memeorandum: Democracy in Pakistan — Judging what the people of Pakistan … (The Corner)

1:45 PM ET, December 28, 2007

Top Items:

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, McClatchy Washington Bureau, CNN and The Strata-Sphere

Lynn Sweet:

Obama says, “No, I, I, I, I, I have to, I heard, I heard, I don't need it, I don't need to hear what you read because I was, I overheard it when he said it." — DES MOINES, IA.—The Obama campaign faced a distraction on Thursday after some news outlets ran stories suggesting chief Obama …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Taylor Marsh

CNN:
U.S. suspects Taliban leader behind Bhutto plot

Discussion: The Newshoggers, TPMmuckraker, New York Post and The Daily Dish

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

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, MSNBC and A Blog For All

CNN:
Confusion surrounds Bhutto's cause of death

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CANOE, Captain's Quarters, dawn.com, Reuters, Washington Post, Little Green Footballs, ABS-CBN News, Hot Air and Blogs of War

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama and Pakistan — I've got a piece up on Politico summing …

Discussion: TalkLeft and CNN Political Ticker

New York Times:
Pakistanis Bury Bhutto and Brace for More Turmoil

Discussion: Think Progress, Political Radar, Washington Post and Gothamist

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, The Carpetbagger Report, TBogg, Liberal Values, Outside The Beltway, Blue Crab Boulevard, Macsmind and Booman Tribune

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Peggy Noonan is a serious “grown-up” — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — 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 …

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

The Corner:

Democracy in Pakistan — Judging what the people of Pakistan “really want” is a tough job. Optimists generally point out that Islamist parties get only a small percentage of the vote. That's true, but it's also too simple. Nawaz Sharif is a mainstream politician with strong public support.

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

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, New York Times, PBD, ac360blog, Firedoglake, TPMmuckraker and The Washington Note

Max Boot / Commentary:
The Real Real Pakistan — It is rare for me to agree with a writer …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Corner, Hot Air and Soccer Dad

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, 2008Central.net, Spin Cycle, 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, Los Angeles Times, AMERICAblog, 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, MyDD and TPM Election Central

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™, Connecting.the.Dots, Shakespeare's Sister, PrezVid, Guardian, Cliff Schecter, Wonkette, Gawker and Brilliant at Breakfast

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: Power Line, Flopping Aces and Say Anything

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, Hullabaloo, Gawker, 2008Central.net, DownWithTyranny!, PointOfLaw Forum, ac360blog, Cliff Schecter and MSNBC

Martin Kady II / The Politico:

Dems protest Bush's surprise veto of defense bill — At the behest of the Iraqi government, President Bush will veto the annual defense authorization bill, saying an obscure provision in the legislation could make Iraqi assets held in U.S. banks vulnerable to lawsuits.

Discussion: USA Today and michellemalkin.com

Matthew Yglesias:

Fun With Antecedents — Via Scott Lemieux, Robert Dallek reviews a new book on Condoleezza Rice: … By the same token, if earth's yellow sun gave me the powers of a kryptonian, I'd be a super hero. If my blog had Engadget's traffic, I'd be the most popular political blogger.

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

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns and Money: And If The Devil Rays Win the Next 18 World Series, Their Reputation …

Los Angeles Times:

What price Oprah? — The popular TV personality helps Barack Obama draw big crowds while her fans fume. — WITH less than a week until Iowa's first vote is cast in the 2008 presidential election, the politicians aren't the only ones feeling the heat: Celebrities, who have become important players …

Discussion: Say Anything and JammieWearingFool

O.Kay Henderson / Radio Iowa:

Huckabee calls for border crackdown in response to Bhutto's assassination — Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says the assassination of Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto underscores the need to secure the America's borders to prevent potential terror attacks here.

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs

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