memeorandum: Postcampaign Lobbying Thrives (Jeanne Cummings/Wall Street Journal)

11:55 AM ET, December 7, 2006

Top Items:

Sudarsan Raghavan / Washington Post:

Threats Wrapped in Misunderstandings — The Iraq Study Group's prescriptions hinge on a fragile Iraqi government's ability to achieve national reconciliation and security at a time when the country is fractured along sectarian lines, its security forces are ineffective and competing visions threaten …

Discussion: Hot Air, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Moderate Voice, Obsidian Wings, Wake up America, The Glittering Eye, The Sundries Shack, PoliBlog (TM), MsUnderestimated, Don Surber, Dean's World, PrairiePundit, Tammy Bruce and Atlas Shrugs

New York Times:

Welcome Political Cover — When President Bush insisted that the Iraq Study Group would not provide cover for the White House to chart a "graceful exit" of American troops, he was missing the whole point. The much-anticipated report from the bipartisan panel is precisely about political cover.

Discussion: Newsweek, Townhall.com Blog's …, AMERICAblog, Prairie Weather, The Heretik and Decision '08

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

Will Iraq Study Group's Plan Work on the Battlefield? — The military recommendations issued yesterday by the Iraq Study Group are based more on hope than history and run counter to assessments made by some of its own military advisers. — Ever since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, jules crittenden, The Truth Laid Bear, Outside The Beltway, PrairiePundit, American Prospect, Dymaxion World, On Deadline, Defense Tech and NewsHog

Niles Lathem / New York Post:

IRAQ 'APPEASE' SQUEEZE ON W. — * PANEL KISSES UP TO IRAN & SYRIA — * PLAN WOULD PULL TROOPS OUT IN '08 — What do you think of the report's recommendations? Click the discussion board link below the photo to post your comments. — WASHINGTON - The Iraq Study Group report delivered …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Kenneth R. Bazinet / NY Daily News:
Hawks meet to lick wounds

Discussion: Daily Kos

Washington Post:
From Hundreds Of Sources, Panel Forged Consensus

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Redstate and PoliBlog (TM)

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
So Much for Plan B — THE IRAQ STUDY GROUP CHICKENS OUT.

Discussion: Andrew Sullivan and The American Scene

John Podhoretz / New York Post:
PARIS' PEACE PLAN

Discussion: Security Watchtower and PrairiePundit

Washington Post:
The Realists' Repudiation Of Policies for a War, Region

Discussion: New York Times, Democracy Project, The Caucus, The Carpetbagger Report, Legal Fiction, Marc Cooper, The Democratic Daily, The Lede, The Glittering Eye and Blue Crab Boulevard

Victor Davis Hanson / Real Clear Politics:

Our Pearl Harbor — On Dec. 7, 1941 - 65 years ago this week - pilots from a Japanese carrier force bombed Pearl Harbor. They killed 2,403 Americans, most of them service personnel, while destroying much of the American fleet and air forces stationed in Hawaii.

Discussion: Power Line, The Wide Awake Cafe, Dr. Sanity, Blue Crab Boulevard and PrairiePundit

Jaymes Song / Associated Press:

Pearl Harbor survivors meet for last time — PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - With their number quickly dwindling, survivors of Pearl Harbor will gather Thursday one last time to honor those killed by the Japanese 65 years ago, and to mark a day that lives in infamy.

Discussion: PSoTD, the talking dog and Blue Crab Boulevard

Kirsten Scharnberg / Chicago Tribune:

Pearl Harbor survivors gather for `final reunion' — HONOLULU — Donald Robinett came directly to the sign-in area for Pearl Harbor survivors when he arrived here this week. — "I am trying to find my shipmates," the 89-year-old veteran announced excitedly. "I want to see which ones are here."

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House, Townhall.com Blog's …, Debbie Schlussel, shotinthedark.info and Argghhh!

Dan / Riehl World View:
We Have No Claim To Pearl Harbor Day

Discussion: Blogs of War and The Political Pit Bull

Gregory Scoblete / TCS Daily:

What Rumsfeld's Critics Don't Get — Many Iraq war supporters greeted the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with a sigh of relief, if not a quiet cheer. — Neoconservatives like the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol and war historian Frederick Kagan began clamoring …

Discussion: Instapundit.com and Bill's Bites

CNN:
Senate approves Gates as defense secretary

Discussion: Slate, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, The Democratic Daily, Donklephant, Macsmind, Hot Air and A Blog For All

Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
Senate Confirms Gates as Defense Secretary

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker

CNN:
Bush may announce 'new way forward' in Iraq

Discussion: Outside The Beltway

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

Justice Grover Versus Justice Oscar — SCALIA AND BREYER SELL VERY DIFFERENT CONSTITUTIONAL WORLDVIEWS. — If judicial confirmation hearings in the Senate were one-tenth as illuminating as last night's debate between Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer at the Capitol Hilton …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and Abovethelaw.com

Linda Greenhouse / New York Times:
Case of the Dwindling Docket Mystifies the Supreme Court

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and The Volokh Conspiracy

American Constitution Society:
Justices Breyer and Scalia Converse on the Constitution

Discussion: Abovethelaw.com, Althouse, Jurisdynamics, SCOTUSblog, The Political Pit Bull and The Volokh Conspiracy

Associated Press:

Mixed reaction to Cheney's daughter's pregnancy … WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative leaders voiced dismay Wednesday at news that Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney, is pregnant, while a gay-rights group said the vice president faces "a lifetime of sleepless nights" …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Captain's Quarters, Demagogue, No More Mister Nice Blog, All Spin Zone and TPMCafe blogs

Johanna Neuman / Los Angeles Times:
A pregnant pause in right wing

Discussion: The Caucus

T. F. Boggs / t.f. boggs:

What we should and should not do: An Authoritative Voice... After watching the Iraq Survey Group press conference today I am a firm believer that all politicians are idiots. Okay well not all of them but they all have a problem understanding reality. If any politician is reading …

Discussion: PoliPundit.com and The Wide Awake Cafe

Jeanne Cummings / Wall Street Journal:

Postcampaign Lobbying Thrives — Democrats Are Fêted — Ahead of Push — For Stricter Ethics Rules — WASHINGTON — Democrats may be promising a clampdown on lobbyist freebies once they take control of Congress. But ahead of that push, party leaders are collecting lobbyists' checks …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters and Blue Crab Boulevard

Ned Parker / Times of London:

'I'll flee the country as soon as the US leaves' — The Iraqi sergeant has dodged bullets from the al-Mahdi Army and traded fire with Sunni insurgents. — Yet in his years with the Iraqi Army he has learnt one simple lesson: once the US military pulls back in Iraq, he should leave the country if he wants to survive.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, 7.62mm Justice and Hot Air

Arianna Huffington / Los Angeles Times:

Hillary's too vane to be president — It didn't matter much that Sen. Clinton is a fickle leader — until Obama came along. — WHILE THE country is urgently engaged in finding a way out of the quagmire in Iraq, Hillary Rodham Clinton is busy holding private dinners for key Democrats …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and NewsBusters.org

Pajamas Media:

SPECIAL TO PJM: Iran Supreme Leader Hospitalized. Condition Grave. — Three days ago, Iran's dictator, Supreme Leader Ayatollah ali Khamenei, was rushed to the vast medical facility traditionally known as "Vanak" hospital (it now has an Arabic name that means "the 12th Imam Hospital") …

Discussion: Hot Air, Bill's Bites and Barcepundit