memeorandum: Pocketbook worries outweigh voters' concerns over war in Iraq (Associated Press)

12:15 PM ET, December 28, 2007

Top Items:

Officials: Al Qaeda claims it killed Bhutto — WASHINGTON (CNN) — The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin Thursday citing an alleged claim of responsibility by al Qaeda for former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, a DHS official told CNN.

Discussion: Sky News, Washington Post and Gateway Pundit

Yahoo! News:

Pak govt reveals how Benazir was killed — New Delhi: Mystery shrouds the death of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto. In an explosive revelation, Pakistan's Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz on Friday said that Bhutto did not die of bullet wounds. — Nawaz said that Bhutto died from a head injury.

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, The Raw Story, Little Green Footballs, CNN and The Strata-Sphere

CNN:
Report: Bomber part of al Qaeda-linked group

Discussion: The Newshoggers, TPMmuckraker and The Daily Dish

Washington Post:
Bhutto's Assassination Deals Blow to U.S. Goal for Pakistan

Discussion: Canadian Press, The Newshoggers, New York Times, The Washington Note, Emptywheel, ac360blog, Power Line, CANNONFIRE, Firedoglake, Associated Press, Political Radar, Guardian, Prairie Weather, Reuters, Make Them Accountable, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog and Radio Iowa

Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Did Bush Risk Bhutto To Save Musharraf?

Discussion: Opinion Journal, The Moderate Voice, Guardian, New York Times, American Power and Early Warning

Sweetness & Light:
Hillary: I've Known Mrs. Bhutto Many Years

Discussion: Wonkette, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, BitsBlog and TalkLeft

Juan Cole / Salon:
With Bhutto gone, does Bush have a Plan B?

Discussion: New York Times, PBD, TPMmuckraker, The Washington Note and Hullabaloo

Lynn Sweet:
Obama says, “No, I, I, I, I, I have to, I heard, I heard …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Taylor Marsh

Saeed Shah / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Attendee at Bhutto rally: ‘There was pandemonium’

Discussion: Firedoglake, Pacific Views, Rising Hegemon and TPMmuckraker

Syed Saleem Shahzad / Asia Times:
Al-Qaeda claims Bhutto killing

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Redstate, The Agonist, CALIFORNIA YANKEE and Canadian Press

Robert Parry / Consortiumnews.com:
Pakistan Is ‘Central Front,’ Not Iraq

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast

Eli Lake / New York Sun:
Qaeda Eyed in Slaying of Bhutto

Discussion: Macsmind and The Strata-Sphere

Mark R. Levin / The Corner:
Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron & America's Enemies

Discussion: HillaryClinton.com

Josh Meyer / Los Angeles Times:
Bhutto's long and tangled list of enemies

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Attytood and BuzzFlash.org

Comment is free:
Plan B for Pakistan — The US had placed its hopes for Pakistan in Benazir Bhutto.

Discussion: Counterterrorism Blog

Washington Post:
Clinton, Obama Seize on Killing

Discussion: IraqPundit, Boston Globe, New York Times, CNN, Sweetness & Light, MSNBC, The Caucus, The Huffington Post, ac360blog, CBS News, TPMmuckraker, CNN Political Ticker, The Page, NO QUARTER and The Heretik

Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:

Be Reasonable — As Iowa sizes up the candidates, so do I. — By next week politically active Iowans will have met and tallied their votes. Their decision this year will have a huge impact on the 2008 election, and a decisive impact on various candidacies. Some will be done in. Some will be made.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Liberal Values, The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway, Blue Crab Boulevard, Macsmind and Booman Tribune

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Peggy Noonan is a serious “grown-up” — (updated below - Update II) — In her Wall St. Journal column today, Peggy Noonan offers up a Santa-like checklist of which presidential candidates are “reasonable” and which ones aren't. In describing the attributes that Americans want in a President …

Discussion: Eschaton, protein wisdom, Sadly, No! and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Don Frederick / Los Angeles Times:

Clinton's “don't ask” policy — As she races through Iowa in the days before next week's caucuses, Hillary Clinton is taking few chances. She tells crowds that it's their turn to “pick a president,” but over the last two days she has not invited them to ask her any questions.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Fausta's blog, Classical Values and JammieWearingFool

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:

Edwards reaches new heights in Iowa — DES MOINES - John Edwards appears to have risen to a new highpoint in Iowa, marking an upward trend over the past two weeks that places him in a statistical tie with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. — A new Strategic Vision poll released Friday finds …

Discussion: The Swamp, Political Machine and TIME

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Elizabeth vs. Obama — What ever happened to Hillary Clinton? — Yet more evidence that the central front right now in Iowa is between Edwards and Obama: A mailing from Elizabeth Edwards, which urges readers to check out an anti-Obama Paul Krugman column and learn “why we can't just sit down at a table with special interests.

Discussion: The Swamp

Janet Hook / Los Angeles Times:
Obama catches Clinton in N.H.; Iowa remains a 3-way contest

Discussion: The Caucus, Blue Crab Boulevard and TalkLeft

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

Giuliani Campaign Official: Rudy Is The Only Candidate Who Can Chase “The Muslims"..."Back Into Their Caves" — From the Guardian UK via TPM: (h/t SteveAudio) — Winning hearts and minds the world over... John Deady, Co-Chair for New Hampshire's Veterans for Rudy:

Discussion: The Gun Toting Liberal™, Shakespeare's Sister, PrezVid, Cliff Schecter, Guardian, Brilliant at Breakfast, Wonkette and Gawker

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns and Money:

And If The Devil Rays Win the Next 18 World Series, Their Reputation as an Organization Will Be Greatly Enhanced — As I've said before, nothing signals a Must To Avoid more than a positive book review that describes an unreadable book. Such is the case with Robert Dallek's review of a new book …

Matthew Yglesias:
Fun With Antecedents — Via Scott Lemieux, Robert Dallek reviews …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, Grasping Reality … and The Carpetbagger Report

New York Times:

Under Attack, Drug Maker Turned to Giuliani for Help — In western Virginia, far from the limelight, United States Attorney John L. Brownlee found himself on the telephone last year with a political and legal superstar, Rudolph W. Giuliani. — For years, Mr. Brownlee and his small team …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, DownWithTyranny!, PointOfLaw Forum, Cliff Schecter and MSNBC

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Trouble With Trade — While the United States has long imported oil and other raw materials from the third world, we used to import manufactured goods mainly from other rich countries like Canada, European nations and Japan. — But recently we crossed an important watershed …

Discussion: Angry Bear, Make Them Accountable, Prairie Weather and naked capitalism

Sarah Abruzzese / New York Times:

Military Paper Challenges Defense Dept. — WASHINGTON — Top editors at the military newspaper Stars and Stripes are asking for full disclosure of the paper's relationship with a Department of Defense publicity program, called America Supports You, after disclosures that money for the program was funneled through the newspaper.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker and Romenesko

—Mf / Monkeyfister:

The 2007 Golden Monkeyfist Awards... Finally! — The big awards are here, and I am ever humbled by the incredible lot of excellent consonant-level, unsung, Progressive blogs out there. I honestly wish that I had time for more awards, but, we all have real jobs, and only so much time in a day to read new blogs.

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:

Stem cell, contraception groups paid Huck — Mike Huckabee last year accepted $52,000 in speaking fees from a bio-tech giant that wants to research human embryonic stem cells, a non-profit working to expand access to the morning after pill and a group pushing to study whether tightening gun control laws will reduce violence.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Corner, Associated Press, Hot Air, Wonkette and Roger L. Simon

Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:

Pelosi, Reid, Huckabee, Obama Among Nation's “Most Corrupt” — Judicial Watch has named its ten most corrupt political figures of 2007, and the list may surprise. It includes a number of very well-known politicians who have received little attention for their questionable business deals.

Discussion: Say Anything