memeorandum: FBI Faulted for Inaction in Foley Scandal (Dan Eggen/Washington Post)

12:10 PM ET, January 23, 2007

Top Items:

Headmaster Disputes Claim That Obama Attended Islamic School — Fresh doubt was cast yesterday on a magazine's allegation that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) attended a madrassah, or religious school that teaches a fundamentalist version of Islam. — Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster …

Discussion: The Corner, QandO, Think Progress, Booman Tribune, The Moderate Voice, It Shines For All and Crooks and Liars

David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:

Death Knell May Be Near for Public Election Funds — The public financing system for presidential campaigns, a post-Watergate initiative hailed for decades as the best way to rid politics of the corrupting influence of money, may have quietly died over the weekend.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Outside The Beltway, Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias, PoliBlog (TM), Don Surber, The Moderate Voice and Hillary Clinton …

Mike Dorning / Chicago Tribune: Big bucks needed to wage presidential campaign

Ben Smith / politico.com:
Clinton Woos Black Vote, Targets Obama

Discussion: Attytood

Rick Klein / Boston Globe:
As Kerry ponders, Democrats crowd in

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, The Caucus, Liberal Values and CNN Political Ticker

Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:
Clinton Dives in Media Waters

Discussion: Althouse

New York Times:

Bush, at Low Point in Polls, Will Push Domestic Agenda — Carrying some of the worst public approval ratings of any president in a generation, President Bush is heading into his State of the Union address on Tuesday night seeking to revitalize his domestic agenda but facing stiff resistance …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Mahablog, Captain's Quarters, PoliBlog (TM), Ezra Klein and Oliver Willis

Jay Carney / Swampland:

The Clinton Playbook — When George W. Bush takes the podium in the House tonight, he will peer into an audience of scowling, hostile faces. He will see lawmakers made bitter by the failure of his Iraq gambit, and by his call to risk compounding that failure by adding more U.S. troops to the lethal sectarian stew in Baghdad.

Discussion: The Caucus

Michael van der Galien / The Moderate Voice:
Guest Voice: Governor Schwarzenegger's Office on Health Care

Discussion: Washington Post and Polimom Says

Atrios / Eschaton:
Swampland — In this edition, Jay Carney demonstrates …

Discussion: Morning Call and Swampland

Los Angeles Times:

Scant evidence found of Iran-Iraq arms link — U.S. warnings of advanced weaponry crossing the border are overstated, critics say. — BAQUBAH, IRAQ — If there is anywhere Iran could easily stir up trouble in Iraq, it would be in Diyala, a rugged province along the border between the two nations.

Discussion: Think Progress, TAPPED, The American Street and State of the Day

Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:

Investigating, rather than reciting, Bush claims re: Iran — (updated below) — Something odd occurred this week: Fox News — spewing filth churned out by the lowest depths of right-wing innuendo swamps — was "reporting" the two-pronged falsehood that Barak Obama attended a "madrassa" …

Discussion: Gideon Rachman, The Carpetbagger Report and rubber hose

Josephine Hearn / politico.com:

Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed — Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome. — "I think they're real happy I'm not going to join," said Cohen …

Discussion: Redstate, Right Wing News and Hot Air

Liz Cheney / Washington Post:

Retreat Isn't an Option — Sen. Hillary Clinton declared this weekend, " I'm in to win." Anyone who has watched her remarkable trajectory can have no doubt that she'll do whatever it takes to win the presidency. I wish she felt the same way about the war.

Discussion: Democrats.com, The American Street, Political Animal, Matthew Yglesias, Blue Crab Boulevard and Armchair Generalist

Roger Si / politico.com:

McCain Bashes Cheney Over Iraq Policy — With his presidential hopes tied to an administration whose Iraq policy he supports but cannot control, John McCain for the first time blamed Vice President Cheney for what McCain calls the "witch's brew" of a "terribly mishandled" war in which U.S. forces are on the verge of defeat.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Reason Magazine, Andrew Sullivan and Kiko's House

PittsburghLIVE.com: Sen. McCain running for president in 2008

PJM / Pajamas Media:

The State of the Union is a Disaster: — The Speech George Bush Should Make Tuesday Night — Don't bother standing up or clapping, any of you. I already know who won the election, and I know how you feel. — I come before you tonight not to make amends, not to make it good, curry any favor or find any middle ground.

Discussion: Daily Pundit, The Sundries Shack, Dr. Sanity and Blinq

Fox News:

WEB SITE KICKS SAND IN FACES OF GIS IN IRAQ ASKING FOR MATS TO EASE HARDSHIP OF SLEEPING ON GROUND — An American GI assigned to one of the harshest posts in Iraq had a simple request last week for a Wisconsin mattress company: send some floor mats to help ease the hardship of sleeping on the cold, bug-infested ground.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Strata-Sphere and Atlas Shrugs

Annysa Johnson / JSOnline:
E-mail to soldier spurs outrage

Discussion: Hot Air, BLACKFIVE and On Deadline

BBC:

In pictures: Beirut protests — Thousands of Lebanese supporters of the Hezbollah-led opposition parties have taken to the streets of Beirut. — The protesters have set cars and tyres alight, blocking the major access routes into the capital. — Their aim is to enforce a general strike to try to topple the pro-Western government.

Discussion: snapped shot and Blue Crab Boulevard

Haaretz:
1 dead, 10 hurt as opposition moves to topple Lebanon gov't

Discussion: Michael J. Totten, Blogs of War, Jules Crittenden and Pajamas Media

Nadine Elsibai / Bloomberg:

Bush Poll Ratings Before Speech Fall to Nixon's Level (Update2) — Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush's approval ratings are now the lowest for any president the day before a State of the Union speech since Richard Nixon in 1974, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Discussion: All Spin Zone and TalkLeft

John Solo / Washington Post:

Casino Executive Contributes $1 Million to Gingrich Group — Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker and a possible presidential contender, jump-started his new political group with a check for $1 million from a source many in his conservative base would shun — the gambling industry.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker

Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post:

Surprises From Gates's 1996 Memoir — Defense Secretary Admires Leaders, Thinkers in Both Parties — Of all the presidents he worked for, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is particularly supportive of one — but it isn't, as might be expected, Ronald Reagan, the first President Bush or even Gerald R. Ford.

Discussion: Demagogue