Top Items:
John O'Sullivan / Chicago Sun Times:
Dems off to bad start at Alito hearings — If the Democrats seriously wish to secure the rejection of Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, then they made a very bad start with Monday's hearings. Only by making Alito deeply unpopular with the American people …
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William Branigin / Washington Post:
Alito Seeks to Distance Himself From Previous Abortion Statements — Nominee Faces Senators in Second Day of Hearing — Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr., facing tough questioning on the second day of his Senate confirmation hearings, distanced himself today from a statement …
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:Democrats cannot meekly accept defeat on Alito
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, TAPPED, Unclaimed Territory, The Volokh Conspiracy and No Capital
Sam Rosenfeld / TAPPED:ALITO FATALISM. The Sam Alito hearings begin today …
Discussion:
Slate, Lawyers, Guns and Money, tpmcafe.com, The Fix, Lean Left and No More Mister Nice Blog
Jane Hamsher / firedoglake:It Can Be Done — Much prognostication today about how the Alito hearings will progress.
National Review:
The Abramoff Scandal (R., Beltway) — Republicans are looking for "their" John McCain. The popular Arizona maverick is already a Republican, of course. But the GOP needs a McCain in the "Keating Five" sense. Back in 1990, Senate Democrats roped McCain into the scandal over savings …
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George F. Will / Washington Post:
For the House GOP, A Belated Evolution — Before evolution produced creatures of our perfection, there was a three-ton dinosaur, the stegosaurus, so neurologically sluggish that when its tail was injured, significant time elapsed before news of the trauma meandered up its long spine to its walnut-size brain.
USA Today:
Most consider lobbying scandal a big deal, poll shows — WASHINGTON — Americans are paying close attention to the lobbying scandal in the Capitol and say corruption in government will play a big role in their vote for Congress in November — more important than Social Security, taxes, abortion or immigration.
Washington Post:
In Abramoff Case, Most See Evidence of Wider Problem — Poll Shows Strong Support for Reform of Lobbying Rules — Most Americans believe that corruption in Congress is widespread, and even larger majorities support far-reaching reforms that would effectively end lobbying as it is currently practiced …
Discussion:
New York Times, Mystery Pollster, The Left Coaster, Sirotablog, micah.sifry.com, The Heretik and The Democratic Daily Blog
Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Russert Resisted Testifying on Leak — Lawyers for NBC News reporter Tim Russert suspected in the spring of 2004 that his testimony could snare Vice President Cheney's top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in a lie and Russert resisted testifying at the time about private conversations with Libby …
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Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute: A Crumb For The Plamaniacs — The WaPo teases us with a near non-story …
Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:NAME THAT SOURCE — Why are the courts leaning on journalists?
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Fred Kaplan / Slate:
GI Schmo — How low can Army recruiters go? — Three months ago, I wrote that the war in Iraq was wrecking the U.S. Army, and since then the evidence has only mounted, steeply. Faced with repeated failures to meet its recruitment targets, the Army has had to lower its standards dramatically.
Paul Caron / TaxProf Blog:
Most Popular Law Blogs by Law Professors — OpinioJuris has an interesting ranking of the most popular law blogs based on traffic reports on The Truth Laid Bare. These traffic stats are imperfect, as they do not cover some popular law blogs (e.g., Legal Theory Blog, The Right Coast …
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David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Bush Issues Stark Warning to Democrats on Iraq Debate — WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - President Bush issued an unusually stark warning to Democrats today about how to conduct the debate on Iraq as midterm elections approach, declaring that Americans know the difference "between honest critics" …
Michael J. Totten:
Send Me to Iraq — It's time for me to go to Iraq. — I am not going to embed with the military. While it sounds exciting (as well as terrifying), I'm only going to be there a few weeks. War correspondence isn't something a person does for two weeks. — Instead I'm going to the part of Iraq most journalists ignore: the North.
Chris Bowers / MyDD:
Is Alito Lying About Concerned Alumni for Princeton? — Well, yes, he is lying, but I wanted to ask other people the same question. So, during the lunch break, I went down to the press area with Tim Tagaris, armed with only a single question: — "Do you believe Judge Alito is telling …
Washington Post:
Record Share Of Economy Is Spent on Health Care — Rising health care costs, already threatening many basic industries, now consume 16 percent of the nation's economic output — the highest proportion ever, the government said yesterday in its latest calculation.
Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
The Bush Bombshell — Did the president propose to take out Al Jazeera? — Tomorrow morning, in a court in London, two men will appear to face charges under Britain's Official Secrets Act. The first man, David Keogh, a former employee of the Cabinet Office, is accused of unlawfully handing …
Peter S. Goodman / Washington Post:
China Set To Reduce Exposure To Dollar — SHANGHAI, Jan. 9 — China has resolved to shift some of its foreign exchange reserves — now in excess of $800 billion — away from the U.S. dollar and into other world currencies in a move likely to push down the value of the greenback …
