memeorandum: Snipers stalk Marine supply route in western Iraq (Tony Perry/Los Angeles Times)

3:50 PM ET, December 28, 2006

Top Items:

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.

Discussion: Eschaton, Shakespeare's Sister, Norwegianity, Hullabaloo, Unfogged and Daily Kos

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 …

Discussion: Political Animal, Booman Tribune, TalkLeft, The Carpetbagger Report, GregsOpinion.com and ScrappleFace

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.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, The Sundries Shack, TKS and Macsmind

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?

Discussion: QandO, The American Street, Scobleizer and Gateway Pundit

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:
Edwards shoots for White House again

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, All Spin Zone, BuzzFlash and The Agonist

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," …

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, Captain's Quarters, Right Wing Nut House, The Sundries Shack, jules crittenden, Macsmind, Sweetness & Light, PrairiePundit and Don Surber

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

Deacon / Power Line:
CITIZEN FORD ON THE WAR IN IRAQ

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Post and Balloon Juice

Peter Baker / Washington Post: Similar Personnel, Different Approaches

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 …

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, It Shines For All and ¡No Pasarán!

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.

Discussion: A Blog For All, Flopping Aces, Blue Crab Boulevard and Little Green Footballs

TBlumer / BizzyBlog:
Arafat's Orchestration of 1973 Murders Acknowledged by State …

Discussion: Doug Ross, The Moderate Voice and NewsBusters.org

US Department of State: Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume E-6, Documents on Africa, 1973-1976

The Big Trunk / Power Line: COLD RIVER: A CASE STUDY

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 …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, GregsOpinion.com and Matthew Yglesias

Will / Attytood:
Gerald Ford's other contribution to American history: The single bullet theory

Discussion: huffingtonpost.com, The Moderate Voice and A Tiny Revolution

Timothy Noah / Slate:
Washington's Jones for Gerald Ford

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Dean's World and Rising Hegemon

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.

Discussion: Reuters, Euphoric Reality, Hot Air, Blogs of War, A Blog For All, Captain's Quarters, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Moderate Voice, Daily Pundit, Hyscience, Matthew Yglesias, jules crittenden and Clarity & Resolve

Jeffrey Gettleman / New York Times:
Opponents of Islamists Seize Somali Capital

Discussion: PrairiePundit, NO QUARTER and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

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, the talking dog, DownWithTyranny!, Hot Air, Middle Earth Journal and Don Surber

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.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Carpetbagger Report and Political Animal

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

Jerusalem Post:

Exclusive: Hizbullah paying terrorists for Kassam attacks — Hizbullah is paying Palestinian splinter groups "thousands of dollars" for each Kassam rocket fired at the western Negev, The Jerusalem Post has learned. — According to Israeli intelligence information, Hizbullah is smuggling cash …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, A Blog For All, Power Line, It Shines For All, Kesher Talk and PrairiePundit

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

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.