memeorandum: In New Senate, The 'Candy Desk' Gets a Kiss-Off (Sarah Lueck/Wall Street Journal)

10:45 AM ET, January 5, 2007

Top Items:

Bush to Name a New General to Oversee Iraq — President Bush has decided to name Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus as the top American military commander in Iraq, part of a broad revamping of the military team that will carry out the administration's new Iraq strategy, administration officials said Thursday.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Outside The Beltway, The News Blog, No More Mister Nice Blog, PrairiePundit, TigerHawk, Informed Comment, Middle Earth Journal, Prairie Weather, Political Radar, Rising Hegemon, On Deadline and Decision '08

Reuters:

Bush plans changes in key advisers for Iraq fresh start — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush is planning to name a new ambassador and military commanders for Iraq as he prepares to make a fresh start on a worsening problem that has mired his administration and threatens his legacy.

Discussion: AMERICAblog and The Debate Link

Juan / Informed Comment:

The Adults take Charge — The Reality Based Community Strikes Back in Iraq — The professionals take charge. Bush is bringing in Ryan Crocker, a distinguished career foreign service officer, as the new US ambassador to Iraq. And Gen. David Petraeus will replace Gen. Casey as top ground commander in Iraq.

Discussion: State of the Day and Outside The Beltway

Jennifer Loven / Associated Press:
Bush talks about Iraq war plan, Saddam

Discussion: AMERICAblog and Hot Air

Washington Post:
Bush Making Changes in His Iraq Team

Discussion: The Raw Story, CNN Political Ticker, Daily Kos, Gun Toting Liberal ™ and On Deadline

Steven R. Hurst / Associated Press:

Iraq threatens arrest of police officer — BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Interior Ministry acknowledged Thursday that an Iraqi police officer whose existence had been denied by the Iraqis and the U.S. military is in fact an active member of the force, and said he now faces arrest for speaking to the media.

Michelle Malkin:
Jamil Hussein development: "Faces arrest?"

Discussion: Firedoglake, Flopping Aces, Orcinus, Unclaimed Territory, NewsBusters.org, Jesus' General, Bill's Bites, Booman Tribune, EU Referendum, Patterico's Pontifications, Dean's World, Crooks and Liars, Majikthise, On Deadline and NewsHog

John M. Broder / New York Times:

Jubilant Democrats Assume Control on Capitol Hill — In a day of transition and pageantry, exultant Democrats on Thursday took control of both houses of Congress for the first time in a dozen years and elected the first woman to be speaker of the House. — Representative Nancy Pelosi …

Discussion: Washington Times, the talking dog, Democrats.com and PoliBlog (TM)

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
For Democrats, a Choice: Forward or Reverse?

Discussion: Beat the Press and The Moderate Voice

Washington Post:
Democrats Take Control on Hill

Discussion: Obsidian Wings

Arizona Republic:

Guardsmen overrun at the Border — National Guard unit stormed while patroling the border — Border attack raises security concerns — A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico. — According to the Border Patrol …

Discussion: Ankle Biting Pundits, Riehl World View, The Jawa Report and Blue Crab Boulevard

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Mexican gunmen cross border, rout National Guard — Actually, I don't know for sure that they were Mexican. All sorts of people steal across the Mexican border who aren't native to that country. Just ask Mike McCaul. — Would "the goddamned fence" have helped here? It couldn't have hurt.

H. Josef Hebert / Associated Press:

Nuclear agency head dismissed for lapses — WASHINGTON - Tens of millions of dollars and repeated security reviews haven't stopped embarrassing security breakdowns in the government's nuclear weapons program — and now the man in charge has been sent packing.

Associated Press:
Head of nuke agency leaves over security lapses

Discussion: Defense Tech

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

White House Postponing Loss of Iraq, Biden Says — Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said yesterday that he believes top officials in the Bush administration have privately concluded they have lost Iraq and are simply trying to postpone disaster …

Discussion: Needlenose

Bill Ardolino / Examiner:

Grit and guts for Navy corpsmen in a Fallujah police station — WASHINGTON - Editor's note: Blogger Bill Ardolino is embedded with a U.S. Marine unit in Iraq. He's there to find out the truth about the U.S. war effort on the ground in Iraq. Unlike the vast majority of mainstream media journalists …

Discussion: INDCJournal and Captain's Quarters

Sarah Lueck / Wall Street Journal:

In New Senate, The 'Candy Desk' Gets a Kiss-Off — New Occupant Hails From — State With a Sweet Deficit; — 'Moose Doodles,' Anyone? — WASHINGTON — With Democrats back in control of Congress for the first time in years, much is changing in the nation's capital …

Daniela Deane / Washington Post:

Miers Resigns As White House Counsel — White House legal counsel and failed Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, a longtime friend and adviser of President Bush, resigned from her White House position today, Press Secretary Tony Snow announced. — Miers, 61, will leave her job at the end …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Caucus, Law Blog, CANNONFIRE, Washington Wire and Abovethelaw.com

David Saltonstall / NY Daily News:

N.H. bigs see Rudy Prez run — Ex-mayor played host on New Year's — Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has held a New Year's Eve bash in his Times Square offices for years, but this year he had some special guests: a bevy of New Hampshire political activists. — The contingent from the Granite State …

Kevin Drum / Political Animal:

FINAL CAT BLOGGING....I have some sad news. About an hour ago Jasmine was sitting on my desk (keeping an eye on me, as usual) when she went into a violent spasm and fell to the ground. She died within a minute. — I don't know what happened, but it was probably a heart attack.

Discussion: TBogg

CBS News:

FEELINGS ABOUT NEW CONGRESS — Optimistic — Pessimistic — But when asked if Democrats and President Bush can cooperate — in general and on Iraq, which is overwhelmingly Americans' top priority — half those polled were doubtful. — Fifty-one percent said the White House and Congress …

Discussion: The Agonist, The Democratic Daily and Talking Points Memo

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:

Ex-Dem. Party boss blasts Kerry in book — WASHINGTON - Former Democratic Party boss and Clinton friend Terry McAuliffe is lambasting John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential campaign, calling his effort to unseat President Bush "one of the biggest acts of political malpractice in the history of American politics."