Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Bush isn’t done with Tony Blair quite yet: “President Bush has talked with British Prime Minister Tony Blair about taking a role as a Middle East peace envoy after he leaves office next week. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the State Department’s top diplomat for the Middle East, talked with Blair in London on Wednesday, while the White House and State Department spoke glowingly about the prime minister’s credentials but said there was nothing to announce yet. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also expressed support for Blair playing a role in the Middle East.”
* This might be interesting: “The New York Times is currently undertaking a major news investigation, led by managing editor Jill Abramson, into News Corp.’s business dealings throughout the world, according to a source with knowledge of the project.” Abramson told the New York Observer she is leading “an investigative project for the next month” and that it “involves a group of domestic and foreign reporters, but I obviously can’t tell you what it is.”
* More bad news for the troops and their families: “The Army is considering whether it will have to extend the combat tours of troops in Iraq if President Bush opts to maintain the recent buildup of forces through spring 2008.”
* Newt Gingrich, for reasons that are unclear, has a new commercial that hopes to exploit fears of terrorism and fears of immigrants in one demagogic package. In the spot, Newt claims, “Muhamed Atta and several of the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States illegally.” He’s wrong.
* All these years later, major news outlets still don’t understand the Libby leak.
* Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer believes conservative blogs are “more analytical and restrained” while “the more liberal blogs are a lot more pungent and profane.” He’s obviously never read conservative blogs.
* This isn’t getting nearly enough attention: “With gas prices near record highs and global warming making more headlines than ever, the Senate is getting close to a vote on one of the most ambitious pieces of energy legislation this country has seen in decades. From an environmental perspective, analysts said it’s the first time in a long time that lawmakers are considering meaningful legislation to reduce fossil fuel consumption and address global warming. ‘All the right pieces are floating around,” said Dave Hamilton, director for global warming and energy projects at the Sierra Club. “This Congress will be judged to a large extent on what happens at this moment.'” (thanks D.H.)
* This might be my favorite analogy in years: “One of the strangest political developments of the post 9/11 world was the sudden — and totally inexplicable — transformation of Rudolph Giuliani from eccentric mayor of New York City to foreign policy expert…. It’s like treating Ray Nagin as an expert climatologist because he happened to be Mayor of New Orleans when Katrina hit. If Nagin decided he wanted to be the head of the National Weather Service, would anyone take him seriously?” Oh, how I wish I had thought of that.
* If you haven’t seen the new “Lift the Ban” video from Robert Greenwald, I hope you’ll take a moment to watch it. (And if anyone sees a single conservative response to it, arguing the other side, please let me know.)
* Now the AP is throwing around “Slick Hillary“? Are reporters that anxious for a ’90s re-run?
* Leonard Pitts, Jr: “Because The News Show is predicated on news as entertainment, news as story arc, news as show complete with theme music and cool graphics, news as everything except, you know, news….. Notice how importance never enters into the equation. Notice how there isn’t even a pretense to public interest. TV “news” has become celebrity trials and runaway brides, missing girls and sex — while foreign bureaus are closing and news budgets are shrinking and we become a people ever more thoroughly entertained than informed.”
* Great excerpt from Glenn Greenwald’s new book.
* This week’s GAO report on signing statements isn’t the end of the story: “Lawmakers say they plan to dig deeper into the Bush administration’s use of bill-signing statements as ways to circumvent Congressional intent.”
* Speaking of signing statements, Jonathan Schwartz had a great catch exposing a huge contradiction in the White House’s explanation for the statements’ significance.
* And finally, the incomparable Digby delivered a beautiful speech on the netroots at the Take Back America conference last night, and the video of her remarks is now online. I think readers will enjoy it as much as I did. (Unbelievably observant readers may have noticed that I’ve avoided pronouns in describing Digby for a long while. I’m finally free to use “her” and “she”!)
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.