Chris Matthews, in the opening segment of tonight's "Hardball", just apologized about the remarks he made about Hilliary Clinton.

David Brock has recently documented Matthew's comments both here, in a Daily Kos diary, and  on his site, the very valuable Media Matters.

Just a heads up, to tune in at 7pm tonight.

I'll try to get a "Tivo Transcript" up shortly.

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey dropped a bombshell.  Briefly, Comey recounted an attempt, by Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card, to have Ashcroft sign an Executive Order when Ashcroft was clearly incapacitated.  This lawless behavior occurred at then-Attorney General John Ashcroft’s hospital bedside, while the AG was in a critical care unit, one day post-op, for medical and surgical treatment of Pancreatitis.  

The situation Comey described in sworn testimony was riveting, and has provided clear and convincing evidence of professional misconduct by Alberto Gonzales, a member of the State Bar of Texas.

More below the fold.....

Paddykraska's diary "The Echo chamber vs. CNN's Mike Ware" provides an excellent birdseye view of how the wingers go about creating a controversy out of thin air.

This morning, around 7am, I was able to catch Mike Ware's live response to claims that he heckled Senator McCain during a press conference this weekend.  Below the fold is a "Tivo-Transcript" of Ware's response:

Laura Rozen, in her blog "War and Piece", has a new post directing her readers to an Op-Ed she authored in the LATimes.  It's a stunning editorial describing an option currently being kicked around the White House....mainly that the US might be "wise" to choose sides between the Sunni and Shia, rather than continue babysitting a civil war between them, in Iraq.

From TPM's "Election Central" comes word that Joe Lieberman's official website will have a few new facets come Tuesday....A Blog!!!!  And ....could it be....with comments??!!!!

The Pentagon, as required by Congress, has released a pretty nasty update on the security situation in Iraq.  A review of the report can be found at the following NY Times article, just posted.

Take a look at some of the report "highlights" below the fold....

You may have heard from semiot's shocking diary that Senator George FELIX Allen will be given a "Leadership Award" from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund on September 7th.

Below is a list of the Board of Directors of the Scholarship Fund.  Let's see if we can get contact info on all of these people and give their phones, emails and faxes a little work-out.

The Associated Press has just posted an interesting article about the NIE leak, written by Jennifer Loven.  If I am reading it correctly, it appears that President Bush is attempting to put some breathing room between himself and the Vice President.

I am sure all by now are familiar with the explosive news found in Patrick Fitgerald's most recent filing, first reported by the NY Sun.  The Sun reported that Libby's Grand Jury Testimony included the fact that Libby was authorized by Bush, through Cheney, to leak portions of the National Intelligence Estimate to Judy Miller of the New York Times.

The White House's first move, following this disclosure, was Scott McClellan's typical and pathetic standard answer....    

we are not going to comment on an ongoing investigation

.....repeated ad nauseum.  

In failing to deny the NIE leak was authorized by Bush, along with caveats about "public interest", most sane individuals can be fairly certain that Scooter, in this specific testimony, was not lying.

More after the flip.

OK...I admit it.

On occassion I listen to Hannity's radio show.  It usually occurs after I drop my daughter off at gymnastics, and I listen during the 7-10 minute drive home.  Please forgive me, but listening allows me the opportunity to prepare for the inevitable re-iteration of his absurd talking points around town the next day.  Gotta be prepared, ya know.

Well, today he said something that caught my attention.

Hannity was hyping an interview, later in the program, of Joe Lieberman....an interview where Hannity was threatening  to endorse Lieberman in his upcoming Senate race!  

Some notable quotes from the interview on the flip:

After calling the Judiciary Committee hearings to order, Senator Specter announced that committee staffers, accompanied by Kennedy's staff last night, until 2am, reviewed all of the boxes of Rusher documents, and found no mention of Sam Alito's name in any.  

You heard correctly...nothing.

Were the records scrubbed?  I think I would like to know if David Kirkpartrick found the same when he reviewed the documents.  I'd like to know who had access to the documents since Alito's nomination.

Senate Intelligence committee chair Pat Roberts (R-KS) has sent a formal request to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.  As reported by Jonathan Weisman in Thursdays Washington Post....

One has to wonder if Trent Lott's comments about the source of those leaks had anything to do with Roberts request.  No....that wouldn't be it. /snark

In reality, Senator Roberts is of the belief that the Justice Department should be allowed to complete it's own investigation of the matter.  

When asked how long a Justice Department investigation would take....

Yep....a good long time. The Republicans certainly don't want to get to the bottom of this particular leak anytime soon- because the source is probably one of their own.

Wednesday's Washington Post contains a detail-rich review of Alberto Gonzales and his role in drafting the "torture and interrogation technique memos" we have all come to know so well.  

Along with many interesting tidbits of information, R. Jeffrey Smith and Dan Eggen (the reporters) describe highly unusual "ghostwriting" practices employed in the drafting of the torture memos.  Smith and Eggen's sources note that Vice President Cheney's  legal counsel, David S. Addington, may have actually been the author of at least one controversial memo--a memo that Addington signed with Gonzales's name and with Gonzales's knowledge.

Here's the link-
Gonzales Helped Set the Course for Detainees

Someone please tell me Gonzales isn't going to use this as some sort of defense in an attempt to distance himself from the memos.  Well, I guess it wouldn't be the first time a member of the Bush administration tried something like this.