Top Items:
Ezra Klein:
The Announcement — Yesterday, John Edwards spent the day shoveling, flattening, and recreating Orelia Tyler's yard. Today, outside that same yard, at 8:03 in the morning, he announced for president. The speech was more casual than most in the announcement genre, at least in my experience.
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Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Edwards Announces Presidential Bid in New Orleans — Former North Carolina senator John Edwards officially jumped into the 2008 presidential race this morning in this flood-ravaged city, sounding a populist call for citizen action to reduce the U.S. troop presence in Iraq …
Associated Press:
Former senator who ran in '04 is bidding for Democratic nomination — WASHINGTON - Two years after his hopes for a Democratic takeover of the White House were narrowly dashed, former vice presidential nominee John Edwards said Thursday that he is making another run at the presidency.
Jackie Calmes / Wall Street Journal:
Edwards's Theme: U.S. Poverty — Amid Iraq Talk, White House Hopeful Sticks to '04 Issue in '08 Run — For the roughly two dozen candidates considering a run for the White House, it is perhaps the jackpot question: What might be the winning message in a contest whose first nominating vote is still more than a year away?
Thomas M. DeFrank / NY Daily News:
Last lunch with a legend — Speaks candidly about the WMDs and war in Iraq — DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF … RANCHO MIRAGE, Cal. - Jerry Ford was a politician of rare amiability, but this day he was hopping mad. — "They won't let me go in the pool and swim," …
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Newsweek:
From Watergate to Monicagate — Like Gerald Ford, George W. Bush believed his mission was to restore honor and integrity at the White House. The striking parallels between two administrations. — To understand Gerald Ford's place inside the Bush administration, you need to turn the clock back six years.
Discussion:
New York Times, Liberal Values, Political Animal, The Carpetbagger Report and The Heretik
Peter Spiegel / Los Angeles Times:He led by listening — Ford was not afraid of strong-willed advisors …
Discussion:
Wonkette
Daniel Freedman / It Shines For All:
Declassified State Department Document: Arafat Responsible for Storming of Embassy and Murder of Americans in 1973 — The State Department has finally admitted (document has just been declassified) that Arafat was behind the 1973 murder of two Americans in Sudan by the Black September terrorist group.
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Joseph Farah / WorldNetDaily:
State Department declassifies report on 1973 terror attack in Khartoum — WASHINGTON - After 33 years of secrecy, the U.S. State Department has finally declassified a document admitting it knew the late Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, plotted and supervised …
Jeffrey Gettleman / New York Times:
Islamists Seem to Give Up Grip on Somali City — The Islamist forces who have controlled much of Somalia in recent months suddenly vanished from the streets of the capital, Mogadishu, residents said Wednesday night, just as thousands of rival troops massed 15 miles away.
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Washington Post:
Close Adviser to Sadr Dies in U.S.-Iraqi Raid — A top deputy of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was killed Wednesday during a raid by U.S. and Iraqi troops in the southern holy city of Najaf, sparking protests from Sadr's followers and complicating an already tense relationship with the powerful anti-American leader.
Discussion:
New York Times, Wake up America, Firedoglake, Informed Comment, Booman Tribune, Hot Air and PoliPundit.com
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James Risen / New York Times:
G.O.P. Senator in Spotlight After a Critical Iraq Speech — At the close of the Senate's lame-duck session, in between formulaic tributes to senators departing voluntarily or otherwise, a Republican backbencher suddenly rose to give one of the most passionate and surprising speeches about the war in Iraq yet delivered in Congress.
Discussion:
Riehl World View, MyDD, the talking dog, DownWithTyranny!, Hot Air, Middle Earth Journal and Don Surber
Washington Post:
Profile in Decency — We were fortunate in 1974, a time of crisis, to have the right person in the right place at the right time. When the country needed healing, reconciliation and restoration of confidence, Gerald Ford provided it. — He was a principled partisan …
Justin Rood / TPMmuckraker:
More Right-Wing Blog Fun with Iraq War E-mails — If wishes were e-mails, the Iraq war would be won. And John Kerry would be friendless. — Yesterday we learned via the National Review Online that, at least according to year-old spam, ground troops think the United States is winning the war in Iraq.
Examiner:
Yeas and Nays: Thursday, Dec. 28 — WASHINGTON - Jeff DuFour and Patrick Gavin cover people, power and politics in the beltway each weekday. Email them at yan@dcexaminer.com . — How to be an A-list Washingtonian — Do you want to be the consummate Washingtonian?
Discussion:
Right Wing News
Potfry / Political Satire Fake News:
The New Pocket Casualty Counter From The Associated Press! — Are you freakishly obsessed with the daily casualty count in Iraq? Do you find yourself disappointed when a day or two goes by and no American soldiers die? Have you ever been at a cocktail party and said …
Discussion:
Atlas Shrugs
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