Republicans - General

    A "Special Comment" by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann about the Democrats' deal with President Bush on Iraq is drawings lots of attention. He calls it a betrayal by the entire government.

    The Rev. Jerry Falwell has died at 73, the AP is reporting.

    Here's a story.

   Reports have called Condoleezza Rice's meeting today with Syria's foreign minister groundbreaking.

   Thoughts?

   The LA Times reports that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel is stepping in to investigate Karl Rove and the U.S. attorneys ordeal. Do you think the probe will turn up anything?

   The White House has unveiled an online list of the pork in the federal budget for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. Here it is.

   Sen. Chuck Schumer compared Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ performance unfavorably with that of  former Attorney General John Ashcroft: “Even Ashcroft would push back at the White House when they pushed too far – Gonzales, never.”

   Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld cannot be tried on allegations of torture in overseas military prisons, a federal judge said Tuesday in a case he described as "lamentable."

    Democrats aggressively challenged President Bush's Iraq policy at both ends of the Capitol on Thursday, gaining House committee approval for a troop withdrawal deadline of Sept. 1, 2008, but suffering defeat in the Senate on a less sweeping plan to end U.S. participation in the war.

   Anti-war Democrats prevailed on a near-party line vote of 36-28 in the House Appropriations Committee, brushing aside a week-old veto threat and overcoming unyielding opposition from Republicans.

   "I want this war to end. I don't want to go to any more funerals," said New York Rep. Rep. Jose Serrano, one of several liberal Democrats who have pledged their support for the legislation despite preferring a faster end to the war.

   "Nobody wants our troops out of Iraq more than I do, countered Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Florida, who sought unsuccessfully to scuttle the timeline for a troop withdrawal. "But we can't afford to turn over Iraq to al-Qaida."

   In the Senate, after weeks of skirmishing, Republicans easily turned back Democratic legislation requiring a troop withdrawal to begin within 120 days. The measure set no fixed deadline for completion of the redeployment, but set a goal of March 31, 2008. The vote was 50-48 against the measure, 12 short of the 60 needed for passage.

    Anti-war lawmakers in Congress are "undermining" U.S. troops in Iraq by trying to limit President Bush's spending requests for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday.

   Hitting out at lawmakers who profess to back the troops but oppose Bush's plans in Iraq, Cheney said proof of their commitment would come as they consider legislation to provide nearly $100 billion for the rest of this year's costs of the wars. The rest of the story is here.

   The online political site, Politico, has an interview out that has the Beltway political world buzzing. Re-elected Senator Joe Lieberman, now an independent who caucuses with the Democrats after switching parties following his defeat in the Democratic primary last year, hints at another party switch.

   Time magazine is reporting something similar. Lieberman says he wants to see how the Democrats handle funding for the troops in Iraq. He says if the Democrats go a direction in the Iraq war that he doesn't like then he could become officially a Republican (as you can imagine liberal-leaning blogs are howling I-told-you-so at this news). Some conservative blogs are salivating at the thought and RedState.com says Jane of Firedoglake.com only has herself to blame.