memeorandum: White House Voices Support for Gonzales (New York Times)

6:55 PM ET, March 20, 2007

Top Items:

Senate limits Gonzales' hiring authority — WASHINGTON - The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to end the Bush administration's ability to unilaterally fill U.S. attorney vacancies as a backlash to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of eight federal prosecutors.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Moderate Voice, The Gun Toting Liberal ™, CNN, The Caucus, BlondeSense, New York Times, time-blog.com, Outside The Beltway, CorrenteWire, First Draft and AMERICAblog

New York Times:

White House Voices Support for Gonzales — The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to revoke the authority it granted the Bush administration last year to name federal prosecutors without Senate confirmation. — By a vote of 94 to 2, the Senate restored the previous system for naming federal prosecutors.

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNN Political Ticker, Taylor Marsh, Booman Tribune, State of the Day, TalkLeft and TPMmuckraker

Satyam / Think Progress:

FACT CHECK: There Is No Precedent Barring White House Aides From Testifying To Congress — Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) has called on Karl Rove and other top White House aides to testify under oath in front of Congress concerning their role in the U.S. attorney purge.

Discussion: Eschaton, Talking Points Memo, Cliff Schecter and Pam's House Blend

Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:

Bush Warns Dems to Take Offer in Firings — WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to allow top aides to testify about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath, or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down.

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere

ABCNEWS:

White House Offers Interview With Rove — White House Offers to Make Rove, Miers Available for Interview in Attorneys Probe — The White House offered Tuesday to make political strategist Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet Miers available for interviews but not testimony under oath …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Middle Earth Journal and State of the Day

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:

TPM Needs YOU to Comb Through Thousands of Pages — Josh and I were just discussing how in the world we are ever going to make our way through 3,000 pages when it hit us: we don't have to. Our readers can help. — So here's what we're going to do. This comment thread will be our HQ for sorting through tonight's document dump.

Nico / Think Progress:
White House Won't Allow Rove, Miers To Testify

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and TPMmuckraker

NY Daily News:
Gonzo's a goner? — AG's exit called inevitable despite Dubya's 'personal reluctance'

Discussion: Associated Press, Real Cities, The Huffington Post, DownWithTyranny!, Washington Post, The Heretik, The Carpetbagger Report and The Politico

Allan Hall / Daily Mail:

'We want this baby polar bear dead' say animal rights lobby — Tiny, fluffy and adorable, Knut the baby polar bear became an animal superstar after he was abandoned by his mother. — He rapidly became the symbol of Berlin Zoo, whose staff bottle-fed him and handed out cuddles in between

Discussion: Riehl World View, Hot Air, Right Wing News and Scared Monkeys

Dave Wedge / Boston Herald:

Mitt's Commie phrase sparks rage — Cubans in Miami are steaming mad at former Gov. Mitt Romney for shooting his mouth off in stumbling Spanish, mispronouncing names and erroneously associating a notorious Fidel Castro-spewed Communist catch phrase with freedom fighters.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Michelle Malkin, The Caucus, The Carpetbagger Report, Strange Women Lying in Ponds, Making Light, Sisyphus Shrugged and My Left Wing

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:

War Bill Includes Tempting Projects — Democrats' Tactic Poses Dilemma for Some Lawmakers — House Democratic leaders are offering billions in federal funds for lawmakers' pet projects large and small to secure enough votes this week to pass an Iraq funding bill that would end the war next year.

Discussion: TAPPED, Flopping Aces, The Jawa Report, Neptunus Lex, PoliPundit.com, Right Wing News and On Deadline

Gordon Cucullu / New York Post:

THE IRAQ SURGE: WHY IT'S WORKING ... 'I WALKED down the streets of Ramadi a few days ago, in a soft cap eating an ice cream with the mayor on one side of me and the police chief on the other, having a conversation. " This simple act, Gen. David Petraeus told me, would have been "unthinkable" just a few months ago. "

Discussion: Redstate, Wake up America and Austin Bay Blog

Frank Newport / Gallup Poll:

Congress Job Approval Back Down Again This Month — January and February uptick appears to have dissipated — PRINCETON, NJ — The modest uptick in approval of the job being done by Congress has dissipated for the most part after only two months. Congress job approval had risen …

Discussion: MyDD and The Swamp

FIRE:

Victory for Free Expression at San Francisco State University — No Punishment for Stepping on Hamas, Hezbollah Flags — In a crucial victory for free expression, San Francisco State University (SFSU) announced yesterday that its College Republicans will face no punishment for hosting …

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy and Joanne Jacobs

Eric Pfeiffer / Washington Times:

Climate scientist sees cover-up — A NASA scientist who said the Bush administration muzzled him because of his belief in global warming yesterday acknowledged to Congress that he'd done more than 1,400 on-the-job interviews in recent years. — James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute …

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, The Strata-Sphere, protein wisdom, PoliPundit.com, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and shotinthedark.info/wp …

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup Poll:

Giuliani Top Choice Among Both Moderate, Conservative Republicans — Gingrich, Romney do better among conservatives than moderates — PRINCETON, NJ — With the 2008 Republican presidential field beginning to come into shape, there are still questions and apparent opportunities for a favorite "conservative" candidate to emerge.

Discussion: Kesher Talk, Donklephant, TAPPED, Hot Air and The Moderate Voice