memeorandum: FIRST, DO NO HARM — I haven't had a chance yet to weigh … (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)

11:40 PM ET, December 3, 2007

Top Items:

U.S. Says Iran Ended Atomic Arms Work — A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold, contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working inexorably toward building a bomb.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, JustOneMinute, Think Progress, Washington Monthly, TIME: Swampland, The Newshoggers, Foreign Policy Watch, Wake up America, Commentary, Liberty Street, A Blog For All, Guardian, democracyarsenal.org, Neptunus Lex, Counterterrorism Blog, The Carpetbagger Report, The Impolitic, Flopping Aces, The Sundries Shack, Right Voices, The Belmont Club, Emptywheel, Cheat Seeking Missiles, Atlas Shrugs, The Heretik, The New Republic, Daniel W. Drezner, Empire Burlesque, QandO, Chuck Adkins, The Atlantic Online, FP Passport, TPMCafe blogs, American Footprints, Sweetness & Light, Stop The ACLU, The Agonist, Weekly Standard, War in Context, Donklephant, The Glittering Eye, All Spin Zone, Truthdig, The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, PoliGazette, At-Largely, Watching Those We Chose, Balloon Juice, Interesting Times and The Huffington Post

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

WHY WAS THE NIE RELEASED?....A couple of random thoughts on the newly released NIE concluding that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003: — This NIE was apparently finished a year ago, and its basic parameters were almost certainly common knowledge in the White House well before that.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Taylor Marsh

Victor Davis Hanson / The Corner:

Revisionism and The Iranian Non-Bomb — The latest news from Iran about the supposed abandonment in 2003 of the effort to produce a Bomb — if even remotely accurate — presents somewhat of a dilemma for liberal Democrats. — Are they now to suggest that Republicans have been warmongering …

Discussion: The Newshoggers and The New Republic

Thomas Joscelyn / Weekly Standard:

Five Questions Concerning the Latest NIE — The story dominating the news cycle right now is the public release of "Key Judgments" from an NIE on Iran's nuclear program. In particular, the first sentence of the NIE is drawing the press's intention: "We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003 …

Discussion: Reuters, Power Line, michellemalkin.com and ThreatsWatch

New York Times:

White House Reaction to Iran Report — Here is the text of a statement issued today by Stephen Hadley, President Bush's national security adviser, concerning the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear weapons program. The intelligence estimate says that, contrary to previous assessments …

Discussion: The American Street, AMERICAN FUTURE, Wolf Howling, Danger Room and Salon

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:
WELL, THAT'S CONVENIENT: "A new assessment by American intelligence …

Discussion: Commentary and Riehl World View

Horses Mouth:
AP Headline Writers Make Iran NIE Say The Opposite of What It Says

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and TPMmuckraker

Think Progress:
Hadley: Bush Learned Of NIE's Findings 'In The Last Few Months …

Discussion: New York Sun, democracyarsenal.org and Seeing the Forest

Spencer Ackerman / TPMmuckraker:
Congress (Probably) Didn't Compel Release of Iran Intel Report

Discussion: Middle Earth Journal

Joe Klein / TIME: Swampland:
More on Iran — I just spoke with a senior U.S. intelligence official …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Washington Note and Ezra Klein

The Atlantic Online:
2003 — I think it's important to put the revelations …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Carpetbagger Report

CNN:
U.S.: Iran stopped nuclear weapons work

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TPMCafe blogs, Atlantic Free Press, The Raw Story, Boots and Sabers and Why Now?

The Corner: Re: Iranian Nukes

Jeffrey / ArmsControlWonk:
IC: Iran Stopped Nuke Program in Fall 2003 [4]

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House

Robert Reich / Robert Reich's Blog:

Why is HRC stooping So Low? — I'm becoming increasingly concerned about the stridency and inaccuracy of charges in Iowa — especially coming from my old friend. While I'm as hard-boiled as they come about what's said in campaigns, I just don't think Dems should stoop to this.

Discussion: The Caucus, Sister Toldjah, JustOneMinute, The Carpetbagger Report, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Patterico's Pontifications, Open Left and Neptunus Lex

Ron Christie / The Hill:
Beginning of the End of the Clinton Campaign (Ron Christie)

Discussion: Boston Globe, The Swamp, Pew Research Center, HillaryClinton.com, Washington Post, CNN Political Ticker, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, Comments from Left Field, Chuck Adkins and American Power

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
So, About That 15 Million Figure You've Been Hearing...

Discussion: Ezra Klein

Frank James / Baltimore Sun:
This Clinton attack on Obama could boomerang

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Captain's Quarters, New York Sun, Reason Magazine, Liberal Values, The Newshoggers and The Democratic Daily

Michelle Malkin:
Hillary and Obama: The Democrat Punch and Judy Show

Discussion: Associated Press, Suitably Flip, Power Line, PoliGazette, The American Pundit and SCSUScholars

The Smoking Gun:

Senate Aide In Kiddie Sex Bust — FBI: Staffer for Sen. Maria Cantwell sought tryst with boy — A U.S. Senate aide was arrested Friday after allegedly arranging a lunchtime sexual encounter with a teenage boy, according to federal court records. James McHaney, 28, was nabbed by FBI agents …

Discussion: Redstate, Wizbang, Chuck Adkins, JammieWearingFool, The Sundries Shack, Blue Crab Boulevard and The American Pundit

USA Today:

USA TODAY/Gallup Poll: Significant drops in support for Clinton & Giuliani — "National support for Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani significantly eroded over the past month," USA TODAY Washington bureau chief Susan Page writes. — Meanwhile, Republican Mike …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, The Politico, The Democratic Daily, TPM Election Central, Stop The ACLU and Watching Those We Chose

Martin Kady II / The Politico:

Reid pushes back on Iraq optimism — Democrats are increasingly bailing on their previously held view that the troop surge in Iraq has been a "failure," but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn't ready to jump on the bandwagon with other Democrats who say the surge has worked.

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air, Weekly Standard, Redstate, Say Anything, Right Voices, Free Frank Warner and Gateway Pundit

David Evans / Bloomberg:

Montana, Connecticut Hold Downgraded by Moody's — Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) — Montana and Connecticut state-run investment pools hold debt tainted by the subprime mortgage collapse whose ratings were cut or put under review by Moody's Investors Service, the latest examples of downgraded holdings …

au.org:

Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Public Funding Of Evangelical Prison Program In Iowa — Americans United Praises Court Ruling That Upholds Separation Of Church And State — A federal appeals court today ruled that tax funding of an evangelical Christian rehabilitation program …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, TalkLeft and The Carpetbagger Report

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:

Beware The Mormon Captivity Cont'd — Well, waiting for specific examples of what, exactly, a Mormon president might do that warrants explicitly voting against a Mormon is a bit like waiting for Godot. Most of the responses I've received flatly admit that there is no problem with Mitt's conservatism, it's the Mormonism.

Discussion: Stubborn Facts

Peter Beinart / Washington Post:

A Non-Story Remakes the Race — Last month, Katharine Q. Seelye of the New York Times live-blogged the Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas. As the discussion bounced from subject to subject, she marked the topic and the time, then gave her thoughts.

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org and Weekly Standard

Klaus Marre / The Hill:

Bush blasts Senate over pro forma sessions — President Bush Monday welcomed back Congress by criticizing Democrats for their priorities and blasting the Senate for using a procedural maneuver to prevent him from making recess appointments. — "In a political maneuver designed to block …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker