Top Items:
Benjamin Wallace-Wells / Washington Monthly:
Kos Call — For America's number one liberal blogger — politics is like sports: It's all about winning. — I hate Washington," says Markos Moulitsas Zuniga. Many people, of course, say that they hate Washington. Jay Leno says so. So do Rush Limbaugh and Monica Lewinsky.
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Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
KOS CALL....In the latest issue of the Washington Monthly, Benjamin Wallace-Wells profiles the blogosphere's favorite liberal, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos. And whether you love Kos or hate him, I think Ben captures something important in his piece:
Discussion:
Shakespeare's Sister
Atrios / Eschaton:
Wonk Off — Garance and Kevin, responding tolWaMo profile of Markos discuss the lack of blogospheric wonkery. — I've said this before, but there's just little point in detail-oriented grand policy proposals when Bush and Republicans are in office. Just about everything their side offers …
Daily Kos:
Corrections — Man, this piece has so many factual mistakes I've got to correct them for the record, ASAP. — I spoke to the Democratic Senate caucus at the JFK Center, not the LBJ room of the Capitol. I've never been inside the Capitol. (Update: Ooops, I just remember having a meeting …
Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
"Inherent Authority" to Violate Federal Law? — A thoughtful interlocutor ("T. More") gently inquired, in a comment to a previous post, whether my posts on the NSA matter wouldn't be more effective, more persuasive, if I stopped bolding and emphasizing the adjectives "criminal" and "felonious" …
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Washington Post:Judges on Surveillance Court To Be Briefed on Spy Program
Discussion:
Shakespeare's Sister, New York Times, War and Piece, Power Line, Obsidian Wings, IntoxiNation-News …, Hugh Hewitt, Amygdala, The American Thinker, Balkinization, The Strata-Sphere, Balloon Juice, Confederate Yankee, Think Progress, The Carpetbagger Report, Macsmind, The Left Coaster, The Volokh Conspiracy, Wonkette, The Washington Monthly and Rising Hegemon
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
TAKING TERRORISM SERIOUSLY....Part 1 of a multi-zillion word story about the trials and tribulations of the Department of Homeland Security is running in the Washington Post today, and a lot of it is pretty much what you'd expect: a huge new agency trying desperately to deal with turf wars, lack of leadership, and budget issues.
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Hindrocket / Power Line:
ON THE LEGALITY OF THE NSA ELECTRONIC INTERCEPT PROGRAM — It has been widely suggested that the NSA electronic intercept program that has been carried out by the Bush administration for the last three years is, or may be, illegal. The New York Times and other media outlets have implied …
National Review:
The Blow-Up — In a telling moment at a United Nations press conference Wednesday, Secretary-General Kofi Annan lost his temper — hurling insults at a widely respected senior member of the U.N. press corps. Beyond the who-what-when-where-how of this episode, the big question is: Why?
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David B. Caruso / Associated Press:
NYC Transit Union Moves to Return to Work — NEW YORK - Striking bus and subway workers agreed Thursday to "take steps" to go back to work while their union and the transit authority resume negotiations, a mediator said. — The deal with the Transit Workers Union could pave the way for a resumption …
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Matthew Yglesias / yglesias.tpmcafe.com:
Matthew Yglesias — Things Are Great! — Several conservative writers seem concerned recently that the American people don't believe the economy is strong even though, allegedly, it's really super-strong. So they offer the White House advice on how to improve its communications strategy.
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Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:
Micro Economics — THE WHITE HOUSE regularly bemoans the fact that the economy is humming along impressively but the public doesn't recognize it. Just last week, President Bush told NBC News anchor Brian Williams that he's "a little bit" frustrated by the public's negative attitude.
Hullabaloo:
Madder Still — Jane reports on Richard Morion pollster for the Washington Post actually had the temerity to write this drivel yesterday in an online chat: … Jane points to this Media Matters report: … I just have to expand on this a little because this is a truly unbelievable example of media bias.
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John Byrne / rawstory.com:
Fox News South Carolina affiliate quietly promotes white supremacist website; Site says Fox is a member — A South Carolina Fox News affiliate ran a story appearing to cheer a white supremacist website — and the leader of the group says that Fox News staff are members of his white supremacy forum, RAW STORY can reveal.
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Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
John Gibson goes berserk — on air and off — Anyone familiar with Fox News broadcasts has come to expect a level of professionalism on par with an elementary school food fight, but once in a while, even the FNC gang manages to surprise. — C&L and Newshounds offered terrific coverage …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, NewsHog, News Hounds, IntoxiNation-News …, The Washington Monthly and The Truth Laid Bear
Newsweek:
Where's the Outrage? — Bush's defense of his phone-spying program has disturbing echoes of arguments once used by South Africa's apartheid regime. Why Americans should examine the parallels. — Obed Zilwa / AP — Former South African president P. W. Botha believed his country was under 'total onslaught' from its enemies
Discussion:
AMERICAN FUTURE
Aram Roston / MSNBC:
Chalabi's defeat puts U.S. friends in quandary — Should his backers go with his view that it was a fraudulent election? — Atef Hassan / Reuters file — Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi talks to his aides during a break while campaigning for Iraq's parliamentary elections in the city of Basra on Dec. 13.
Discussion:
War and Piece
New York Times:
Senate Backs 6-Month Extension of Patriot Act — WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 - With time running short on Capitol Hill, the Senate breathed new life late Wednesday night into the moribund USA Patriot Act, agreeing to extend it by six months. President Bush said he appreciated the move, but it was unclear if the House would approve it.
Discussion:
Washington Post, White House, The Left Coaster, Los Angeles Times and The Carpetbagger Report
