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Quoted in this edition:

ABC News
Ace of Spades HQ
  Ace
The Age
  Paul McGeough Baghdad
Althouse
  Ann Althouse
Amygdala
  Gary Farber
www.AndrewSullivan.com
  Andrew Sullivan
Angry Bear
  Angry Bear
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
  B.C
ARMAVIRUMQUE
  James Panero
Associated Press
  Erin McClam
  Ron Fournier
  Natalie Obiko Pearson
  Nedra Pickler
baldilocks
  Baldilocks
Balloon Juice
  John Cole
THE BELGRAVIA DISPATCH
  Gregory Djerejian
Betsy's Page
  Betsy Newmark
Boston Globe
  Susan Milligan
BuzzMachine
  Jeff Jarvis
Captain's Quarters
  Captain Ed
  Whiskey
Chicago Boyz
  Jonathan Gewirtz
Chicago Sun Times
  Scott Fornek
Chicago Tribune
Citizen Smash
  Smash
CJR Campaign Desk Home
  Brian Montopoli
  Susan Q. Stranahan
  Zachary Roth
Clayton Cramer's BLOG
  Clayton Cramer
CNN
The Corner
  Jonah Goldberg
  KJL
  John Derbyshire
  Ramesh Ponnuru
corrente
  Lambert @Corrente
Crescat Sententia
  Will Baude
Crooked Timber
  Ted Barlow
cut on the bias
  Susanna Cornett
Daily Kos
  Kos
Dallas Morning News
  Michael E. Young
danieldrezner.com
  Daniel Drezner
Dean's World
  Dean Esmay
DonkeyRising
  Ruy Teixeira
EconoPundit
  Steve Antler
EdCone.com
  Ed Cone
EdDriscoll.com
  Edward Driscoll
Electablog
  David Allan Pell
Eschaton
  Holden
  Athenae
etc.
  Noam Scheiber
Front Page Magazine
  Annie Jacobsen
Guardian
Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness
  Norbizness
Harry's Place
  David T
Hit & Run
  Nick Gillespie
  Brian Doherty
  Mike Alissi
HughHewitt.com
  Hugh Hewitt
Hullabaloo
  Digby
INDC Journal
  Bill @INDCJournal
Instapundit.com
  Glenn Reynolds
Ipse Dixit
  C. D. Harris
IRAQ NOW
  Jason Van Steenwyk
joannejacobs.com
  Joanne Jacobs
JustOneMinute
  Tom Maguire
Kesher Talk
  Judith Weiss
Knight Ridder
Lean Left
  Kevin T. Keith
The Left Coaster
  Steve Soto
  Mary InLosGatos
Little Green Footballs
  Charles Johnson
Los Angeles Times
  John H. Mcwhorter
  Doyle McManus
Marginal Revolution
  Tyler Cowen
Mark A. R. Kleiman
  Mark Kleiman
matthew
  Matthew Yglesias
MaxSpeak, You Listen!
  Max B. Sawicky
Media Notes Extra
  Howard Kurtz
Michelle Malkin
  Michelle Malkin
The Moderate Voice
  Joe Gandelman
Mudville Gazette
  Greyhawk
MyDD
  Jerome Armstrong
The National Debate
  Robert Cox
National Review
  Hans Moleman
  Tim Graham
The New Republic
  Jonathan Chait
New York Times
  Thomas Frank
  David D. Kirkpatrick
  Eric Schmitt
  Todd Zaun
  Carl Hulse
  Paul Krugman
  Douglas Jehl
  Elisabeth Bumiller
  Richard W. Stevenson
NewsMax.com
No More Mister Nice Blog
  Steve M.
NY Daily News
Obsidian Wings
  Edward _
Oh, That Liberal Media
  Patterico
One Hand Clapping
  Donald Sensing
Opinion Journal
  Julia Gorin
  Peggy Noonan
Outside The Beltway
  James Joyner
OxBlog
  Josh Chafetz
Pacific Views
  Natasha @PacificViews
pandagon.net
  Ezra Klein
  Jesse Taylor
Pejmanesque
  Pejman Yousefzadeh
PoliBlog
  Steven Taylor
The Poor Man
  The Poor Man
Power Line
  Deacon
  The Big Trunk
PressThink
  Jay Rosen
PRESTOPUNDIT
  Greg Ransom
Priorities & Frivolities
  Robert Garcia Tagorda
ProfessorBainbridge.com
  Steve Bainbridge
protein wisdom
  Jeff Goldstein
Rantingprofs
  Cori Dauber
Right Wing News
  John Hawkins
Rising Hegemon
  Attaturk
The Rittenhouse Review
  James Martin Capozzola
the road to surfdom
  Tim Dunlop
Roger L. Simon
  Roger L. Simon
Salon
  Mary Jacoby
Samizdata.net
  Robert Clayton Dean
Secular Blasphemy
  Jan Haugland
Slate
  Jordan Ellenberg
Southern Appeal
  Michael DeBow
  QD @SouthernAppeal
  Joel Foreman
The Spoons Experience
  Christopher Kanis
Steve Gilliard's News Blog
  Steve Gilliard
Suburban Guerrilla
  Susan Madrak
t a c i t u s
  Harley
  Bird Dog
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
  Taegan Goddard
Talking Points Memo
  Josh Marshall
TalkLeft
  TChris
  Jeralyn Merritt
TAPPED
  Matthew Yglesias
Tech Central Station
  Ralph Kinney Bennett
  Arnold Kling
Telegraph
Tim Blair
  Tim Blair
Townhall.com
  Bruce Bartlett
  Charles Krauthammer
  Joel Mowbray
  Jonah Goldberg
  Robert Novak
  John Mccaslin
Travelling Shoes
  H.D. Miller
Unfogged
  Fontana Labs
The Volokh Conspiracy
  Jacob T. Levy
War and Piece
  Laura Rozen
The Washington Monthly
  Kevin Drum
Washington Post
  Dan Froomkin
  Thomas B. Edsall
  Colum Lynch
Washington Times
  Ralph Z. Hallow
  John McCaslin
  Marguerite Higgins
  Bill Gertz
White House
Wired
  Ryan Singel



A Kerry cabinet
  By / Townhall.com   —   Permalink 
I have long believed that presidential challengers would help themselves by announcing at least some of their top appointments before the election. After all, we already know the incumbent's appointees.
James Joyner: Shadow Cabinets — Bruce Bartlett has made a proposal that has excited a few people in the blogosphere.
Jacob T. Levy: Cabinet-making: Dan Drezner and Bruce Bartlett and Matthew Yglesias all enthuse about the idea of a Presidential challenger naming a shadow cabinet.
Matthew Yglesias: Shadow Cabinet — Dan Drezner and Bruce Bartlett both say it would be a good idea for challengers to run with "shadow cabinets" of future appointees to key positions.
Angry Bear: Kerry's Cabinet — Bruce Bartlett, a conservative columnist for The National Review, ponders who should comprise the economic team in a Kerry cabinet.
Greg Ransom: WHAT THE KERRY ADMINISTRATION will look like. James Rubin is one Kerry guy I really admired on September 11, 2001.
Daniel Drezner: Bruce Bartlett beats me to the punch — Bruce Bartlett's latest column opens with a suggestion that I've had in the back...

Iraqi PM executed six insurgents: witnesses
  ABC News   —   Permalink 
MAXINE MCKEW: Let's go straight to the allegations that Iyad Allawi executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station at the end of June.
Holden: Important links: Paul McGeough's original story in the Sydney Morning Herald, and an interview of McGeough recorded today by the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC).
Tom Maguire: Four Walls of a Prison Were Three Walls Too Many — Allawi reportedly sends a message.
Tim Dunlop: Here's an interview with journalist Paul McGeough about his story.
Kos: (Incidentally, the author of the piece defends running the story here, and discussed why he thinks it's true.)
Charles Johnson: Report: Allawi Personally Executed "Insurgents" — Watch for Western media to seize on this as the next big scandal out of Iraq: Iraqi PM Allawi executed six insurgents: witnesses.
James Joyner: Update: ABC Lateline - Iraqi PM executed six insurgents: witnesses "MAXINE McKEW: Paul McGeough, thanks for joining us.

Failure Is Not an Option, It's Mandatory
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
For three days this week the nation was transfixed by the spectacle of the United States Senate, in all its august majesty, doing precisely the opposite of statesmanlike deliberation.
Kevin T. Keith: Republican Cynicism: Bigotry, Class War, or Both? Thomas Frank has an outstanding op-ed in today's New York Times.
Fontana Labs: Two items (a) Much of what's wrong with our political discourse, wrapped in a failed amendment: Thomas Franks limns the...
Digby: Wingnut Victimology — Thomas Frank's op-ed in the NY Times: "Of course, as everyone pointed out, the whole enterprise was doomed to failure from the start.
Attaturk: Poor Jerry and the fundies, as the NY Times points out they are tools used by the GOP, but failure still makes them...
Ezra Klein: Winning by Losing — Thomas Frank says: [snipped quote] Ah, the wonders of cynical, politically motivated failure.
Ted Barlow: However, he's managed to pop out a tight editorial for the NY Times.
Also: Steve M., Edward _

Iraqi PM shot inmates, says witnesses
  ABC News   —   Permalink 
There are allegations that the Iraqi Interim Prime Minister shot seven and killed six Iraqi insurgents in the week leading up to the handover of sovereignty last month.
Roger L. Simon: Tim linked to Iraqi blogger Zeyad who wrote back on July 1: Another widespread and preposterous rumour is that Ayad...
James Joyner: A similar report: Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) - Iraqi PM shot inmates, says witnesses "Two unnamed people, who...
Tim Blair: The ABC has more: "Two unnamed people, who are alleged to have witnessed the shootings, told Australian journalist Paul...
Holden: UPDATE II: The Sydney Morning Herald provides some context. UPDATE III: ABC News Online (Australia) picks it up.

History's Verdict
  NRO   —   Permalink 
The summers of 1944 and 2004.
About this time 60 years ago, six weeks after the Normandy beach landings, Americans were dying in droves in France. We think of the 76-day Normandy campaign of summer and autumn 1944 as an astounding American success — and...
Betsy Newmark: Victor Davis Hanson reminds us of the many blunders and mistakes that we made between D-Day and V-E Day. It's a daunting list.
Jason Van Steenwyk: Perspective — [snipped quote] Victor Davis Hanson The whole essay is extremely sharp. Nice work. Splash, out
Charles Johnson: History's Verdict — Victor Davis Hanson provides the historical perspective so sorely lacking from most discourse about the Iraq War.
Michael DeBow: Also on NRO, a strong piece by VDH on the inevitability of tragic mistakes in war.
Steve M.: Well, now, in National Review Online, right-wing historian Victor Davis Hanson is comparing Iraq to the period in 1944...
Hugh Hewitt: Don't miss Victor Davis Hanson in National Review.com today. And thanks for book plugs to Raincross Conservative, RightWingNews, The Crusader, ParsonsPantry, and Cockalorum.

Joseph Wilson vs. the right-wing conspiracy
  By / Salon   —   Permalink 
Choreographed editorials and Op-Ed pieces on Thursday in the Wall Street Journal, National Review and by conservative columnist Robert Novak signaled the revving up of a Republican campaign to discredit former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his claims that President Bush trumpeted flimsy intelligence in the drive to invade Iraq.
Tim Dunlop: There's also this summary of the case for the defence.
Bill @INDCJournal: (Joe Wilson links via Instapundit, who is on a damn tear - just hit that link and keep scrolling upwards) UPDATE: Salon is actually covering for the bastahd!
Attaturk: In Salon today, the Ambassador strikes back, just an excerpt: First conclusion: "The plan to send the former ambassador...
Jonah Goldberg: THINNER GRUEL — Salon.com has a "defense" of Joe Wilson.
Glenn Reynolds: SALON is carrying water for Joe Wilson. Ed Morrissey isn't impressed.
Captain Ed: Salon's Mary Jacoby carries Wilson's water (annoying ad required for reading) in attempting to counter the...
Also: Steve Gilliard, The Poor Man

Whoopi slams GOP
  NY Daily News   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON - Whoopi Goldberg lashed out at Republicans again yesterday, branding them hypocrites for trying to "punish" her for joking about the President.
John Hawkins: Well today, predictably, Whoopi started whining about her well deserved firing... "America's heart and soul is freedom...
Joel Foreman: Her response: "America's heart and soul is freedom of expression without fear of reprisal," What Ms. Goldberg fails to see is the distinction so many fail to see.
Clayton Cramer: (Remember: Slim-Fast is run by a heavy Democratic contributor.) And Whoopi's response? [snipped quote] Huh? This is nonsense.
Brian Montopoli: In its story about Whoopi Goldberg being dropped from her gig as SlimFast spokesperson, the (New York) Daily News followed the formula to a tee.
Susanna Cornett: Whoopi Goldberg, in defending her blue remarks at a Kerry benefit in NYC that recently resulted in her being dropped as...
Hugh Hewitt: Whoopi's mad. The concert of hate cost her big bucks, and of course she's claiming McCarthyism.
Also: Betsy Newmark

Report: Allawi shot Iraqi suspects
  Washington Times   —   Permalink 
Baghdad, Iraq, Jul. 16 (UPI) — Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi killed six suspected insurgents just days before he was handed power, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Mark Kleiman: Oddly, the Washington Times, which might be expected to be friendly toward the new Iraqi regime, uses the neutral "killed" and "fatally shot."
James Joyner: The American press, sort of, has caught on to the story: UPI/Washington Times - Report: Allawi shot Iraqi suspects ...
Edward _: First published in the Sydney Morning Herald (but recently picked up by the Washington Times---hat tip to Constant...
Holden: Run this story. USA! USA! USA! UPDATE IV: And the winner is: The Washington Times (!). Thanks, Omar K. Ravenhurst.

Pro-life speakers sought for convention
  By / Washington Times   —   Permalink 
More than half the Republicans in the House have signed a formal complaint to President Bush about the failure to give prominent conservative, pro-life party members even one prime-time speaking role at the Republican National Convention.
Digby: The Natives Are Restless — Following up my post from yesterday: [snipped quote] This controversy just guaranteed that...
Noam Scheiber: But that's apparently what the intramural debate over the Republican convention has come to—House conservatives are...
Andrew Sullivan: But the social conservatives need to find someone to speak at the convention. Why not Santorum or DeLay? Why not James Dobson?
Ramesh Ponnuru: REP. MIKE PENCE has gotten 127 House Republicans to sign a letter asking that Henry Hyde get a prime-time speaking slot at the convention.

Citing Falwell's Endorsement of Bush, Group Challenges His Tax-Exempt Status
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
Hoping to send a warning to churches helping the Bush campaign turn out conservative voters, a liberal group has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service charging that an organization run by the Rev.
Attaturk: While Jerry does his best to flaunt the laws regarding tax-free status, I wonder if he thinks about the Hobsian Dilemma...
Kevin T. Keith: I can't produce a coherent argument on this subject - it's just that, when I read this article, two thoughts keep...
QD @SouthernAppeal: Falwell: Barry Lynn, president of Americans United for the Silencing of Conservative Churches (well, ok for "the...
Holden: The tax-exempt status of Jerry Falwell Ministries is challenged after Falwell endorses Bush in an e-mail newsletter and...
Susan Madrak: SIC 'IM — Falwell challenged on his tax-exempt status... [snipped quote] Go, team!

Kerry's Economic Deficit
  NRO   —   Permalink 
The challenger will have trouble darkening this bright picture.
If it's not bad enough that rapid economic recovery has neutered Sen. Kerry's principal domestic criticism of President Bush, now comes even worse news for the Democratic campaign: The budget deficit is starting to substantially shrink.
C. D. Harris: Good News For America=Bad News For Kerry - Yet Again — Another blow for John "Weeble" Kerry's campaign: The budget decifit is shrinking, just as we supply-siders predicted.
B.C: Draggin' That Dead Donk Horse Out & Kickin' The S**t Out Of It (Yet Again) In the "News You Won't Be Seeing From The...
Ace: Kerry's Deficit Deficit — Sadly, the budget deficit just isn't coming in as high as anticipated.
Matthew Yglesias: Today, the crack National Review Online economics team decides to crank up the fog machine: "Just as the 1.5 million...

AP Seeks Release of Bush Military Records
  AP   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Associated Press asked a federal judge Friday to order the Pentagon to quickly turn over a full copy of President Bush's military service record.
Susan Madrak: DRIP DRIP DRIP — Looks like the AP grew a pair: "WASHINGTON (AP) - The Associated Press asked a federal judge Friday...
Holden: AP Takes Quest for AWOL's Records To Federal Court — The Associated Press is not giving up on their efforts to view all...
The Poor Man: Keep On Keepin' On — [snipped quote] In a related story, the AP corporate offices were inadvertently cruise-missiled to...

Inside the Beltway
  By / Washington Times   —   Permalink 
Every vote counts?
"The president of the United States shook hands and nearly kissed a dog."
—Official White House pool report surrounding President Bush's impromptu stop in Pottstown, Pa., on his way to a campaign appearance in Lancaster.
Dean Esmay: According to the Washington Times story, Major Stone's aunt, who is also acting as family spokeswoman, says:...
Greyhawk: From John McCaslin's July 12th Inside the Beltway column in the Washington Times "The family of U.S. Air Force Maj...
Smash: JOHN MCCASLIN: [snipped quote] He's worth a mint. Sue his ass. (Hat tip: Greyhawk)

Iraqi PM executed six prisoners: witnesses
  By / The Age   —   Permalink 
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi addresses a press conference this week.
Iyad Allawi, the new Prime Minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad major crimes unit just days before Washington handed...
Mark Kleiman: Gross terminological inexactitude — I don't know whether the new Prime Minister of Iraq did or did not shoot six...
Holden: UPDATE: this story was just picked up by another Australian paper, The Age. How long will it be before the AP or other US-based media are on to it?
Tim Dunlop: See the new boss — Same as the old boss?

Search for Former Chess Champion Ends at Tokyo Airport
  AP   —   Permalink 
TOKYO (AP) — After decades of evading the public eye and U.S. justice officials, former world champion Bobby Fischer — possibly the best and certainly the most eccentric chess player ever — has been taken into custody by Japanese immigration after allegedly trying to leave the country with an invalid passport.
Pejman Yousefzadeh: FINDING BOBBY FISCHER — Bet this will take you by surprise: [snipped quote] I suppose we could say that Fischer has been checkmated.
Will Baude: Bobby Fischer— found — Chess champ and nutcase Bobby Fischer is now in custody— it is still unclear whether he will...
C. D. Harris: Searching For Bobby Fischer No More — The one-time Chess Grandmaster was detained in Tokyo's Narita Airport attempting to leave the country with an invalidated passport.

Life After Death for CAPPS II?
  By / Wired   —   Permalink 
The government's controversial plan to screen passengers before they board a plane is dead — but it may return in a new form with a new name.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge bluntly told a reporter Wednesday that the Computer Assisted Passenger...
Brian Doherty: Today Wired.com reports that a similar program will indeed probably be launched, though under a different name.
Daniel Drezner: For more on the CAPPS debate, check out Ryan Singel's account in Wired. Orin Kerr wonders: "Why haven't major newspapers and TV picked up on it?

Bin Laden's Goal: Kill 4 Million Americans
  NewsMax.com   —   Permalink 
"It is not a question of if....it is a question of when," claims the author of a controversial new book "Osama's Revenge: The Next 9/11: What the Media and the Government Haven't Told You," (Prometheus Books).
James Joyner: Bin Laden's Goal: Kill 4 Million Americans — Bin Laden's Goal: Kill 4 Million Americans [snipped quote] I'm sure this is...
John Derbyshire: THE NEXT BIG ONE — Newsmax.com reviews a new book claiming that the terrorists already have several small nukes in place in US cities.
Clayton Cramer: This story discusses a new book that is out that claims that al-Qaeda already has tactical nukes in the U.S., ready to be used.

Terror in the Skies -- Again?
  By / Front Page Magazine   —   Permalink 
On June 29, 2004, at 12:28 p.m., I flew on Northwest Airlines flight #327 from Detroit to Los Angeles with my husband and our young son. Also on our flight were 14 Middle Eastern men between the ages of approximately 20 and 50 years old.
Clayton Cramer: UPDATE: Here's a bit more from the author of the first article I linked to: "Two days after my experience on Northwest...
Betsy Newmark: Here's a description of a scary experience that one family had on an airline flight.
The Big Trunk: The Mohamed profile, part 2 — FrontPage has posted the chilling first-person account of Annie Jacobsen regarding what...
Bird Dog: Update: Here is a link to a nerve-wracking tale told by an airline passenger, observing unusual behavior of 14 Middle Eastern men on a four-hour cross country flight.

Is Math a Sport?
  By / Slate   —   Permalink 
Last week, the first contingent of U.S. Olympians arrived in Athens. The five men and one woman, survivors of a merciless selection process, stood ready to test themselves against the strongest competitors in the world.
Sunday, they go home.
James Joyner: Defining 'Sports' — Jordan Ellenberg's Slate article, Is Math a Sport? tries to solve an age old riddle: distinguishing sports from mere games.
Matthew Yglesias: Wittgenstein References In Everything — Jordan Ellenberg takes on the big issue of the day: Are math competitions sports?
Daniel Drezner: Math is not a sport — Jordan Ellenberg has a Slate column on whether math should be considered a sport. Sounds preposterous?

Former CIA director used Pentagon ties to introduce Iraqi defector
  Knight Ridder   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON - A former CIA director who advocated war against Saddam Hussein helped arrange the debriefing of an Iraqi defector who falsely claimed that Iraq had biological-warfare laboratories disguised as yogurt and milk trucks.
Matthew Yglesias: Knight-Ridder's team of Landay and Strobel report on former CIA director turned superhawk James Woolsey's role in...
Holden: R. James Woolsey: Former CIA Director, Bogus WMD Intelligence Pimp, War Profiteer — James Woolsey acted as a conduit...
Mary InLosGatos: Today, in another round of this deadly serious game, a senior U.S. official has exposed exactly who was responsible for...
James Joyner: Former CIA director used Pentagon ties to introduce Iraqi defector [snipped quote] Interesting.
Attaturk: Via this report from Knight-Ridder comes the story (not discussed by the Senate in its report) of how Woolsey subverted...
Laura Rozen: Heads Up: Knight Ridder is going to break something big in tomorrow's papers... Update: Here it is: [snipped quote] It...

Obesity deemed an illness
  By / Washington Times   —   Permalink 
Obesity is now an illness and can be covered by Medicare, the federal health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced yesterday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would remove language in Medicare's coverage manual that states obesity is not an illness.
Michael DeBow: HHS has defined obesity as an "illness" covered by Medicare: In today's Washington Times, Marguerite Higgins considers the possible impact of this decision.
Whiskey: Taxpayers must eat the cost of obesity — The Department of Health and Human Services now considers obesity as an...
James Joyner: Obesity Deemed an Illness — Washington Times - Obesity deemed an illness "Obesity is now an illness and can be covered...

The Senate's bad intelligence
  Salon   —   Permalink 
The Hon. Pat Roberts, Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
The Hon. Jay Rockefeller, Vice Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Dear Sen. Roberts and Sen. Rockefeller,
Tim Dunlop: Joseph Wilson 10 — As I was one of those who criticised Joseph Wilson for what appears to be lying, let me link to his...
The Poor Man: These questions and more, except for that last one, are answered by Mary Jocoby in Salon, and by Joseph Wilson in a...
Holden: Ambassador Joseph Wilson responds to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in a lengthy letter published by Salon.

Caption Contest!
  By / WaPo   —   Permalink 
I can't resist. Please take a look at this highly amusing AP photo of Rove and send your proposed captions to froomkin@washingtonpost.com.
Please include your full name and your home town, or I won't be able to use your entry.
David Allan Pell: Rumor with a View — So it seems that the Cheney being off the ticket rumor just won't die even though pretty much...
Susan Q. Stranahan: Denials flew, White House spokesman Scott McClellan scolded, and reporters failed to secure a confirmation.

Congress's Inquiry Into Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners Bogs Down
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON, July 15 - The Congressional investigation into the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison has virtually ground to halt, as a senior Senate Republican said Thursday that no new hearings would be held on the matter until this fall at the earliest.
Matthew Yglesias: Well, we can forget about that — the House decided not to investigate at all, the Senate has called off its inquiry,...
Gregory Djerejian: Speaking of Abu Ghraib, the investigatory process is inching along at a snail's pace.
Lambert @Corrente: (Actually, the real surprise is that the story made page A8 of the World's Greatest Newspaper (not!) instead of A18
Steve Soto: House and Senate GOP Hope To Shut Down Prison Abuse Scandal — It's no surprise to see that Senator John Warner as well...

Martha Stewart sentenced to 5 months
  AP   —   Permalink 
NEW YORK - Domestic icon Martha Stewart moved one step closer to a drastically different lifestyle behind bars when the millionaire entrepreneur was sentenced Friday to five months in prison for a stock-trading scandal.
Some experts had expected Stewart to get 10 to 16 months in prison.
James Joyner: Martha Stewart Sentenced — AP - Martha Stewart sentenced to 5 months [snipped quote] This still doesn't strike me as...
Steven Taylor: Martha to Jail — Martha Stewart sentenced to 5 months "Martha Stewart was sentenced Friday to five months in prison and...

Search for Former Chess Champion Ends at Tokyo Airport
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
TOKYO, July 16 — After more than two decades of living in near obscurity, the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has been apprehended by Japanese immigration authorities for allegedly trying to leave the country without a valid passport.
KJL: THE SEARCH FOR BOBBY FISCHER IS OVER — I confess, most of this was completely new to me.
Kevin Drum: END OF THE ROAD....We've finally apprehended Bobby Fischer. Thank God our long national nightmare is finally over.

A Look to Your Left
  By / NRO   —   Permalink 
At the National Education Association convention last week, the liberal orthodoxy for the most part flowed in carefully directed channels. Resolutions and "new business" items condemning the war on terror and the occupation of Iraq were set aside without...
Joanne Jacobs: Where time stands still — Marion Wright Edelman was applauded at the National Education Association convention for...
Clayton Cramer: Time Warp Problems At NEA Convention — This article by an anonymous employee of the National Education Association...

A Mile and a Promise
  By / TCS   —   Permalink 
This sounds like a scene from some weepy, bad movie.
There's this young Army National Guard sergeant lying in bed at an Army hospital.
He's really down. He lost his right leg to a landmine in Afghanistan. Lot of hustle and bustle out in the hall.
Betsy Newmark: This is a wonderful story about how President Bush kept his promise to a wounded soldier.
Jonah Goldberg: BUSH KEEPS HIS WORD — Is it me, or don't you think you would have first heard about this from the "Today Show" and not...

Republicans Still Hope to Score Points on Gay Marriage
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON, July 15 - Minutes after the Senate rejected the Constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage on Wednesday, Republican sponsors of the proposal deftly maneuvered Representative Jim DeMint before the television cameras.
Zachary Roth: Go to comments — July 16, 2004 Spin Buster Defective Smoke Alarm In today's New York Times, Carl Hulse considers the...
Andrew Sullivan: Reading how the GOP hopes to use fear of gays to rev up their base across the country really makes me feel ill. Money...

Martha gets five months
  CNN   —   Permalink 
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and fined $30,000 Friday for lying to investigators about her sale of ImClone Systems stock in late 2001.
Steve Bainbridge: Judge Cedarbaum, however, slapped Martha on the wrist with a mere 5 months and a $30,000 fine, which was the bare minimum under the sentencing guidelines.
Joe Gandelman: She won't be going bye-bye for several years: "Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison Friday.

Message to Tashkent
  WaPo   —   Permalink 
FOR SOME TIME President Bush has been promising to change the long-standing U.S. practice of cultivating dictators in strategically important parts of the world in exchange for their support on security issues or reliable supplies of oil.
Matthew Yglesias: Actual Democracy Promotion — After much foot-dragging, the Bush administration decided to make the right call and not give Uzbekistan a pass on its human rights violations.
Robert Garcia Tagorda: Uzbekistan Update — The Washington Post salutes the administration: "FOR SOME TIME President Bush has been promising to...

Governor Angered by 'Chaos' Over Budget
  LAT   —   Permalink 
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, declaring "there's chaos here," opened a public and private war Thursday with the California Legislature over failure to pass a state budget now more than two weeks overdue.
Kevin Drum: TOUGH TALK....Who said this? "I will stay here until 2006. I will stay here, and I will fight like a warrior for the people.
Greg Ransom: "DON'T PUSH ME AROUND" — Gov. Schwarzenegger to the Democrats in the California Legislature.
Digby: Beavis and Butthead in '04 — How embarrassing [snipped quote] I know that Republican politicians need to relate to the...

Martha Stewart Gets 5 Months in Prison
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
NEW YORK (AP) - Domestic icon Martha Stewart moved one step closer to a drastically different lifestyle behind bars when the millionaire entrepreneur was sentenced Friday to five months in prison for a stock-trading scandal.
Brian Doherty: A Mrs. Perfect Crime — Martha Stewart gets sentenced: five months jail plus five months home confinement, and a $30,000 fine.
Jeralyn Merritt: Bump and Update: Martha gets 5 months in federal custody, five months of home detention.

Kerry Asks Sen. Clinton to Introduce Bill
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - John Kerry asked Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday to introduce her husband, former President Clinton, on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, ending an intense lobbying campaign by the New York senator's backers angered by her non-speaking role.
Deacon: Someone must be making this up — According to the AP via Yahoo, John Kerry has attempted to end the fuss about Hillary...
Joe Gandelman: Well, the Post would only want her freed SO much... UPDATE: And now we get this proforma, p.r. statement which sounds a...
Christopher Kanis: WHO DO THEY THINK THEY'RE KIDDING? "Kerry Asks Hillary to Speak!" Please. Anyone who thinks this wasn't choreographed from the start, please contact me.
Tom Maguire: The Well-Oiled Machine Squeaks Towards Boston — The Kerry camp discovers that Hillary has supporters in the Democratic Party!
John Hawkins: Chance to Introduce Bill Had Hillary 'Gulping for Air' By Scott Ott — Senator Hillary Clinton said today that the...
Steven Taylor: Isn't that Sweet? Kerry Asks Sen. Clinton to Introduce Bill
Also: Captain Ed

The ICJ vs. Israel
  By / Townhall.com   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — Among various principles invoked by the International Court of Justice in its highly publicized decision on Israel's security fence is this one: It is a violation of international law for Jews to be living in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem.
Charles Johnson: Travesty at The Hague — Charles Krauthammer heaps well-deserved scorn on the UN's International Court of Justice, and...
Betsy Newmark: Charles Krauthammer has an absolutely deadly column about the International Court of Justice and what a joke it is.

Medicare Changes Policy on Obesity
  WaPo   —   Permalink 
The federal Medicare program yesterday abandoned a long-standing policy that obesity is not a disease, removing what has been a major roadblock for many people trying to get treatment for the burgeoning health problem.
James Joyner: For more coverage, see: WaPo - Medicare Changes Policy on Obesity "Eighteen percent of the Medicare population is obese,...
Max B. Sawicky: The Feds have just defined obesity as an illness. This probably means the Gov will pay for liposuction or stomach stapling.

Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
  White House   —   Permalink 
The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon. I want to begin with one announcement. The President today is announcing the designation of a presidential delegation to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
TChris: When asked about the secret detentions, Scott McClellan provided these direct and illuminating answers on behalf of the...
Holden: Today on Holden's Obsession with the Gaggle — Helen Thomas has a question: "Q Does the United States harbor secret...

Japan Detains Ex-Chess Champ Bobby Fischer
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
TOKYO — Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, wanted since 1992 for playing a tournament in Yugoslavia despite U.N. sanctions, has been detained in Japan, clearing the way for his extradition to the United States.
Christopher Kanis: BOBBY FISCHER, FOUND — Be sure to read this one to the end.... Chicago Tribune: [snipped quote] I hope Bobby Fischer dies soon.
Captain Ed: Finding Bobby Fischer — Bobby Fischer, who wowed the world as a teenage Grand Master of chess and who beat Boris...

Labor Board Says Graduate Students at Private Universities Have No Right to Unionize
  NYT   —   Permalink 
The fast-growing movement to unionize graduate students at the nation's private universities suffered a crushing setback yesterday when the National Labor Relations Board reversed itself and ruled that students who worked as research and teaching assistants did not have the right to unionize.
James Panero: This may be a bad day for labor, but it is a very good day for students everywhere.
QD @SouthernAppeal: Graduate Unions: The NLRB has decided that graduate students at private universities don't have the right to unionize.

Exploiting America's Dead for Political Gain
  By / Townhall.com   —   Permalink 
With sleazy hypocrisy practically oozing from his pores, presidential wannabe John Kerry last week sought political gain by exploiting the memories of dead American patriots, saying, "They were wrong and soldiers lost their lives because they were wrong."
Athenae: I wish that people like this and this would understand that trying to find out what happened on 9/11 doesn't mean you don't place ultimate blame for the attacks on the terrorists.
Greg Ransom: MORE " Exploiting America's Dead for Political Gain. "

Medical Class Warfare
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
If past patterns are any guide, about one in three Americans will go without health insurance for some part of the next two years. They won't, for the most part, be the persistently poor, who are usually covered by Medicaid.
Hugh Hewitt: This is what I get for reading Paul Krugman before going to bed —the blogging equivalent of a gag reflex.
Holden: Soo-prise, Soo-prise, Soo-prise — Krugman examines Bush's helath care plan and discovers it offers scant help to anyone but the rich: "The difference couldn't be starker.

Pro-GOP Groups Outpaced In Funds
  By / WaPo   —   Permalink 
Over the past four months, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) has raised more money than the Bush campaign and substantially eroded the president's once-huge cash advantage.
Jerome Armstrong: Progress for America and the Leadership Forum announced on May 13th that they were going to compete against the...
Steve Soto: Tom Edsall's piece in tomorrow's Washington Post reports that the right-wing 527s have not only failed to catch up, but...

U.S. Won't Turn Over Data for Iraq Audits
  By / WaPo   —   Permalink 
UNITED NATIONS, July 15 — The Bush administration is withholding information from U.N.-sanctioned auditors examining more than $1 billion in contracts awarded to Halliburton Co. and other companies in Iraq without competitive bidding, the head of the international auditing board said Thursday.
Lambert @Corrente: This is one of those WaPo stories that starts out "He said, She said" but has the killer detail in the very last graf.
Steve Soto: Bush Administration Refuses To Turn Over Halliburton Information To The UN — After the White House and right-wing...

The Stinky Tobacco Deal
  NYT   —   Permalink 
Federal regulation of the tobacco industry is long overdue, and tobacco growers shouldn't be paid a huge ransom just so Congress feels it can do the right thing. But that is precisely the deal unfolding on Capitol Hill.
Ed Cone: An editorial calls the deal to pay farmers to end their annual government allotment "unseemly" and a "ransom" to facilitate FDA regulation of the leaf.
Kevin Drum: CORPORATE PORK....Good editorial in the New York Times today about the egregious tobacco deal struck in the Senate on Thursday.

Passengers' good will turned soldiers' trip home into a flight of fancy
  By / Dallas Morning News   —   Permalink 
It all began with a chance encounter at an airport, a glance, an offer, a quiet chat.
What's your seat number, soldier?
It's 23-B, sir, the soldier told the businessman.
Baldilocks: Incredibly Cool love_for_the_brotherhoodShowin g love for the other "brotherhood," (registration required) passengers of American Airlines flight 866, hooked some brothers up.
James Joyner: (Hat tip: Memeorandum) Update: Dallas Morning News has more: Passengers' good will turned soldiers' trip home into a...
Michelle Malkin: Update: Reader Peter send a link to the original Dallas Morning News story on the flight here, which includes this great...

Kerry/Dole '04!
  By / Townhall.com   —   Permalink 
Imagine you are a war hero senator running for president. You have a very long and, for the most part, dull legislative record. You're stiff on TV and generally listless on the stump. You can't stop talking like a senator even though you know it leaves people cold.
Betsy Newmark: Jonah Goldberg explores the Kerry-Dole comparisons. Everyone is searching for the perfect comparisons for this year's election.
Edward Driscoll: KERRY/DOLE '04! Jonah Goldberg writes: [snipped quote] RTWT.

The Other Campaign
  By / Opinion Journal   —   Permalink 
I couldn't help noticing, on a telephone kiosk in midtown Manhattan, a poster of an Asian child admonishing: "Anti-Semitism is anti-me." My eyes scanned to the bottom of the poster for an explanation.
Judith Weiss: Gee, somebody besides me thinks these posters are inane. what Julia doesn't bring up, is why is this ad campaign being...
Michelle Malkin: THE VICTIM OLYMPICS — Julia Gorin, stand-up comic and Jewish World Review contributing editor, has a funny piece in the Wall Street Journal's Taste page today.

Blair hit by Lib Dem poll surge
  Guardian   —   Permalink 
A massive Liberal Democrat surge last night took the seat of Leicester South and stopped only inches short of taking Labour's once rock solid seat of Birmingham Hodge Hill.
Natasha @PacificViews: Liberal Democrats give Labour a thump in UK by-elections held in what were considered safe Labour territory.
Andrew Sullivan: But it went to the left-wing Liberal Democrats. The Tories sank from second place to third, winning only 17 percent in one seat.

The Yellowcake Con
  Opinion Journal   —   Permalink 
So now the British government has published its own inquiry into the intelligence behind the invasion of Iraq, with equally devastating implications for the credibility of the Bush-Blair "lied" crowd.
Tom Maguire: The WSJ Appraises Joe Wilson — We appraise the WSJ: The Yellowcake Con The Wilson-Plame "scandal" was political pulp fiction.
Cori Dauber: I mean, Lord Butler couldn't have been much more explicit.
Pejman Yousefzadeh: But as this editorial makes clear, even if we accept this latest version of how Wilson got to go to Niger, it represents...

Arthur 'Killer' Kane
  Telegraph   —   Permalink 
Arthur 'Killer' Kane, who has died aged 55, was a founder member and bass guitarist of the original punk-glam rock ensemble, the New York Dolls.
During its brief heyday in the early 1970s, the Dolls were the trashiest, the druggiest, the sleaziest, the campest - and the most self-destructive - outfit on the rock and roll scene.
Andrew Sullivan: Another classic Brit obit - this time of an American. Money quote: [snipped quote] Nice one.
David T: He was finally back where he belonged. UPDATE: Nice obit in the Torygraph (of all places)

Power from the People
  By / TNR   —   Permalink 
Last summer, President Bush and the Republican congressional leadership had a problem. The legislative linchpin of the president's reelection effort, a bill to add prescription-drug coverage to Medicare, lacked the votes in Congress, where conservative Republicans were chafing at the expense.
Andrew Sullivan: Read the whole thing. (Speaking of which, it's good to find that the poor souls arrested for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts were finally released.)
Daniel Drezner: And Jonathan Chait's TNR essay about the Bush administration's attitude towards other political actors underscores Walker's point about secrecy.
Matthew Yglesias: Pro And Con — Jonathan Chait outlines part two of The New Republic's case against George W. Bush: he's weakening our democracy.

No Computer for Kerry As He Writes Speech
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
PHILADELPHIA - John Kerry has given hundreds of speeches in his life, but none more important than the address he is busy drafting with pen to pad, on his own, and with special care.
John Cole: Groaner of the Week — This is fabulous: [snipped quote] Did you know that John Kerry served in Vietnam?
Ann Althouse: Recognizing the Kerry speech pattern. [quote] ME (reading): Okay, who said this: "The sea is important to me.[end quote]

Bush Fortifies Conservative Base
  WaPo   —   Permalink 
WAUKESHA, Wis., July 14 — As President Bush addressed a rally here Wednesday, he performed the political equivalent of preaching to the choir.
Bush won a whopping 65 percent of the vote in this suburban Milwaukee county in 2000, and the Republican Party,...
Ruy Teixeira: The Washington Post had a front-page article today on "Bush Fortifies Conservative Base: Campaign Seeks Solid Support Before Wooing Swing Voters".
Noam Scheiber: Mike Allen and Dana Milbank have a nice piece in today's Washington Post about George Bush's efforts to woo conservatives.
Robert Garcia Tagorda: Afterward, they must decide whether to play to their strengths or tinker with their strategy. (Cross-posted at Red State.)

Forget fluff, focus on jihad
  NY Daily News   —   Permalink 
The constant discussion of John Kerry and John Edwards in superficial, gossip-column terms may result in their soon being called John & John or J & J, but it will not change something that we have to keep our eyes on, here and abroad.
Edward Driscoll: IT'S THE JIHAD, STUPID: Stanley Crouch tells the media to take the election seriously. (Via Betsy Newmark.)
Betsy Newmark: Stanley Crouch makes a very good plea to the media.

APB for Joe Wilson
  By / NRO   —   Permalink 
If the national media were teaching college journalism students their theory of political coverage this year, the theory's name would be Another Problem for Bush. It puts news in a very partisan box. If a fact, a quote, or an allegation casts the president in a negative light, then it is news, pure and simple.
Robert Cox: UPDATE: Cori also points to Tim Graham at NRO who reviews the massive media coverage given to the now disproved assertions made by Joe Wilson.
Ace: The media seem strangely no longer interested in the man who got so much hype and glowing press last year.
Edward Driscoll: APB FOR JOE WILSON: Tim Graham notes that "When you pound Bush, you're hot. When you're exposed as a liar, you're not".
Captain Ed: You would be wrong: "NBC was the most aggressive Wilson promoter on TV, beginning with a Meet the Press appearance on...
Pejman Yousefzadeh: THE SCANDAL OF SAND AND FOG — While we are on the subject of the media's competence, Tim Graham exposes just how bad...
Cori Dauber: MORE ON WILSON — Comparing, not the amount of Wilson coverage, but the amount of airtime Wilson himself was given, to...

Passengers Give Troops First-Class Seats
  AP   —   Permalink 
DALLAS (AP) - Eight soldiers flying home from Iraq for two weeks of R&R flew in style instead of coach after first-class passengers offered to swap seats with them.
"The soldiers were very, very happy, and the whole aircraft had a different feeling," flight attendant Lorrie Gammon told The Dallas Morning News in Thursday's editions.
Michelle Malkin: WELCOMING HOME THE TROOPS — Unlike the miscreants in Bainbridge Island, Washington, the folks on American Airlines...
Clayton Cramer: It's Just A Little Gesture... But one that reminds me that a lot of Americans still appreciate what our soldiers are...
Pejman Yousefzadeh: FIRST CLASS — Getting first class treatment, and being first class individuals is a wonderful thing. Kudos to all involved.
James Joyner: Passengers Give Troops First-Class Seats — AP - Passengers Give Troops First-Class Seats "Eight soldiers flying home...
Jonathan Gewirtz: It's Not As Bad As Some People Think — Anecdotes like this one (via Andy B) make me a little less worried about the decline of our society.

Memo Rips GOP Hopeful for 'Lewd' Actions
  AP   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON July 15, 2004 — A potential Republican candidate for the Senate seat from Illinois where the party's nominee withdrew over sex club allegations engaged in "lewd and abusive behavior" while she served as a top official in the White House drug policy office, an internal inquiry found last year.
Jerome Armstrong: The GOP in Illinois Fiasco — Another one bites the dust, or bites the skirt, or whatever, in Illinois for the GOP's US Senate candidates (plural).
Mike Alissi: Since then, Barthwell quit her job, she's shown interest in running for the open Illinois Senate seat on the Republican...
Kos: Except that she might actually make disgraced former candidate Jack Ryan look good.

NAACP Hasn't Advanced Anything in a Long Time
  By / LAT   —   Permalink 
Last week, for the fourth year in a row, President Bush declined the NAACP's invitation to speak at its annual convention. Predictably, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume railed that the Bush administration failed to recognize the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group as being significant or important in any way.
Donald Sensing: When the LA Times publishes an adverse op-ed about the organization, then it's good evidence that critical eyes are being cast its way.
Josh Chafetz: JOHN MCWHORTER GOES AFTER THE NAACP in today's LAT.
James Joyner: NAACP Hasn't Advanced Anything in a Long Time — Apropos President Bush's notable snubbing of the group, John McWhorter...
Betsy Newmark: John McWhorter explains why the NAACP is irrelevant today. [quote] But almost a century later, black America's main problem is neither overt racism nor more subtle "societal" racism.[end quote]

Acting Chief Insists Agencies Aren't at Fault in War Debate
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON, July 14 - The country's new acting intelligence chief said Wednesday that American intelligence agencies should not be blamed if there was inadequate debate about the decision to go to war against Iraq.
Matthew Yglesias: Interim Director of Central Intelligence John McLaughlin makes an important point about the scrutiny that's been...
Norbizness: (2) Matt Damon: "J.Lo and I Got Along" (3) Aniston Spent "Five Hours" at Plastic Surgeons (4) Clive Owen Starstruck by Co-Star Julia Roberts (5) Aguilera Going Bald?
Josh Marshall: That's how I interpret this paragraph from today's article in the New York Times. [snipped quote] If you interpret it otherwise, let me know how.
Attaturk: For example, Pat Robert's statement yesterday: [quote] Mr. Roberts said he was "not too sure" that the administration would...[end quote]
Kevin Drum: Roberts supported the war, but suggests here that in hindsight it wasn't such a good idea: [snipped quote] This is crazy.
Nick Gillespie: The NY Times (reg.—and critical reading skills—req.) has a story that suggests "Not Me" is the patron saint of the American intelligence community.

Hear the Rumor on Cheney? Capital Buzzes, Denials Aside
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON, July 14 - In the annals of Washington conspiracy theories, the latest one, about Vice President Dick Cheney's future on the Republican ticket, is as ingenious as it is far-fetched. But that has not stopped it from racing through Republican and Democratic circles like the latest low-carb diet.
Susan Q. Stranahan: The it is yesterday's front-page article by The New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller, headlined: "Hear the Rumor on Cheney?
Robert Cox: Today, on the front page of the New York Times, Elisabeth Bumiller reported a rumor that Dick Cheney's doctor was...
Pejman Yousefzadeh: MORE EVIDENCE OF A LOUSY JOURNALISTIC CLASS — This breathless story—which speculates about rumors about the possible...
Howard Kurtz: So what was a self-described "rumor" about Cheney finding a way to step down doing on the front page of the New York Times, as this column noted yesterday?
Jesse Taylor: But this Elisabeth Bumiller article in the Times is just ridiculous. Privately, Democrats are talking about Cheney leaving the ticket.
James Joyner: Certainly, Cheney's approval ratings are way down: "Last month, a New York Times/CBS News poll found that 21 percent of...
Also: Hugh Hewitt, Steve Gilliard, Taegan Goddard, KJL, Betsy Newmark, Joe Gandelman, John Cole, Tom Maguire

Errant former ambassador
  By / Townhall.com   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — Like Sherlock Holmes's dog that did not bark, the most remarkable aspect of last week's Senate Intelligence Committee report is what its Democratic members did not say. They did not dissent from the committee's findings that Iraq apparently asked about buying yellowcake uranium from Niger.
Robert Cox: Bob Novak is breaking his silence on the Joe Wilson - Valerie Plame matter.
Ace: Joe Wilson: The Ahmed Chalabi of the Left — Robert Novak tells you stuff you already know, but it's fun to read again.
Glenn Reynolds: ROBERT NOVAK BREAKS HIS SILENCE on Plame/Wilson: "For a year, Democrats have been belaboring President Bush about 16...
Jan Haugland: Now that the evidence against Wilson's partisan claims are out, it is payback time.
Pejman Yousefzadeh: That's why I read over his latest on the Plame affair with a particular amount of care and attention.
Jonah Goldberg: NOVAK BREAKS HIS SILENCE — Bob Novak twists the knife on Joe Wilson.
Also: Betsy Newmark

Moore's prop
  By / Townhall.com   —   Permalink 
The family of U.S. Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone was shocked to learn that video footage of the major's Arlington National Cemetery burial was included by Michael Moore in his movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Jan Haugland: Stone's mother calls Moore a 'maggot that eats off the dead.' Tha family doesn't know how Moore obtained the video footage, and are considering legal action.
Greg Ransom: A MAGGOT THAT EATS OFF THE DEAD is a fair description of MICHAEL MOORE, coming as it is from the aunt of a slain...
Susanna Cornett: Moore noxious — Not that we should ever be surprised at the depths to which Michael Moore will gleefully plunge, but...
Clayton Cramer: There's also this apt characterization of Michael Moore by the family of a soldier whose funeral was in Moore's...
Pejman Yousefzadeh: Michael Moore for one: "The family of U.S. Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone was shocked to learn that video footage of the...
James Joyner: Maggot Michael Moore Makes Major's Mom Mad — John McCaslin reports that, [snipped quote] Now that's harsh.
Also: Charles Johnson, Bill @INDCJournal

Merit Seen in Claims That Iraq Sought Uranium
  By / LAT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — In reports released during the last week, U.S. and British panels sharply criticized their two governments for making ill-founded claims about Iraq's efforts to build weapons of mass destruction — claims that were the central rationale for the U.S.-led invasion of the country in March 2003.
Tom Maguire: The LA Times Finds Joe Wilson — The LA Times overcomes past headline problems (see 7/7) and shows their awareness of...
Pejman Yousefzadeh: Kevin cites this story and the following excerpt as supposedly exculpating Wilson regarding the issue of whether Valerie...
Josh Marshall: As this article by Doyle McManus in today's Los Angeles Times notes, "the committee found that the CIA's statement, in a...
Captain Ed: NRO: The Wilson Plague On All Their Houses — Now that the the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on...
Kevin Drum: Doyle McManus of the LA Times asked him about this yesterday: [snipped quote] Wilson's credibility does matter — most of...
Patterico: But the story, which took the paper almost a week to run, appears on page A6, and does not cite the most compelling evidence that Wilson lied.

Bush Refines His Position on a Measure Banning Gay Marriage
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON, July 14 - From the beginning, gay marriage has been an issue that President Bush has tried to finesse.
Under election-year pressure from his social conservative base, Mr. Bush endorsed the effort to adopt a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.
Joe Gandelman: But some — as seen in this New York Times report — say George Bush shored up his conservative base by pressing the...
David Allan Pell: It seems there is still some debate about how much the Senate's refusal to back a marriage Amendment hurt President Bush in terms of his re-election campaign.
Howard Kurtz: Not a shining moment for Bush, says the New York Times, but perhaps not a disaster: "After endorsing the measure in...
Ezra Klein: But, since it backfired and made Bush look intolerant, he's now had to clarify his position.
Robert Garcia Tagorda: Anyway, at this point, I'm too preoccupied with 401(k) rollovers, resignation forms, forwarding-address notifications,...
Matthew Yglesias: Flip/Flop! Oh he's so nuanced, just like one of them fruity french froggies.

Conventioneering.com
  NYT   —   Permalink 
H. L. Mencken is said to have guffawed and slapped his thigh in delight at times as he would write about a typical day at a presidential nominating convention. Those long-ago times are enviable for their unpredictability — eons removed from the scripted conventions that will soon be offered to the nation once more as lean cuisine for thought.
Jay Rosen: Yesterday the mighty New York Times, on its editorial page, was finding "reason to hope" that "this year's one...
James Martin Capozzola: POLITICAL NOTES — Together With Media Miscellany Media Takes Notice of the Parties' Taking Notice [*] More articles...
Hugh Hewitt: The New York Times asks "Will bloggers be tamed into centrism?" About the time Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman come back to earth, and the Times doesn't spin its polls.
Robert Cox: In today's pro-Blog editorial in The New York Times they write: People who think the mushrooming world of wannabe...
Jeff Jarvis: Opinions re opinions : I'm probably the last to see it this morning but in case I'm not and you are... did you see the...
Jeralyn Merritt: Conventioneering Bloggers — The New York Times has an editorial today devoted to subject of bloggers attending the Democratic Convention.
Also: Steve Gilliard, Tbogg, David Allan Pell

Speak Softly, Mr. Bush
  By / Opinion Journal   —   Permalink 
Recently I wrote a column on a particular anxiety I've been feeling regarding the coming election and the prospects of President Bush. I stated that some voters may be feeling or come to feel that history has simply become too dramatic the past few years, and...
Glenn Reynolds: EARLIER, I MENTIONED that Peggy Noonan had responded to Austin Bay's email on taking a "time out" from the war.
Jonathan Gewirtz: Quote of the Day — Peggy Noonan in the WSJ: [snipped quote] (via Instapundit)
Attaturk: The Intractible Nut — Peggy can only be summarized today as follows: "Mr. Bush is not a happy enough War Mongerer".
Steve M.: Certainly lately, since the transfer of sovereignty, things seem to be looking up... —Peggy Noonan on Iraq, column...
James Joyner: Shorter Peggy Noonan — Shorter Peggy Noonan: "People have the approximate IQs of dogs. Be sure to smile a lot and, whatever you do, don't show fear."
Steve Antler: "I hate war — and so does Eleanor..." Peggy Noonan: "When you are president and you are doing hard things in history...
Also: Dean Esmay, SLZoll

How Much Worse Off Are We?
  By / TCS   —   Permalink 
Today, there are two Americas. One America agrees with Congressman Sanders and Senator John Edwards that life is getting harder for working Americans, that things have been going down hill for thirty years, and that our only hope is bigger government.
Daniel Drezner: Meanwhile Tyler Cowen links to this Arnold Kling TCS essay comparing and contrasting America's poor in 1970 with 2000.
Robert Clayton Dean: The annoying facts: [snipped quote] Next, Arnold Kling posts more annoying facts to rebut the commonly heard mantra from...
Steven Taylor: Today's Required Reading — How Much Worse Off Are We?.
Jeff Goldstein: Arnold Kling asks, "How Much Worse Off Are We?" economically than we were in the 70s...and the answer, to...
Steve Bainbridge: If you read nothing else today, read this — An absolutely must-read TCS column by Arnold Kling How Much Worse Off Are We?
Tyler Cowen: Don't look at wage data, look at consumption data. The ever-wise Arnold Kling summarizes some of the evidence.
Also: Glenn Reynolds, Greg Ransom

The outing of Congress
  By / Salon   —   Permalink 
Michael Rogers, a Washington political activist, decided several weeks ago to launch an Internet campaign to publicize the sexual orientation of gay and lesbian members of Congress and their staffs, if they favored the federal marriage amendment.
Howard Kurtz: Salon's Mary Jacoby reports on the politics of outing: "Michael Rogers, a Washington political activist, decided...
Attaturk: However, these new efforts from gay activists to do that strike me now as appropriate.
Kos: Salon gives the effort a good writeup.
Steve Gilliard: Time to open the closets — Time to kick open those closet doors The outing of Congress Republicans hoped the federal...

Ditka punts on possible GOP run for U.S. Senate
  Chicago Tribune   —   Permalink 
Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka said Wednesday he would not ask Republican leaders to make him their U.S. Senate nominee, forcing a political organization hobbled by scandal and infighting to search for another candidate to replace primary winner Jack Ryan.
James Martin Capozzola: Ditka Dumps Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Republican Party...
Howard Kurtz: Da Coach has decided to punt: "Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka said Wednesday he would not ask Republican leaders...
Daniel Drezner: [What about hallway rumors that you'll be the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate to face Barrack Obama now that Coach Ditka has passed?—ed.

U.S. Works to Sustain Iraq Coalition
  WaPo   —   Permalink 
The Bush administration faces growing challenges in holding together the 32-nation coalition deployed in Iraq, with four countries already gone, another four due to leave by September and others now making known their intention to wind down or depart before...
Kos: Through it all, the US is struggling to keep the whole effort from falling apart.
David Allan Pell: On the Bush administration's color coded chart, red represents countries who are withdrawing their troops from the Iraq coalition.
Holden: The Coalition of the Willing has lost four members, and is about to lose four more.
Gary Farber: FOR THOSE PLAYING THE HOME GAME. Accompanying story here. I'm just grateful that Tonga is still with us.
James Joyner: U.S. Works to Sustain Iraq Coalition — WaPo - U.S. Works to Sustain Iraq Coalition MSNBC - U.S. works to sustain Iraq...

Senate rejects move to ban gay marriage
  By / Boston Globe   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — A constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, hailed by supporters as a defining campaign issue of values and commitment to families, suffered a categorical defeat yesterday in the Senate, as sponsors fell far short of the number needed to pass the measure.
Joe Gandelman: A fiasco — or Mission Accomplished (whoops...sorry to use that phrase!) ? On the surface, a fiasco.
Glenn Reynolds: I TOLD YOU SO: The Federal Marriage Amendment failed miserably yesterday, and there's reason to believe that it's backfiring on its sponsors.
Dean Esmay: No to FMA — To no great shock to anyone who actually watches poltics closely, the Senate rejected the same-sex marriage Constitutional ban.
Holden: Looks like that's not going too well. Hate Amendment? Don't look now, but your wedge issue just gave you a wedgie.

Game over: Ditka won't run
  By / Chicago Sun Times   —   Permalink 
"Iron Mike" Ditka broke the hearts of Illinois Republicans on Wednesday, telling them he will not suit up and get in the game to take on Democratic Senate nominee Barack Obama.
"There was a moment when I said, 'God, I'd like to take this on,' " Ditka said.
H.D. Miller: Well, that was quick. [snipped quote] Read the whole article and marvel at one of America's remaining plain-spoken public men.
Steven Taylor: Game over: Ditka won't run [snipped quote] I must admit: being on the end of a media feeding frenzy can't be much fun.
Harley: Ditka Punts — Mike Ditka, showing considerable perspicacity, has decided not to lose, and therefore not run, in the Illinois senate race.
Taegan Goddard: Quote of the Day — [snipped quote] — Mike Ditka, quoted by the Chicago Sun Times, on how he convinced himself not to run for the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois.

British report links al Qaeda, Baghdad
  By / Washington Times   —   Permalink 
A British government report made public yesterday provides new information showing that al Qaeda terrorists had contacts with Iraqi intelligence in developing chemical arms and that the group worked with a Pakistani nuclear weapons scientist.
Steve M.: Here's the headline of a story by Bill Gertz in today's Washington Times: British report links al Qaeda, Baghdad Here's...
Hugh Hewitt: The Washington Times' Bill Gertz notes the Roberts' report assessment of Al Qaeda-Baghdad links.
Captain Ed: More Iraqi-AQ Connections In Butler Report — The Washington Times' Bill Gertz reports that the Butler Report of the...
Betsy Newmark: The British Intelligence report has some scary information about Al Qaeda's efforts to get WMD.

Kerry reduces ads in Missouri, Arizona and the South
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON - Despite promises to expand the election playing field, John Kerry has reduced his ad spending in Missouri, Arizona and throughout the South in the run-up to the Democratic presidential convention.
Pejman Yousefzadeh: They might be—or at least, they might be preparing themselves to—in a number of key states.
James Joyner: Update: The story is out on the wires now: AP - Kerry reduces ads in Missouri, Arizona and the South "Despite promises...
Captain Ed: Kerry Campaign Pulling Ads In Key States — In an interesting reversal of their stated strategy of expanding the map,...
Taegan Goddard: Kerry Cuts Ads in Missouri, Arizona and South — "Despite promises to expand the election playing field, John Kerry has...