memeorandum: The Bush Administration's Dilemma Regarding a Possible Libby Pardon (John W. Dean/FindLaw's Writ)

9:20 PM ET, June 1, 2007

Top Items:

U.S. Not Pushing for Attack on Iran, Rice Says — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sought today to minimize any sense of division within the Bush administration over Iran after the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency delivered a pointed new warning against what he called the …

Discussion: Balkinization

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Rice Insists Cheney Supports Diplomacy for Iran — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that Vice President Cheney fully supports a diplomatic course over Iran's nuclear program, denying impressions of divisions among President Bush's foreign-policy advisers.

Discussion: Balloon Juice and My Two Sense

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
CHENEY AND IRAN....Remember that report from Steve Clemons …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Adam Zagorin / Time:

Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex-Alabama Governor — In the rough and tumble of Alabama politics, the scramble for power is often a blood sport. At the moment, the state's former Democratic governor, Don Siegelman, stands convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges and faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and TIME: Swampland

Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
Ex-Governor Says Affidavit Shows Politics in Bribe Case

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Mary Katharine Ham / Townhall.com:

RNC Outsources Phone Solicitation to DNC, Apparently — Well, either that, or the WSJ editorial board is manning the phones. — You heard yesterday that the RNC canned its in-house phone bank employees, partly due to an estimated 40% drop in small donations.

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Heading Right, IMAO, BLACKFIVE, Right Wing Nut House, Washington Times and La Shawn Barber's Corner

Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:
RNC faces donor falloff, fires solicitors

Discussion: Blog of the Moderate Left, Ed Driscoll.com, Shakesville, The American Mind and MSNBC

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Firing The Collectors: Desperation Or Efficiency?

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

The End Of The Bushes? — Peggy Noonan, one of my favorite columnists and always a great read, today turns her substantial rhetorical guns on what she sees as the biggest threat to the Republican Party — George Bush. Accusing him of following his father in squandering a great political inheritance …

Discussion: Instapundit.com, The Mahablog, The Moderate Voice, bustardblog, Riehl World View, Heading Right, politburo diktat 2.0, The American Mind, Firedoglake, The Strata-Sphere, Central Sanity, The Populist, The Radio Equalizer and Middle Earth Journal

Paul Mirengoff / News Bloggers Blog:

Buyer's remorse — Yesterday, Cenk Uygur wrote this line: "Come on, Mr. Conservative-I-support-the-Bush- administration-no-matter-what, you don't even believe that." As anyone with a passing familiarity of current events realizes, however, there are essentially no conservatives who support the Bush administration across-the-board.

Discussion: Power Line, Tammy Bruce, Tapscott's Copy Desk, Heading Right and The American Mind

Karen Tumulty / Time:

Obama's Inconvenient Truths — Presidential-primary politics tends to be played like a game of connect the dots, with all the would-be nominees running from interest group to interest group, knowing and delivering precisely what each constituency is expecting to hear.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, NewsBusters.org and MSNBC

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:
The Candor of Obama — You want to know why I can't stop myself being impressed?

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Taylor Marsh

Jodi Kantor / New York Times:
One Place Where Obama Goes Elbow to Elbow

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Chicago Tribune and Brendan Nyhan

ABCNEWS:

Soldiering On — ABC News Learns of Plans to Keep Troops in Iraq Beyond 2009 — Sgt. John Guerra, 21, from Dallas, Tex., walks with his platoon from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team during a patrol in the Shaab neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 16, 2007.

Discussion: Democratic Underground …

Matt Taibbiposted / Rolling Stone:

Giuliani: Worse Than Bush — He's cashing in on 9/11, working with Karl Rove's henchmen and in cahoots with a Swift Boat-style attack on Hillary. Will Rudy Giuliani be Bush III? — >> See what people are saying about Taibbi's latest column and add your own response here.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Prose Before Hos, Wonkette and The Rachel Maddow Show

Thomas B. Edsall / Huffington Post:
Conservative Catholics Organize To Sink Rudy

Discussion: Associated Press, The Impolitic, Election Central, The Carpetbagger Report, Michael P.F. van der Galiën and AMERICAblog

John W. Dean / FindLaw's Writ:

The Bush Administration's Dilemma Regarding a Possible Libby Pardon — And How Outsiders Such as Fred Thompson Appear to Be Working on a Solution — On June 5, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton will sentence Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, TalkLeft, DownWithTyranny! and The Next Hurrah

Rasmussen Reports:

Number of Republicans in U.S. Hits New Low, Number of Democrats Also Decline — For the fourth straight month, the number of people identifying themselves as Republicans has decreased. For the third straight month, the number of people identifying themselves as Democrats has also decreased (see history).

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, MyDD, The Moderate Voice, My Left Wing, The Heretik and The Left End of the Dial v2.0

C. Jacob / MEMRI:

'We Are Facing a Second Nakba'-Reactions in the Palestinian Press to the Hamas-Fatah Clashes … Introduction — The current wave of violent Hamas-Fatah clashes is one of the most brutal the PA has known, especially considering that it broke out only a short while after the signing of the Mecca Agreement …

Discussion: QandO, Captain's Quarters and Blue Crab Boulevard

Art Jester / Lexington Herald-Leader:

Holsinger's church role scrutinized — HAND IN METHODIST RULINGS RAISES CONCERN IN GAY COMMUNITY — The nomination of University of Kentucky professor Dr. James W. Holsinger as U.S. surgeon general has come under fire from groups that fear his actions as a high-ranking official in the United Methodist Church indicate he is anti-gay.

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, AMERICAblog, Daily Kos, Think Progress and Democratic Convention or Bust!

Michael A. Fletcher / Washington Post:

Senior Bush Aide Dan Bartlett to Resign — White House Counselor Among President's Longest Serving Advisers — White House counselor Dan Bartlett, one of President Bush's top aides and among his longest serving, said today he will resign in July,becoming the latest administration official …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Newshoggers, Shakesville, The Carpetbagger Report, Wonkette, Outside The Beltway, The Populist, The Next Hurrah, Watching Those We Chose, TIME, The Heretik, TalkLeft and Multi Medium

Jonah Goldberg / National Review Online:

Better Off Fred? — Here are just a few little-known facts about Fred Thompson: — Every night before going to sleep, Osama bin Laden checks under his bed for Fred Thompson. — Though Fred Thompson left the Senate in 2003, Harry Reid still hasn't stopped wetting his pants.

Discussion: Michael P.F. van der Galiën, ProfessorBainbridge.com ®, alicublog, All Spin Zone, MSNBC, Blue Crab Boulevard, Brainster's Blog and IMAO

Ilan Wurman / The Hill:

PETA seeks tax breaks for vegetarians — Citing the need to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling on congressional leaders to give vegetarians a tax break. — In a letter sent Wednesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) …

Discussion: Bring it On!, QandO, Reason Magazine, Air America Radio and Club for Growth