THE ZARQAWI OPERATION: MURTHA STYLE  —  This morning on Meet the Cuomo aide, Tim Russert's guest was firebrand Congressman and Congressional Cowardice Caucus Chairman, John Murtha.  In addition to reiterating his invocation of the Clinton evacuation from Somalia in 1993 as the example the US …

'Wash Post' Obtains Shocking Memo from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Details Increasing Danger and Hardship  —  NEW YORK The Washington Post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive," that it says show that just before President Bush left on a surprise trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad …

Biden in N.H.: 'I'm running for president'  —  DOVER, N.H. — Calling the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks a greater shock to the American psyche than Pearl Harbor, Sen. Joe Biden said Saturday that Democrats must demonstrate they can provide for national security to win back the presidency.

In 2003, U.S. Spurned Iran's Offer of Dialogue  —  Just after the lightning takeover of Baghdad by U.S. forces three years ago, an unusual two-page document spewed out of a fax machine at the Near East bureau of the State Department.  It was a proposal from Iran for a broad dialogue with the United States …

FDL Book Salon — Lapdogs, Pt. I  —  The FDL Book Salon is so happy to welcome Peter Daou, who will be leading today's discussion on the first half of Eric Boehlert's book Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush .  — CHS  —  It is singular how soon we lose the impression of what ceases to be constantly before us - Lord Byron

Pardon talk for Libby begins  —  WASHINGTON — Now that top White House aide Karl Rove is off the hook in the CIA leak probe, President George W. Bush must weigh whether to pardon former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the only one indicted in the three-year investigation.

SHILL TO HACK  —  CELEBRATED LIB STRATEGIST HAS SHADY MARKET PAST  —  June 18, 2006 — Jerome Armstrong, the political strategist who followed a famous Internet fundraising effort for Howard Dean in 2004 with a book on "people-powered politics," has a sordid past as a shill for a worthless dot-com stock.

North Koreans Could Be Close to Missile Test  —  WASHINGTON, June 18 - North Korea appears to have completed fueling a long-range ballistic missile, American officials said Sunday, a move that greatly increases the probability that Pyongyang will go ahead with its first important test launch in eight years.

RAFTS  —  This is the introduction to a new book entitled AN AMERICAN CIVILIZATION. … There is a British tradition at Christmas time, a tradition I would love to see transplanted to these American shores.  It's an old form of interactive theater called the Pantomime.

The Submerging Republican Majority  —  During the 2000 presidential campaign, Karl Rove, the political mastermind George W. Bush called Boy Genius, was wont to draw an analogy with the election of 1896, in which the Republican William McKinley drubbed William Jennings Bryan.

A Long Road Ahead in Iraq  —  Rather than engage in a serious debate about America's future course in Iraq, President Bush and the Republican Congress have again opted for sound bites and partisanship.  Yet all the choreographed posturing and a one-week flurry of good news cannot blot …

Murtha to Rove: He's sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside, saying stay the course.  —  Murtha to Rove: He's sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big- fat backside- saying stay the course!  —  From Meet the Press:  —  Video-WMP Video-QT  —  Russert: Cutting and Running

Baghdad blasts mock US claims of Iraqi progress  —  Following death of Zarqawi and visit by Bush, leaders fail to bring end to cycle of violence  —  A series of explosions ripped through Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 23 people and dealing a shattering blow to the new Iraqi government's attempts …