memeorandum: Clinton's Real Choice (E. J. Dionne Jr/Washington Post)

9:55 AM ET, April 1, 2008

Top Items:

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:

Clinton's convention strategy in doubt — If the fight over whether to count the results in Florida and Michigan makes it to the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton will not have enough pledged votes on the 169-member Credentials Committee to deliver a majority decision in her favor …

Discussion: Washington Wire, MSNBC, The Washington Independent and The Huffington Post

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
What Is This Thing Called The Credentials Committee?

Discussion: Spin Cycle and Talking Points Memo

Michael Powell / New York Times:

Obama Is Moving to Down-to-Earth Oratory — STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The Speech is his finely polished sword, a transcendent weapon. Seen and heard on a thousand YouTube postings, Senator Barack Obama's speeches have made a happening of that hoariest of campaign forms, the stump speech.

Discussion: The Swamp, The Caucus, Associated Press and The RBC

Amy Chozick / Wall Street Journal:

Clinton Slipping on Trust — Blunders About Past Weaken Credibility; Move to Shift Focus — HARRISBURG, Pa. — In the weeks before the Pennsylvania primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton not only lags Sen. Barack Obama in the race for delegates, she also is losing ground in her effort to convince voters that she is trustworthy.

Discussion: Stumper, Washington Post and Baltimore Sun

Los Angeles Times:

Obama, McCain bicker on Iraq — And in Pennsylvania, Clinton says Obama's supporters are trying to silence those who haven't yet voted. — ALLENTOWNPA. — , — In one of their sharpest exchanges of the presidential campaign, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama clashed …

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, MSNBC, The Carpetbagger Report, Washington Wire and Salon

E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

Clinton's Real Choice — Chill out. — More specifically: “We're going to win this election, if we just chill out and let everybody have their say.” — Thus, Bill Clinton's advice to Democrats who are gnashing their collective teeth over whether the extended struggle between Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Prairie Weather and Commentary

Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
The Tall Tale of Tuzla

Discussion: JustOneMinute, the talking dog, Hot Air, normblog, GINA COBB, Dean's World, A Tiny Revolution and Weekly Standard Blog

Dr. Maya Angelou / blog.hillaryclinton.com:
Celebrating Women: A Note from Dr. Maya Angelou

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft and Don Surber

Malcolm Nance / SWJ Blog:

The Basrah Gambit - Defining Moment for Iraq or the Jaysh al-Mahdi? — Engaging the Mahdi Militia in Basrah and labeling them as equal to Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a deadly gamble that may leave Iran the winner. — On 19 March, 2008 CNN's Iraq war correspondent, Kyra Phillips gave a live interview …

Discussion: The Belmont Club

Dave Price / Dean's World:
Sadr's Triumphant Surrender

Discussion: Obsidian Wings and The Corner

Richard Miniter / Pajamas Media:
ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS — When reporters write in the first person …

Discussion: BizzyBlog, NewsBusters.org, AlterNet.org, CommonDreams.org and Danger Room

James Glanz / New York Times:
Iraq Seems Calmer After Cleric Halts Fighting

Discussion: Reuters, Gateway Pundit, The Strata-Sphere and The Reaction

Alice Walker / Guardian:

Obama is our Mandela — Only one candidate offers the radical departure for the 21st century the US needs, for its own sake and the rest of the world's — I have come home from a long stay in Mexico to find - because of the presidential campaign, and especially because of the Obama-Clinton race …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, URGENT AGENDA, American Street, The New Republic and protein wisdom

Media Matters for America:

Matthews on Obama: “[T]his gets very ethnic, but the fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody” — On the March 31 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, discussing Sen. Barack Obama's bowling performance at a March 29 campaign stop at Pleasant Valley Lanes in Altoona, Pennsylvania …

Media Matters for America:
Scarborough on Obama's “dainty” …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Reaction, No More Mister Nice Blog, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Gateway Pundit and The New Republic

Chris McGreal / Guardian:

Mugabe told not to declare his victory — A crisis meeting of Robert Mugabe's security cabinet decided to block the opposition from taking power after what appears to have been a comprehensive victory in Zimbabwe's elections but was divided between using a military takeover to annul the vote and falsifying the results.

Discussion: Reason Magazine, Hot Air and normblog

Times of London:
Zimbabwe on a knife edge as fears deepen that result is being rigged

Discussion: This is Zimbabwe

David Usborne / The Independent:

USA 2008: The Great Depression — Food stamps are the symbol of poverty in the US. In the era of the credit crunch, a record 28 million Americans are now relying on them to survive - a sure sign the world's richest country faces economic crisis — Disadvantaged Americans queue for aid in New York

Discussion: American Spectator, Outside The Beltway, The Strata-Sphere, small dead animals, The Mahablog, American Power, The Raw Story, Truthdig and Done With Mirrors

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:

In Gaza, Hamas's Insults to Jews Complicate Peace — GAZA — In the Katib Wilayat mosque one recent Friday, the imam was discussing the wiliness of the Jew. — “Jews are a people who cannot be trusted,” Imam Yousif al-Zahar of Hamas told the faithful. “They have been traitors to all agreements — go back to history.

Discussion: TownHall Blog and A Blog For All

Fox News:

Report: Bob Barr Weighing Presidential Run — Former Republican Georgia Rep. Bob Barr is considering a run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket, according to FITNews. — Barr, who joined the Libertarian Party after leaving Congress in 2003, is looking to attract conservatives …

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, Don Surber, FITSNews For Now and CWA-NJ Conservatives …

Kevin Rollins / Free For All:
Is Taxation Voluntary?

Discussion: Betsy's Page and The American Mind

Jim Snyder / The Hill:

Gas prices put oil executives on the hot seat — Oil executives return to the hot seat Tuesday as a House panel examines rising gasoline prices and the industry's opposition to efforts to repeal $18 billion in tax breaks. The new money would be used to pay for the development of renewable energy.

Discussion: The Politico, The Swamp and Think Progress

Thomas Harding / Telegraph:

Heroic marine throws himself on grenade — A Royal Marine could receive the highest award for gallantry after he saved the lives of his comrades by throwing himself onto an exploding grenade in Afghanistan, it has been reported. — Lance Corporal Matt Croucher amazingly survived …

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Mark Krikorian / The Corner:

Poll: You Can Fool Some of the People All of the Time — A new survey I commissioned demonstrates how McCain's malarkey about supporting enforcement has succeeded in duping a significant number of voters. The poll (complete results are here) found that only 34 percent of people who voted …

Discussion: Vox Popoli