memeorandum: California Democrats push popular vote measure (Dan Morain/Los Angeles Times)

1:40 PM ET, August 22, 2007

Top Items:

Democrats Refocus Message on Iraq After Military Gains — Democratic leaders in Congress had planned to use August recess to raise the heat on Republicans to break with President Bush on the Iraq war. Instead, Democrats have been forced to recalibrate their own message in the face …

CNN:

Bush to invoke Vietnam in arguing against Iraq pullout — WASHINGTON (CNN) — As he awaits a crucial progress report on Iraq, President Bush will try to put a twist on comparisons of the war to Vietnam by invoking the historical lessons of that conflict to argue against pulling out.

Discussion: PERRspectives Blog, William K. Wolfrum, Crooks and Liars, Jules Crittenden, The Heretik, Balloon Juice, Big Brass Blog, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, New York Magazine and THE CUNNING REALIST

Los Angeles Times:

Bush to cite Vietnam in defense of Iraq — The president plans to argue in a speech to veterans today that a U.S. withdrawal had dire results in Asia. — KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Critics of the war in Iraq who compare the conflict to Vietnam have the analogy backward, President Bush plans to tell veterans in a speech today.

Discussion: Wake up America, The BRAD BLOG, New York Times, Democratic National Committee and TIME: Swampland

USA Today:

Bush's Iraq speech to hit on Vietnam — KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Bush plans to argue today that a hasty "retreat" from Iraq would lead to the kinds of bloodbaths that followed U.S. withdrawals from Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1970s. — In a speech he is to deliver here at the Veterans …

Discussion: AMERICAblog, Booman Tribune, MSNBC and About.com U.S. Politics

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
OSAMA IS MY SHEPHERD I SHALL NOT WANT

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos and Macsmind

New York Times:
Bush Takes a Step Away From Maliki

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Monthly, New York Sun, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Firedoglake, The Atlantic Online, The RBC, WorkingForChange, Air America Radio, Kiko's House, Prairie Weather and Thought Theater

Agence France Presse:

Most US adults in the dark about world politics — Two-thirds of US adults admit to being in the dark about political issues outside the United States, and only a third are well-versed in US politics, the results of a poll published Tuesday showed. — Candidates in the US presidential primaries …

Discussion: Babalu Blog, Donklephant, Blogs of War and Fresh Bilge

Rasmussen Reports:
Romney Encounters More Core Opposition Than Clinton

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, DownWithTyranny! and Rasmussen Reports

Eye / eyeon08.com:
Romney's electability problem

Discussion: The Corner

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:

Sub-Standard — IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE that, not so long ago, neoconservative foreign policy thinking overflowed with ideas and idealism. The descent has been steep, and nowhere is it more apparent than in the pages of The Weekly Standard—particularly in William Kristol's editorials …

Discussion: Power Line, Confederate Yankee, Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, The Atlantic Online, QandO and Brian Beutler

Matthew Yi / San Francisco Chronicle:

Field Poll shows Californians lean toward dividing electoral votes — (08-21) 04:00 PDT Sacramento — California voters are inclined to support a proposed ballot initiative that would change how the Golden State allocates its electoral votes in presidential campaigns …

Discussion: Heading Right, Outside The Beltway, PoliBlog (TM), Captain's Quarters, Right Wing News and PSoTD

Dan Morain / Los Angeles Times:
California Democrats push popular vote measure

Discussion: New York Times, Taegan Goddard's … and MSNBC

Hamid Ahmed / Associated Press:

14 U.S. soldiers killed in chopper crash — BAGHDAD - A Black Hawk helicopter went down Wednesday in northern Iraq, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard, the military said, the deadliest crash since January 2005. — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, lashed out at American criticism …

Discussion: Washington Post, Donklephant, All Spin Zone and Associated Press

Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
Iraqi PM lashes out at U.S. critics

Discussion: The Gun Toting Liberal™, Associated Press, American Footprints and democracyarsenal.org

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Pro-Bush group spends $15M defending war — A new group, Freedom's Watch, is launching Wednesday with a $15 million, five-week campaign of TV, radio and Web ads featuring military veterans that is aimed at retaining support in Congress for President Bush's "surge" policy on Iraq.

Discussion: MSNBC and Political Radar

Think Progress:
Original Iraq War Propagandist Ari Fleischer Returns To Flack For Bush's Escalation

Discussion: Firedoglake, AMERICAblog, The Huffington Post, Hot Air, The Carpetbagger Report and The Mahablog

Elizabeth Benjamin / NY Daily News:

BRUNO: STONE HAS RESIGNED (UPDATED) — That was fast. — In a just-released statement, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno called the Roger Stone phone call flap "a distraction from the real issues - the abuse of government power, political espionage and a cover-up of information," …

Discussion: New York Post, Talking Points Memo, the albany project, Gothamist, New York Times, rochesterturning.com, DownWithTyranny! and The Daily Gotham blogs

Peter Baker / Washington Post:

White House Manual Details How to Deal With Protesters — Not that they're worried or anything. But the White House evidently leaves little to chance when it comes to protests within eyesight of the president. As in, it doesn't want any. — A White House manual that came …

Discussion: Think Progress, the talking dog, Associated Press, Shakespeare's Sister, The Swamp, Prairie Weather, Brendan Nyhan, Take Our Country Back and Air America Radio

Irenep / Michael Yon:

The Ghosts of Anbar, Part 1 of 4 — The Ghosts of Anbar — Part One: The Paradox of Counterinsurgency … To know a man, follow his tracks. — Anbar Province — June, 2007 — Iraq and this part of the world are complicated in the way, and by the way, that dysfunction always is "complicated."

Discussion: Hot Air and Mudville Gazette

Alan Fram / Associated Press:

One in four read no books last year — WASHINGTON - There it sits on your night stand, that book you've meant to read for who knows how long but haven't yet cracked open. Tonight, as you feel its stare from beneath that teetering pile of magazines, know one thing — you are not alone.

Discussion: bustardblog, Connecting.the.Dots, PoliBlog (TM), QandO, michellemalkin.com, Althouse, TigerHawk, The Corner, Comments From Left Field and normblog

Los Angeles Times:

Not so fast, Christian soldiers — The Pentagon has a disturbing relationship with private evangelical groups. — Maybe what the war in Iraq needs is not more troops but more religion. At least that's the message the Department of Defense seems to be sending.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Obsidian Wings and cab drollery

Lisa Wangsness / Boston Globe:

Romney's rhetoric glosses Mass. years — Skips some facts on healthcare law — Kenny Guinn (right), former governor of Nevada, joked with Mitt Romney yesterday in Las Vegas, where the Republican contender is campaigning for president. (Isaac Brekken/associated press)

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, MSNBC, New York Times and TIME

Multi-National Force:

Citizen sacrifices life to thwart suicide bomber — Multi-National Corps - Iraq — Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory — APO AE 09342 — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — RELEASE No. 20070821-05 — Citizen sacrifices life to thwart suicide bomber — Multi-National Division - Center PAO

Discussion: ThreatsWatch, America's North Shore Journal, Jules Crittenden and Don Surber