Today’s edition of quick hits.
* AP: “President Bush will tell the nation this week he plans to reduce the American troop presence in Iraq by about 30,000 by next summer, but will condition those and further cuts on continued progress, The Associated Press has learned.” You mean, Bush and Petraeus have decided to stay the course? You don’t say.
* Sen. Joe Lieberman asked Petraeus if he and his colleagues could pass legislation allowing him to “pursue the Qods forces into Iranian territory.” Petraeus politely declined Lieberman’s invitation to start another war.
* On a related note, I endorse Josh Marshall’s take on the senator from Connecticut: “For all that’s happened, I still have a respect for Gen. Petraeus. Even though he’s made himself into a GOP operative in the domestic political fight over Iraq, I think I agree with Juan Cole that over in Iraq I believe he’s doing his best as a professional soldier to salvage something from a catastrophic mess. But here just before 4:00 PM I’m listening to Sen. Lieberman’s colloquy with the general. And I really don’t think I can think of anyone in this debate who is more treacly, sanctimonious and self-serving than Joe. He’s become that bad.”
* And one more on Lieberman: for all his talk about civility, moderation, and the all-important center, it’s odd that he’s deciding to party down on 9/11 with unhinged right-wing clowns like Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity. So much for moderation.
* Sen. Larry Craig’s (R-Idaho) court hearing in Minneapolis is set for Sept. 26, just four days before he’s scheduled to give up his Senate seat.
* I know it’s stiff competition, but I firmly believe that Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is the Senate’s biggest joke. Today, in describing conditions in Iraq, Inhofe said, “It’s a huge success story.” The man is just an embarrassment.
* MoveOn.org has come under fire this week, but it’s not sheepishly retreating: “MoveOn.org, the liberal group that enraged Republicans this week by alleging that Gen. David Petraeus was ‘cooking the books’ with regard to the situation in Iraq, is asking its members to engage in a grassroots effort to help bring U.S. troops home.”
* Hillary Clinton on the MoveOn controversy: “It is unfortunate that Republican presidential candidates are focused on generating a political sideshow instead of discussing the president’s failed war policy.” See? Wasn’t that easy?
* I know it’s just a conversation piece, but I actually like conversation pieces. USA Today is ranking the Top 25 Headlines That Shaped (Recent) History. Coming in at number one is the fall of Communism, followed by 9/11 and the current war in Iraq. So far, sounds right to me. Number four is Hurricane Katrina. Fair enough. Number five? The O.J. trial. Really? Higher than the 2000 election?
* George Will is making sense: “What ‘forced’ America to go to war in 2003 — the ‘gathering danger’ of weapons of mass destruction — was fictitious. That is one reason this war will not be fought, at least not by Americans, to the bitter end. The end of the war will, however, be bitter for Americans, partly because the president’s decision to visit Iraq without visiting its capital confirmed the flimsiness of the fallback rationale for the war — the creation of a unified, pluralist Iraq. After more than four years of war, two questions persist: Is there an Iraq? Are there Iraqis?”
* In the “money demo” (25-to-54-year-olds), Keith Olbermann beat Bill O’Reilly last Friday. I’m fairly certain that’s a first. Now imagine what Olbermann could do if he wasn’t sharing a prime-time line-up with Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough.
* Speaking of Olbermann, he reportedly told Playboy, “Al Qaeda really hurt us, but not as much as Rupert Murdoch has hurt us, particularly in the case of Fox News. Fox News is worse than Al Qaeda — worse for our society. It’s as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was.” This probably isn’t going to go over well.
* Chris Matthews whined last night that only “the anti-war movement” refers to Iraq as a “civil war.” Um, Chris? The policy of your own network is to call Iraq a civil war. I know that, and I don’t even watch your network.
* The fourth Indy movie is going to be called, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Now we know.
* Let’s see, Code Pink disrupts congressional hearings. The Westboro Baptist Church disrupts funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers. Who on earth would consider this a fair comparison?
* David Vitter’s nightmare, Part II: “A former New Orleans prostitute who says she had an affair with Sen. David Vitter has passed a lie-detector test and will provide details of the four-month relationship at a press conference Tuesday, according to Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt.”
* House leaders plan to take a closer look at former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman’s criminal charges, and whether Karl Rove may have interfered with the process.
* When Scott McClellan resigned as Bush’s press secretary, COS Josh Bolten approached Torie Clarke, Donald Rumsfeld’s former press secretary, about the gig. She reportedly said she would “rather commit suicide.” Wow.
* And finally, Jay Leno: “President Bush called the APEC conference the OPEC conference. He called the Australian troops Austrian troops. And he left the stage the wrong way. He was given the wrong information when he got there, he stumbled when he was there, and couldn’t figure out how to leave. It’s like Iraq all over again.”
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.