A RARE MOMENT OF CANDOR  —  Dan Bartlett, on the White House's use of right wing blogs:

The Flaws In the Iran Report  —  Rarely has a document from the supposedly hidden world of intelligence had such an impact as the National Intelligence Estimate released this week.  Rarely has an administration been so unprepared for such an event.  And rarely have vehement critics of the …

Landlord Describes Suspected Mall Shooter  —  Witness 'Kept Hoping God Would Spare Us'  —  OMAHA, Neb. — The shooter at Westroads Mall was identified as Robert A. Hawkins of Bellevue, according to the Sarpy County Sheriff's Department.  —  Hawkins, 19, had been arrested on a couple …

As N.H. Primary Nears, Clinton Clings to Narrow Lead  —  Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a narrow lead over Sen. Barack Obama among Democratic presidential candidates in New Hampshire, a state whose primary her campaign has viewed as a potential firewall should she stumble in the Iowa caucuses …

EXCLUSIVE: Thompson S.C. co-chair weighs in on GOP rivals  —  MOSTELLER PREDICTS ROMNEY SPEECH WILL RAISE MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT MORMONISM  —  SAYS GIULIANI, MCCAIN HURT IN S.C. BY ABORTION, IMMIGRATION  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. (TPS) - Cyndi Mosteller, the former First Vice Chair of the South Carolina GOP …

Revenge of the Evangelicals  —  Remember how evangelicals had "matured"?  Remember how the war on terror had replaced social issues?  It shouldn't be hard, since all those things were being said a couple of weeks ago (heck, still being said maybe even a few days ago).

Hillary Campaign Acknowledges That County Chair Backing Hillary Passed Along Obama Muslim Smear Email  —  A day after the Hillary campaign hit the Obama camp for bullying voters in nasty phone calls, the Hillary crew has just acknowledged that an Iowa county chair volunteering …

The System Is Working  —  Maybe this isn't acknowledged enough, but it seems to me that the Founders would for the first time be pleased with how the United States has been adjusting policy and personnel in wartime this past year.  I think when historians look back, they will note a few things.

The Inside Story Of The SwiftBoaters Finally Told  —  This is the most important book you'll buy this year: To Set The Record Straight, How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry, by Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler, with Forward by John O'Neill.

The Science of Gore's Nobel  —  What if everyone believes in global warmism only because everyone believes in global warmism?  —  The Nobel Committee might as well have called it Al Gore's Inner Peace Prize, given the way it seems designed to help him disown his lifelong ambition …

Law professors petition against on-campus military recruiting  —  Nearly the entire faculty of Stanford Law School has signed an e-mail to students encouraging those interested in a career in the military to meet recruiters off campus, a move that one Stanford alum argues puts the school at risk of violating the Solomon Amendment.

Re: Why Do People Like Huck?  - Wednesday, December 05, 2007 @ 10:03:32 AM  —  I posted my entry before seeing Jennifer's.  Jennifer, you make a good point in that Huckabee is very convincing at expressing regret.  That's why he is doing so well in the polls: Because he is so good at sounding good …

Cheney: Iraq to be self-governing by 2009  —  Vice President Cheney today predicted Iraq will be a self-governing democracy by the time he leaves office, calling the current U.S. surge strategy "a remarkable success story" that will be studied for years to come.

A SLIPPERY SLOPE TO A BOMB?  —  Fred Thompson provides his take (warning: could cause drowsiness ) on the Iran NIE over at RedState.  I can't really make out what his point is.  It's a hawkish point of view with some attempts at statesmanlike "perspective."

Lenders Agree to Freeze Rates on Some Loans  —  The Bush administration reached an agreement with the mortgage industry on Wednesday on a plan to freeze interest rates for up to five years for a portion of the two million homeowners who bought houses in the last few years with subprime loans.