THE FOLKS AT CNN'S "RELIABLE SOURCES" just emailed me this excerpt from today's show transcript with UPI reporter Pamela Hess: … Better that the story should be missed, and the country screwed, than that a reporter might look unacceptably friendly to Bush!  —  UPDATE: Read this, too.

IS FOX SET TO BLOW THE NUKES ON '24'?  —  As Washington continues to raise concerns about terror threats on The Homeland — a recent CIA report outlined a scenerio of possible "series of explosions using 'low charge' nuclear weapons" — Hollywood and FOX-TV are set to up the ante with the new season of 24!

Two Alliances  —  President Bush has managed to divide and conquer the Middle East.  —  It was the hugely ambitious project of the Bush administration to transform the entire Middle East by remaking Iraq into an irresistible model of prosperous democracy.  Having failed in that worthy purpose …

Bloggers Take on Talk Radio Hosts  —  A San Francisco talk radio station pre-empted three hours of programming on Friday in response to a campaign by bloggers who have recorded extreme comments by several hosts and passed on digital copies to advertisers.  —  The lead blogger …

Nice work, if you can get it  —  Jacob Hacker's Health Care for America plan, as summarized by Ezra KIein: … Yes, that includes prescription drugs.  And the price is right: … I'm (1) enthusiastic and (2) skeptical.  It sounds great; in fact, it sounds too good to be true.

Chuck Hagel Smacks Lieberman: Questions his competency  —  Chuck Hagel plastered Holy Joe on Meet the Press this morning and it's about time somebody called him on his garbage.  Lieberman got on his soapbox and tried to tell us that Bush's implementation of the McCain Doctrine is our only hope …

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  —  (CBS/AP) Sen. Barack Obama is almost ready to make an announcement about his potential presidential campaign, he said Sunday on Face The Nation.  —  "I will have something to say about that fairly soon," Obama told Bob Schieffer.  "Obviously, there's been a lot of talk.

Economists upgrade US outlook after surprisingly strong data  —  Economists are hastily upgrading their forecasts for the US economy after a series of surprisingly strong reports suggesting the so-called "soft landing" may be over and growth is accelerating.

The Best We Can Hope For  —  NOBODY will quibble with President Bush's line Wednesday night that in Iraq, "Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved; there will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship."  —  Of course, that calls to mind …

"SURGE" MATH  —  Fred Kagan, writing on 12/04/06: … Fred Kagan (w/ Keane) writing on 12/27/06: … Just around 3 weeks between the two articles, and Kagan goes from 80,000 (or 50,000*, see below) to 30,000 as to what's needed to secure Baghdad (as Frank Rich quips in today's NYT, "whatever")!

Cheney on Fox News: Criticism of War Plan Undercuts Troops — And Iran, Watch Out  —  NEW YORK Appearing on Fox News this morning, VicePresident Dick Cheney said that attempts to stem President Bush's new Iraq plan, announced this week, were undercutting U.S. troops in Iraq.

What?  Already running away!?  —  Insurgents and terrorists are already abandoning some of their positions in Baghdad and moving to Diyala, al-Sabah said: … Actually the people in Diyala have every reason to worry about such migration of terror cells because in fact even without reading …

Terror: 'We're Going to Get Hit'  —  Intel director john Negroponte gave Congress a sobering assessment last week of the continued threats from groups like Al Qaeda and Hizbullah.  But even gloomier comments came from Henry Crumpton, the outgoing State Department terror coordinator.