memeorandum: Dear Diary, I Think I'm in Love (P.J. O'Rourke/Weekly Standard)

5:30 AM ET, December 29, 2007

Top Items:

Bill Kristol To Become New York Times Columnist In 2008 — The Huffington Post has learned that, in a move bound to create controversy, the New York Times is set to announce that Bill Kristol will become a weekly columnist in 2008. Kristol, a prominent neo-conservative who recently departed …

Discussion: Blog P.I., The Anonymous Liberal, Washington Monthly, The American Street, Crooks and Liars, Unqualified Offerings, driftglass, Vox Popoli, Macsmind, Reason Magazine and State of the Day

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Kristol To The NYT — He's obviously an extremely talented writer …

Discussion: alicublog, The Agitator and LewRockwell.com Blog

Dan Gearino / Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier:

New Lee poll: Edwards moves into 3-way tie — A new Iowa caucus poll from Lee Enterprises newspapers shows the Democratic race is a virtual three-way tie, with John Edwards rising to tie Barack Obama for the lead and Hillary Clinton rising to just one point behind.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Marc Ambinder, Open Left, The American Street, Boston Globe, Bleeding Heartland, MyDD, Taegan Goddard's … and Pollster.com

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

John Edwards: Obama 'Living in Never-Never Land'? — Edwards Criticizes Rivals as the Campaign in Iowa Enters the Home Stretch — In a wide-ranging, free-wheeling interview with Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards with ABC News Friday afternoon, the former North Carolina senator labeled …

Discussion: TPM Election Central

Roger Simon / The Politico:

Dodd unloads on Obama and Clinton — DES MOINES, Iowa — Chris Dodd is a warm and friendly guy, a charmer, a hail fellow well met. But when he hits you, he wants to raise a bruise. — And he hit both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at an afternoon rally at his headquarters Friday, less than a week before the Iowa caucus.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, ABCNEWS, The Swamp and Hot Air

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
Crisis Overseas Is Sudden Test for Candidates

Discussion: Brendan Nyhan

ABCNEWS:
John Edwards: Obama 'Living in Never-Never Land'?

Discussion: TalkLeft

Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
Did Biden, Dodd and Edwards Kill Bhutto Too?

Discussion: Associated Press, Salon, Hot Air, The Democratic Daily and Taylor Marsh

Kagro X / Daily Kos:

Bush claims Senate's pro forma sessions don't count — That veto George W. Bush threatened of the Defense authorization bill? The one with the troops' pay raise in it? — He hasn't even got the stones to put his signature to it: … That's right, civics fans: Bush is claiming this is a …

Discussion: White House, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Hullabaloo and Open Left

George W. Bush / White House:

Memorandum of Disapproval — Fact Sheet: National Defense Authorization Act Section 1083: A Danger to Iraq's Progress — Statement by Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel — I am withholding my approval of H.R. 1585, the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008,” …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Discerning Texan, Group News Blog, Prometheus 6 and Big Brass Blog

Office of the Speaker / The Gavel:
Pelosi and Reid Condemn Bush Plan to Veto of Defense Authorization Bill

Discussion: White House, USA Today and The Sideshow

Ben Feller / Associated Press:
Bush rejects defense bill by pocket veto

Discussion: New York Times, American Street, Washington Post, Firedoglake, The Politico, The Democratic Daily, Buck Naked Politics, Emptywheel, Greatscat!, Flopping Aces, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Daily Pundit and The Carpetbagger Report

John Dickerson / Slate:

A SNEAK PREVIEW OF JOHN MCCAIN'S SECRET ANTI-ROMNEY AD. — On Thursday, Mitt Romney put up a television ad knocking John McCain for not supporting tax cuts and offering amnesty to illegal aliens. The ad asks “John McCain, an honorable man. But is he the right Republican for the future?”

Discussion: The Caucus, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, MyDD, BobKrumm.com, Swords Crossed, Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report, Weekly Standard, TPM Election Central, The Campaign Spot, Donklephant, The Politico, TIME: Swampland and Hot Air

Jill Zuckman / The Swamp:

McCain to Romney: ‘Try to relax, Mitt’ — Manchester, N.H. - The back and forth has been fast and furious since former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney attacked Sen. John McCain in an ad this morning, accusing him of voting against tax cuts and trying to give illegal immigrants Social Security benefits.

Discussion: New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Politico

Howard Kurtz / The Trail:
Romney Rips McCain on Senate Record

Discussion: The Caucus, TownHall Blog, Washington Wire and SCHotline Press Releases

National Review:
Misled in New Hampshire — John McCain's aides complain …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, TownHall Blog and Jonathan Martin's Blogs

Michael Yon:

News flash for Osama bin Laden — Here's a news flash for Osama bin Laden, who earlier today released a call " to guerrilla forces in Mesopotamia. “ — I have directly observed how more and more Iraqis have grown to hate al Qaeda as much as Americans do.

Discussion: TigerHawk, Flopping Aces, QandO and Sister Toldjah

Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report:
New bin Laden Video on Islamic State of Iraq (Update: bin Laden MURDERED?)

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, Hot Air, QandO, Wizbang, The Long War Journal, Danger Room and Flopping Aces

New York Times:

Huckabee Sees Pakistan as Reason for Border Fence — DES MOINES — Mike Huckabee used the volatile situation in Pakistan Friday to make an argument for building a fence on the American border with Mexico and found himself trying to explain a series of remarks about Pakistanis and their nation.

Discussion: CBS News, CNN, Stop The ACLU, MyDD, Pam's House Blend, The Trail, MSNBC, THE REACTION, Left I on the News, Political Radar, Firedoglake, Hot Air, Say Anything, TownHall Blog and Feministe

Lisa Lerer / The Politico:

Bolton denies he is a Huckabee adviser — In recent days, Mike Huckabee has tried to answer long-standing questions about who is on his foreign policy team. On Friday morning, he listed former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton as someone with whom he either has “spoken or will continue to speak.”

Discussion: Hot Air, Lone Star Times, The Discerning Texan, Flopping Aces, Power Line and TownHall Blog

Munir Ahmad / Associated Press:

Pakistan: Bhutto Died of Skull Fracture … ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Benazir Bhutto died from a skull fracture suffered when her head slammed against her car during a suicide attack—not from bullet wounds, the government said Friday. — Pakistan's interior minister blamed al-Qaida …

Discussion: CNN, Doug Ross, The Radio Equalizer, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Buck Naked Politics and Agence France Presse

Ralph Peters / New York Post:
THE BHUTTO ASSASSINATION: NOT WHAT SHE SEEMED TO BE

Discussion: Reuters, CANOE, Liberty Street, Times of London, At-Largely, Washington Post, Hot Air, New York Times, Real Clear Politics, The Discerning Texan, The Australian, MSNBC, AMERICAN DIGEST, BitsBlog and Weekly Standard

Hillary Clinton / CNN:

Dodd: Clinton was sitting on the sidelines — DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) - Hillary Clinton may tout her 35 years of experience as the principal reason to vote for her, but Chris Dodd says counting her eight years in the White House as First Lady as a qualification “is an exaggeration, in my view.

Discussion: Eschaton

Kathryn Jean Lopez / The Corner:
Not Your Average Harvard Feminist

Discussion: Cold Fury, bustardblog, Matthew Yglesias and Wizbang

P.J. O'Rourke / Weekly Standard:

Dear Diary, I Think I'm in Love — The confessions of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. — Journals — This is a bad, vain, dull, repulsive book. Don't read it. I didn't. — Oops, have I committed the previous sentence to print? I've just broken the most sacred vow of book reviewers.

Discussion: DBKP

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:

Gen. Clark on Obama's Attack on Hillary — Gen. Wesley Clark today: … Here's another tidbit of information. On December 12, 2007, Katie Couric asked the candidates which country frightened them the most. Barack Obama answered “Iran." Hillary answered “Pakistan." From the transcript (available on Lexis.com):

Discussion: NO QUARTER, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Belmont Club and Lynn Sweet

Keith Bradsher / New York Times:

China Lets Currency Appreciate a Bit Faster — HONG KONG — China's currency rose steeply against the dollar this week, feeding speculation that Chinese authorities, yielding to international pressure and economic realities at home, were allowing their currency to appreciate more rapidly.

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS