Top Items:
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.
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New York Times:
Bush Lawyers Discussed Fate of C.I.A.Tapes — WASHINGTON — At least four top White House lawyers took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives from Al Qaeda …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Firedoglake, The Corner, Talking Points Memo, Think Progress, TPMmuckraker, The Daily Dish, The Hill, The Swamp, The Carpetbagger Report, Associated Press, Crooks and Liars, Political Machine, Emptywheel, Salon, MSNBC, The Heretik, JURIST, RealClearPolitics, Comments from Left Field, At-Largely, Shakespeare's Sister, The Gate, the talking dog, The Plank, Blue Girl, Red State, Prairie Weather, On Deadline, THE REACTION, ACSBlog, Balkinization, Make Them Accountable and NO QUARTER
White House:
Statement by the Press Secretary — The New York Times today implies that the White House has been misleading in publicly acknowledging or discussing details related to the CIA's decision to destroy interrogation tapes. — The sub-headline of the story inaccurately says that the …
Associated Press:
Fire controlled at White House compound — WASHINGTON - Thick black smoke billowed from a fire Wednesday in Vice President Dick Cheney's suite of offices in the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. — Cheney's office was damaged by smoke and water from fire hoses …
Harold Meyerson / Washington Post:
Hard-liners for Jesus — As Christians across the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it's a fitting moment to contemplate the mountain of moral, and mortal, hypocrisy that is our Christianized Republican Party. — There's nothing new, of course, about the Christianization of the GOP.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, RealClearPolitics, NewsBusters.org, DownWithTyranny!, Moonbattery and Buckeye State Blog
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Giuliani ads fail to produce N.H. results — A new Granite State poll out this morning from UNH/CNN has Mitt Romney still enjoying a solid lead, but with John McCain inching up and taking command of second as Rudy Giuliani drops a bit. — The numbers: — Romney: 34 — McCain: 22
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 …
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
For Clinton, A Matter of Fair Media — Senator's Camp Insists That the Press Holds Her To a Tougher Standard — After weeks of bad news, Hillary Clinton and her strategists hoped that winning the endorsement of Iowa's largest newspaper last weekend might produce a modest bump in their media coverage.
Discussion:
Clive Crook, The Swamp, TPM Election Central, Ben Smith's Blogs, MSNBC, ABCNEWS, Boston Globe, Taylor Marsh, Make Them Accountable and Suburban Guerrilla
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CNN Political Ticker:
Clinton recaptures lead in New Hampshire — WASHINGTON (CNN) - It appears Hillary Clinton has recaptured the lead in New Hampshire, according to a new CNN/WMUR New Hampshire presidential primary poll out Wednesday morning. — After slipping into a virtual tie with Sen. Barack Obama …
Dan Smith / Sacramento Bee:
Clinton loses big chunk of her lead in California — Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A1 — In a sign that Californians are tapping into a presidential primary season largely playing out elsewhere, the race here between Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
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 …
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 …
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Rush to Judgment — One of my male colleagues was explaining why men age better than women. — “It's evolutionary,” he said. “As we wear out our wives, who are running around taking care of the kids, we know we're going to have to get another younger wife, so we stay good-looking.”
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 …
Discussion:
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