Today’s edition of quick hits.<\/p>\n
* There’s no such thing as the Petraeus report, but there is a new White House report<\/a>: “The White House told Congress Friday that Iraqi leaders gained little new ground on key military and political goals, a discouraging assessment a day after President Bush announced that progress justifies keeping a large U.S. military presence there. The report underscored the difficulty of Bush’s argument that continued American sacrifice was creating space for Iraqi leaders to make gains on tamping down the sectarian fighting that leaves Iraq persistently fractured and violent.”<\/p>\n * Not only is Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-Alaska) career in jeopardy, but so is his standing as a free man<\/a>: “Former VECO Corp. CEO Bill Allen admitted Friday to using company funds to pay some of the construction costs associated with Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-Alaska) home remodeling project as well as using a small number of company employees to do the work.” Stevens’ office doesn’t know how to respond<\/a>.<\/p>\n * Every network that covered the president’s speech last night also showed viewers the Democratic response from Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) — except one. Care to guess<\/a>?<\/p>\n * Speaking of the White House address last night<\/a>: “All networks shared the same pool video of Bush from the Oval Office. Perhaps in an effort to make its coverage look distinctive, CNN pulled a very questionable stunt during the speech. Bush made reference to a brave soldier, Brandon Stout, who died while serving in Iraq, and CNN, having received a copy of the text in advance, obligingly inserted a photo of Stout into the picture, moving Bush slightly to the left, as it were. But it’s not the job of news organizations to help politicians, even presidents, embellish their speeches or assist them in making a point.”<\/p>\n * Disgusting<\/a>: “A Michigan lawyer who sexually attacked a 21-year-old woman at a Young Republicans convention here said Thursday that he disgraced himself, his family and his political party. Michael Flory, 33, of Jackson, Mich., told a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge that his humiliation and self-destruction should be punishment enough for his guilty plea to a sexual- battery charge. Judge Peter Corrigan couldn’t have disagreed more.” Good.<\/p>\n * According to Sen. John Inhofe (R-Okla.), when Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) recommends bringing 5,000 troops home by Christmas, he’s awful; when Bush says the same thing, he’s wise<\/a>. * I suppose it’s possible to read a less complimentary review of Mark Penn’s new book than Ezra Klein’s take<\/a>, but I can’t see how.<\/p>\n * Spencer Ackerman apparently spent quite a bit of time this afternoon trying to figure out which 36 countries Bush was referring to as part of the Multi-National Forces Iraq. He seems to have put the picture together<\/a>, but it hardly helps Bush’s case.<\/p>\n * On a related note, one of the 36 is Iceland, which is pulling its one person from Iraq<\/a> as of October 1. Not one percent, mind you, one guy.<\/p>\n * Elizabeth Edwards has been fairly aggressive on the campaign trail the last several months, but I was a little surprised to see her direct her criticism towards MoveOn.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n * There’s been some talk in The Hill and elsewhere about a new Rasmussen poll supporting the Bush\/Petraeus policy for Iraq. The poll’s question is very misleading<\/a>, which makes the results rather useless.<\/p>\n * Kudos to Bush’s science advisor for ignoring his boss’ agenda<\/a>: “In an interview with the BBC, Professor John Marburger, Bush\u2019s chief science adviser, said it was an ‘unequivocal’ fact that climate change is man-made and that greenhouse gases emitted by human activity are to blame. Marburger said he ‘strongly agrees’ with the IPCC reports and ‘supports its conclusions.'”<\/p>\n
\n
\n* CREW<\/a>: “Congress in the midst of debating legislation to re-authorize the controversial “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) program. A three-month long investigation by CREW raises serious questions about the use of NCLB funds to pay for products sold by Neil Bush, the younger brother of President George Bush.”<\/p>\n