memeorandum: Jesus and Lucifer, Sitting in a Tree (Matthew Yglesias)

5:55 PM ET, December 13, 2007

Top Items:

Glenn Thrush / Newsday:

Clinton insiders question top aide's approach — Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton speaks at a "town hall meeting" in San Francisco December 11. (McClatchy-Tribune / December 11, 2007) — DES MOINES - On the eve of the final Iowa debate before the Jan. 3 caucuses …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, RealClearPolitics, TIME: Swampland, Salon, The Moderate Voice, AMERICAblog and TIME

Michelle Malkin:
The Iowa Democrat debate: Schoolmarm returns; Update: Schoolmarm …

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, Hot Air and Riehl World View

Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:
In Iowa, a Scrambling Lesson for Clinton

Discussion: Democratic Strategist, Time, Taylor Marsh, MSNBC, Riehl World View, Los Angeles Times and OxBlog

Maggie Haberman / New York Post:
HYPOCRISY 101: CLINTON CAMP USES COLLEGE TACTIC IT RIPPED

Discussion: The Politico, USA Today, Liberal Values, Ben Smith's Blogs, Future Majority and MSNBC

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Democratic Debate Preview: Do or Die for Clinton?

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Carpetbagger Report and Boston Globe

Mevanh / The Page:

Shaheen Resigns from Clinton Campaign — New Hampshire pol and co-chair quits over Wednesday's drug comment about Obama. — "I made a mistake and in light of what happened, I have made the personal decision that I will step down ...." Read his full statement.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Marc Ambinder, New York Daily News Blogs, New York Times, The Daily Dish, Associated Press, JunkYardBlog, Connecting.the.Dots, Roger L. Simon, Stop The ACLU, TIME: Swampland, Slog, Riehl World View, Oliver Willis and Hot Air

John Distaso / New Hampshire Union Leader:

Bill Shaheen quits Clinton campaign — Bill Shaheen has resigned as a co-chair of Hillary Clinton's national campaign, UnionLeader.com has learned. — Shaheen last night apologized for telling a reporter that if Barack Obama becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, Republicans will use his admitted past drug use against him.

Discussion: The Fix and New York Daily News Blogs

CNN:
Aide: Clinton apologizes to Obama

Discussion: MoJoBlog

John Bresnahan / The Politico:

Judiciary approves contempt resolutions — The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved contempt resolutions against Karl Rove, the former top aide to President Bush, and Joshua Bolten, the current White House chief of staff. The vote was 12-8. — The criminal contempt resolutions now move …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, The Swamp, Neptunus Lex, Wonkette and macsmind.com/wordpress

Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Two GOPers Join Dems in White House Contempt Vote

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG and The Carpetbagger Report

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
After losing spending battle, Pelosi eyes '08 election

Discussion: michellemalkin.com and Right Voices

ESPN:

Mitchell report: Baseball slow to react to players' steroids use — NEW YORK — George Mitchell's 20-month report into steroid use in professional baseball blamed both players and management for the problem. — Mitchell addressed the media and released his report Thursday.

Discussion: The New Republic, Crooks and Liars, Taylor Marsh, Right Wing Nut House and LAist

CNN:

Clemens, Pettitte named in baseball steroid report — NEW YORK (CNN) — Illegal steroids have been in widespread use in Major League Baseball for more than a decade and used by some of the game's top stars, former Sen. George Mitchell said in releasing a report Thursday.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

ArkansasTimes:

Dumond goes viral UPDATE — Mike Huckabee's advocacy of rapist/killer Wayne Dumond's release has hit YouTube in a piece Talking Points Memo terms brutal in the course of looking into its provenance. The mother of Dumond's Missouri murder victim is featured. — An Arkansas Republican, Keith Emis, takes responsibility.

Discussion: The New Republic, Matthew Yglesias, Shakespeare's Sister, Hot Air and Redstate

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Mystery: Who's Behind Brutal Web Video Slamming Huckabee Over Paroled Rapist?

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Reaction, Democrats.com, Say Anything, Taylor Marsh, Redstate and race42008.com

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Democrats show Beltway "strength," avoid being depicted as weak — In the world of the Beltway pundit, Bush Dog Representative, and Democratic strategist, this is how Democrats prove how "strong" and tough they are and avoid being demonized as "weak" and "soft"; this is all just from today:

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, Captain's Quarters, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, The Sideshow, Cogitamus, UrbanGrounds, Corrente, The Mahatma X Files and Firedoglake

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Democrats Bow to Bush's Demands in House Spending Bill

Charles Krauthammer / Townhall.com:

Knee-Deep in Religion — WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney declares, "Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone." Barack Obama opens his speech at his South Carolina Oprah rally with "Giving all praise and honor to God. Look at the day that the Lord has made."

Discussion: New York Times, The Mahablog and Firedoglake

Roger Cohen / New York Times:
Secular Europe's Merits

Discussion: TPMCafe blogs, Eunomia, Matthew Yglesias and Liberal Values

Scott Shane / New York Times:

C.I.A. Agents Sense Shifting Support for Methods — WASHINGTON — For six years, Central Intelligence Agency officers have worried that someday the tide of post-Sept. 11 opinion would turn, and their harsh treatment of prisoners from Al Qaeda would be subjected to hostile scrutiny and possible criminal prosecution.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, NewsBusters.org, Empire Burlesque, Hot Air, Captain's Quarters, TPMCafe blogs, The Daily Dish, Say Anything and Weasel Zippers

NY Daily News:

Subpoenas for Al Sharpton's aides — Teams of federal agents swooped down on up to 10 close associates of the Rev. Al Sharpton Wednesday, demanding the flamboyant clergyman's financial records since 2001. — Sharpton's former chief of staff said he was roused at his Harlem home about 6:30 …

Discussion: City Room, New York Post, The Radio Equalizer, Wonkette, UrbanGrounds, Oliver Willis, michellemalkin.com and Big Head DC

Matthew Yglesias:

Jesus and Lucifer, Sitting in a Tree — Here's an odd addendum to the story about Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Mormons, and the question of Jesus and Lucifer being brothers. The LDS church sent out a spokesperson to complain: … Fair enough, but as Andrew pointed out yesterday …

Discussion: Eschaton, Pandagon, Outside The Beltway, Vox Popoli and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Edward / Heading Right:

Live-Blogging The Democrats — What's this? Heading Right covering a Democratic debate? Sure! It's the last major debate before the Iowa caucus, and we'll take a conservative perspective on what's happening on the Left. I'll blog this in reverse-chronological order …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters

Tapscott's Copy Desk:

A dream comes true: USASpending.gov goes live today — Nearly eight years ago, Bill Beach, director of The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis, and I invited Gary Bass of OMB Watch over for a chat about the possibility of our two organizations collaborating in an effort to put all federal spending on the Internet.

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation, Heritage Foundation, TPMmuckraker, Washington Post, Wake up America and Captain's Quarters

Marc Ambinder:

Democratic Debate: First Take — Everyone had a good debate. — (Campaign pull-quote compilers, take note.) — But who did best? The audience is undecided Democratic caucus goers. Who stood out? Who was different? Who seemed most presidential? Who parlayed their strengths?

Discussion: MyDD, Political Radar, Spin Cycle, John Edwards for President and Salon

Dean Barker / Blue Hampshire:

Site Note on Campaign Disclosure — Recently, we admins noticed this comment thread on a recommended diary, and the oddities it posed made us look a little deeper than we normally would. — As the comment thread revealed, users pinballwizard, elf, shley24, MTAY all registered in succession to recommend the diary.

Discussion: techPresident, The Caucus, RIGHTWINGSPARKLE and The Trail

Jared Bernstein / The Coffee House:

Boy, Have We Got an Inequality Problem — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just updated their invaluable data series on income inequality and the results are startling. Income inequality among households, both before and after Federal taxes, grew more quickly over the last two years of the series …

Discussion: Angry Bear