Top Items:
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Clinton Gets an Instant Chance to Wield a New Weapon — It used to be that when a campaign had an argument with a news report, it put out a mass e-mail message disputing the offending item. That was a huge technological leap from the fax machine. — Now even e-mail may be growing quaint.
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Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
Waitress tells campaign reporters: 'You people are really nuts' — It's hard to say for sure when the "silly season" started in the media's coverage of the presidential campaign. If there was a "serious season," it was exceedingly short. I'm afraid I missed it. — But yesterday was unusually inane.
NPR:
Editor's Note: The Tale of the Tip — · It started as an aside in a longer interview, but it became an Internet sensation within hours. — Anita Esterday, a waitress at the Maid-Rite in Toledo, Iowa, told NPR's David Greene in a report that aired on Morning Edition Thursday that …
The Prowler / American Spectator:
Huckabee's Salvation — Dr. James Dobson, who has largely been made irrelevant to the 2008 Republican presidential race, has apparently found his man, and according to an adviser, is ready to change the landscape of the Republican nomination race. — "He is the leader of the evangelical …
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Is it now official? — Can we just go ahead and crown Mike Huckabee …
Is it now official? — Can we just go ahead and crown Mike Huckabee …
Amanda / Think Progress:
Rove Decries 'Nutty' 'Vitriolic' Bloggers Who Spew 'Bad Words' — Yesterday, ThinkProgress attended a Yahoo-sponsored Citizen 2.0 event in Washington, DC, at which Karl Rove discussed the intersection of politics and the Internet. Rove lamented the loss of civility in politics on the web …
Discussion:
Beltway Blogroll, Washingtonian.com, The Atlantic Online, TalkLeft, DownWithTyranny! and darkblack
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Jon Ward / Washington Times:
Karl Rove's advice for fuming bloggers
Karl Rove's advice for fuming bloggers
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
What happened to the Senate's "60-vote requirement"? — Every time Congressional Democrats failed this year to stop the Bush administration (i.e., every time they "tried"), the excuse they gave was that they "need 60 votes in the Senate" in order to get anything done.
Discussion:
The Swamp, The Atlantic Online, ePluribus Media Community, QandO, skippy the bush kangaroo, Comments from Left Field, Buck Naked Politics, The Texas Blue, Capitol Briefing, Law Blog, Political Machine, Stop The ACLU, Wake up America, MSNBC, New York Times, The Heretik, Outside The Beltway, The Newshoggers, The Caucus, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, The American Street and Donklephant
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David Brooks / New York Times:
History and Calumny — Today, I'm going to write about a slur. It's a distortion that's been around for a while, but has spread like a weed over the past few months. It was concocted for partisan reasons: to flatter the prejudices of one side, to demonize the other and to simplify …
Steve Kornacki / New York Observer:
Obama Picks Up a Coveted Endorsement in N.H. — Barack Obama has just picked up a fairly important endorsement in New Hampshire. — Lenore Patton is the chairwoman of the Rockingham County Democrats and— like every other party leader in NH — had been relentlessly — courted by the Clinton campaign.
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Eli Lake / New York Sun:
Lieberman Lashes Out at Democrats — WASHINGTON — The Senate's only "independent Democrat" is lashing out at the party whose vice presidential nominee he once was, accusing its leaders of betraying the tradition of presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy.
Discussion:
Hot Air
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Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:
Things Are Tough All Over — But Mrs. Clinton is no Iron Lady. — The story as I was told it is that in the early years of her prime ministership, Margaret Thatcher held a meeting with her aides and staff, all of whom were dominated by her, even awed. When it was over she invited …
Discussion:
The Newshoggers, No More Mister Nice Blog, Betsy's Page, The Cabal, Don Surber, Bookworm Room, Blue Crab Boulevard and VodkaPundit
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
New Jersey Rep. Saxton to Retire — Rep. Jim Saxton, the twelve-term Republican from New Jersey's 3rd District, plans to retire after his current term, an announcement that could come as early as today, according to sources familiar with his decision. — Saxton's retirement opens up a seat …
New York Times:
Kerik's Corruption Case Dogs Giuliani — The scene outside the old Victorian-style courthouse in Dubuque on Thursday morning showed that the indictment of Bernard B. Kerik is at the very least a big distraction for Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential campaign.
Discussion:
Horses Mouth, CNN Political Ticker, NY Daily News, The Politico, The Swamp, New York Post, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report, NY1, Talking Points Memo, ABCNEWS, Law Blog, MSNBC, Taylor Marsh, Blogometer, A Blog For All, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Connecting.the.Dots, Reuters, The Mahablog and The Van Der Galiën Gazette
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Philip Elliott / Associated Press:
McCain says Kerik reflects on Giuliani
McCain says Kerik reflects on Giuliani
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report
Fausta / Fausta's blog:
Bad news for Hugo? — Chavez is deeply in debt to the Chinese, having borrowed $4 billion just this week. In exchange, he's saying that Venezuela will double its exports of oil to China, … Minister of Energy and Petroleum and President of Petroleos de Venezuela Rafael Ramirez claims …
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Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
Rage of Reason — It's official: Bush Derangement Syndrome is now a full-blown epidemic. George W. Bush apparently has reduced more of his fellow citizens to frustrated, sputtering rage than any president since opinion polling began, with the possible exception of Richard Nixon.
Karl Rove / Opinion Journal:
A Failure to Lead — The Democratic Congress is more interested in acting out than in taking positive action. — This week is the one-year anniversary of Democrats winning Congress. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid probably aren't in a celebrating mood.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, At-Largely, The American Street, Wake up America, Blue Crab Boulevard and Daily Pundit
Noam Scheiber / The Stump:
Is Romney Running Away With It? — For all the attention Rudy Giuliani got with that Pat Robertson endorsement earlier this week, the numbers increasingly suggest Romney is going to be the GOP nominee. According to Pollster.com, Romney's up 14 points in Iowa (28.6 to Huckabee's 14.8 …
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Lisa Girion / Los Angeles Times:
Health insurer tied bonuses to dropping sick policyholders — One of the state's largest health insurers set goals and paid bonuses based in part on how many individual policyholders were dropped and how much money was saved. — Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. avoided paying $35.5 million …
Drew Cline:
Biden: Democrats have lost faith in the American people — Sen. Joe Biden said in an interview at the New Hampshire Union Leader this afternoon that too many Democrats, including the frontrunners for the presidential nomination, do not have faith in the American people.
Josh White / Washington Post:
Waterboarding Is Torture, Says Ex-Navy Instructor — A former Navy survival instructor subjected to waterboarding as part of his military training told Congress yesterday that the controversial tactic should plainly be considered torture and that such a method was never intended for use …
Discussion:
The Newshoggers, Sic Semper Tyrannis 2007, Buck Naked Politics, TPMCafe blogs and Captain's Quarters