supposed by many to have suffered cruel exposure for their commitment to the truth. | |
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Robert Cox: THe FT also reports that the Senate committee concluded that the Africa/Uranium claim was entirely reasonable and not based on the forged documents. Attaturk: Outing CIA Operative, eh, it was all piffle. So sayeth Christopher Hitchens, divining the minds of all those who alter his predetermined course. Betsy Newmark: Christopher Hitchens looks at Joseph Wilson. |
Glenn Reynolds: CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS has more on the collapse of the Joe Wilson "Bush lied" story over at Slate: "Two recent reports... Ace: Hitchens can't resist joining in the pig-pile, either. Laura Rozen: Christopher Hitchens plants himself firmly on the side of those who say there was an underlying truth behind those forged Niger uranium documents. |
| Also: Gregory Djerejian, Roger L. Simon, Pejman Yousefzadeh | |
Colin Powell no globe-trotter By / MSNBC — Permalink Secretary of State Colin L. Powell hates to fly — and it shows. Powell is on track to become the least traveled secretary of state in more than three decades, since Henry A. Kissinger embodied the concept of the globe-trotting foreign policy guru, according to records maintained by the State Department's historian. | |
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James Joyner: Colin Powell Least Traveled Secretary of State in 30 Years — Washington Post - Powell Flies in the Face of Tradition ... |
Michael Young: Foggy Bottom Homebody — Colin Powell hates to travel, and is the least traveled secretary of state in 30 years (barely... |
Al Qaeda's Growing Sanctuary WaPo — Permalink With the end of the brutal conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone, West Africa is seldom in the news or on the policy agenda these days. Yet the region is quietly gaining recognition as what it has long been: a haven for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. | |
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Cori Dauber: Tell me again how they aren't a threat. |
Stephen Green: Maybe: [snipped quote] You've been warned. UPDATE: Oops. Forgot to link to the original article. |
Gay Marriage Ban Divides Senate GOP By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON (AP) - Short on votes and beset by internal divisions, Senate Republicans struggled Tuesday to salvage a respectable defeat for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, an issue that President Bush pushed toward the top of the election-year agenda. | |
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Joe Gandelman: Bottom line: there was no consensus on how to proceed, not even within the GOP itself. Andrew Sullivan: Here's Senator Wayne Allard, using the kind of language often deployed when speaking of a despised minority: "There is... Tena Hollingsworth: Senate GOP short on votes for hate amendment to ban same sex marriages link here. |
Tbogg: Meanwhile, the scourge of Rhodesian Ridgebacks said: In a strongly worded speech, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said some... Chris Gruber: Anti-Gay Amendment effort stymied — The first effort in U.S. history to use the Constitution to take rights away from... |
End All By / TNR — Permalink The question of whether the administration declined to attack an Ansar al-Islam camp in northeastern Iraq prior to our invasion of the country won't quite go away. | |
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James Joyner: Ends and Means — Jacob Levy has an interesting TNR piece entitled, "End All," in which he discusses the notion that the... |
Jacob T. Levy: Zarqawi continued: My New Republic column is online (link should work for non-subscribers as well as subscribers). |
Paper on Iraq Given to Bush Is Held Back By / NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON, July 13 - The White House and the Central Intelligence Agency have refused to give the Senate Intelligence Committee a one-page summary of prewar intelligence in Iraq prepared for President Bush that contains few of the qualifiers and none of the dissents spelled out in longer intelligence reviews, according to Congressional officials. | |
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Holden: It would be nice if we could see that one-page summary, wouldn't it? Lambert @Corrente: Congressional officials said that notes taken by Senate staffers who were permitted to review the document show that it... |
Cori Dauber: Why does it matter that the one-page summary under discussion is a routine part of the NIE, and not something done for this president in particular? |
New Jersey fund-raiser charged CNN — Permalink NEW YORK (CNN) — Real estate developer and political fund-raiser Charles Kushner of Livingston, New Jersey, was charged by federal prosecutors Tuesday with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and interstate promotion of prostitution. | |
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Jonah Goldberg: Top Democratic fundraiser tries to ensnare witnesses in prostitution sex-scandal. Robert Cox: You have to read pretty far down into this story to get the part where Charles Kushner is accused of illegally funneling money to Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. |
Captain Ed: Unfortunately, when faced with a federal investigation of his campaign contributions, real-estate entrepeneur Charles... |
Defining marriage: Who decides? By / Townhall.com — Permalink This week, the United States Senate will take the first step in deciding who gets to define marriage for the entire nation: activist judges - or the American people. | |
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SLZoll: Rebecca Hagelin Same sex marriage is the defining issue of our generation. |
Greg Ransom: More " Defining marriage: Who decides?" . |
Politics, Iraqi Style By / Newsweek — Permalink July 13 - As I drove into Baghdad from the airport on Sunday, Iraqi cops were all over the streets. In some parts of town there seemed to be a road block on every corner. They stopped cars. They searched the trunks. | |
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Daniel Drezner: UPDATE: Christpher Dickey has a Newsweek story on the interim Iraqi government's efforts to restore order (link via Josh... Josh Marshall: A cautiously optimistic take on the new Iraqi interim government that is well worth reading. |
Andrew Sullivan: ALLAWI AND THE STREET: He has a sense of what Iraqis want, according to Christopher Dickey. Top priority: order. |
CIA's Acting Chief Says Threat Highest Since 9/11 By / Reuters — Permalink WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The terrorist threat against the United States in the run-up to the November election is as serious as at any time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, acting CIA Director John McLaughlin said on Tuesday. | |
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Attaturk: Obviously YOU PEOPLE Aren't Scared Enough — A Message from the Chimp Intelligence Agency: The polls are showing a bump up for the Kerry-Edwards ticket. |
KJL: "This is about as serious a threat environment as I have seen since 9/11," acting CIA chief says. |
TERRORISM: Why al Qaeda is Fleeing Iraq StrategyPage — Permalink July 12, 2004: Al Qaeda operations in Iraq have encountered unexpected problems.Iraqis have become increasingly hostile to al Qaeda's suicide bombingcampaign. Religious leaders, which al Qaeda expects to get support from, havebeen openly denouncing these bombings. | |
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Sadly @SadlyNo: The distinguished professor from Tennessee links to this story with the mention "THIS SEEMS LIKE GOOD NEWS:" ... Stephen Green: Read the rest here. UPDATE: Did someone say "quagmire?" Bird Dog: Update: Strategy Page has more on the increasingly unwelcome al Qaeda in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries (hat tip to jdm). |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: UPDATE: This too seems consequential. (Thanks to InstaPundit for the link. Be sure to read the other links in his post.) Glenn Reynolds: THIS SEEMS LIKE GOOD NEWS: "Al Qaeda operations in Iraq have encountered unexpected problems. James Joyner: Why al Qaeda is Fleeing Iraq — StrategyPage - Why al Qaeda is Fleeing Iraq [snipped quote] Interesting. |
| Also: Smash | |
Racism at root of Sudan's Darfur crisis By / Christian Science Monitor — Permalink BUFFALO, N.Y. - The visits by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Sudan last week gave hope that the genocide in Darfur can be arrested before an entire people is obliterated. | |
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Steve Antler: Darfur continues... Have you ever wondered why, even though the Arab world consumed at least as many black African... Glenn Reynolds: DARFUR UPDATE: This article from the Christian Science Monitor says racism is the problem: [snipped quote] Read the whole thing. |
AfricaPundit: Darfur: Powell's Visit The Christian Science Monitor covers the visits to Darfur by Mr. Powell and Mr. Annan. |
Bush Again Tops Kerry on Terrorism, Poll Shows WaPo — Permalink Despite growing fears that the United States is losing the war on terrorism, President Bush has reclaimed the advantage over his Democratic challenger John F. Kerry as the presidential candidate best able to deal with the international terrorist threat, according to the latest Washington Post poll. | |
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Noam Scheiber: If the bounces don't materialize (and this Washington Post poll suggests Edwards didn't provide much of one; this Post... Cori Dauber: Although it is a short article. Rich Lowry: OOPS—WASH POST POLL — That poll I posted about a while ago had actually already been released. Here it is. |
Taegan Goddard: Bush Still Has Edge On Terrorism and Iraq — A recent Washington Post poll has found that Americans believe Bush is better equipped to deal with terrorism than Kerry. Captain Ed: Not A Moment Too Soon, Apparently — This afternoon, the Washington Post reported more good news from their pollsters. Gregory Djerejian: If the Tagorda-thesis is right (namely, that the Administration's conflating of the war on terror with the war in Iraq... |
| Also: Steve Soto, David Allan Pell, Robert Garcia Tagorda, Holden | |
Justice Dept. Details Patriot Act Cases By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - The Justice Department on Tuesday gave Congress nearly three dozen examples of how the Patriot Act has been used to prosecute terrorists and other criminals, part of an administration effort to counter criticism that the law does more to harm civil liberties than to protect the nation. | |
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Kenneth Quinnell: Cherry-Picking the Patriot Act — John Ashcroft released a 29-page document on the effectiveness of the Patriot Act. Orin Kerr: The AP story is here; the DOJ report itself is here in .pdf format. I read the report, and there's nothing particularly unexpected in it. |
Edward _: [quote] "The Patriot Act is al-Qaida's worst nightmare when it comes to disrupting and disabling their operations here in America," he said. [end quote] Jeralyn Merritt: Justice Department Reports on Patriot Act Cases — The Justice Department today, amidst much fanfare, released a report on cases in which it has used the Patriot Act. |
Saudis: Bin Laden associate surrenders CNN — Permalink (CNN) — A close associate of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was flown to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday after surrendering at the Saudi Embassy in Iran, a Saudi Interior Ministry official said. "He was a big fish," one Saudi official said of Khaled al-Harbi, who was believed to have been living near the Afghan-Iranian border. | |
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Jan Haugland: In Saudi Arabia, an old-time associate of Bin Laden, Khaled al-Harbi, has taken an amnesty offer and surrendered to the authorities. Tom Maguire: Check The Calendar — Crafty BushCo prepares for the Democratic Convention. Maybe it's time to re-line the tin-foil hat. James Joyner: Saudis: Bin Laden aide surrenders — CNN - Saudis: Bin Laden aide surrenders "A close associate of al Qaeda leader... |
Joe Gandelman: A bin Laden Associate Surrenders To The Saudis — It appears as if the Saudi "offer they can't refuse" to terrorists to... Robert Garcia Tagorda: Khaled al-Harbi Pop Quiz! So Osama bin Laden's associate — "a big fish," according to one official — has surrendered. Steven Taylor: Bin Laden Ally Surrenders — Saudis: Bin Laden aide surrenders [snipped quote] Others blogging on this: The Command Post, Stephen Green, and Jeff Quinton. |
Politics: Try to Guess Who's Backing Nader By / Newsweek — Permalink July 19 issue - In his run for the White House, Ralph Nader is getting help from an unexpected source: Republicans. Of the $1 million that Nader has raised for his campaign so far, about $50,000 is from donors who have also given to President George W. Bush's campaign. | |
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Chris Gruber: Except... He's getting it from some of the G.O.P.'s big-money donors: "In his run for the White House, Ralph Nader is getting help from an unexpected source: Republicans. |
Tena Hollingsworth: More on Nader's contributors from the July 19 issue of Newsweek: [snipped quote] I know this has been talked about before, but go read. |
French woman admits she made up anti-Semitic attack AFP — Permalink A French woman who claimed last week she had been the victim of a vicious anti-Semitic attack admitted to police that she had made up the entire incident, and was detained for falsely reporting a crime. | |
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Damian Penny: The hate crime that wasn't — The young Parisian who said she was attacked by a gang of antisemitic Arab boys has admitted to making the whole thing up. Kim du Toit: Oops — Turns out that this story wasn't true — the woman who claimed to have been attacked made it all up. |
James Joyner: French Woman Admits She Made up Anti-Semitic Attack — AFP/YahooNews - French woman admits she made up anti-Semitic attack [snipped quote] It boggles the mind. |
Bin Laden associate turns self in to Saudis MSNBC — Permalink RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A suspected Saudi al-Qaida militant who had appeared in a videotape with Osama bin Laden was flown back to the kingdom from Iran after he surrendered under a government amnesty, state television said on Tuesday. | |
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Joe Gandelman: Meanwhile, MSNBC gives these details, which suggest he is not unimportant: "A Saudi security source said al-Harby, a... Tim Dunlop: UPDATE: This is good news if it pans out: "A confidant of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden surrendered to Saudi... |
Laura Rozen: Bin Laden aide surrenders...on the Afghan-Iranian border, and is flown from Iran to Saudi Arabia. |
Democratic Convention to Focus on Kerry's Military Service By / NYT — Permalink With the backdrop of the war in Iraq, the four-day Democratic National Convention will focus on the public service experiences of Senator John Kerry, the presumed presidential nominee, and his running mate, Senator John Edwards, with a particular emphasis on Mr. Kerry's military experience. | |
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Howard Kurtz: The theme of the Beantown Bash is set: "With the backdrop of the war in Iraq, the four-day Democratic National... David Allan Pell: During the upcoming Convention in Boston, we may see John Kerry arrive on the stage in a swift boat. |
Paradox: Kerry Finally Draws His Knife — One can go to WaPo or those harlots at the nyt's and see the story breaking in many... |
Michael Moore, Ugly American By / WaPo — Permalink Michael Moore can handle verbal abuse from the conservative pundits in America, but harsh words from Pete Townshend, lead guitarist for The Who, may hit closer to his liberal heart. Moore wanted Townshend's rock anthem "Won't Get Fooled Again" for use on the soundtrack of his anti-Bush documentary film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." | |
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Jan Haugland: Michael — Moore a victim of Anti-American attacks Moore as "the ugly American." Oh, the irony. The Big Trunk: Michael Moore's foreign critics — The Washington Post has selected comments from the foreign press on "Fahrenheit 9/11": "Michael Moore, ugly American." Stephen Green: Maybe He'll Find Solace in a Wendy's Triple with Extra Cheese — Michael Moore is getting dissed from the Left:... |
Tim Blair: NEW BOSS SAME AS THE OLD BOSS — Pete Townshend hits a familiar note: [snipped quote] More on this from The Independent and the Washington Post. Dean Esmay: An Honorable Man of the Left — Pete Townsend, of The Who fame, says Michael Moore is an arrogant bully, and that he... |
Can the C.I.A. Really Be That Bad? NYT — Permalink WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee has had its say on the debacles leading up to the Iraq war, and America's intelligence agencies have come in for the lion's share of the blame. Some of the committee's findings were useful and constructive. | |
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Kevin Drum: WHOSE MISTAKE?...Michael O'Hanlon, in the course of an op-ed suggesting that the CIA didn't screw up quite as badly as... |
James Joyner: Brookings fellow Michael O'Hanlon asks "Can the C.I.A. Really Be That Bad?" in an op-ed in today's NYT. |
Uncivil By / TNR — Permalink On Sunday, any ambiguity on the part of this president with respect to the religious right's Federal Marriage Amendment was removed. Bush is now clearly determined to use this issue as powerfully as he can in the election, and to endorse one of the most radical amendments to the Constitution ever proposed. | |
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Jan Haugland: "This is a huge leap of logic" — Andrew Sullivan has given George Bush a serious fisking over his support for and arguments for the Federal Marriage Amendment. Will Baude: And here's the link to Andrew Sullivan's fisking of President Bush's radio address on the Federal Marriage Amendment— which will probably persuade nobody but entertain many. Andrew Sullivan: FISKING BUSH: I take on his radio address on the Federal Marriage Amendment. |
James Joyner: Andrew Sullivan, writing in TNR, argues that even a limited approach is unnecessary (even if one grants the premises of... Julian Sanchez: The Show Must Go On — Scrolling through the Epstein piece Nick links below and Andrew Sullivan's fisking of the... |
French Officials: Hate Crime Fabricated By / AP — Permalink PARIS - Just days after claiming to having been the victim of a cruel anti-Semitic attack that stunned France, a young mother confessed she fabricated the story, authorities said Tuesday. | |
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Moe Lane: In the category of "Too pat a story"...it has been determined that the French anti-Semitic attack story was a hoax:... |
Ace: Mistaken Anti-Semitic Attack... Faked — French officials now say she just made it all up. |
Kerry, Edwards May Not Vote on Marriage By / AP — Permalink BOSTON - Democrat John Kerry and his running mate John Edwards may not end up voting on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, a polarizing issue in the presidential campaign. President Bush has called for the amendment and top Republicans are trying to get one passed in the Senate. | |
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Jesse Taylor: I Wrote That Story Before I Didn't Write It — Kerry and Edwards may not vote on marriage. KJL: PRECIOUS — Looks like Kerry & Edwards may not vote on a marriage amendment. |
SK Bubba: And they've backed Kerry and Edwards into a corner in the process. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't vote. Pejman Yousefzadeh: But that doesn't prevent me from having utter contempt for John Kerry and John Edwards if this story is true: [snipped quote] Well, why not vote on the procedural measure? |
Iraqi rebels dividing, losing support By / Christian Science Monitor — Permalink BAGHDAD - In April, with anger swelling at the US occupation and a Marine-led assault on the Sunni city of Fallujah,thousands of Shiites provided assistance to their Iraqi brothers in the city. | |
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James Joyner: Iraqi Rebels Dividing and Losing Support — CSM - Iraqi rebels dividing, losing support (via Memeorandum) Bird Dog: In another vein, the Christian Science Monitor is reporting that "Fallujah is now emerging as a symbol of the splintering Iraq resistance". |
Glenn Reynolds: UPDATE: This article from the Christian Science Monitor would seem to support the above account from StrategyPage: "But... |
Ayatollah: U.S. Supports Iraq Insurgency AP — Permalink TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's supreme leader on Tuesday accused U.S. and Israeli agents, not Muslims, of responsibility for the wave of beheadings and kidnappings in Iraq, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. | |
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Andrew Sullivan: THE MULLAHS' PATHOLOGY: Here's Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blaming the terrorist violence against civilians in Iraq on ... Americans and Israelis. Josh Chafetz: NOTE TO THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT: If you're going to lie, at least make it plausible ... |
Charles Johnson: Iran's "Supreme Leader" Raves — Proving once again that nobody conspiracy-theorizes like an Iranian mullah, the... |
The Reality of Saddam's Threat NRO — Permalink On Friday, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released its "Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Pre-war Intelligence Assessment on Iraq." Although this report concluded that the Bush administration did not seek to "coerce, influence or... | |
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Tom Smith: Why Iraq war was justified — At NRO. Matthew Yglesias: Seeing as how I've got a new column out saying that the Iraq War caused us to neglect more pressing issues, a new... Mike Hendrix: This single paragraph says a lot, and says it well: [snipped quote] ...but of course there's plenty more, all of it just as good and to the point. |
Michelle Malkin: Against this backdrop, this National Review Online column by David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey is well worth reading. Pejman Yousefzadeh: Their article effectively refutes the common media spin regarding the report and its consequences: [snipped quote] The... |
Roger and Me By / Slate — Permalink Let me offer my hearty congratulations on starting the All-Star Game. Wow, that is really terrific. I'd like to note, however, that I hate you. Also: You are fat. They say you've got this hard-core training regimen, with calisthenics and whatnot. | |
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Brian Montopoli: Go to comments — July 14, 2004 Blog Report Of Dogs, Celebs, and a CBS Pratfall Yesterday was a bad day for one... Tom Maguire: Clemens haters loved watching The Rocket get launched for six runs. But there was a time...! Daniel Drezner: UPDATE: While I'm posting about baseball, Red Sox fans everywhere will have a good, rueful laugh at this Seth Stevenson rant about Roger Clemens over at Slate. |
Kevin Drum: I guess that'll teach me to be more punctual. Oh well, at least Seth Stevenson should be happy.... Noam Scheiber: In honor of tonight's Major League Baseball All-Star game, and the fact that there can't be more than three people on... |
The Kennedy Factor By / WaPo — Permalink Every few days, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy can be seen on Capitol Hill hitting tennis balls to his Portuguese water dogs, Sunny and Splash. He typically does this on a grassy area near his office in the Russell Building or, if he has time before work, on a field near the entrance to the FDR Memorial. | |
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Jan Haugland: Most unlikely political quote of the day — From an article about Edward Kennedy in the Washington Post: "You've gotta... The Big Trunk: Fascinated by lubricants — The Washington Post profiles Teddy Kennedy at length in anticipation of his upcoming prime... Michelle Malkin: QUOTE OF THE DAY — "You've gotta like a senator who is a pooper picker-upper," said Connie Thompson of Laurel, Md.,... |
Stephen Green: Shocking Image — Remind me, on the very off chance that I ever get an invitation, not to go to any events at the... James Joyner: WaPo - The Kennedy Factor: At 72, the Senator Is Campaigning for a Kerry White House With Dogged Determination "Every... John J. Miller: SPLASH — Ted Kennedy has a dog named Splash. I am not making this up. |
| Also: Hugh Hewitt | |
Bush Forcefully Defends War, Citing Safety of U.S. and World By / NYT — Permalink OAK RIDGE, Tenn., July 12 - President Bush on Monday vigorously defended his decision to go to war against Iraq, saying the invasion was the right thing to do even though no banned weapons had been found there, and claiming progress against terrorism and the spread of unconventional arms. | |
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Zachary Roth: For his part, John Kerry this week called Afghanistan, "a forgotten front in the war in terror." Tim Dunlop: "President Bush and Jon Kreykes looked over gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment on Monday" [quote] aluminumtubes.jpg "Dang.[end quote] Cori Dauber: It's all in the framing. |
Quiddity: We read in a New York Times story Bush Forcefully Defends War, Citing Safety of U.S. and World, the following: (emphasis... Howard Kurtz: "Bush, meanwhile, is playing defense on the war, as the New York Times reports: "President Bush on Monday vigorously... |
Two Americas of 'Fahrenheit' and 'Passion' By / NYT — Permalink LOS ANGELES, July 12 — The two most surprising hit movies of 2004 — Michael Moore's Bush-bashing documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" and Mel Gibson's religious epic "The Passion of the Christ" — offer an intriguing opportunity to examine the polarities among moviegoing Americans. | |
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Deacon: Red movie, blue movie — Howard Kurtz, citing a New York Times piece, notes that "Red- and blue-state America now has red and blue movies." Robert Cox: The Times Takes High Road in Fox News Battle Editor & Publisher In a letter sent to E & P Monday night, The New York... Hugh Hewitt: Tell them to smarten up. A fascinating piece on the "two Americas" of F911 and The Passion in the New York Times. |
Howard Kurtz: Red- and blue-state America now has red and blue movies, the New York Times discovers: "The two most surprising hit... Bill Hobbs: F9/11 Not A "Red State" Movie — The New York Times has an interesting look at the disparate geographic regions where... |
KERRY VS. THE WAR New York Post — Permalink JOHN Kerry has finally spo ken the words that make the November election an unambiguous choice. On "60 Minutes" on Sunday night, according to the official transcript released by CBS News, Kerry said: "I am against the — the war." | |
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Betsy Newmark: John Podhoretz has a great column trying to examine exactly where Kerry stands on the war in Iraq. [snipped quote] Read the whole thing. Stephen Green: Required Reading — John Podhoretz: [snipped quote] Read the whole thing. |
Glenn Reynolds: But they're not chummy! UPDATE: Read this, too: I voted for the war, but I'm against it! Full Evan Thomas transcript is here. Hugh Hewitt: The convention will be Kerry's last chance to seek coherence on the war against terror —though John Podhoretz is... |
GAZA'S KILLING SCHOOL Sky News — Permalink Children as young as 10 are being recruited to fight for the Palestinian cause. Sky News has gained access to a young people's camp in Gaza, where the only lesson taught is how to kill Israelis. | |
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David Gerstman: Nothing New Under the Summer Sun — Little Green Footballs, Josh Harvey's Middle East and Media Backspin (among others,... Stephen Green: Religion of Peace — This ought to spoil your lunch: [snipped quote] I suppose the only reasonable question left to ask is, "How many five-year-olds does it take to hold up a RPG?" |
Jan Haugland: Palestinian kids learn the art of terrorism — Palestinian child learning to be a terroristI had a look at Sky News... Charles Johnson: Palestinian Child Abuse — Gaza's Killing School. (Hat tip: Ben F.) Children as young as 10 are being recruited to fight for the Palestinian cause. |
Ditka tells GOP he's game By / Chicago Tribune — Permalink Bill Reese says if his high-end clothing firm just had a bit more warning, it would add a new shirt to next month's planned rollout of the Mike Ditka Hall of Fame Collection of casual wear. "How about 'Vote for Mike' shirts?" | |
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ArchPundit: From the Trib: [snipped quote] On top of that he doesn't seem to have voted since at least 2000. Howard Kurtz: "When it comes to Mike Ditka—the Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end, former winning Super Bowl coach, television... Christopher Kanis: DA SENATOR — Ditka tells GOP he'll run for Senate, if they want. Story. I still haven't decided what I think about this. |
Lucia @Amptoons: The rumor mill reports that they may draft Mike "Da Bears" Ditka as replacement candidate. James Martin Capozzola: The Chicago Tribune reports ("Ditka Tells GOP He's Game," by Rick Pearson): "[T]he 64-year-old Ditka ... is causing a... |
Leaked Salary List Shows Bush's Highest-Paid Staff Is Mostly Male By / WaPo — Permalink The president's men are doing very well. The president's women are doing slightly less well, but still not bad. With new White House salary figures leaked to The Washington Post and an Excel spreadsheet, crack researcher Margot Williams determined that men in the Bush White House earn an average of $76,624 a year. | |
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Pejman Yousefzadeh: Cori Dauber is a better writer than Dana Milbank could ever be. Cori Dauber also writes about more consequential things than Dana Milbank ever could. Holden: White House Staff Salary List — The list. Some analysis. No surprises here. Cori Dauber: SLAM JOB — I'm sorry, but even though it's a bit off topic for me I just have to comment on this absurd piece by Dana Milbank on the breakdowns in White House salaries. |
Captain Ed: Dana Milbank, King Of The Non-Stories — The Washington Post's Dana Milbank continues his ongoing sniping at the Bush... Betsy Newmark: Dana Milbank has a totally meaningless story in the Washington Post to indicate that men in Bush's White House earn more than women because more men have top positions. |
Search for AIDS vaccine falters By / USA Today — Permalink BANGKOK — The two-decade search for an AIDS vaccine, the only way to end the global crisis, is all but starting over, researchers here said Monday. • The only vaccine to complete two large-scale clinical trials, AIDSVAX, proved a flop. | |
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Clayton Cramer: No, Not The Only Way — This USA Today article about the failure to find a working AIDS vaccine makes this nonsensical... Glenn Reynolds: SOME DEPRESSING NEWS on an AIDS vaccine. I have to say that I expected a lot more progress than we've seen over the past couple of decades. |
Andrew Sullivan: THE VACCINE DREAM: Having studied this subject for over a decade, I cannot say I'm surprised that a vaccine for a... Michelle Malkin: Update: On a related note, Instapundit and Andrew Sullivan link to this article on the lack of progress in finding an AIDS vaccine. |
Machine at Work By / NYT — Permalink From a business point of view, Enron is a smoking ruin. But there's important evidence in the rubble. If Enron hadn't collapsed, we might still have only circumstantial evidence that energy companies artificially drove up prices during California's electricity crisis. | |
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ArchPundit: They happen to not be conspiracy theories in the case of Enron, but multiple felony conspiracies. Go figure. Susan Madrak: A BRIEF ABERRATION — Krugman: "The Texas redistricting, like many of Mr. DeLay's actions, broke all the usual rules of political fair play. |
Charles Kuffner: Paul Krugman gives a synopsis today of the DeLay-Enron emails. Holden: Krugman on DeLay — A nice synopsis for readers of the Times. |