memeorandum: ROMNEY TO ADDRESS NATION ON RELIGION (Mevanh/The Page)

9:15 PM ET, December 2, 2007

Top Items:

Doing the Marxist Slide— Venezuela Votes on Chavista Rule... Update: CHAVEZ WINS!... Update 2: Maybe Not? — CHAVEZ WINS!!! (4:30 PM CST) — Aljazeera reports: … Reuters reports that "Government Sources" have confirmed that Chavez has won. — Sky News and China News are reporting the win for Chavez.

Discussion: JTA.org, Daimnation!, Reuters, Fausta's blog, Power Line and Classical Values

Aljazeera:

Chavez 'wins Venezuela referendum' — Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, is heading for victory in a referendum on allowing him to remain in power as long as he keeps winning elections, two government-linked sources said citing exit polls. — Three exit polls showed Chavez won …

Discussion: Riehl World View, Hot Air and A NEWT ONE

The Devil's Excrement:

Chronicle of a No vote in the Venezuelan referendum — I went around and there are some small lines left, not worth taking pictures of them. Then I decided to go and vote at 2 PM, the time when reportedly the stduents were planning to go out. Below, the chronicle of my vote:

Daniel / Venezuela News And Views:
The election day post: the doomsday vote

Discussion: Power Line, The Newshoggers, Wake up America, Associated Press, The Devil's Excrement, JammieWearingFool and The American Pundit

Mark Halperin / The Page:

More on Romney Religion Speech — The venue is not a surprise, since Romney has given a previous major address (on defense policy) at the Bush library, and the two families are very close. And Texas, of course, was also the venue for John F. Kennedy's famous speech on religion in 1960 …

Discussion: TownHall Blog, eyeon08.com, Taylor Marsh and Riehl World View

Mevanh / The Page:

ROMNEY TO ADDRESS NATION ON RELIGION — LONG-ANTICIPATED ADDRESS ENTITLED "FAITH IN AMERICA" IN MOLD OF JFK '60 ADDRESS — Romney will discuss how his "own faith would inform his Presidency if he were elected." — Thursday, December 6 at George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas at 10:30 am ET.

Discussion: The Caucus, The Stump, Stop The ACLU, Betsy's Page, TPM Election Central and Hot Air

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Romney to give speech on Mormonism — Looks like that PowerPoint that leaked back in February was spot-on. — Halperin has the big news: Mitt Romney will take to to the Bush Library in College Station, Texas, on Thursday to give a long-anticipated, much-debated speech about his Mormon faith …

Discussion: The Swamp, The Corner and CNN Political Ticker

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press: Romney to give Mormon speech

Michelle Malkin:

And now for some shoddy war reporting...from an NRO milblogger — Ugh. This is bad on many levels. W. Thomas Smith, Jr., a former Marine and milblogger who writes at National Review Online's The Tank (and whose work in Iraq I've praised and linked to here), posts a long-winded defense of bogus …

Discussion: The Corner, The Atlantic Online, Concurring Opinions, Op For, Right Wing Nut House, BitsBlog, The Tank, Blue Crab Boulevard, Chuck Adkins, Sister Toldjah, Flopping Aces, Confederate Yankee, Little Green Footballs, Daily Pundit and doubleplusundead

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

National Review reporter caught fabricating; where is the "liberal media"? — Update II — NR on notice six weeks ago) — National Review reporter Thomas Smith has been exposed as a fabulist for plainly fictitious claims he made in two separate NR posts in September regarding Hezbollah's …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Talking Points Memo, Angry Bear, Macsmind, The Sideshow, The Carpetbagger Report, Death, Free Frank Warner, Roger Ailes, Mercury Rising and A Blog For All

The Corner:

Re: Lebanon & "The Tank" — I was going to wait until a decent hour on Monday morning to bring readers' attention to "The Tank" Lebanon issue again but since everybody is working for the weekend, I'll weigh in tonight. Delay does no one any favors, especially the truth.

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
The Retraction At The Tank

Discussion: The Jawa Report and GregsOpinion.com

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

Jay Leno turns traitor: Fires his writers — I guess passing out some donuts while wearing his Republican lapel pin to striking writers was as far he was willing to go. What a putz. … Bob Cesca says:

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo, Variety, BBC, Ian Schwartz and Bob Cesca's Goddamn …

Atrios / Eschaton:

Jeb'd — state of Florida. … Don't know if Siedle has information or if he's just making a guess, but I too suspect that the last gasp of Big S**tpile involved finding marks in state and local governments.

Discussion: Discourse.net, Middle Earth Journal and Hullabaloo

Forbes:
Where Was Jeb? — A government money market debacle unfolding …

Discussion: At-Largely, Chuck Adkins, The Next Hurrah and Brilliant at Breakfast

Patrick Healy / The Caucus:

An Attack, From the Candidate's Mouth — CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - At a news conference here just now, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton expanded her attacks on Senator Barack Obama by suggesting that he has a character issue because of his assertions that his health insurance plan covers all Americans …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and TIME: Swampland

Byron York / The Corner:
The GOP Race: Huge Changes In Iowa

Discussion: Des Moines Register, Riehl World View, Stop The ACLU, Donklephant and Vox Popoli

Brendan Scott / New York Post:

TRYST FUND 'SICKENS' EX-OFFICIAL — A former Giuliani administration official says he's "sick" over reports that his little-known agency was used to hide taxpayer money that funded police escorts during the ex-mayor's romantic rendezvous in the Hamptons. — "The cover-up of this and the explanations …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Mark Steyn / The Australian:

A loss for civilisation — ACCORDING to my Oz-watching pals in Britain and the US, John Howard is not a failure but a victim of his own success. He made Australia safe for the Labor Party: or, at any rate, safe enough that a sufficient number of bored electors were willing to take a flier …

Discussion: Solomonia

Dan Popkey / Idaho Statesman:

More gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig — Allegations made since news of the Minneapolis case broke lend weight to rumors about Craig. … David Phillips. Mike Jones. Greg Ruth. Tom Russell. — Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Pandagon, BuzzFlash.org, The Atlantic Online, The Carpetbagger Report, Slog, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, The Swamp, Wonkette, Political Radar, Salon, On Deadline, Daily Kos, WTF Is It Now?!? and The American Street

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Prognosis: Rudy and the records — Predictably, Ben's story about Rudy's security billing got considerable play on the Sunday shows. — But whether it lives past today remains an open question. Let's look at both sides. — In support of Argument A, that it does:

Discussion: Associated Press and NY Daily News

Hindrocket / Power Line:

TEDDY BEARS, PARKED CARS AND MORAL EQUIVALENCE — The Washington Post online has a religion section called On Faith, which features liberal commentary on various issues relating to religion and public life. Today's column, "Sudan and Saudi Arabia: Who Speaks for Islam?," is by John Esposito and John Voll, both of Georgetown.

Discussion: The Corner