Top Items:
Klaus Marre / The Hill:
White House asks NYT to remove sub-headline from CIA tape story — The White House on Wednesday took the rare step of publicly asking The New York Times to change the sub-headline of a story on the destruction of CIA tapes showing the interrogations of suspected terrorists.
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Michael Calderone / The Politico:
NY Times changes CIA headline for WH — The New York Times has changed the subheadline in Wednesday's front-page story on the CIA's destruction of secret interrogation tapes, following a formal request by the White House. — The correction has already been made online …
Discussion:
Wonkette, Democrats.com, JURIST, HorsesAss.Org, The Gun Toting Liberal™ and The Carpetbagger Report
Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
The Tell-Tale Stall — The best indicator of how seriously this White House is involved in a political scandal may be how emphatically it refuses to comment. — By that standard, the CIA's destruction of its torture tapes is shaping up to be a doozy of a White House story.
CNN:
Fire hits building next door to White House — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Firefighters battled thick smoke and flames Wednesday inside the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next door to the White House, which houses the vice president's ceremonial offices.
National Enquirer:
UPDATE: NATIONAL ENQUIRER WORLD EXCLUSIVE: JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL! — Presidential candidate John Edwards is caught up in a love child scandal, a blockbuster ENQUIRER investigation has discovered. — The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Rielle Hunter, a woman linked to Edwards …
Paul Krugman:
Interesting Obama history — I've been alerted to an interesting Boston Globe article about Barack Obama's role, when he was in the Illinois legislature, in the attempt to get the state committed to universal health care. It turns out that the story very much prefigures the debates we're having right now.
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Washington Post:
Poll: Iowa's GOP Race is Battle Between Huckabee, Romney — The race for Iowa's Republican caucuses has narrowed to a two-person battle between former governors Mike Huckabee (Ark.) and Mitt Romney (Mass.), with Huckabee now perched atop the field, propelled by a big jump in support among religious women.
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Adi Ignatius / Time:
Person of the Year: Vladimir Putin — A Tsar Is Born — No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin's. The Russian President's pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved …
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Roger Simon / The Politico:
Fred Thompson: Lazy as charged — WAVERLY, Iowa — When is retail politics not retail politics? When candidates refuse to get off their big buses and go do it. — Fred Thompson rolled into this small town on the Cedar River in north-central Iowa on a giant brown bus Tuesday.
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Tancredo to get out? — Tom Tancredo has scheduled a press conference in Des Moines tomorrow afternoon to make a “major announcement regarding the campaign,” according to a media advisory his campaign sent out today. — Asked whether Tancredo intended to drop out of the race …
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, Comments from Left Field, Hot Air, The Stump, Salon, race42008.com and The Campaign Spot
CNN Political Ticker:
Paul to keep donation from white supremacist — WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has received a $500 campaign donation from a white supremacist, and the Texas congressman doesn't plan to return it, an aide said Wednesday.
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David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Reid's Relationship With Bush Enters Deep Freeze — WASHINGTON — Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, has called President Bush a loser and a liar and has referred to him derisively as King George. Mr. Reid has also apologized — but only, he likes to point out, for the “loser” line.
Discussion:
The Hill, Los Angeles Times, Macsmind, Don Surber, MSNBC, Sister Toldjah and BrothersJudd Blog
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John Podhoretz / Commentary:
“Mitt Romney...Helped Save My Daughter” — At first blush, this seems like a genuinely great campaign ad — the story of how Mitt Romney basically closed down his business, Bain Capital, in 1996 when the daughter of one of his partners went missing in New York City and Romney sent dozens …
Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
All Iraqi Groups Blame U.S. Invasion for Discord, Study Shows — Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the U.S. military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them, and see the departure of “occupying forces” as the key to national reconciliation …
Brent Budowsky / The Hill:
Torture Tapes are the Watergate of Our Times — As I write these words on the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 19, high- and low-level officials of the Bush administration involved in torture, and the destruction of the torture tapes, are consulting their criminal lawyers as The New York Times reports …
Anne Thompson / Campaign for America's Future:
RECORD-BREAKING: SENATE CONSERVATIVES — New Report Shows How Conservative Minority Rules by Filibuster, Preventing Up or Down Vote on a Record Number of Bills — WASHINGTON—The Republican Senate minority today filibustered an omnibus budget bill, setting a modern-day record for blocking …
Donna J. Miller / Cleveland Metro News:
Dennis Kucinich's 52-year-old brother found dead — Perry Kucinich, 52, was found dead in his home in the 4100 block of East 71st Street. — His brother Larry found him about 9 a.m. There were no signs of violence, officials said. The Cuyahoga County Coroner is performing an autopsy this hour.