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.
Discussion:
Washington Post, feingold.senate.gov, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Middle Earth Journal, The Anonymous Liberal, Buck Naked Politics, Crooks and Liars, Comments from Left Field, All Spin Zone, Unqualified Offerings, The Swamp, Blue Girl, Red State, Democrats.com, Emptywheel, The Carpetbagger Report, The Sideshow, Open Left, Think Progress, Macsmind and Salon
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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."
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.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy / kennedy.senate.gov:
KENNEDY ON FISA — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Mr. President, I am troubled by the FISA bill that has come to the Senate floor. Since I introduced the original FISA legislation over 30 years ago, I've worked to amend the FISA law many times, and I believe that this bill is not faithful to the traditional balance that FISA has struck.
David Stout / New York Times:Telecom Industry Wins a Round on Eavesdropping
Discussion:
The Politico, Chris Dodd National Blog, The Swamp, CNN Political Ticker, Sister Toldjah, Prairie Weather and The Plank
Seattle Times:
"Muslim" issue resurfaces for Obama — COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president Sunday but stirred a continuing controversy by noting her chief rival's name is "Barack Hussein Obama" and that Obama had Muslim ancestors.
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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.
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:
Thomas Beaumont / Des Moines Register:Obama: I've fought harder against special interests
Discussion:
Marc Ambinder
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 …
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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 …
Alec MacGillis / The Trail:
Fresh Doubts About Clinton in N.H. — CONCORD, N.H. — Jim Splaine, a veteran Democrat in the New Hampshire legislature and author of the 1976 law that helped solidify the state's first-in-the-nation primary status, is worried. He is a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton and he does …
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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:
Weasel Zippers
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:
Matthew Flamm / Crain's New York Business.com:
Slow going for Rove memoir auction — Early reports had predicted a $3 million sale, but an auction for the Republican strategist's memoir has dragged on for a month. — December 17. — The auction for Karl Rove's memoir drags on a month after the Republican strategist made the rounds …
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, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Brendan Nyhan, Discourse.net and The Sundries Shack
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