memeorandum: Mukasey Wins Vote in Senate, Despite Democrats' Doubts (Carl Hulse/New York Times)

9:55 AM ET, November 9, 2007

Top Items:

Dan Eggen Paul Kane / Washington Post:

Senate Confirms Mukasey By 53-40 — Historically Low Tally for New Attorney General — A divided Senate narrowly confirmed former federal judge Michael B. Mukasey last night as the 81st attorney general, giving the nominee the lowest level of congressional support of any Justice Department leader in the past half-century.

Discussion: Power Line, Outside The Beltway, Los Angeles Times, Donklephant, Law Blog, Washington Monthly, Prairie Weather, MSNBC and ScrappleFace

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Mukasey Wins Vote in Senate, Despite Democrats' Doubts — The Senate confirmed Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general Thursday night, approving him despite Democratic criticism that he had failed to take an unequivocal stance against the torture of terrorism detainees.

Discussion: Liberty Pundit, PoliBlog (TM), Capitol Briefing, At-Largely, Unqualified Offerings, DownWithTyranny!, Buck Naked Politics and The Agonist

Karl Rove / Opinion Journal:

A Failure to Lead — The Democratic Congress is more interested in acting out than in taking positive action. — This week is the one-year anniversary of Democrats winning Congress. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid probably aren't in a celebrating mood.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Blue Crab Boulevard and Don't Go Into The Light

Yahoo! News:

Mukasey confirmed as attorney general — Mukasey confirmed as attorney general — WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed retired judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general Thursday night to replace Alberto Gonzales, who was forced from office in a scandal over his handling of the Justice Department.

Discussion: BitsBlog, Three Wise Men, michellemalkin.com, Corrente, Wake up America and Blue Crab Boulevard

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

What happened to the Senate's "60-vote requirement"? — Every time Congressional Democrats failed this year to stop the Bush administration (i.e., every time they "tried"), the excuse they gave was that they "need 60 votes in the Senate" in order to get anything done.

Discussion: The Glittering Eye, Balkinization and Cliff Schecter

Richard Esposito / ABCNEWS:

Bernard Kerik: America's Cop Indicted — Federal Grand Jury Indicts Kerik on Various Corruption Charges — A federal grand jury has voted to indict former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik on charges stemming from the acceptance of free rent and apartment renovations …

New York Times:

Kerik's Corruption Case Dogs Giuliani — The scene outside the old Victorian-style courthouse in Dubuque on Thursday morning showed that the indictment of Bernard B. Kerik is at the very least a big distraction for Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential campaign.

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, Donklephant and Brilliant at Breakfast

NY Daily News:

Rudy Giuliani won't say if he'd pardon Kerik as President — BY MARY RAE BRAGG in Dubuque, Iowa, and DAVID SALTONSTALL in New York — Rudy Giuliani refused to say if he'd consider pardoning his old friend Bernie Kerik - who was indicted Thursday on federal corruption charges - if elected President.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Daily Kos and New York Times

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Cash-N-Kerik — So Bernie Kerik is finally getting indicted.

Discussion: All Spin Zone

New York Times:

Police Block Bhutto From Attending Rally — The opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was placed under house arrest this morning, her political party said. Streets were filled with police officers carrying batons and shields, and trucks blocked roads, trying to prevent access to a protest rally …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, The Moderate Voice, Guardian, Soccer Dad, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Outside The Beltway, The Democratic Daily, The American Street, Registan.net, The Pakistan Policy Blog and Needlenose

Washington Post:

Bhutto Detained at Home — Police Also Detained Over 5,000 Opposition Party Members Throughout Pakistan — Security officials barricaded former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto inside her home behind barbed wire, concrete blocks and armored cars on Friday morning, and turned out in force …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Associated Press, CNN, New York Times, Redstate and On Deadline

Agence France Presse:
Pakistan places Bhutto under house arrest

Discussion: Hot Air, BitsBlog and the talking dog

Associated Press:
Bhutto placed under house arrest

Discussion: JURIST, LiberalOasis, The Democratic Daily and Associated Press

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Clinton tops 2008 rivals, gets $530M in earmarks — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has won tens of millions of dollars more in federal earmarks this year than her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, even though two of them have significantly more Senate seniority.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and QandO

Washington Post:
On Campaign Bus, Obama Opens Up About Challengers

Discussion: The Caucus, TIME, Los Angeles Times and ImmigrationProf Blog

NationalJournal.com:
Transcript: Barack Obama On Hillary, Iraq And More

Discussion: MyDD, Lynn Sweet and The Fact Hub

Fisnik Abrashi / Associated Press:

59 schoolchildren died in Afghan blast — KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's deadliest suicide attack since the Taliban regime's ouster killed 59 schoolchildren, while 96 other students were wounded in the blast, the Education Ministry spokesman said Friday.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, TigerHawk and The American Street

Michael Stittle / CTV.ca: Warlords no better than Taliban, says Afghan MP

Joerg Wolf / The Moderate Voice:

Germany's Day of Destiny — While 9/11 has shaped US foreign policy and national identity significantly, German identity and foreign policy has been shaped even more by 9.11. — that's how we write "November 9th." — This is what happened on November 9th in Germany:

Discussion: The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Associated Press: Merkel, Bush to focus on Iran in talks at Texas ranch

NPR:

Editor's Note: The Tale of the Tip — · It started as an aside in a longer interview, but it became an Internet sensation within hours. — Anita Esterday, a waitress at the Maid-Rite in Toledo, Iowa, told NPR's David Greene in a report that aired on Morning Edition Thursday that …

Discussion: The Swamp, New York Times, RealClearPolitics and Blue Crab Boulevard

JoinRudy2008:

PAT ROBERTSON ENDORSES RUDY GIULIANI FOR PRESIDENT — The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today announced that Pat Robertson has endorsed Rudy Giuliani for President of the United States. — "It is my pleasure to announce my support for America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times