memeorandum: Jonah Goldberg Day! — Two years ago today, Jonah Goldberg threw … (Matthew Yglesias)

9:25 PM ET, February 8, 2007

Top Items:

Statement on Campaign Bloggers — The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa McEwan's posts personally offended me. It's not how I talk to people, and it's not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. Everyone is entitled to their opinion …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Redstate, Captain's Quarters, The Moderate Voice, The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway, Right Wing Nut House, Unfogged, The Next Hurrah, The Swamp, Althouse, MyDD, NewsHog, Michelle Malkin, The Reaction, Dean's World, Gun Toting Liberal ™, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Power Line, Pajamas Media, Blue Gal, Off the Kuff, Pam's House Blend, Done With Mirrors, Beltway Blogroll, HorsesAss.Org, The Sundries Shack, Decision '08, Taylor Marsh, Stubborn Facts, Simianbrain, Winds of Change.NET, Liberal Values, Booman Tribune, The Daily Background, Sadly, No!, Blue Crab Boulevard, Majikthise, Riehl World View, Daily Pundit, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Pen-Elayne on the Web, Daily Kos, The American Street, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Crunchy Con, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Democratic Daily, Personal Democracy Forum blogs, Overlawyered and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:

Edwards' Bloggers Regret Critical Posts — WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Thursday he was personally offended by the provocative messages two of his campaign bloggers wrote criticizing the Catholic church, but he's not firing them.

Discussion: Vox Popoli, AMERICAblog, Crooks and Liars, Democrats.com, Jay Reding.com, PoliPundit.com and Media Blog

John Edwards '08 Blog:

About My Personal Blog — My writings on my personal blog Pandagon on the issue of religion are generally satirical in nature and always intended strictly as a criticism of public policies and politics. My intention is never to offend anyone for his or her personal beliefs …

Discussion: Don Surber

Jeff Goldstein / protein wisdom:

Okay, so maybe a few more words on this whole Marcotte dustup. Because Oprah tells me I need closure, and because, well, it dovetails nicely with some of my site themes (UPDATED) — Via Bumperstickerist, here is word from the Edwards campaign, which has decided to keep Marcotte and McEwan onboard the Edwards Express:

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Confederate Yankee, Little Green Footballs, Ace of Spades HQ and Riehl World View

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Sign Up — The Edwards campaign is standing by their bloggers as they came under assault by the rightwing noise machine and good for them. — But this is going to be the pattern unless the news media recognises that they have a substantial number of readers who will not tolerate a reprise …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Unclaimed Territory, All Spin Zone, MyDD, No More Mister Nice Blog, Majikthise, The Supreme Irony of Life and State of the Day

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Edwards Blogger Flap Discomforts Religious Left — As the flap over alleged anti-Catholic writings by two John Edwards campaign bloggers devolves into a shouting match between conservative religious voices and liberal bloggers, some members of the "religious left" say they feel - again - shoved to the margins of the Democratic Party.

Kate Phillips / The Caucus:
Edwards Stands by Bloggers

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, QandO and Durham-in-Wonderland

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Patriarchy thwarted! Edwards to retain Marcotte, McEwan

Discussion: The Fix, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Sadly, No!, Little Green Footballs, The Political Pit Bull, Wizbang, The Moderate Voice, Dean's World and protein wisdom

Matt Browner Hamlin / The Huffington Post:
End of The Standoff and Pointing Our Guns At The Right

Discussion: Media Matters for America, FRAMESHOP, Personal Democracy Forum blogs, Blogometer, Washington Wire, MaxSpeak, Beltway Blogroll and QandO

Washington Post:

Prosecution Rests in Libby Perjury Trial — After 10 witnesses and 11 days of testimony, the prosecution completed its case this afternoon in the perjury trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. — "The government rests its case," …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Firedoglake, FishBowlDC and Decision '08

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

The Trouble With Mary — (Graphics luv to commenter Andrea of the Huffington Post who sent this to Arianna. Seemed so appropriate for today, somehow.) — It's just been one of those weeks for Mary Matalin, with all [Cheney's] her own words coming home to roost.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and FishBowlDC

Tim Russert / Slate:

Dispatches From the Scooter Libby Trial — 2:29 p.m.: All morning, we listened to audio tapes of Scooter Libby's grand jury testimony. Along with yesterday, that makes eight hours of tapes in all. Toward the end of this droning saga, the courtroom gallery was becoming rather sparsely populated.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Grasping Reality …, CBS News, Maine Web Report, Washington Post and New York Times

Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press:

Russert on the Hot Seat in Libby Trial — WASHINGTON (AP) — NBC's Tim Russert got the sort of "Meet the Press" interrogation he usually gives to his guests as attorneys Thursday flashed excerpts of his previous statements on a video monitor and asked him to explain inconsistencies.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Dean's World, Pajamas Media and Kesher Talk

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Mary Matalin is Dazed and Confused

Discussion: MSNBC and The Carpetbagger Report

Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
Washington Journalism on Trial

Discussion: Grasping Reality … and Angry Bear

Swopa / Firedoglake:
Libby Live: Tim Russert, Five

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Maine Web Report, The Strata-Sphere, Macsmind and The Huffington Post

Big Roy / The Imus Show Blog: Imus: Mary Matalin Is A Liar

CNN:

Anna Nicole Smith dies after collapsing in hotel … (CNN) — Reality TV star and former model Anna Nicole Smith was pronounced dead Thursday after being taken to a Florida hospital, a law enforcement source told CNN. — Smith, 39, collapsed at a south Florida hotel, according to news reports.

Discussion: TMZ.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, Reason Magazine, Wonkette, Macsmind, Althouse, Shakespeare's Sister, Blogs of War and Scared Monkeys

KWTX-TV: Anna Nicole Smith Dies

Access Hollywood: Anna Nicole Smith Dead At 39

Los Angeles Times:

Air travel flap circles over Pelosi — The House speaker says she simply wants to fly home without refueling. Critics call it an abuse of power. — WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aides say she just wants to get home to California now and then and would like to do it in a plane …

Discussion: Political Animal, Matthew Yglesias and The Carpetbagger Report

Edward Epstein / San Francisco Chronicle:
GOP makes much ado about the size of Pelosi's plane

Discussion: MSNBC, ABCNEWS, Washington Times, Associated Press, NewsBusters.org, CBS News, Gateway Pundit, Outside The Beltway and Don Surber

Michael Roston / The Raw Story: Pelosi calls for 'mandatory action' to control greenhouse gases …

Matthew Yglesias:

Jonah Goldberg Day! — Two years ago today, Jonah Goldberg threw down the following challenge to Juan Cole: … Since Goldberg enjoys throwing a little smear-job in with his punditry, he also offered this: … Got it. So we have a prediction, along with the insinuation that Professor Cole …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Daily Kos, Angry Bear, Nitpicker, rubber hose, PoliBlog (TM), The Huffington Post, Obsidian Wings, Winds of Change.NET, Editor and Publisher and Unclaimed Territory

Dave Astor / Editor and Publisher:
Liberal Bloggers Paying Iraq Bet Offered by Conservative Pundit

Discussion: Nitpicker and Crooks and Liars

Nasser Karimi / Associated Press:

Iran warns U.S. it will retaliate if hit — TEHRAN, Iran - Iran stepped up its warnings to the United States Thursday, with the nation's supreme leader saying Tehran will strike U.S. interests around the world if his country is attacked. — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's words were also likely meant …

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Rice Denies Seeing Iranian Proposal in '03

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, The Left Coaster and Discourse.net

Casey Ross / Boston Herald:

Mitt changes tax-cut tune — After refusing to endorse President Bush's tax cuts when he was governor, Mitt Romney has now made them a central part of his presidential campaign, stirring accusations that he is changing his position to appeal to GOP primary voters.

Discussion: TIME, Donklephant and PoliPundit.com

White House:

Press Briefing by Tony Snow — White House Conference Center Briefing Room — MR. SNOW: Hello. I just learned an interesting factoid, apropos of Black History Month. On this day in 1944, Harry S. McAlpin became the first black reporter admitted to a White House press briefing …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, TPMmuckraker, Think Progress and Redstate

Ryan Grim / The Politico:

Bush Wants Funding Jump for Anti-Drug Ads Rated as Useless — President Bush has proposed a significant jump in funding for an anti-drug advertising campaign that government-funded research shows is at best useless and at worst has increased drug use among some teens.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Gun Toting Liberal ™, The American Mind, FishBowlDC and Romenesko

Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report:

Al Qaeda in Iraq Crumbling: al Masri on the run — Coalition forces in Iraq have delivered a series of stunning blows to al Qaeda in Iraq in the last 48 hours. — A key aide to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the man who replaced Abu Musab al Zarqawi as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, has been south of Baghdad.