memeorandum: KNOWING THE ENEMY — In 1993, a young captain in the Australian … (George Packer/New Yorker)

11:00 PM ET, December 18, 2006

Top Items:

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 …

Discussion: Attytood, Centerfield and Pam's House Blend

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.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Pollster, Decision '08, The Caucus and The Agonist

Associated Press:
Rangel: I Support Giuliani-Kerik Ticket

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Chris Bowers / MyDD:
An Era of Thoroughly Subjective News

Discussion: Eschaton

John Fund / Opinion Journal:
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

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.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and Daily Pundit

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.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Right Wing Nut House, Mensa Barbie Welcomes You, Outside The Beltway, Matthew Yglesias, The Jawa Report, The Moderate Voice, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Reason Magazine, Midtopia and Truthdig

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.

Discussion: toohotfortnr, Booman Tribune, Prairie Weather and The Corner

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, Flopping Aces, Patterico's Pontifications, Media Blog and The Jawa Report

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 …

Discussion: Democrats.com, Seeing the Forest and Andrew Sullivan

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.

Discussion: THE CUNNING REALIST and Truthdig

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.

Discussion: Sentencing Law and Policy, Andrew Sullivan, Riehl World View and The Peking Duck

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.

Discussion: Unclaimed Territory, The Caucus, Media Blog, Bring it On! and New York Times

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.

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM) and Romenesko

George Packer / New Yorker:

KNOWING THE ENEMY — In 1993, a young captain in the Australian Army named David Kilcullen was living among villagers in West Java, as part of an immersion program in the Indonesian language. One day, he visited a local military museum that contained a display about Indonesia's war …

Discussion: Political Animal, TAPPED and Balloon Juice

Joseph Galloway / Dallas Star-Telegram:

Desperation in the White House — The power brokers in Washington carefully arranged fig leaves and tasteful screens to cover the emperor's nakedness while he was busy pretending to listen hard to everyone with an opinion about Iraq while hearing nothing. — Sometime early in the new year …

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo and The Next Hurrah

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