Responding to a New York Times report saying that U.S. political plans "may already have been shaken more than American officials will admit by events in Najaf," Jerome Doolittle of Bad Attitudes writes, "The argument that it would be irresponsible to abandon Iraq now ... is nonsense. We will abandon Iraq."

Danny Schechter writes that "the question is no longer if the terror war can be won but can Washington stop it from being lost." Plus: 'NPR Leads the Charge to War' in Iran.

Paul Krugman argues that the U.S. should drop its "persistent effort to avoid giving Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani his natural dominant role" and "realize that we could do a lot worse" in Iraq.

Voter registration cards are selling for $100 in Afghanistan, writes Matthew Yglesias, in a country containing only 9.8 million eligible voters, over 10 million of whom have already registered to vote.

Reviewing press coverage of mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere, Under the Same Sun concludes, "They torture, we merely abuse."

USAToday reports that federal authorities say hackers successfully hijacked hundreds of computers at the Defense Department and the U.S. Senate, turned them into zombies, and used them to send spam.

Upwards of 1,500 people, including nearly 1,000 on Tuesday, have now been arrested for protesting the GOP convention in NYC, by Newsday accounts. Detainees include a Slate editor. Plus: My almost arrest.

The Washington Post reports that GOP officials assigned virtually all their top convention jobs to registered federal lobbyists, one of whom says, "We just make sure everything runs smoothly."

After Illinois Republican Senate candidate Alan Keyes said that Vice President Cheney's lesbian daughter is "by definition" a "selfish hedonist," the chairman of the Illinois Republican Party reaffirmed the party's support for him.

On Tuesday Ralph Nader got on the Florida ballot, dropped by the GOP convention and spoke at Columbia University, where he reportedly said that if Senator John Kerry "looked at our web site, he'd find ways to get more votes."

An Editor and Publisher story which briefly mentions Nader as saying that newspapers focus too much on the horse race and haven't reported "the dirty tricks of the Democrats" carries the headline, 'Nader Knocks Newspapers.'

The Hill reports that Mike Rogers of Blogactive, who triggered yesterday's resignation of Rep. Ed Schrock, is threatening to out more people who "say they are Republicans and then use sexual orientation to stay in power."

National Journal's Charlie Cook writes that "this election wasn't over three weeks ago ... and it isn't over now." Knight Ridder finds potential 2008 candidates hard at work at the convention.

A New York Times campaign analysis says that the president's aides believe that "Bush almost certainly cannot win unless voters are convinced that they cannot vote for Mr. Kerry."

Hullabaloo's Digby writes that "the question nobody asks is how a Republican incumbent who stood at a 90% approval rating for more than a year is now below 50% and can't seem to put away the ... Democrats in the middle of a war."

In an interview on Democracy Now! "Bush's Brain" author Wayne Slater describes "the mark of Rove" in any campaign: target the opponent's strength and leave no fingerprints. Plus: 'George Bush the Peace Candidate?'

An IPS article by Jim Lobe reports that the FBI is "intensely reviewing" past counter-intelligence probes involving neo-conservatives Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and Richard Perle. Lobe cites an earlier investigative piece by Stephen Green in CounterPunch.

Perle is also excoriated for his "flagrant abdication of duty" as a director during a time when newspaper firm Hollinger International was being run as a "corporate kleptocracy," in the words of a company report, which notes that "Perle's own description of his performance ... was stunning."

Media Patrol is being guest-edited by CounterPunch columnist and recording artist David Vest. Send him links to the good stuff at mediapatrol@cursor.org.

August 31

The Los Angeles Times reports that U.S. forces in Iraq are now being attacked 60 times per day, with one analyst saying, "They are just hitting us hard and everywhere." Meanwhile, President Bush is said to tone down talk of "winning" the war on terror, before quickly toning it up again.

"Don't most families in America keep a weapon?" an aide to Moqtada al-Sadr tells the New York Times, explaining that it would be unreasonable to expect Sadr's army to give up their privately-owned rifles.

In a commentary for Uprising Radio, Rahul Mahajan of Empire Notes says that the likely outcome of the siege of Najaf is that people will be talking about Moqtada al-Sadr's exploits "decades from now, and little boys being born all over the world will be named Moqtada."

The New Standard reports that interviews conducted by Michigan-based lawyer Shereef Akeel have turned up fresh evidence of ongoing torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. personnel, including a 15-year old Iraqi boy who says he was raped last month at an American facility.

Reuters reports that consumer confidence fell sharply in August, according to a Conference Board survey. Plus: another catastrophic success?

In The New Yorker, John Cassidy writes that in downplaying the president's economic message the media is "missing one of the biggest domestic stories of the 2004 campaign," Bush's coded signals of a far more radical agenda. Plus: the economics of "proportional" coverage.

AP reports that some GOP delegates called Senator John McCain a "sore loser" but "screamed their lungs out" for former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani. The Nation's David Corn reviews 'The McCain Fizzle' which was enlivened mainly by a jab at Michael Moore. Plus: reaching out to RINOs.

A new Zogby poll finds that half of all New York City residents believe that U.S. leaders had foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks and that they "consciously failed to act."

Ongoing probes into the conduct of Defense Department officials are baseless and politically motivated, Pentagon adviser Richard Perle assures the Boston Globe: "It's pretty nasty, and unfortunately the administration doesn't seem to have it under control."

Juan Cole reasons that news of the investigation was leaked to make sure that everybody clammed up and shredded everything."

War and Piece updates a Ha'aretz bio of Larry Franklin, the Pentagon Iran analyst suspected of passing documents to Israel, while Karen Kwiatkowski, who worked with Franklin in the Pentagon and remembers him as "an interesting and kind person," writes that "It must be exciting these days to be a neoconservative."

Robert Dreyfuss cites an intelligence pro who calls Franklin an "incompetent fool way out of his depth" and adds that "Israel has penetrated the United States so completely that it probably doesn't even call it spying anymore. It's business as usual." Uggabugga maps the territory.

Analyzing how swiftly three unaffiliated swift boat crewmen who all came forward supporting Kerry disappeared down the memory hole of a "Potemkin" press corps, Daily Howler concludes that "Increasingly, your national 'press' is a screaming joke -- and so, therefore, is your democracy."

Jim Boyd, deputy editorial page editor for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, writes that "We are in the middle of an important national event: the real-time confrontation of a political smear," and that he is "sick to death of being played for a chump by the likes of Karl Rove."

AMERICAblog calls the decision of Virginia Congressman Ed Shrock to drop his reelection bid, after blogACTIVE posted allegations that the co-sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment was cruising for men on phone sex lines, "a huge success for bloggers, and the outing campaign in general."

The Virginian-Pilot adds that "no mainstream newspapers, television stations or Web sites published the allegations."

The St. Petersburg Times takes back its endorsement of Senate candidate Mel Martinez after his campaign calls opponent Bill McCollum "the new darling of the homosexual extremists."

The New York Times reports that Fox News refuses to run an ad for The Nation despite the fact that the magazine has carried several of the network's ads. The Nation's Arthur Stupar says, "I find it ironic. They are the GOP cable station, a champion of free markets, and they got spooked at the thought of running an ad that doesn't publish spin or serve the agenda of corporate conglomerates."

August 30

The Los Angeles Times reports that a truck bomb killed at least seven people and left a crater at the Kabul headquarters of DynCorp, the U.S. company that supplies bodyguards for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the leading candidate in elections set for October 9.

A Reuters report says that Moqtada al-Sadr has called on the Mehdi Army to cease-fire across Iraq, while Business Week hears 'Sounds of Silence on Foreign Policy' coming from the White House.

The New York Times reports that a "roaring, two-mile river of demonstrators" estimated at half a million strong and "packed as dense as broccoli florets" marched past Madison Square Garden, where "no one was at home to hear it." A Slate dispatch says the march "had the air of a goofily partisan parade" with a "free-rider problem."

King of Zembla has 'Fun with Numbers,' noting that while the Voice of America reports that the protesters numbered in the tens of thousands, Reuters says that they numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

GOP leaders vowed to "seize on street demonstrations to portray Democrats as extremist."

Writing in the Toronto Sun, Eric Margolis says that while anti-terrorist precautions make New York City "look like Damascus during a military coup," Bush and Kerry are "arguing furiously about the 30-year-old Vietnam War -- at a time when the U.S. is losing the wars it is now waging in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The San Francisco Chronicle's Mark Morford asks, 'Is the Nation Drunk?'

'Iran-Contra II?' A Washington Monthly investigation says the case of Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin, suspected of passing classified documents to Israel, may be part of a rogue operation "not approved by the president's foreign policy principals or even the president himself."

American Leftist says "The story is about a conspiracy to hijack the U.S. government on behalf of foreign powers," while Hullabaloo's Digby sees "the earmarks of a John LeCarre novel" about what happens "when you have a stupid and easily manipulated man at the head of the government."

In a pair of commentaries, Juan Cole calls the espionage scandal "an echo of the one-two punch secretly planned by the pro-Likud faction in the Department of Defense" and says that suspect Lawrence Franklin is "clearly a lamb being fattened."

Antiwar's Justin Raimondo charts the growth of the story from a late Friday night CBS report, through anonymous official claims that Franklin "was preparing to lead the authorities to contacts inside the Israeli government when the case became publicly known." Was the leak a "controlled burn"? Plus: 'Why Would They Bother?'

In an essay for Esquire, Ron Reagan states 'The Case Against George W. Bush.'

Former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes confirms that he is "more ashamed at myself than I've ever been" for getting young George W. Bush into the National Guard.

Greg Palast connects a billion dollar no-bid deal for a client and a $23 million dollar fee to 10 years of silence by Barnes. Josh Marshall notes that White House spokesperson Scott McClellan dismissed Barnes as a "longtime partisan Democrat," even though Barnes endorsed McClellan's mother in a 2002 election.

A Wall Street Journal story argues that while the GOP convention may showcase moderates, mobilizing conservative Christians, not attracting swing voters, is the strategic focus of the Bush reelection campaign.

The New York Times says it was wrong -- about the Electoral College.

The Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqui writes that "The sins for which Lyndon Johnson quit, and Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush were defeated, were minuscule by comparison" with the problems facing President Bush, yet Senator John Kerry has "shied away" from issues that Americans appear "ready and even eager to confront."

'Do You Know Who I Am?' Seeing the Forest's Dave Johnson tracks subsidized propagandist George C. Landrith to his funding sources within 'The Apparat.'

A new NRP poll has Bush's approval rating hovering below 50 percent, while Reuters reports a four-point Kerry lead in a new Zogby/Williams survey, with the Tin Man beating the Scarecrow by 35 points among undecideds.

August 27-29

On Gadflyer, Thomas F. Schaller observes that the number of Americans killed in Iraq in 2004 now exceeds the 482 killed in 2003.

Reuters reports that confusion reigned at a U.S. military tribunal as translators openly disagreed on what was said in testimony, and the presiding officer asked a Yemeni man facing war crimes charges, "Is your understanding of our culture sufficient to make things that appear strange appear not so strange?"

The Washington Post reports that a deal with Moqtada al-Sadr shows that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani can "force both Sadr and the interim government to yield to his middle-ground approach."

The Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqi says that after Najaf, "regardless of how this battle ends, America has already lost the war," because the U.S. "thought nothing of violating the sanctity of a sacred Muslim site."

Rational Enquirer extracts choice quotes from a Washington Post story on what Najaf now looks like.

On Empire Notes, Rahul Mahajan writes that the problem in establishing a body count in Najaf is that "if only Arabs have reported it, to the United States it hasn't happened."

'Hush hush, keep it down now, voices carry.' With a massive march set for Sunday in New York City, Tom Hayden disputes "the spreading assertion that anti-war protests at the Republican convention will help Bush." Plus: 'Bring Najaf to New York.'

'I'll Be Backed!' The New York Times reports that California Gov. Schwarzenegger's trip to New York to address the GOP Convention is being financed by no less than 15 major corporations, including the parent companies of every major U.S. television network. Plus: 'The Big Media Back Story.'

The GOP announces more convention performers, including Donnie McClurkin, who, notes John Aravosis, says that gays are "trying to kill our children."

Financial Times reports that some of President Bush's leading Wall Street fundraisers have "stopped active campaigning," and Molly Ivins surveys a lengthening list of conservative war repenters.

The Washington Post spotlights a new report by the NAACP and People for the American Way which details a GOP "campaign to keep African Americans and other minority voters away from the polls this November." Also: 'What Bush has planned for America if he wins.'

'Ashcroft Hits the AstroTurf' The Austin Chronicle reports that a prewritten op-ed piece touting mandatory minimum sentences has been turning up in local newspapers, signed by local U.S. attorneys.

Earlier: Jason Leopold writes that reams of evidence that makes Vice President Dick Cheney "look like Ken Lay's twin brother" is collecting dust instead of attracting mainstream media attention.

'Ah, we did? I don't think so.' The New York Times says that during an interview Bush "appeared unfamiliar" with a new report on climate change in which the administration apparently changed its position on what causes global warming.

'It's the IQ, Stupid.' Howell Raines writes that Senator John Kerry and his running mate "keep talking about what the White House wants them to talk about" instead of forcing Bush outside his "one-trick comfort zone."

"Any student of Bush family campaigns could have seen the swift boat shiv shining a mile away," writes Dick Meyer for CBS. "The big question is why John Kerry didn't."

UC Berkeley News interviews George Lakoff on teaching liberals how to talk, while Gore Vidal takes a 'Last, Long Look From the Heights' and delivers his 'State of the Union 2004.'

August 26

Reuters reports that 1.3 million Americans slid into poverty, health care coverage dropped and incomes were stagnant in 2003. "What ever could have given us that idea?" writes Carpetbagger, in response to official denials that politics played any part in the Bush administration's decision to change the date, location and source for the release of the data.

A Mother Jones analysis by Bradford Plumer finds "a common theme in all of Bush's health proposals," namely "incentive for businesses to drop their current employees."

"Don't shoot the mosque." With U.S. troops "almost at the gate" of the Imam Ali Shrine, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, back in Iraq, calls for march to "save Najaf." Juan Cole writes that Sistani's return raises many questions.

In a PBS "News Hour" interview, New York Times correspondent John Burns said that U.S. forces were in a race to try to effectively control the shrine before Sistani's arrival. Plus: 'No legitimacy in Iraqistan.'

The Christian Science Monitor finds loyalty to Moqtada al-Sadr growing as Sistani returns, while a new PINR spotlights the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, the group it says would likely emerge as an alternative should al-Sadr "fail."

An Uruknet report says that Sunni volunteers from Fallujah have been teaching Shia men and women how to fight.

Back to Iraq's Chris Allbritton, hauled at gunpoint to a "press conference," finds Najaf's finest to be "just like the old regime, only less disciplined."

According to the Los Angeles Times, investigators who charge in a new military report that the CIA played a large role in the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison were "blocked from pursuing allegations against CIA employees."

A new Los Angeles Times poll shows that attacks on Senator John Kerry's war record appear to be working, while Knight Ridder's John Baer says that "it's still the Electoral College, stupid!"

The CJR Campaign Desk writes that the Swift boat vet ad story was kept afloat in August in part by the fact that "in June and July, the press hardly moved the story an inch" although the Swift boat vets "virtually declared war on Kerry" in May.

In a column on the persistence of myth and misinformation, Editor and Publisher Greg Mitchell asks, "Has the press done enough" to inform people about the war in Iraq, or "is there only so much it can do?"

'The Church of Liebling' Slate's Jack Shafer writes that if A. J. Liebling "didn't invent press criticism, he might as well have," and that he "didn't take press criticism to hell with him when he died, but he might as well have." Earlier: 'Reporting it All.'

The Seattle Times describes NBC Universal's approach to news of Olympic doping and judging scandals: don't cover it.

The Bush campaign's top outside lawyer, Benjamin Ginsberg, resigned, saying his role with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was making sure coordination didn't happen. David Corn finds Ginsberg still spinning for the Swift boat vets during an appearance on ABC's "Nightline." Plus: escaping without a scratch.

Media Matters tracks some Bob Dole claims, and Noel Koch remembers a time when 'When Bob Dole Said No.' Earlier: 'What Wouldn't Bob Do For Koch Oil?'

As the BBC reports on the mission of Arun Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, to encourage Palestinians to launch non-violent campaigns against the Israeli occupation, Haaretz's Amira Hass says "it is a discussion that we Israelis should also conduct. As occupiers."

'Have you ever been to Israel?' According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois Senatorial candidate Alan Keyes owns a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol and a .38-caliber "six-shooter" and favors legal machine gun ownership because citizens are on "the front line of the war against terror."

AP reports that the South Carolina state Democratic Party is offering potential new voters a choice: sign up to vote or be drafted and sent to Iraq.

August 25

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