Top Items:
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:
TPMmuckraker, The Daily Dish, The Swamp, Think Progress, The Hill, Washington Post, Salon, At-Largely, The Gate, MSNBC, The Heretik, Crooks and Liars, Comments from Left Field, Balkinization, the talking dog, Emptywheel, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakespeare's Sister, On Deadline, Blue Girl, Red State, Prairie Weather, Brilliant at Breakfast, Buck Naked Politics, Norwegianity and Suburban Guerrilla
RELATED:
Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Disappeared Into Secret Pakistani and US Prisons
Disappeared Into Secret Pakistani and US Prisons
Discussion:
The Newshoggers
Carlotta Gall / New York Times:
Picture of Secret Detentions Emerges in Pakistan
Picture of Secret Detentions Emerges in Pakistan
Discussion:
FP Passport
National Enquirer:
NATIONAL ENQUIRER WORLD EXCLUSIVE: JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD SCANDAL! — The woman linked to Presidential candidate John Edwards in a cheating scandal is more than six months pregnant and telling a close confidante that Edwards is the father of her unborn child, The NATIONAL ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.
RELATED:
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
How Many Degrees Of Separation? — Blogosphere buzz today centers on a Drudge story regarding alleged marital infidelity for a major contender in the Democratic presidential primaries. The story comes from the National Enquirer, so the reliability of the information seems rather debatable.
Discussion:
Immodest Proposals
Directorblue / Doug Ross:
A Clinton link to a John Edwards' Love Child Scandal? — Updates below — including the Clinton link to the National Enquirer and an alleged girlfriend named by several investigative reporters. — Drudge just broke the story about a forthcoming National Enquirer shocker. Granted, it's the Enquirer.
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.
RELATED:
John Whitesides / Reuters:
Huckabee, Giuliani tied in 2008 Republican race — DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Mike Huckabee has surged into a virtual tie with front-runner Rudy Giuliani in the national 2008 Republican presidential race two weeks before the first contest, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
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.
RELATED:
Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
It's Edwards the Fighter in the Iowa Homestretch — OTTUMWA, Iowa — More than 150 Iowans were rustling in their chairs at a community college here the other night, waiting for John Edwards. Mr. Edwards's bus was parked and running outside the door, but it was nearly 45 minutes before he finally …
RELATED:
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 …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Sweetness & Light, The Glittering Eye, On Deadline, Macsmind, RealClearPolitics, Romenesko and Fausta's blog
RELATED:
Richard Stengel / Time:
Choosing Order Before Freedom — In a year when Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize and green became the new red, white and blue; when the combat in Iraq showed signs of cooling but Baghdad's politicians showed no signs of statesmanship; when China, the rising superpower …
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.
Marc Ambinder:
First Look: Romney's “Searched” — You're getting a first look at the most personal, most provocative television ad Mitt Romney has aired so far... It's called “Searched." It tells a story familiar to readers of Romney biographies. Robert Gay was a partner at Bain Capital …
Discussion:
Hot Air
RELATED:
Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
Now we know why Rudy pulled back some dollars from NH
Now we know why Rudy pulled back some dollars from NH
Discussion:
TPM Election Central
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.”
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
No. 1 Book, and It Offers Solutions — In 1967, Jack Wennberg, a young medical researcher at Johns Hopkins, moved his family to a farmhouse in northern Vermont. — Dr. Wennberg had been chosen to run a new center based at the University of Vermont that would examine medical care in the state.
David Horovitz / Jerusalem Post:
Prosecutor: Argentina bombings ordered by Iran — Iran orchestrated two bombings in Buenos Aires in the mid-1990s, killing more than 100 people, primarily because it was furious over Argentina's cessation of nuclear cooperation with the Islamic Republic, a top Argentinean prosecutor said Tuesday …
Greg Gordon / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Inside a GOP effort to rig the 2002 New Hampshire elections — WASHINGTON — A former GOP political operative who ran an illegal election-day scheme to jam the phone lines of New Hampshire Democrats during the state's tight 2002 U.S. Senate election said in a new book and an interview …
Discussion:
The Newshoggers, DownWithTyranny!, Pottersville, Rising Hegemon, Firedoglake, Prairie Weather and Cliff Schecter