memeorandum: Pelosi Fuels Fire on Interrogations (Chris Cillizza/The Fix)

7:10 PM ET, May 14, 2009

Top Items:

Caitlin Taylor / The Note:

Pelosi: CIA Lied to Me — ABC News' Rick Klein reports: — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today accused intelligence officials of giving her “inaccurate and incomplete information” on the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics by the Bush administration …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Fox News, No Sheeples Here!, Weekly Standard, Balloon Juice, Taylor Marsh, theblogprof, TPMMuckraker, Betsy's Page, The League of Ordinary …, Gateway Pundit, The Reaction, PunditGuy, Riehl World View, The Corner, BLACKFIVE and MoJo Blog Posts

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Obama Administration to Cheney: Request Denied — The Obama administration has turned down former Vice President Dick Cheney's request for the declassification of two CIA reports on the effectiveness of the Agency's detainee program, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Atlantic Politics Channel, USA Today, National Review, Commentary, Pajamas Media, Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, The Plank, Ben Smith's Blog, Think Progress, TPMMuckraker, The Greenroom, JammieWearingFool and Truthdig

Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:

The Truth About Richard Bruce Cheney — This is a guest post exclusive to The Washington Note by Col. Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who is former chief of staff of the Department of State during the term of Secretary of State Colin Powell. Lawrence Wilkerson is also Pamela Harriman Visiting Professor at the College of William & Mary.

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

As Cheney Seizes the Spotlight, Many Republicans Wince — As vice president, Richard B. Cheney famously spent much of the past eight years in undisclosed locations and offering private advice to President George W. Bush. But past was not prologue. — Today Cheney is the most visible …

Discussion: The Plum Line, Politics Daily, Hullabaloo, First Draft, Washington Monthly, Weekly Standard, No More Mister Nice Blog, Associated Press, Think Progress, NewsBusters.org, The Politico and AMERICAblog News

Emptywheel:

Senator Bob Graham: The CIA Made Up Two Briefing Sessions — Bob Graham just appeared on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show. In addition to repeating earlier reports that he was never briefed on waterboarding, Graham revealed that the first time he asked the CIA when he was briefed on torture …

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Matthew Yglesias, ATTACKERMAN, The Washington Independent, Firedoglake and Political Punch

Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:

Pelosi: Bush briefers lied to me — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Bush administration intelligence officials “misled” her by saying they weren't using waterboarding on terror detainees during a Sept. 2002 briefing — months after they had actually begun waterboarding Abu Zubaydah.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Michelle Malkin, Associated Press, The Note, neo-neocon, The Politico, RedState and This ain't Hell …

The Caucus:

Pelosi Acknowledges She Was Told of Waterboarding in 2003 — Under fire from Republicans for what she knew about harsh questioning of terror detainees, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday acknowledged that she had learned in 2003 that the C.I.A. had subjected suspects to waterboarding …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Emptywheel, Don Surber, New York Times, Gawker and Truthdig

Paul Volpe / Capitol Briefing:
Pelosi Accuses CIA of ‘Misleading’ Her on Interrogations

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Foundry, Right Wing News, Wonkette, Corrente, Don Surber and Little Green Footballs

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Pelosi to CIA: I double-dog dare you to leak again

Discussion: This ain't Hell …, The Note and MoJo Blog Posts

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Congress and Waterboarding — Nancy Pelosi was an accomplice to ‘torture.’

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Providence Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Times, Texas on the Potomac, PoliBlog, Six Meat Buffet, Think Progress, Top of the Ticket, Townhall.com, MSNBC, Sister Toldjah, Los Angeles Times and The Note

Eric Zimmermann / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Lieberman ‘totally disagrees’ with Pelosi

Discussion: ATTACKERMAN and The Washington Independent

Manu Raju / The Politico:
Dems: CIA may have broken law

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Daily Pundit

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Pelosi Fuels Fire on Interrogations

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Power Line, Atlas Shrugs and Daily Pundit

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Bigger Than the Both of Us

Discussion: The Plum Line and TPMMuckraker

Robert Windrem / Blogs and Stories:
Cheney's Role Deepens

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, Hullabaloo, TPMMuckraker, Think Progress and Firedoglake

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Nancy Pelosi: CIA lied; Boehner: Who?

Discussion: The Daily Dish, NO QUARTER, Commentary, The Note and Lynn Sweet

Washington Post: Pelosi News Conference on Waterboarding Disclosure

WNYC:
THE BRIAN LEHRER SHOW

Discussion: Raw Story and The Washington Independent

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Lieberman: ‘I Totally Disagree’ With Pelosi Assertion that CIA Lies

Discussion: Hot Air and Moe Lane

Jason / The Tolbert Report:

Sen. Kim Hendren: Without a Teleprompter! (UPDATE - Schumer “Apology accepted.") — The talk in conservative circles this week has been about Sen. Kim Hendren's appearance last week at the Pulaski County Republican Committee meeting. Several Republicans on hand were live twittering …

Discussion: TPMDC, DownWithTyranny!, Ben Smith's Blog, Arkansas Blog, Blake's Think Tank, ATTACKERMAN, New York Magazine and Daily Kos

Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog: A walking gaffe machine in Arkansas

Associated Press:

Specter raises hopes for deal on major labor bill — WASHINGTON - Sen. Arlen Specter said Thursday the “prospects are pretty good” for a compromise on legislation making it easier for workers to form unions. — Specter had come out against the bill in March, disappointing labor leaders.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Michelle Malkin, FiveThirtyEight, Ben Smith's Blog, TPMDC and The Washington Independent

Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:

Torsella dropping out of Pa. Senate race — Democrat Joe Torsella is dropping out of the Pennsylvania Senate race, according to two well-placed Democratic sources, leaving Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) with no serious opposition in the Democratic primary - at least for now.

Discussion: Swing State Project

Gary Fields / Wall Street Journal:

White House Czar Calls for End to ‘War on Drugs’ — Kerlikowske Says Analogy Is Counterproductive; Shift Aligns With Administration Preference for Treatment Over Incarceration — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration's new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting …

Discussion: Reason, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Washington Independent, Cato @ Liberty, Matthew Yglesias, The Stimulist, DownWithTyranny!, QandO, Washington Monthly, ACS Blog, The Impolitic, Democracy in America, BitsBlog, Newsweek Blogs, Left in the West and Majikthise

Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:

Prosecutors to Question Rove on U.S. Attorney Firings — Former top White House official Karl Rove will be interviewed tomorrow as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys during the Bush administration, according to two sources familiar with the appointment.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, MSNBC, Raw Story and The BRAD BLOG

governor.nh.gov:

Gov. Lynch Statement Regarding Same-Sex Marriage Legislation — CONCORD - Gov. John Lynch released the following statement today regarding same-sex legislation in New Hampshire: — “The gay marriage debate in New Hampshire has been filled with passion and emotion on all sides.

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, Ben Smith's Blog and Pam's House Blend

Tom Fahey / UnionLeader.com:
Governor not ready to sign gay marriage bill

Discussion: Think Progress and Taegan Goddard's …

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

McCain mom takes swipe at Limbaugh — (CNN) — The always-outspoken Roberta McCain — mother of Sen. John McCain — took a swipe at Rush Limbaugh Wednesday, saying the popular conservative radio host “does not represent the Republican Party that I belong to”.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Anne Schroeder's Blog, Politics Daily and Wonkette

Ali Frick / Think Progress: Rep. Shadegg Dismisses Rush Limbaugh As Just ‘A Television Personality’

George F. Will / Washington Post:

The Obama Administration's Economic Lawlessness — Anyone, said T.S. Eliot, could carve a goose, were it not for the bones. And anyone could govern as boldly as his whims decreed, were it not for the skeletal structure that keeps civil society civil — the rule of law. The Obama administration is bold.

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel, Weekly Standard, The Moderate Voice, Right Wing Nut House, Shot in the Dark and Neptunus Lex

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More — IMPERIAL, Calif. — Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor.

Discussion: The Impolitic, LewRockwell.com Blog, Raw Story, The Agitator, Greg's Opinion, Politics Daily, Shakesville and Outside The Beltway

Elliot Blair Smith / Bloomberg:

Paulson Told Bankers to Take U.S. Taxpayer Aid or Be ‘Exposed’ — Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, saying nine U.S. banks were “central to any solution” of the credit crisis, told their leaders to take government aid or be forced to by regulators, according to a memo prepared for an October meeting.

Discussion: Debbie Schlussel

John / Power Line:
Documents Confirm Treasury Bullied Banks

Discussion: Judicial Watch

Richard Dunham / Texas on the Potomac:

Cornyn's guess? Hutchison to resign “this fall sometime” — Texas Sen. John Cornyn is the state's junior senator — and he wants to remain the junior senator for a couple more years. — But that doesn't seem likely. Senior Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is preparing to run for governor …

Discussion: Dallas Morning News, Scorecard's Blog, Daily Kos, Swing State Project, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Off the Kuff

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Elizabeth Edwards's Interview Rules: Don't Mention Rielle Hunter by Name — Elizabeth Edwards has been willing to talk about most anything in interviews about her new memoir that details her husband John's affair, but only under one condition: Interviewers must agree not to mention the name …

Discussion: The Plank, Gawker, Ben Smith's Blog and Democracy in America

Movieguide:

Mendacity & Whitewash: The Slanderous Anti-Christian Falsehoods of ‘Angels & Demons’ — “Angels & Demons,” Ron Howard's new movie based on author Dan Brown's series of novels featuring a fictional anti-religious zealot posing as a pseudo-intellectual professor, is another Christophobic, slanderous liberal attack on faith and reason.

Discussion: Townhall.com and NewsBusters.org

Tom Krisher / Associated Press:

Chinese imports could bring GM political troubles — DETROIT (AP) - As thousands of General Motors workers await word on more U.S. plant closures, reports that the company plans to import Chinese-made vehicles to the U.S. have created a political problem for the automaker and the White House.

Discussion: PoliPundit.com, Cafe Hayek, Fausta's Blog and Vox Popoli

Reason.tv:

Hasta La Vista, Arnold! — He was the perfect political superhero, sent to rescue California from spend-happy politicians at just the right time. And yet Arnold Schwarzenegger's reign as governor has turned into a disaster flick that could spell catastrophe for the Golden State—and the whole nation.