Top Items:
David Stout / New York Times:
At Hearing, Gates Says U.S. Not Winning War in Iraq — President Bush's nominee to be Secretary of Defense said today that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq, and that an American failure there could help to ignite "a regional conflagration" in the Middle East.
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CNN:
Senate committee approves Gates nomination … WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approved President Bush's defense secretary nomination Tuesday and sent it to the full Senate for approval, the committee's outgoing chairman said.
Robert Burns / Associated Press:
Gates Says U.S. Is Not Winning Iraq War — WASHINGTON (AP) - Robert Gates, the White House choice to be the next defense secretary, conceded Tuesday that the United States is losing the war in Iraq and warned that if that country is not stabilized in the next year or two it could lead to a "regional conflagration."
The Daily Dish:
The Gathering Storm — Sanity in this White House? It's possible. One feels a sense of great relief to hear the candor of Bob Gates in his Senate hearings. We are losing the war in Iraq; and our incompetence may have triggered the beginning of a massive regional conflagration.
Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Kansan To Lead The DGA — Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) will become chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association next year, officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Associated Press. — The Democrats are coming off a successful campaign season, picking up six statehouses in last month's elections.
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New York Post:
'I'M GOING TO GO FOR THIS' — HILLARY IS JUMPING INTO RACE FOR PREZ — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday answered the question on everyone's mind - telling one New York lawmaker flat out: "I'm really going to go for this." — Clinton dropped the much-anticipated presidential bombshell during …
Discussion:
Hot Air
Greg Myre / New York Times:
Offering Video, Israel Answers Critics on War — Israel's military, which has been accused of abuses in its war against Hezbollah this summer, has declassified photographs, video images and prisoner interrogations to buttress its accusation that Hezbollah systematically fired from civilian neighborhoods …
Discussion:
It Shines For All, Little Green Footballs, A Blog For All, I think ^(link) … and PrairiePundit
Matthew Yglesias / American Prospect:
Bridge to Nowhere — Political consensus isn't going to solve America's Iraq problem. — Reading major American newspapers is a bit like trying to decipher an archeological text written in a dead language. Well-informed reporters bring you the facts you need to know …
Discussion:
The American Street
Examiner:
How to end AP's "60 Minutes Moment" on Iraqi Sources — You've probably not read much about it because only a handful of mainstream media outlets have covered it, but the Associated Press - for decades America's largest and most trusted wire news service - is at the center of a credibility crisis largely of its own making.
Kos / Daily Kos:
2008: If Obama runs, he wins — Standard caveats aside (it's early, we don't have a set field, blah blah blah), it's hard to see how Barack Obama loses the nomination barring scandal or the mother-of-all gaffes. — I've been working up a few scenarios given the primary calendar …
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, Right Wing News, The Moderate Voice, Matthew Yglesias and Decision '08
Nicholas Wade / New York Times:
Neanderthal Women Joined Men in the Hunt — A new explanation for the demise of the Neanderthals, the stockily built human species that occupied Europe until the arrival of modern humans 45,000 years ago, has been proposed by two anthropologists at the University of Arizona.
BBC:
Veiled woman to give C4's speech — A veiled Muslim woman will deliver this year's alternative Christmas speech on Channel 4, the broadcaster has said. — Khadija, a Zimbabwean-born British citizen who has been wearing the full veil - or niqab - for 10 years, has been given the slot.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report
Robert Tait / Guardian:
Hardliners turn on Ahmadinejad for watching women dancers — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who flaunts his ideological fervour, has been accused of undermining Iran's Islamic revolution after television footage appeared to show him watching a female song and dance show.
Bill Roggio / The Fourth Rail:
The Military and The Media — FALLUJAH, IRAQ: I've completed the first leg of the journey to Iraq, after having moved through Dubai, Kuwait and Baghdad. I am now at Camp Fallujah. While in Fallujah, I'll embed with a Marine Police Transition Team (PTT) and also meet with the Civil Affairs Group.
Heather Mac Donald / City Journal:
No, the Cops Didn't Murder Sean Bell — And here's what decent black advocates would say. — New York's anti-cop forces have roared back to life, thanks to a fatal police shooting of an unarmed man a week ago. The press is once again fawning over Al Sharpton, Herbert Daughtry …
Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
'Civil war' and the real press scandal — The excited news coverage surrounding the decision by NBC, as well as other media outlets, to finally label the bloody chaos inside Iraq for what it really is, a civil war, came tinged with a strange, self-congratulatory tone, as if the journalists involved …
Mike Glover / Associated Press:
Bayh warns against ideological agenda — DES MOINES, Iowa - White House hopeful Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) warned on Monday that Democrats could lose their newfound grip on Congress if the party pursues an ideological course. — The Indiana senator, who announced Sunday …
Kevin Drum / Political Animal:
LIBERALTARIANS....Cato VP Brink Lindsey takes to the pages of the New Republic today to mourn the loss of the libertarian-conservative alliance of the past and ask if a new coalition between libertarians and liberals is possible. I almost didn't bother reading it, but then I changed my mind …
Renae Merle / Washington Post:
Census Counts 100,000 Contractors in Iraq — There are about 100,000 government contractors operating in Iraq, not counting subcontractors, a total that is approaching the size of the U.S. military force there, according to the military's first census of the growing population of civilians operating in the battlefield.
Times of London:
Russian security service 'led poison plot' — Intelligence services in Britain are convinced that the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko was authorised by the Russian Federal Security Service. — Security sources have told The Times that the FSB orchestrated a "highly sophisticated plot" …