memeorandum: The permanent Republican majority: How GOP power players sent a governor to jail (The Raw Story)

2:05 PM ET, November 26, 2007

Top Items:

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.

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.

Discussion: MSNBC, Think Progress, Associated Press, The Swamp, The Newshoggers, Taegan Goddard's …, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, SunHerald.com, The Carpetbagger Report, the albany project, UrbanGrounds, Blue Crab Boulevard, Macsmind and Donklephant

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
BREAKING: Trent Lott Rumored To Be Resigning

Discussion: Political Machine and Think Progress

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.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Newshoggers, New York Times, Flopping Aces, Left I on the News, The Glittering Eye, Associated Press and Gateway Pundit

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."

Discussion: United Nations, The Next Hurrah, The Impolitic and The Atlantic Online

White House:
Fact Sheet: U.S.-Iraq Declaration of Principles for Friendship and Cooperation

Discussion: TPMmuckraker

Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
U.S. To Stay In Iraq Forever

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and The Atlantic Online

White House:
Press Gaggle by Dana Perino and General Douglas Lute, Assistant …

Discussion: TPMmuckraker

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: The Atlantic Online, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, CNN Political Ticker, Firedoglake, Detroit Times, Transterrestrial Musings, Outside The Beltway, The Anonymous Liberal, NewsBusters.org, BitsBlog, Vox Popoli, The Carpetbagger Report, Confederate Yankee, DownWithTyranny! and Paul Krugman

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.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Assorted Babble, Reason Magazine, Atlas Shrugs, Jihad Watch, Weasel Zippers, The Sundries Shack and Gateway Pundit

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:

Discussion: Publius Endures, Hot Air, All American Blogger and PrairiePundit

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:
Fighting Over Libertarianism

Discussion: The Newshoggers

Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:

Rice's Turnabout on Mideast Talks — At President Bush's first National Security Council meeting in January 2001, he announced that he did not want to be drawn into the shattered Middle East peace process, people at the meeting recalled, because he believed that former President Bill Clinton …

Discussion: Guardian, BBC, Commentary, Connecting.the.Dots, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Israel Matzav, Yahoo! News, The Carpetbagger Report, Baltimore Sun and MiamiHerald.com

Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
President Bush and 'Madame Rice': A Personal Bond Helps Align Policy

Discussion: Think Progress, Comments from Left Field and The Heretik

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, Power Line, YID With LID, TownHall Blog, Say Anything, PrairiePundit and Wizbang

John Solomon / Washington Post:

Obama PAC Is Active In Key Election States — When Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) launched his presidential campaign in January, he stopped raising money for his Hopefund, the political action committee he used to raise millions for fellow Democrats in previous campaigns.

Discussion: HillaryClinton.com, The Politico, MyDD, TPM Election Central and TIME

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 …

Discussion: Cafe Hayek, The American Street, Norwegianity and The Impolitic

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 …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, Washington Post and Blue Crab Boulevard

Don Surber:

Lead America, Republicans — We need our Tony Blair, our Nicolas Sarkozy. — While Democrats select a presidential candidate, Republicans seek a president. There are a bunch of Jimmy Carters on the other side who are willing to apologize for America's greatness. Forget about finding the next Reagan.

Discussion: The Newshoggers and The Sundries Shack

The Raw Story:

The permanent Republican majority: How GOP power players sent a governor to jail — For most Americans, the very concept of political prisoners is something remote and exotic, familiar in the context of third-world dictatorships but alien to the American tradition.

Discussion: TalkLeft