memeorandum: Fighting Over Libertarianism (Andrew Sullivan/The Atlantic Online)

3:10 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, Associated Press, The Swamp, SunHerald.com, Daily Kos, The Newshoggers, Booman Tribune, the albany project, UrbanGrounds and Think Progress

Matt / Think Progress:
Lott Resigns To Enter 'Lucrative' World Of Lobbying That He Worked …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, Washington Post, The Carpetbagger Report, Political Machine and DownWithTyranny!

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: The Moderate Voice, White House, Captain's Quarters, Kiko's House, Macsmind, The Newshoggers, Flopping Aces, Gateway Pundit, The Glittering Eye, Sweetness & Light, Cheat Seeking Missiles and Associated Press

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 and The Impolitic

White House:

Fact Sheet: U.S.-Iraq Declaration of Principles for Friendship and Cooperation — The U.S. and Iraqi "Declaration of Principles" is a shared statement of intent that establishes common principles to frame our future relationship. This moves us closer to normalized, bilateral relations between our two countries.

Discussion: The Swamp, TPMmuckraker and Balloon Juice

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

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and The Atlantic Online

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: Hot Air, Publius Endures, LewRockwell.com Blog and All American Blogger

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.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Newshoggers and Outside The Beltway

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, michellemalkin.com, Detroit Times, NewsBusters.org, Transterrestrial Musings, The Anonymous Liberal, Outside The Beltway, Vox Popoli, The Carpetbagger Report, BitsBlog and Confederate Yankee

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, No More Mister Nice Blog, Jihad Watch, Atlas Shrugs, Assorted Babble, Reason Magazine and Weasel Zippers

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

Fred Hiatt / Washington Post:
Calculation and Conviction — Barack Obama suggests …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Opinionator, SquareState.net, Heading Right, TalkLeft and Captain's Quarters

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

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

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.

Discussion: Redstate and Connecting.the.Dots

Jed Babbin / Human Events:

The Second Amendment Wedge — Hillary calls them, "kitchen table issues," the political questions Americans take seriously enough to talk about them privately, in their homes, among family and friends. Whether she likes it or not, one of those issues is gun control.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and The Corner