Top Items:
Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press:
Criminal probe opened over CIA tapes — WASHINGTON - The Justice Department opened a full criminal investigation Wednesday into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, putting the politically charged probe in the hands of a mob-busting public corruption prosecutor with a reputation for being independent.
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Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
The CIA Tapes Prosecutor is Neither “Outside” Nor “Special,” Nor “Independent” — Initial reports are that the Attorney General appointed an “outside” counsel to oversee the criminal investigation of the CIA tape destruction. But there's nothing really “outside” about John Durham.
Rick Klein / ABCNEWS:
Clinton Camp Pre-Spinning Possible Bad News in Iowa — Campaign Insists Even a Third-Place Finish Would Not Be Disappointing — As the presidential candidates engage in furious pre-caucus spin, one of Sen. Hillary Clinton's most prominent Iowa supporters said Wednesday that she's already accomplished …
Discussion:
The Caucus, Political Punch, Wonkette, 2008Central.net, ScrappleFace, Political Radar, Blue Crab Boulevard, Primary Monitor Blog and PunditGuy
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Rush: Huck ‘not a conservative’ — Rush Limbaugh devoted a large portion of his first show since the holidays to criticizing Mike Huckabee's candidacy and offering a disapproving bottom-line assessment of the former governor. — “Ladies and gentlemen, Gov. Huckabee, mighty fine man …
Discussion:
Marc Ambinder, New York Times, Hot Air, Stop The ACLU, 2008Central.net, TIME, Reason Magazine, BitsBlog, PunditGuy, race42008.com, GreenMountainPolitics1 and Macsmind
Peter Robinson / The Corner:
Late-Breaking Surge for Thompson — The latest news from Iowa? According to Zogby's latest—and I quote: “Sen. Fred Thompson...has seen a late-breaking surge." (Rich notes the same poll below.) — What's going on here? My guess is that there are whole lot of Iowa Republicans …
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Simon / Bloggasm:
Readership of major liberal blogs declined in 2007 while conservative blog readership increased — It has long been understood that the largest liberal blogs have generally produced more web traffic than the largest conservative blogs. But I have noticed a general trend over the past few months …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Donklephant, Liberal Values, Wake up America, The Daily Dish and Middle Earth Journal
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Clinton to appear on Letterman — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) made a last-minute decision to appear on “Late Night with David Letterman” on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, campaign sources said. — Wednesday is Letterman's first night back since the writer's strike began.
Nick Langewis / PageOneQ.com Latest:
High-ranking DNC officials subpoenaed in discrimination lawsuit — According to documents obtained by PageOneQ, a series of senior Democratic National Committee officials has been subpoenaed in an ongoing discrimination lawsuit by former LGBT outreach director Donald Hitchcock.
Christopher Hayes / The Nation:
Return of the Swift Boaters — More than three years after John Kerry's bitter defeat, at the dawn of what looks like a far more promising campaign cycle for the Democrats, the party is still haunted by the specter of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Once upon a time, “Swift boat” …
Michael Joseph Gross / Vanity Fair:
A Vast Right-Wing Hypocrisy — Richard Mellon Scaife, billionaire bankroller of conservative crusades, spent heavily to expose Bill Clinton's “Troopergate” misbehavior. Now Scaife's divorce from his second wife, Ritchie, is providing another unsavory saga—adultery! addiction! assault! dognapping!?!—as both parties let loose to V.F.
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Kristol in Iowa: “Snarky and Contemptuous” — Cardinal Richelieu asks, if Romney wins in Iowa, “will the snarky and contemptuous tone of most Romney coverage continue?" — I don't know if that was intended to be a rhetorical question (do Cardinals ask rhetorical questions? and how do you say “rhetorical question” in French?).
William Beutler / Blog P.I.:
Josh Marshall's Readers Are... Not So Bright — This end of a post at Talking Points Memo today made me laugh: … $1.8 billion sounds plausible? Using what counting system? — Elsewhere on the web today, a Des Moines-based WFAA reporter says Romney has spent $4 million on TV ads …