In case you missed it, take a look at the unfolding media story of The New Republic’s Scott Thomas Beauchamp diaries.

These were reports from a soldier in the field in Iraq reporting on some of the uglier sides of the US military’s footprint on the ground in Iraq. Imagining that every story that doesn’t kowtow to the Bush personality cult is another Rathergate in the making, the rightwing blogosphere exploded with a wave of accusations and fabrications, all alleging in one fashion or another that the stories were made up. The charges even got recycled and trumpeted in the Washington Post.

Unfortunately for them, TNR did a in-depth re-fact-check of the pieces (which given the Glass backstory, was, I am sure, extremely thorough) and with the exception of one relatively minor error they all check out.

And it turns out that the Weekly Standard, which did one of the slimiest hatchet-jobs under the byline of Michael Goldfarb, relied in large part on the word of a former porn star-cum-prostitute (who is currently being investigated by the Marine Corps for soliciting private donations to fund a deployment to Iraq he apparently never made) to level its charges that the TNR pieces were fabrications.

No word on whether the Standard does investigations of pieces that have run in their pages. Maybe the Standard’s Executive Editor Fred Barnes can enlighten us.

Media Matters has a good wrap up of the whole story here.

I wouldn’t normally link to an RNC web ad. But I will in this case because this RNC hit piece on Yearly Kos is so feeble — both in concept and execution — that I find it telling about the current state of the Republican party.

I’m inclined to think it’s the kind of thing that damages the GOP more than the intended targets. Most of it is a paean (enabled by Ron Fournier) to the now-thoroughly hollowed out DLC. And I think, at a telling level, it confirms what I wrote earlier.

A thought: How long a speaking slot does President Bush get at the 2008 RNC Convention? And when in the evening?

From the Chicago Tribune, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) describing his decision to vote with Dems on the non-binding resolution opposing the surge …

Unlike his two Illinois colleagues and other congressmen opposed by the anti-war group, Kirk has more than a voting record on the conflict in Iraq.

As an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Kirk is the only member of Congress who spends one weekend a month inside the Pentagon, where the day-to-day military operations in Iraq are decided.

“It’s an awesome experience because you’re with the troops,” said Kirk, whose only vote against the war effort came in February when he supported a non-binding bill opposing the recent troop surge in Iraq. “When the proposal for that operation came in, the senior commanders didn’t like it, and I sided with them against the president,” Kirk said.

Check out the exclusive Spencer Ackerman just posted at TPMmuckraker.com. Contrary to what President Bush said today, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and congressional Democrats were able to work out a compromise today on revising the FISA law. Then President Bush stepped in and overruled his own spy chief.

Associated Press reports that Obama’s terrorism speech sparked burning of American flags in Pakistan. That and other political news of the day in today’s Election Central Happy Hour Roundup.

TPM’s Andrew Golis interviews ret. Gen. Wesley Clark fresh off his speech at Yearly Kos. Don’t miss this. Good stuff …

Juan Cole of Informed Comment …

David Sirota , who needs no introduction …

Peter Leyden of the New Politics Institute …

Ramona Oliver of Emily’s List …

It’s disappointing, but not surprising. After the president scuttled a compromise between Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and congressional Democrats, Senate Dems did what many expected they would do: they caved.

The Senate bowed to White House pressure last night and passed a Republican plan for overhauling the federal government’s terrorist surveillance laws, approving changes that would temporarily give U.S. spy agencies expanded power to eavesdrop on foreign suspects without a court order.

The 60 to 28 vote, which was quickly denounced by civil rights and privacy advocates, came after Democrats in the House failed to win support for more modest changes that would have required closer court supervision of government surveillance. The legislation, which is expected to go before the House today, would expand the government’s authority to intercept without a court order the phone calls and e-mails of people in the United States who are communicating with people overseas.

Bush is getting practically everything he asked for. Indeed, under Bush’s warrantless-search program launched in 2001, the administration could conduct oversight-free surveillance only if it suspected someone on the call was a terrorist. Under the bill passed by the Senate yesterday, that condition no longer exists.

As Gregory Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said, “If this bill becomes law, Americans who communicate with a person abroad can count on one thing: The NSA may be listening.”

As for the deal struck by Dems and McConnell, the Speaker’s office told the Washington Post, “We did everything [McConnell] wants, and now he says he doesn’t like the bill. They didn’t move the goal post; they moved the stadium.”

Harry Reid emphasized that yesterday’s measure is temporary, and that the Senate will revisit the issue in six months. That’s not exactly reassuring. For one thing, Dems will be just as fearful in February as they are now. For another, that’s six months of the administration having largely unchecked surveillance power.

TPM alum Matt Yglesias discusses blogger status anxiety and other topics at Yearly Kos …