Top Items:
White House:
Press Conference of the President — THE PRESIDENT: Welcome. Please be seated. Thanks. — Last night I addressed the nation about our strategy for victory in Iraq, and the historic elections that took place in the country last week. In a nation that once lived by the whims of a brutal dictator …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Carpetbagger Report, Sister Toldjah, PSoTD and BrothersJudd Blog
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CNN:
Bush: U.S. must think, act differently — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush held a year-end news conference in the White House on Monday. The president followed up on his Sunday night speech on Iraq, addressed the controversy surrounding the Patriot Act and took questions on those and other subjects.
Bulldogpundit / anklebitingpundits.com:
Live Blogging The Bush Presser — We "liveblogged" the Bush presser, and you can see our live recap by clicking "Read More". In general, the message was obvious on both the Patriot Act and the "spying" - It's my job to protect the American people, and I'm using whatever I'm doing to do that.
Michelle Malkin:BUSH TAKES ON THE PRESS
Discussion:
Kokonut Pundits, CALIFORNIA YANKEE, Power Line, The Washington Monthly, Instapundit.com and The Rude Pundit
David Sirota / The Huffington Post:Bush's "Need for Speed" Argument Runs Into the Truth
Discussion:
Sirotablog
Lorie Byrd / PoliPundit.com:Hell Yes, Baby - Santa Has Come Early!
Discussion:
The Political Pit Bull
Washington Post:
Gonzales Defends Eavesdropping Program — Congress 'Authorized' Domestic Surveillance in Iraq War Resolution, Claims Attorney General — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales this morning defended the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping operation, saying it derived its legality …
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White House:
Press Briefing by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and General Michael Hayden, Principal Deputy Director for National Intelligence — MR. McCLELLAN: Good morning, everybody. I've got with me the Attorney General and General Hayden here this morning to brief you on the legal issues surrounding …
Discussion:
Balkinization, Daily Kos, Eschaton, In Search Of Utopia, Stop the Bleating! and First Draft
Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy:
LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE NSA DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM: Was the secret NSA surveillance program legal? Was it constitutional? Did it violate federal statutory law? It turns out these are hard questions, but I wanted to try my best to answer them. My answer is pretty tentative …
John / AMERICAblog:
Did Bush domestic spy program eavesdrop on American journalists? — I had an interesting discussion this morning with DC political consultant Marc Laitin. We both came to the conclusion that it sounds like Bush's super-secret illegal domestic spying program may be targeting US journalists …
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National Review:
Why Bush Approved the Wiretaps — In the days since the revelation that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to bypass, in certain cases of suspected al Qaeda activity, the special court set up to provide warrants for national-security wiretaps, the question has come up repeatedly: Why did he do it?
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, The Counterterrorism Blog, protein wisdom, The Right Coast, Power Line and BrothersJudd Blog
David Stout / New York Times:
Bush Says U.S. Spy Program Is Legal and Essential — WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - President Bush offered a vigorous and detailed defense of his previously secret electronic-surveillance program today, calling it a legal and essential tool in the battle against terrorism and saying that whoever disclosed it had committed a "shameful act."
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New York Times:
Rice Defends Domestic Eavesdropping — WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday defended President Bush's decision to secretly authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans without seeking warrants, saying the program was carefully controlled …
RELATED ITEM:
Ann Althouse / Althouse:About those wiretaps and the constitutional separation of powers.
Discussion:
PoliBlog, neo-neocon, Unclaimed Territory, The Glittering Eye, The American Mind and Prometheus 6
Pajamas Media:
From the Oval Office to the blogs — Michelle Malkin liveblogged Bush's prime time speech in the Oval Office last night, and blogs started commenting right after it ended: — Instapundit: "[O]ne big thing struck me: In this national televised speech, Bush went out of his way to take responsibility for the war.
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Judith / Kesher Talk:
Welcome to the RINO Carnival — Welcome to the 20th RINO Sightings Carnival! (RINO sightings is cancelled for Christmas/Hanukkah week, and returns January 2nd at Louisiana Libertarian.) (You can check out other carnivals at the uber-carnival site, and submit posts to any of them at Conservative Cat.)
Discussion:
Dr. Sanity
John McIntyre / realclearpolitics.com:
Have The Democrats Walked Into a Trap......Again? — The political pendulum is swinging back towards President Bush. The President's approval rating has a pattern of dipping when he takes his Crawford vacation every August then bouncing back in September upon his return to Washington.
Discussion:
Ace of Spades HQ, TigerHawk, TAPPED, Blogs for Bush, Power Line, The Strata-Sphere, Southern Appeal and Carol Platt Liebau
rawstory.com:
Democrats plan sharp rebuke of pre-war intelligence, Iraq war in massive new congressional report — House Judiciary Committee Democrats, spearheaded by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), are set to release possibly the sharpest congressional critique to date surrounding Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.
Discussion:
Pensito Review
Nasser Karimi / Associated Press:
Iran's President Bans Western Music — TEHRAN, Iran - Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned all Western music from Iran's state radio and TV stations — an eerie reminder of the 1979 Islamic revolution when popular music was outlawed as "un-Islamic" under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
ABCNEWS:
Cheney Roars Back on Spying, Torture, Iraq — Amid Criticism of White House Methods, Cheney Worries 'People Have Lost Their Sense of Urgency' on Terrorism — Dec. 18, 2005 — What does Vice President Dick Cheney really think about what's going on in Iraq, the latest revelations about domestic spying and the anti-torture amendment?
