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Dialogue with candidates via MySpace/MTV.
Tomorrow begins the MySpace/MTV Presidential Candidate Dialogues, which “mark the first time in history that viewers at home and online will be able to interact in real time with the candidates.” More details:On Thursday, September 27, at 12 p.m. ET, Democratic candidate John Edwards will sit down with MTV News correspondents Gideon Yago and SuChin [...]

State Dept. ‘Discounts’ Iraqi Report, Clings To Blackwater Line Of ‘Defensive Fire’
On Sunday, employees of an American private security company were involved in a shoot out in central Baghdad that left at least 11 civilians dead, including a mother and her child. A spokeswoman for the firm, Blackwater USA, told reporters that the “independent contractors acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack.”State [...]

Breaking: Webb amendment fails.
The Senate just voted 56 to 44 on Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) amendment “requiring that active-duty troops and units have at least equal time at home as the length of their previous tour overseas.” The bill failed to garner the 60 votes needed to move forward. When the legislation was considered in July, the vote [...]

Giuliani Spins Reasons For Quitting The Iraq Study Group, Says ‘It Was A Mistake To Join’
On Monday, MoveOn.org launched a new TV ad slamming former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for quitting the Iraq Study Group last year, saying that even though he’s “a big fan of George Bush’s war in Iraq,” he went “AWOL” when he “had the chance to actually do something about the war.”In [...]

War means windfall for defense contractors.
Michael Brush writes, “CEOs at top defense contractors have reaped annual pay gains of 200% to 688% in the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.” Additionally, “The CEOs made an average of $12.4 million a year, easily more than the average corporate chief. Since the start of the war, CEOs at defense contractors [...]

Australian PM Howard’s Party Bans Members From Gore’s Global Warming Speeches
Al Gore is currently in Australia speaking on climate change, where he has launched a “passionate attack on the climate policies of Prime Minister John Howard and US President George Bush.” Yesterday, he spoke to a sold-out crowd of more than 700 people, and tomorrow’s event is anticipated to have similar attendance. From his [...]

Gates: ‘I don’t know’ whether Iraq war was a ‘good idea.’
In an interview with New York Times columnist David Brooks published today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was hesitant to endorse several cornerstones of President Bush’s foreign policy:“I don’t think you invade Iraq to bring liberty. You do it to eliminate an unstable regime and because sanctions are breaking down and you get liberty as a [...]

Paul Krugman blogs.
Earlier this morning, the New York Times released their op-ed columnists from behind the TimesSelect pay wall. Now, one of those columnists, Paul Krugman, has also started his own blog, “The Conscience of a Liberal.” Krugman says he not only expects “politics and economics of inequality” to be “central to many of the blog posts,” [...]

Rep. King: There Are ‘Too Many Mosques In This Country,’ We Should ‘Infiltrate’ Islam
In 2006, President Bush appeared alongside then-House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-NY) and heaped praise on the Congressman, calling him a “strong, strong chairman” who was “doing a fine job to help us protect this country.”The Politico reports today that King, now ranking member on the Committee, is continuing his “strong, strong” measures [...]

Harman On Need To Amend FISA: Congress Is On Trial Here, We Have To Correct Our Mistake
This morning, ThinkProgress interviewed Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the chairwoman of the subcommittee on intelligence within the Homeland Security committee, regarding the Bush administration’s aggressive push for permanent expansive spying powers.Harman, who has been critical of Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, said he is “devaluing [his] office by being so close to the White [...]

Muslims’ approval of U.S. ‘going through the floor.’
“Polls overseas show Muslims’ views of the United States going through the floor. Even in NATO ally Turkey, the United States’ favorable rating is down to 9 percent, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, down from 30 percent five years ago and 52 percent in 2000.”

House ethics committee to investigate Filner.
AP reports: The House Ethics Committee announced an investigation Wednesday of Rep. Bob Filner’s run-in with a baggage worker at Dulles International Airport last month. The incident resulted in misdemeanor assault and battery charges against the congressman.The committee released a short statement saying that it voted Tuesday to form a bipartisan, four-member investigative subcommittee to [...]

Bush’s Agriculture Secretary quitting to run for Senate.
Following the news last week that Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) will not seek another term in office, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns “has decided to resign from President Bush’s cabinet to return to Nebraska and enter the 2008 Senate race.” Johanns, a former two-term Republican governor, is expected to make a formal announcement in Nebraska [...]

BREAKING: Warner, McCain To Propose Toothless, Watered-Down Version Of Webb Amendment
Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), an ardent opponent of a pro-troop measure to relieve the stress on the overstretched armed forces, announced he will propose a toothless, watered-down substitute to the Webb amendment.McCain said he and Sen. John Warner (R-VA) have teamed up to put together a “sense of [...]

Breaking: Senate rejects habeas legislation.
In a 56-43 vote, the Senate today “narrowly rejected” legislation that would have restored habeas corpus rights to military detainees and given them “the right to protest their detention in federal court.” The roll call fell four votes short of the 60 needed to cut off debate.

Webb Slams McCain’s Opposition To His Pro-Troop Amendment: He ‘Needs To Read The Constitution’
The Senate is set to consider Sen. Jim Webb’s amendment “requiring that active-duty troops and units have at least equal time at home as the length of their previous tour overseas.” Under the current Pentagon policy, troops are deployed for 15 months, but receive just 12 months at home. Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), an [...]

Migration reshaping ‘Iraq’s sectarian landscape.’
New data collected by relief workers shows that a “vast internal migration is radically reshaping Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian landscape.” From The New York Times:The migration data, which are expected to be released this week by the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization but were given in advance to The New York Times, indicate that in Baghdad [...]

ThinkFast: September 19, 2007
NOTE: ThinkProgress introduced a new commenting system last night. Learn more details about it here. You can register either through the comments section or by clicking on “register” at the top right hand side of the sidebar.“Unable to garner enough Republican support, Senate Democratic leaders said yesterday that they are abandoning a bipartisan effort to [...]