Top Items:
Martin Indyk / Washington Post:
A 'Two-State Solution,' Palestinian-Style — Does Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas know something that we don't? For five days his presidential security forces in Gaza came under organized attack by Hamas gunmen. His compound in Gaza City was under siege.
Discussion:
New York Times, National Review, A Blog For All, Too Sense, MSNBC, snapped shot, FP Passport, Blue Crab Boulevard and Israpundit
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Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Takeover by Hamas Illustrates Failure of Bush's Mideast Vision — Five years ago this month, President Bush stood in the Rose Garden and laid out a vision for the Middle East that included Israel and a state called Palestine living together in peace. "I call on the Palestinian people …
Scott Wilson / Washington Post:
Hamas to Grant Amnesty to Fatah Leaders — Victorious Hamas gunmen rounded up senior military leaders of the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip early Friday, then announced a general amnesty in a sign the Islamic movement is seeking to reconcile with its secular rivals after five days of fierce fighting.
Discussion:
Power Line, Captain's Quarters, Townhall.com, democracyarsenal.org, Blue Crab Boulevard, Redstate, Israel Matzav and The Big Pharaoh
John Podhoretz / New York Post:
SELF-RULE? TRY MOB RULE — ISRAEL'S disengagement from Gaza, completed 22 months ago, has succeeded. — It was a demonstration project of a sort - an experiment in Palestinian self-rule. If the management of Gaza had gone well, there would have been a Palestinian state within three years, tops.
Con Coughlin / Telegraph:
Fundamentalists threaten Israel from all sides
Fundamentalists threaten Israel from all sides
Discussion:
Ynetnews, The Strata-Sphere, neo-neocon, Jerusalem Post, Yourish.com, Michael P.F. van der Galiën and Daimnation!
Joseph Lieberman / Opinion Journal:
What I Saw in Iraq — Iran remains a problem, but Anbar has joined the fight against terror. — I recently returned from Iraq and four other countries in the Middle East, my first trip to the region since December. In the intervening five months, almost everything about the American war effort …
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Editor and Publisher:
Latest from McClatchy's Iraqi Staffers: The 'City of Cemeteries' — NEW YORK For several weeks, E&P has been featuring frank and often disturbing blog entries by McClatchy's Iraqi correspondents and staffers from their site, Inside Iraq. The writers' full names are not listed due to security concerns.
Discussion:
The Sideshow
New York Times:
The Laptop Is Mightier Than the Sword — WHILE waiting to see if the Iraq surge strategy pays off, President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have shown Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the door and brought in Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as the new White House "war czar."
Discussion:
INTEL DUMP, Democracy in America, Outside The Beltway, Michael P.F. van der Galiën and JunkYardBlog
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Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Senate Leader Criticizes Performance of Joint Chiefs Leader — Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, delivered a critical assessment on Thursday of Gen. Peter Pace's performance as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and demanded that Congress be given a "fair, honest and frank" …
Washington Post:
U.S. Says Iraq Troop Surge Complete — The full contingent of new U.S. forces being sent to Iraq — what military leaders call a "surge" of troops to improve security and stability in the capital — was completed by Friday, with 28,500 additional troops now posted in the country, a U.S. military spokesman said.
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Michael Kinsley / Time:
The Quiet Gay Revolution — When William F. Buckley Jr. revived American conservatism by founding National Review in 1955, he said the magazine's job was to stand "athwart history, yelling stop." At that time, history did seem to be moving in the wrong direction if you were a conservative, and Buckley was gutsy to admit as much.
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Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:
We Win — That was quick, wasn't it? Mike Kinsley writes …
We Win — That was quick, wasn't it? Mike Kinsley writes …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
Economist:
Vote for me, dimwit — How the electorate is irrational — ANYONE who follows an election campaign too closely will sometimes get the feeling that politicians think voters are idiots. A new book says they are. Or rather, Bryan Caplan, an economics professor at George Mason University …
Michelle Malkin:
www.trentlott.com — ***update: Rush on Lott—"You've got Republicans talking about talk radio like liberals talk about talk radio. That tells you something." Yes, it does. It tells you that the Republican Party is in deep, deep doo-doo. Speaking of doo-doo, the literal kind apparently turned up in the Capitol today.
Discussion:
New York Times, Hot Air, Associated Press, The Strata-Sphere, JammieWearingFool and Gateway Pundit
National Review:
Rise of the Seculars — Paul Waldman has a very interesting article over at the Prospect pondering whether liberal secular Americans will become as "tribal" as evangelicals. He writes: … Let's put that aside for a moment. Ross Douthat, meanwhile, notes that Waldman's essay jibes …
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Brian Beutler:
Weak-ly Standard — I propose that we hereby refer to Bill Kristol as the most dangerous pundit in America. He has what seems like a mainline to the White House and yet, of all his colleagues, he is the most casually dishonest, the most outwardly war-hungry, and the most recklessly illogical.
ABCNEWS:
Romney's Pro-Life Conversion: Myth or Reality? — After 'Epiphany' on Abortion, He Named a Pro-Choice Judge and Supported Stem Cell Research — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has long cited a November 2004 meeting with a Harvard stem cell researcher as the moment that changed …
Maura Reynolds / Los Angeles Times:
Senate strikes deal to revive immigration bill — Agreeing to trim the number of amendments, immediately fund enforcement significantly improve the legislation's chances. — WASHINGTON — Senate leaders reached a deal Thursday night to revive stalled immigration legislation after days …
Jay Rosen / PressThink:
Who's Ahead? No, Seriously... It's nice to know that Mitt Romney has pulled ahead in New Hampshire, seven months before the primary voting. Thanks, Bill Schneider! Let me ask you something: Who's ahead in addressing a broken health care system? — It's fascinating to realize that Hillary Clinton, a woman, is ahead among women.
Chris Bowers / MyDD:
The Best Days Of My Life — After spending all week trying to think of a poignant way of making this announcement, and drawing nothing but blanks, I have decided to just say it as plainly as I can. Today, after more than three years, I am stepping down as the lead writer and managing editor of MyDD.
CBN.com:
EXCLUSIVE: Fred Thompson Pro-Life Video Address — Watch Low Band EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: — CBNNews.com - It's Christmas in June here at The Brody File. Look what we found under the tree. It's a present from "supporters of Fred Thompson" given exclusively to The Brody File.
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Atlantic Online, Blogometer, MSNBC, Oliver Willis, race42008.com and Hot Air