memeorandum: Meehan seen on short list at UMass (Frank Phillips/Boston Globe)

8:55 AM ET, February 1, 2007

Top Items:

Syndicated columnist Molly Ivins dies at 62 — Best-selling author, sharp-witted Texas liberal succumbs to breast cancer — Syndicated columnist Molly Ivins poses for a portrait at her home Sept. 22 in Austin, Texas. She died Wednesday at 62 after a long battle with breast cancer.

Discussion: Associated Press, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Left Coaster, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, Liberal Values, SteveAudio, The Democratic Daily, Outside The Beltway, The Agonist and Lifelike Pundits

John Moritz / Dallas Star-Telegram:

Columnist Molly Ivins dies — AUSTIN — Molly Ivins, whose biting columns mixed liberal populism with an irreverent Texas wit, died at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home in Austin after an up-and-down battle with breast cancer she had waged for seven years. She was 62.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Dean's World, The Sideshow, Booman Tribune, The Mahablog, The American Street, On Deadline, My Left Nutmeg, Liberty Street, Romenesko and Pharyngula

Joe Holley / Washington Post:

Columnist Molly Ivins, 62; Poked Fun at the Powerful — Molly Ivins, 62, an unabashedly liberal columnist and best-selling author whose wicked wit and good ol' girl-style Texas humor regularly skewered conservative politicians and targeted the pomposities of elected officials regardless of political stripe …

Discussion: Gun Toting Liberal ™ and democracyarsenal.org

Pundit Review Radio / BLACKFIVE:

A hearty F*** You to William Arkin — Update: Marc Danziger, the Armed Liberal over at Winds of change is much less hyperbolic about Arkin than I am and check on Fuzzy Bear's stuff too. — Apologies for the F bombs bursting in air, but...well just read on.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Riehl World View, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Andrew Olmsted dot com, Blue Crab Boulevard, Gun Toting Liberal ™, Wizbang and Instapundit.com

Hindrocket / Power Line:

THE PERIL OF NEWSPAPER BLOGS... ...is that a reporter might say what he actually thinks before an editor catches up with him and makes him stop. A case in point: William Arkin writes on "national and homeland security" for the Washington Post. Yesterday morning, in his blog titled Early Warning …

Discussion: Redstate, Hang Right Politics and BLACKFIVE

Michelle Malkin:

WaPo math: Troops=mercenaries — Here's Washington Post national security reporter/blogger William Arkin's screed against NBC's report, which quoted troops who want Americans to support their mission. An excerpt from Arkin's unhinged diatribe: … Is he auditioning for a Daily Kos diarist spot?

Discussion: Flopping Aces

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
WaPo blogger to U.S. troops: Be thankful we don't spit on you, mercenaries

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ, FishBowlDC and The Sundries Shack

New York Times:

Chirac Unfazed by Nuclear Iran, Then Backtracks — President Jacques Chirac said this week that if Iran had one or two nuclear weapons, it would not pose a big danger, and that if Iran were to launch a nuclear weapon against a country like Israel, it would lead to the immediate destruction of Tehran.

Discussion: It Shines For All, Kesher Talk, Andrew Sullivan and Atlas Shrugs

New York Times:

Bullying Iran — Given America's bitter experience in Iraq, one would think that President Bush could finally figure out that threats and brute force aren't a substitute for a reasoned strategy. But Mr. Bush is at it again, this time trying to bully Iran into stopping its meddling inside Iraq.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, QandO and The Political Pit Bull

Associated Press:

U.S.-Iran tensions could trigger war — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Citing Iranian involvement with Iraqi militias and Tehran's nuclear ambitions, the Bush administration has shifted to offense in its confrontation with Iran — building up the U.S. military in the Persian Gulf and promising more aggressive moves …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Talking Points Memo, NO QUARTER, The Anonymous Liberal and The Democratic Daily

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Biden Unwraps His Bid for '08 With an Oops! — In an era of meticulous political choreography, the staging of the kickoff for this presidential candidacy could hardly have gone worse. — Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, who announced his candidacy on Wednesday with the hope …

Discussion: Washington Post, AMERICAblog, NewsBusters.org, Booman Tribune, Jon Swift and DownWithTyranny!

Ian Bishop / New York Post:
BIDEN BLOWS IT — RACIAL SLAP IN OBAMA 'PRAISE'

Discussion: Blogs of War and NewsBusters.org

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:
A Biden Problem: Foot in Mouth

Discussion: The Reaction, TAPPED, Balloon Juice, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and The Caucus

Anne Flaherty / Associated Press:

Senate foes of troop buildup join forces — WASHINGTON - Two senators, a Republican and a Democrat, leading separate efforts to put Congress on record against President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq joined forces Wednesday, agreeing on a nonbinding resolution that would oppose the plan and potentially embarrass the White House.

Discussion: Think Progress, New York Times, Donklephant, Crooks and Liars, AMERICAblog, BobGeiger.com, Middle Earth Journal and The Left Coaster

Washington Post:

Senators Unite On Challenge to Bush's Troop Plan — Revised Warner Language That Protects Funds Is Embraced for Bipartisan Appeal — Democratic and Republican opponents of President Bush's troop-buildup plan joined forces last night behind the nonbinding resolution with the broadest bipartisan backing …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Taylor Marsh, DownWithTyranny! and Daily Kos

Associated Press:

Gonzales to Release Spy Program Details — WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday he will turn over secret documents detailing the government's domestic spying program, ending a two-week standoff with the Senate Judiciary Committee over surveillance targeting terror suspects.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, TPMmuckraker and Wot Is It Good 4

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:

White House to Release Details on Eavesdropping — Bowing to bipartisan pressure from lawmakers, the Justice Department announced today that it was turning over to select members of Congress secret documents detailing the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program.

Discussion: Associated Press and Political Animal

Justin Rood / TPMmuckraker:
Under FBI Scrutiny, Mollohan Runs up $160K Legal Bill

Discussion: Don Surber

Rob Hotakainen / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Franken tells DFLers he's running for Senate — WASHINGTON - Comedian and radio talk show host Al Franken has begun calling Democratic members of Congress and prominent DFLers to tell them he will definitely challenge Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008, the Star Tribune has learned.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Wizbang and Ace of Spades HQ

Frederic J. Frommer / Associated Press:
Comedian Al Franken to Run for Senate

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and All Spin Zone

WCVB-TV:

TV Network Takes Responsibility For 'Hoax Devices' — BOSTON — Turner Broadcasting plans to take responsibility for the "hoax devices" that were found at several locations in and around Boston Wednesday that forced police bomb units to scramble throughout the area.

Discussion: QandO, Reason Magazine and On Deadline

Kevin Sullivan / Washington Post:

British Police Arrest 9 on Terror Charges — British police arrested nine people Wednesday in the central England city of Birmingham as part of a "major counterterrorism operation," police said. — Police released no immediate details, but British media, citing unnamed security sources …

Discussion: IraqSlogger.com and Op For

Sky News:
Terror Plot: Ninth Arrest

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Blotter, Associated Press, The Sun, Pajamas Media, The Political Pit Bull, Hyscience, On Deadline, Andrew Sullivan, The Belmont Club, Blue Crab Boulevard, Ace of Spades HQ, Hang Right Politics, Power Line, Daimnation! and Wizbang

David Lightman / Hartford Courant:

Dodd's Showing In Polls Laughable — At Least Comedians Have Noticed It — WASHINGTON — When pollster John Zogby asked a group of 339 likely Democratic voters earlier this month whom they wanted for president in 2008, one or two mentioned Connecticut's senior senator.

Discussion: Pollster, Redstate, Liberal Values, My Left Nutmeg and The Swamp

James Pethokoukis / US News:

Is the Unemployment Rate About to Collapse? — Know what's really impressive about today's boffo 3.5 percent GDP growth number for the fourth quarter? It wasn't so long ago that Wall Street economists were wondering if the number would be a "one-handle"-meaning growth between 1.0 and 1.9 percent.

Discussion: Angry Bear, Blogs for Bush and Daily Pundit

Dan Collins / protein wisdom:

Pariah Kerry — I've avoided this topic, but Jeff's post below put me in mind of it. John Kerry at Davos: — "When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we are irresponsibly slow in moving toward AIDS in Africa, when we don't advance and live up to our own rhetoric and standards …

Discussion: Boston Herald and Liberal Values

Associated Press:

Sunni Mosques Still Show Damage in Iraq — BAGHDAD, Iraq — Four Sunni mosques attacked in late November in the embattled Hurriyah neighborhood of Baghdad still bear scars from the attacks and all are now either under Shiite Muslim control or closed. — Immediately after the Nov. 24 incidents …

Discussion: Hot Air, Confederate Yankee, Flopping Aces, Michelle Malkin and Patterico's Pontifications

Jeralyn Merritt / Firedoglake:

Who Will Deliver for Fitz? — Wigmore described cross-examination as the "greatest legal invention ever invented for the discovery of truth." (5 J. Wigmore, Evidence §1367 (J. Chadbourn rev. 1974.) Put another way, it's a great tool for ferreting out untruths in the courtroom.

Discussion: whatever already! and JustOneMinute

USA Today:

General says U.S. has proof Iran arming Iraqi militias — BAGHDAD — Iran is supplying Iraqi militias with a variety of powerful weapons including Katyusha rockets, the No. 2 U.S. general in Iraq said Tuesday. — "We have weapons that we know through serial numbers ... that trace back to Iran …

Discussion: Hot Air and War and Piece

Opinion Journal:

Talking With the President — Excerpts from George W. Bush's conversation with the Journal editorial board. — The following are excerpts from President Bush's meeting yesterday with the Journal's editorial board: — On the new Iraq strategy: — WSJ: Was there a moment in the war …

Discussion: Washington Wire