Top Items:
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.
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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."
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:
TPM Election Central, Scholars and Rogues, The Newshoggers, Crooks and Liars, Salon, Corrente, The Swamp, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, The Seminal, The Sideshow, The Agonist, All Spin Zone, Think Progress, Comments from Left Field, The Garlic, MyDD, Firedoglake, TPMCafe blogs, Hullabaloo, The Impolitic and Eschaton
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:
Dodd, Blogs Celebrate FISA Victory — Senator Dodd issued the following statement in response to Senator Reid pulling the Intel Committee bill from consideration until the new year: … The progressive blogs, who played a huge role in lobbying the Senate to support Dodd's leadership …
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Chris Dodd Does It. Reid pulls Telecom Immunity bill off the table — Yahooooo—Congratulations to Senator Dodd for showing what a little backbone can do. Harry Reid tabled the FISA bill just a few minutes ago. Thanks to the many C&Lers and the entire Progressive blogosphere for all the emails …
Discussion:
Threat Level, DownWithTyranny!, Blue Girl, Red State, The Garlic, The Carpetbagger Report and Open Left
David Stout / New York Times:
Telecom Industry Wins a Round on Eavesdropping — WASHINGTON — Telecommunications companies won a skirmish in the Senate on Monday as a bill to protect them from lawsuits for cooperating with the Bush administration's eavesdropping programs easily overcame a procedural hurdle.
Discussion:
The Politico, The Swamp, Chris Dodd National Blog, CNN Political Ticker, Sister Toldjah, The Plank and Prairie Weather
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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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:
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.
RELATED:
Ben Smith / The Politico:New HRC ads follow long internal struggle
Discussion:
New York Times, CNN Political Ticker, The Swamp, The Plank, Blue Crab Boulevard and New York Daily News Blogs
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?
Spectator:
The blood runs cold — The lights are going out on liberal society - and it is the most liberal societies with their fingers on the 'off' switch. The thesis of Mark Steyn's book America Alone, that Europe was succumbing to an Islamist takeover, has been proved spectacularly correct …
RELATED:
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.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Left in the West, Brendan Nyhan, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Discourse.net and The Sundries Shack
Peterhamby / CNN Political Ticker:
Bill Clinton: George H.W. Bush will help President Hillary — ORANGEBURG, South Carolina (CNN) - Former President Bill Clinton said Monday that the first thing his wife Hillary will do when she reaches the White House is dispatch him and his predecessor, President George H.W. Bush …
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:
Anthony Boadle / Reuters:
Castro hints he will not hold on to power — HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public for 16 months, suggested on Monday he might give up his formal leadership posts — the first time he has spoken of his possible retirement.
Discussion:
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