Top Items:
Think Progress:
Dodd filibuster threat causes Reid to withdraw FISA bill. — "Senator Chris Dodd won a temporary victory today after his threats of a filibuster forced Democratic leadership to push back consideration of a measure that would grant immunity to telecom companies that were complicit in warrantless surveillance."
Discussion:
TPM Election Central, Bob Cesca's Goddamn …, SteveAudio, Unqualified Offerings and Oliver Willis
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Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Dodd's Filibuster Threat Stalls Wiretap Bill — Senator Chris Dodd won a temporary victory today after his threats of a filibuster forced Democratic leadership to push back consideration of a measure that would grant immunity to telecom companies that were complicit in warrantless surveillance.
Discussion:
Chris Dodd National Blog, Comments from Left Field, Blue Girl, Red State and Right Voices
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
BREAKING: REID PULLED TELECOM BILL — Harry Reid just pulled the telecom bill. The Senate will take it up again after the first of the year, but for now there will be no retroactive telecom immunity. — Karen Tumulty wrote over at Swampland earlier in the day: … I guess he did.
Matt Browner-Hamlin / Chris Dodd National Blog:
Constitution Protected...For Now — Majority Leader Harry Reid has just pulled the FISA bill from consideration in this session. It will be brought up at some point next month. — Without Senator Dodd's leadership today, it is safe to assume that retroactive immunity would have passed.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, Corrente, The Sideshow, Taylor Marsh, The Agonist, MyDD, Hullabaloo, Eschaton and Lean Left
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Harry Reid — compare and contrast — ***** Update V: Reid pulls bill until next year) — Russ Feingold, today, on the effects of Harry Reid's pro-administration dirty work: … All of this stems from Reid's refusal to honor the "hold" placed on that bill by Chris Dodd, who has been in the Senate for 24 years.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Reuters, Captain's Quarters, feingold.senate.gov, CQ.com, TPMmuckraker, Firedoglake, RADAMISTO, The Crypt's Blogs, Think Progress, michellemalkin.com, Chris Dodd National Blog, Open Left, CQ Politics, The Plank, Pirate's Cove, Sister Toldjah, Blue Girl, Red State, Corrente, MyDD, The Garlic, Comments from Left Field, Matthew Yglesias, Democrats.com, Cogitamus, The Sideshow, Macsmind and The Impolitic
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Obama's Statement on Dodd and Filibuster — I contacted the Clinton, Edwards and Obama campaigns last night to ask them if they had statements on Dodd's filibuster against retroactive immunity today. So far the only one to get back to me with one is Obama:
Ann Althouse / Althouse:
That picture of Hillary on Drudge right now. — Have you seen it? — Caption: "The Toll of a Campaign." It seems so cruel. Immodest Proposals writes: … My first reaction to that picture is simple disbelief. How can she suddenly look that much older?
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Sadly, No!:
A tantalizing peek at history's greatest book — Thanks to a certain Christmas elf who sent us this early present: — Personally, I think the chapter about liberals being seKKKret racists will be the most LOL-worthy, although "The 1960s: Fascism Takes to the Streets" should be good for giggles as well.
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USA Today:
USAT/Gallup Poll: Giuliani & Clinton hold slightly wider leads — Fresh off the presses, so to speak — the latest numbers from the national USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, taken over the weekend. They appear to show that the front-runners are still front-running: — Republicans.
Discussion:
Marc Ambinder, Taegan Goddard's …, race42008.com, Pollster.com, New York Observer and TPM Election Central
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Kerrey digs a little deeper — Bob Kerrey, talking on CNN earlier today, dropped the observation that Obama had spent time in a "secular madrassa" (which I'm not sure is a term that makes sense), which seems to play into critics' notion that he's trying to subtly raise questions about Obama:
Discussion:
Hot Air
RELATED:
Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
IT'S PERFECTLY REASONABLE TO REJECT A CANDIDATE BECAUSE OF HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS. — Just before this gets completely out of hand and becomes a mantralike repetition, let us please recall what the careful phrases of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution actually and very carefully and deliberately say:
Tom Curry / MSNBC:
Obama racial subtext surfaces in Iowa — Edwards parries a voter's question about Obama and the O.J. verdict — Presidential hopefuls former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., await the start of last Thursday's Des Moines Register Presidential Debate in Iowa.
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Ilya Blanter / The Daily Princetonian:
Nava '09 admits to fabricating assault, threat e-mails — Francisco Nava '09 has admitted to fabricating an alleged assault on him that he said occurred Friday evening and to sending threatening emails to himself, other members of the Anscombe Society and prominent conservative politics professor Robert George.
The Corner:
Re: Mark Steyn is losing — Stanley, you may be right. The Canadian Islamic Congress is arguing that my article is a "crime". By accepting the case, the Canadian Human Rights Commission has indicated it's prepared at least to consider the possibility that it's a "crime".
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
RELATED:
Ruben Navarrette Jr / CNN:
Navarrette: Attempts to destroy Obama backfire — SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) — Ever since Barack Obama began to pierce the inevitability that we were told surrounded the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, I've wondered how the Clintonistas would react. Now we know: not well.
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Ron Paul For The Republican Nomination — By now, readers will know who I favor in the Democratic race. Here's my most considered case. But what of the GOP? For me, it comes down to two men, Ron Paul and John McCain. That may sound strange, because in many ways they are polar opposites …
Discussion:
Liberal Values, No More Mister Nice Blog, Salon, The Democratic Daily and Reason Magazine