Top Items:
MSNBC:
Trent Lott announces his resignation — Minority whip says he will leave Senate before end of the year — Pascagoula, Mississippi - Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, announced Monday he will retire from the Senate by end of year.
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Fix, Capitol Briefing, Hot Air, michellemalkin.com, The Politico, CNN, Taegan Goddard's …, Big Head DC, Talking Points Memo, Outside The Beltway, The Carpetbagger Report, MyDD, JammieWearingFool, The Opinionator, DownWithTyranny!, Political Machine, Captain's Quarters, BitsBlog, The BRAD BLOG, Associated Press, Washington Post, Cheat Seeking Missiles, Pensito Review, The Plank, PoliBlog (TM), Beltway Blogroll, Detroit Times, Senate 2008 Guru, The Newshoggers, Sweetness & Light, Swing State Project and Upper Left
RELATED:
The Politico:
Top official: Lott to resign — Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) plans to resign his seat by year's end, a senior Republican official told Politico. — The announcement took Capitol Hill by surprise because Lott, the former majority leader, seemed to be relishing his job as minority whip, the second-ranking GOP leadership job.
Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
Iraqis may offer US deal to stay longer — BAGHDAD - Iraq's government, seeking protection against foreign threats and internal coups, will offer the U.S. a long-term troop presence in Iraq in return for U.S. security guarantees as part of a strategic partnership, two Iraqi officials said Monday.
RELATED:
Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
White House Releases "Principles" for Permanent Iraqi Presence — So it begins. After years of obfuscation and denial on the length of the U.S.'s stay in Iraq, the White House and the Maliki government have released a joint declaration of "principles" for "friendship and cooperation."
Drudge Report:
DON'T GO THERE: BRIT PAPER STARTS 'UGLIEST MONTH' — The TIMES of London starts 'The Ugliest Month' with a full page photo takeout on Hillary Clinton and her beautiful personal assistant. — "Hillary Clinton has been accused of having an affair with Huma Abedin," reads the caption.
Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:
The False Conservative — Who would respond to criticism from the Club for Growth by calling the conservative, free-market campaign organization the "Club for Greed"? That sounds like Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich or John Edwards, all Democrats preaching the class struggle.
Discussion:
MoJoBlog, The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, CNN Political Ticker, Firedoglake, Weekly Standard, Detroit Times, Transterrestrial Musings, NewsBusters.org, The Anonymous Liberal, Outside The Beltway, Vox Popoli, BitsBlog, The Carpetbagger Report, Confederate Yankee, DownWithTyranny! and Paul Krugman
Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:
Fighting Over Libertarianism — You can see some of the many competing and contradictory themes within contemporary conservatism in Patrick Ruffini's blogpost on Hewitt's blog today. His heart is with libertarianism; but his head is with the Bush security state and current Republican coalition.
RELATED:
Patrick Ruffini / Townhall.com:
Ron Paul Has Won — He won't win the nomination. He won't win any primaries. But for Ron Paul's quixotic bid for the White House, it's "Mission Accomplished." — Take a look at this from Sunday's Washington Post. Not just the article but the killer packaging:
The Politico:
Clinton and Obama switch roles in Iowa — DES MOINES — In a reversal of fortune, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is barnstorming Iowa with a front-runner's swagger while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) scrambles like an underdog. — In ways big and small over the weekend …
RELATED:
Fred Hiatt / Washington Post:
Calculation and Conviction — Barack Obama suggests …
Calculation and Conviction — Barack Obama suggests …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Opinionator, SquareState.net, Heading Right, TalkLeft and Captain's Quarters
Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:
Short of Funds, G.O.P. Recruits the Rich to Run — Confronting an enormous fund-raising gap with Democrats, Republican Party officials are aggressively recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend large sums of their own money to finance their Congressional races, party officials say.
Discussion:
Political Machine, MSNBC, DownWithTyranny!, Captain's Quarters, PoliPundit.com and Roger Ailes
Sara A. Carter / Washington Times:
Islamists target Arizona base — Fort Huachuca, the nation's largest intelligence-training center, changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists, with the aid of Mexican drug cartels, were planning an attack on the facility. — Fort officials changed security measures …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, YID With LID, TownHall Blog, Say Anything, Wizbang and PrairiePundit
Joe Hagan / New York Magazine:
Dan Rather's Last Big Story Is Himself — If he weren't famous, he'd be mistaken for a veteran of a long-ago war: khaki safari shirt on his back, scuffed combat boots on his feet, that wiry crest of a brow, rheumy eyes under heavy lids, lower lip jutting out like an ornery fish resisting a hook.
PageOneQ:
College offers medical plan to employees' pets, denies it to their human companions — A Florida college, after denying employees' domestic partners access to medical insurance, has in turn offered a medical plan for employees' household pets, the Palm Beach Post reports.
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Winter of Our Discontent — "Americans' Economic Pessimism Reaches Record High." That's the headline on a recent Gallup report, which shows a nation deeply unhappy with the state of the economy. Right now, "27% of Americans rate current economic conditions as either 'excellent' or 'good …