MTP Transcript for Dec. 3  —  MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: The president digs in on Iraq.  —  (Videotape):  —  PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: I know there's a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there's going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq.

New on the Web: Politics as Usual  —  THE Netroots.  " "People Power.  " "Crashing the Gate.  " The lingo of liberal Web bloggers bespeaks contempt for the political establishment.  The same disdain is apparent among many bloggers on the right, who argued passionately for a change …

He's Only Fifth Worst  —  It's unfair to claim that George W. Bush is the worst president of all time.  He's merely the fifth worst.  In the White House Hall of Shame, Bush comes behind four other Oval Officers whose policies were even more disastrous: James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and James Madison.

Lieberman: Talking To Iran And Syria Is Like The 'Local Fire Dept Asking Arsonists To Help'  —  Today on CBS Face the Nation, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) argued that direct talks with Syria and Iran won't work and compared it to "your local fire department asking a couple of arsonists to help put out the fire.

Russia: biggest spy threat to Britain  —  The Russian intelligence services, the prime suspects behind the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, have a network of more than 30 spies operating in Britain, it can be revealed.  —  The sophisticated ring represents the greatest espionage threat facing Britain …

Bypassing Internet censors  —  Check this out.  There is a new tool to circumvent government bans on Internet sites out now.  It's called "Psiphon:" … This is especially good news for readers in China, India, Pakistan, and the Middle East trying to access blogs and websites critical of their governments or critical of Islam.

Lieberman Endorses Escalation In Iraq, Surprised Rumsfeld Didn't Suggest It In Memo  —  Today on CBS's Face the Nation, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said it was "surprising" that "the one thing [Donald Rumsfeld's memo] doesn't raise as a possibility is to increase the number of our troops."

FDL Book Salon: Wait!  Don't Move To Canada!  —  I am so pleased that Bill Scher joins us for an FDL Book Salon on his book Wait!  Don't Move to Canada: A Stay-and-Fight Strategy to Win Back America today.  Bill is the Executive Editor at Liberal Oasis, and appears regularly on Air America …

Now Class Must Tackle Cheating at Columbia  —  As Columbia University continues to grapple with allegations of cheating on a final exam in a journalism ethics course, students have been assigned to write an essay on an issue that parallels the one faced by their own professors.

Say no to AP's shoddy work  —  When a company defrauds its customers, or delivers shoddy goods, the customers sooner or later are going to take their business elsewhere.  But if that company has a virtual monopoly, and offers something its customers must have, they may have no choice but to keep taking it.

Joe Biden's Trent Lott moment  —  Will this be Joe Biden's Trent Lott moment?  —  26 days after Democrats win the mid-terms, Joe Biden exhorts the Republican party to "get back up."  Then, Biden (D-Hair Club for Men) claims that, just because the country voted Democrats back into power …

Politics: McCain's Ground War  —  The senator is calling for more boots on the ground in Iraq.  Is this any way to wage a presidential campaign?  —  Peter Spaulding was John McCain's man in New Hampshire, and with good reason.  The longest-serving member of the state's Executive Council …

'Rest easy, sleep well my brothers.  Know the line has held, your job is done.'  —  E very year for more than a decade, at the height of the season, Morrill Worcester would pack up a truckload of his Christmas wreaths and head down from Maine to Arlington National Cemetery.

Adviser: Clinton Actively Weighs '08 Bid  —  Sen. Clinton Actively Weighing White House Run; Sen. Evan Bayh Sets Up Exploratory Panel  —  Democratic jockeying for the White House in 2008 intensified on Sunday with Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh taking the first official step toward a run …

IF THE LEAKS ARE TO BE BELIEVED — and given such a group of experienced leakmeisters, I suspect they are — then the Iraq Study Group's recommendations are likely to be weak tea indeed: Basically, we shall continue to muddle through, while rededicating ourselves to finishing the job at a time, and in a manner, not clearly specified.

Those contemptuous atheists... why won't they be kind?  —  Nicholas Kristof — in a TimesSelect column — wants atheists to back off and quit pressuring religious people about their beliefs: … The Christian Right has largely retreated from the culture wars?  In-your-face atheists are "the Atheist Left"?

A Fighting Retreat  —  Historical analogies are imprecise thing, at best.  This isn't 1842 or 1940, 1944 or 1950.  Every battle, every war, is different, and they end differently.  So by looking back at Dien Bieh Phu or Mang Yang Pass or Chosin, we are not saying this is what will happen.

The People Party vs. The Money Party: Here are the players  —  The fact that our nation's politics is divided not between Democrats and Republicans but between the People Party and the Money Party is obvious to anyone who looks at the political system honestly (which is to say, not most journalists or Washington political hacks).