memeorandum: Further politicization of the U.S. military's public statements (Glenn Greenwald/Salon)

6:10 PM ET, July 24, 2007

Top Items:

Gonzales Contradicts Prior Statements, Confirms Existence Of Other Spying Programs — In his testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was asked by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) to address inaccuracies in his 2006 testimony in relation …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, The Anonymous Liberal, Taylor Marsh, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Comments From Left Field and WTF Is It Now??

David Stout / New York Times:

Gonzales Denies Any Attempt to Pressure Ashcroft — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales denied today that he tried as White House counsel in March 2004 to influence then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was hospitalized and semi-alert after undergoing gall bladder surgery.

Discussion: TalkLeft, CNN Political Ticker, AMERICAblog and Shakespeare's Sister

Andrew Cohen / Bench Conference:

Gonzo on the Hill: A Comedic Tragedy — Forget about the politicization of the Justice Department. Forget about the falling morale there. Forget about the rise in violent crime in some of our biggest cities. Forget about the events leading up to the U.S. Attorney scandal and the way he has handled the prosecutor purge since.

Discussion: Sadly, No!

The Raw Story:
REPUBLICAN SENATOR HINTS AT IMPEACHMENT

Discussion: At-Largely

TPMmuckraker:
Senators Signal Gonzales Perjury Inquiry over Spying Testimony

Discussion: Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:
Gonzales Denies Pressuring Ashcroft

Discussion: New Pairodimes, Cliff Schecter and Brian Beutler

Faiz / Think Progress: Schumer Rips Gonzales Over Contradictory Reponses On Spying Program

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Gonzales Memo Widened Cheney's Office Access to DoJ Case Info

Discussion: The Raw Story

Ed Tibbetts / Quad City Times:

Clinton takes Obama to task over statements — TODAY: (Updated 12:25 p.m.) Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton today called rival Barack Obama's statement that he would meet with the leaders of several countries antagonistic to the United States "irresponsible" and "naive."

Discussion: Eschaton, The Atlantic Online, Comments From Left Field, The Carpetbagger Report, Liberal Values, Political Punch and MSNBC

Rick Klein / ABCNEWS:

Clinton: Obama 'Irresponsible and Naive' — Democratic Front-Runners Tangle After Monday Night's Debate — Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said today that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, her chief rival for the Democratic nomination, made comments that were "irresponsible and frankly naive" …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, QandO and Liberal Values

Lydia Saad / Gallup Poll:
Most Top Seed Pairings in 2008 Presidential Election Are Too Close to Call

Discussion: Pollster.com, TIME and The Glittering Eye

Michael J. Totten:

In the Wake of the Surge — BAGHDAD - 82nd Airborne's Lieutenant William H. Lord from Foxborough, Massachusetts, prepared his company for a dismounted foot patrol in the Graya'at neighborhood of Northern Baghdad's predominantly Sunni Arab district of Adhamiyah.

Discussion: Instapundit.com, Wake up America, Done With Mirrors, Hot Air and small dead animals

Brian Knowlton / New York Times:

Bush Insists Al Qaeda in Iraq Threatens U.S. — President George W. Bush argued forcefully today that an Al Qaeda-affiliated group in Iraq is linked tightly to the central Al Qaeda leadership, and that for American forces to leave Iraq without defeating the terror group would be "dangerous for the world and disastrous for America."

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots and Cliff Schecter

New York Times:
A War the Pentagon Can't Win

Discussion: Commentary, TIME: Swampland and The Raw Story

David Brooks / New York Times:

[TS] Op-Ed Columnist: A Reality-Based Economy — The neopopulist story line about skyrocketing inequality and the tides of globalization is incredibly simple-minded.

Discussion: Brendan Nyhan, Commentary, Grasping Reality …, bustardblog, Ezra Klein, Dohiyi Mir, Norwegianity and The Atlantic Online

Dean Baker / American Prospect:
David Brooks Sets Record for Most Economic Errors in An Oped Column!

Discussion: Angry Bear, Open Left, Ezra Klein and Norwegianity

Keith L. Alexander / Washington Post:

Outsourcing the Picket Line — Carpenters Union Hires Homeless to Stage Protests — The picketers marching in a circle in front of a downtown Washington office building chanting about low wages do not seem fully focused on their message. — Many have arrived with large suitcases …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Iowa Voice, Blue Crab Boulevard, FP Passport and Cato-at-liberty

Los Angeles Times:

The dirt on farm subsidies — A system that is supposed prevent food shortages and farmer poverty does neither. — By By Brian M. Riedl — Republican and Democratic congressional leaders rarely agree on a major issue. Yet both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Bluey Blog, Club for Growth and The Atlantic Online

New York Times:

Spitzer Aides Cited for Use of Police to Tarnish Bruno — Gov. Eliot Spitzer's aides, including one of his closest advisers, improperly used the State Police to gather information about the governor's chief rival, Joseph L. Bruno, the State Senate majority leader, in an effort to plant …

Discussion: New York Post, Attytood, The Agitator, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Pajamas Media and Redstate

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

Diplomats Received Political Briefings — White House aides have conducted at least half a dozen political briefings for the Bush administration's top diplomats, including a PowerPoint presentation for ambassadors with senior adviser Karl Rove that named Democratic incumbents targeted …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, The Carpetbagger Report, TPMmuckraker, The Rude Pundit, PoliBlog (TM), Connecting.the.Dots, Daily Kos, The Columbus Dispatch, Prairie Weather, MSNBC and DownWithTyranny!

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Further politicization of the U.S. military's public statements — In light of the decision last week by Gen. David Petraeus to choose Hugh Hewitt, of all people, to interview him, and in light of the post I wrote concerning Gen. Petraeus' three-year history of dubious and seemingly partisan claims …

Discussion: Eschaton, BLACKFIVE, The Carpetbagger Report, TalkLeft, Shakespeare's Sister, UrbanGrounds, Outside The Beltway and The Reaction

Kim Ode / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Continued: Michele Bachmann: Watching her step — The chamber visitors are a friendly crowd, but the reality of a broadened constituency grows clear in a discussion about the proposed Northstar commuter rail line. During the campaign, Bachmann was cool to the idea, so distant from Stillwater.

Discussion: Think Progress

White House:

President Bush Discusses War on Terror in South Carolina — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Please be seated. Thank you, Colonel. Thanks for the hospitality and kind introduction. I'm proud to be with the men and women of the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines, the Army and the Coast Guard.

Discussion: Think Progress, On Deadline and First Draft