Top Items:
Jonathan Alter / Newsweek:
Is America Ready? — Hillary's hair and hemline won't be issues; her tough national-security approach and famous husband will. — It felt like the twilight zone in New Hampshire. The calendar still read 2006, but everything about the surging crowd of 1,500 pumped-up Democrats and 160 ravenous political reporters screamed 2008.
RELATED:
Political Radar:
Hillary Clinton Says She Wouldn't Have Voted For Iraq War — ABC News' David Chalian Reports: As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to assess a possible presidential candidacy and the contours of a Democratic nomination fight, she has taken another step away from her 2002 vote authorizing President Bush …
John Fund / Opinion Journal:
Not So Fast — Why Barack Obama may not run.
Not So Fast — Why Barack Obama may not run.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Blue Crab Boulevard, Daily Pundit, The Right Angle, Reason Magazine, Power Line, PoliPundit.com and Decision '08
Robert Tait / Guardian:
Ahmadinejad in electoral setback — The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, of Iran faced electoral embarrassment today after the apparent failure of his supporters to win control of key local councils and block the political comeback of his most powerful opponent.
RELATED:
Greg Gutfeld / The Huffington Post:
The March to Mecca — HELLO EVERYONE. I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but I've been very busy working on my book and television and web projects. However, after receiving this press release from the Huffington Post, I had no choice but to return.
Armed Liberal / Winds of Change.NET:
These Are Not The Droids You Are Looking For... [Update: Malkin is retracting her post..murkier and murkier] — OK, folks, this is what open source is about - you put things out there and the rest of the world improves on them - so here it goes. I think we discovered something, but it turns out probably not to have been useful.
Discussion:
JunkYardBlog, Confederate Yankee, Media Blog, Patterico's Pontifications and The Jawa Report
Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:
TEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR 17-YEAR-OLD WHO HAD CONSENSUAL ORAL SEX WITH 15-YEAR-OLD: The Georgia Supreme Court just upheld this. The sentence strikes me as unduly harsh even on its own terms, but it seems especially unjustifiable given that: — The age of consent in Georgia is 16.
Matt Stoller / MyDD:
The Bar Fight Primary — When Ronald Reagan announced his Presidential run in 1980, he did it in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the town where three Civil Rights workers were killed. He faced Jimmy Carter in the general, a conservative white evangelical who had built up the military budget …
White House:
Press Briefing by Tony Snow — White House Conference Center Briefing Room — MR. SNOW: Hello, welcome. I'm ready for questions. — Q Now that you've had a chance to hear more about the NSC meeting today, is there anything you can share with us? — MR. SNOW: It's just a situational briefing.
New York Times:
American Apparel to Be Sold to Investment Firm — American Apparel, the casual clothing chain whose socially-conscious manufacturing, sexually-charged advertising and snug-fitting T-shirts have generated a cult-like following, will be sold to a little-known investment firm for $382.5 million, according to people briefed on the matter.
J. Max Robins / Broadcasting & Cable:
MSNBC's Olbermann Seeks Big Raise — Olbermann and MSNBC are knocking heads over a new contract. The controversial host of Countdown With Keith Olbermann is said to be seeking "north of $4 million" a year, according to an industry source, to re-up on his pact that comes due in April.
Ben Connable / New York Times:
A War That Abhors a Vacuum — THE niceties are up for debate: phased or partial withdrawal from Iraq would entail pulling troops back to their bases across the country, or leapfrogging backward to the nearest international border, or redeploying to bases in nearby countries.
Gene Healy / Cato-at-liberty:
Beam Me Up, Mr. (Ex-) Speaker! — Say what you will about Newt Gingrich, but he has that rare political gift: he sounds captivating and forceful even while talking complete dreck. I witnessed that up close a couple of years ago when I crashed a meeting of conservative activists …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns and Money, WILLisms.com, Donklephant, The Right Angle, The Huffington Post and TAPPED
Newsweek:
The Regathering Storm — Along the ungoverned border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Al Qaeda is training would-be jihadists from the West to attack their home countries. — For the past year, a secret has been slowly spreading among Taliban commanders in Afghanistan: a 12-man team of Westerners …
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg / Wall Street Journal:
Judith Regan's Attorney Vows 'War' As Sparks Fly Over Publisher's Firing — Even though Judith Regan made a book publishing mistake of epic proportions when she commissioned O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It," few in the book industry thought she would lose her job over the incident.