Daily Briefing: 'Exceedingly Well-Timed'
•Administration likely to get its way on the renewal of the Patriot Act. [ WP , NYT , LAT , USAT ]
• Libby's attorneys plan "to useWoodward's testimony to try to show thatLibbywas not obsessed with unmaskingPlameand to raise questions about the prosecutor's full understanding of events." [ WP , WP , USAT ]
•Revelation ofWoodward's knowledge ofPlameextends life-span of the leak scandal. [ NYT , USAT ]
• Woodward's "handling of the matter has now raised questions about his paper's credibility and has roiled The Post's newsroom." [ NYT ]
• Alito's 1985 memo fuels partisan fire.Schumer: "Anyone who thinks that this nomination is a foregone conclusion is sadly mistaken." [ NYT , WT ]
• Cheneyattacks critics of the Iraq war at a conservative gathering: "The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone, but we're not going to sit back and let them rewrite history." [ WP , NYT , LAT ]
•Administration strategy attacks Democrats critics and courts congressional Republicans.Nicolle Wallace: "Our strategy has to include hitting back. . . and calling them out for what are actually lies." [ USAT ]
•Democrats want to quiz oil executives under oath about energy task force meetings. [ LAT ]
•Prosecutors subpoena additional documents from political action committees ofDeLayandBlunt. [ NYT ]
•Watchdog finds "exceedingly well-timed transactions" fromBill Fristregarding his health stock. [ NYT ]
•Alaskan bridge projects are dumped from the budget in a symbolic move. [ WP , NYT ]
• Bill Clinton: "Saddam [Hussein] is gone. It's a good thing, but I don't agree with what was done." [ USAT ]