Top Items:
Jaketapper / DownAndDirty:
CAP smear? — WASHINGTON DC — For Alito, it's all over but the votin'....It does not appear that the Democrats inflicted any real damage on the Supreme Court nominee, excepting of course his wife's mascara. — AP photo — Probing the debate over Alito's having said he was a member …
RELATED ITEMS:
Economist:
The brainbox and the blowhards — Samuel Alito, George Bush's latest pick for the Supreme Court, faces a tough and dirty battle for confirmation. But he looks as though he'll win — Getty Images — TED KENNEDY is deeply troubled by the ethics of the Supreme Court nominee.
Robin Givhan / Washington Post:
The Alitos: Well Suited, And Dressed For Duress — Martha-Ann Alito sat in the row of supporters directly behind her husband, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. One tried not to stare at her clothes. But while Alito was attired in Washington's equivalent of battlefield camouflage, his wife was in exuberant parade dress.
Fred Barbash / Campaign for the Supreme Court:Outside the Hearing Room: Bork on Alito On Bork
Discussion:
Left in the West
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:A Hearing About Nothing — A listless intellectual fog …
Discussion:
New York Times, Althouse, The Mahablog, Confirm Them, The Left Coaster and PoliticalSports
The Truth Laid Bear:
An Appeal from Center-Right Bloggers — I'm pleased to present the following statement on behalf of the undersigned bloggers. —N.Z. — An Appeal from Center-Right Bloggers — We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time.
RELATED ITEM:
National Review:
The Multilateral Moment? — "Multilateralism good; preemption and unilateralism bad." — For four years we have heard these Orwellian commandments as if they were inscribed above the door of Farmer Jones's big barn. Now we will learn their real currency, since the Americans …
Discussion:
New York Times, ShrinkWrapped, Dr. Sanity, Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, soxblog, AMERICAN FUTURE, Roger L. Simon and The Officers' Club
RELATED ITEMS:
John Dickerson / Slate:
Bush in the Briar Patch — Why the president wants hearings on spying. — George Bush wants congressional hearings to look into his administration's domestic eavesdropping. At first he wasn't so keen on the idea, but yesterday he said they'd be "good for democracy."
Kevin Drum / The Washington Monthly:
NATIONAL SECURITY....John Dickerson says in Slate that the president's sudden enthusiasm for a congressional investigation into the NSA's surveillance program is probably bad for the country: … That's exactly right. Marshall Wittman, who I think is dangerously complacent …
Michelle Malkin:
WE ARE ALL HOMELAND SECURITY AGENTS — Picture this: You're a retail store clerk. It's the busy Christmas season. A half-dozen men of Middle Eastern/South Asian descent walk into the store. They want to buy between 60-150 disposable cell phones—you know, the kind that can't be traced.
RELATED ITEMS:
AJStrata / The Strata-Sphere:NY Times Leak Is Damaging Our Defenses
Discussion:
Macsmind, Chris Christner's Blog, NewsHog, PSoTD, RIGHTWINGSPARKLE, In the Bullpen, The American Thinker and Media Blog on National …
Jason Leopold / truthout.org:
Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11 — The National Security Agency advised President Bush in early 2001 that it had been eavesdropping on Americans during the course of its work monitoring suspected terrorists and foreigners believed to have ties to terrorist groups, according to a declassified document.
RELATED ITEM:
Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
A Nation of Jonah Goldbergs — There is a widespread, tacit assumption that no matter how apathetic and inattentive Americans become, there is still some line which they will not allow the Government to cross when it comes to exceeding or abusing the limits of government power.
RELATED ITEM:
Sen. Harry Reid / Houston Chronicle:
If we can beat mob, we can fight DeLay-style politics — Experience in Las Vegas similar to D.C. corruption — In 1977, I was appointed chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. It was a difficult time for the gaming industry and Las Vegas, which were being overrun by organized crime.
Hotline On Call:
Breaking: Hastert Asks Ney To Resign As Admin. Cmte. Chair — House Speaker Dennis Hastert has asked Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) to step down from his post as chairman of the House Administration Committee, three sources with knowledge of the request said today. — A source close to Hastert …
RELATED ITEM:
Jim VandeHei / Washington Post:GOP Contest Guided by Lessons of Battles Past
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
NY Daily News:
Steamed about Rice, Russian pol unleashes rant — Condoleezza Rice might want to see if there's room in one of those "black site" terror-suspect prisons for Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky. — The wacko leader of Russia's Liberal and Democratic Party has surpassed his earlier screeds …
John Wagner / Washington Post:
Md. Senate Overrides Veto on 'Wal-Mart Bill' — Maryland lawmakers bucked the will of the state's Republican governor and the nation's largest retailer yesterday, voting to become the first state to effectively require that Wal-Mart spend more on employee health care.
RELATED ITEM:
Robert B. Bluey / Human Events:
Al Gore, Republican to Attack Bush 'Police State' — Former Vice President Al Gore will attack President Bush's domestic eavesdropping program at a Washington, D.C., speech on Martin Luther King Day—with a Republican by his side. — Gore is teaming up with former Rep. Bob Barr, a Republican …
Michael O'Hare / The Reality-Based Community:
A piece missing — I have been dipping into the Alito hearings, not following them completely, but enough to form a distinct and I think a fair impression. I read the nominee as a competent, careful, capable legal craftsman, unprejudiced as regards religion or race, and a decent guy.
RELATED ITEM:
CNSNews:
Murtha's War Hero Status Called Into Question — Read Article About Murtha's Links to Abscam — (CNSNews.com) - Having ascended to the national stage as one of the most vocal critics of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha …
Johanna Neuman / Los Angeles Times:
Former 'Nightline' Reporter Joins English-Language Al Jazeera — WASHINGTON — The Arab news network Al Jazeera announced Thursday that Dave Marash, an award-winning former correspondent for ABC News' "Nightline," is joining its 24-hour English-language network, to be launched this spring.
