memeorandum: “Occupation"? — In Ramallah yesterday President Bush declared there … (Peter Wehner/Commentary)

12:45 AM ET, January 12, 2008

Top Items:

Racial tensions roil Democratic race — A series of comments from Senator Hillary Clinton, her husband, and her supporters are spurring a racial backlash and adding a divisive edge to the presidential primary as the candidates head south to heavily African-American South Carolina.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, protein wisdom, Bookworm Room, Althouse, QandO, baldilocks, First Friday Collective, The Page, The Stump, BitsBlog, TIME, The Caucus, Wizbang, TPM Election Central and Perfunction

Eric Kleefeld / TPM Election Central:

Bill Clinton: Obama's Candidacy Isn't The “Fairy Tale” — But His War Opposition Is — Bill Clinton just appeared on Al Sharpton's radio show, and was asked about his statements in New Hampshire that the media was pushing a “fairy tale” about Obama's candidacy.

Discussion: Spin Cycle and Blue Mass. Group

Jonathan Freedland / Guardian:
Clinton's amazing comeback could yet crown McCain

Discussion: TPM Election Central, The Anchoress, Spin Cycle, The Moderate Voice, The Strata-Sphere, Too Sense and Eunomia

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

Poll: McCain gets 21-point bump after victory — CNN Deputy Political Director — WASHINGTON (CNN) — John McCain's victory in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary appears to be paying off. — The senator from Arizona is the front-runner in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Boston Globe, Power Line, American Power, The Moderate Voice, Taegan Goddard's …, Hot Air and Pollster.com

Marc Ambinder:

The Daily Five: Giuliani Loses His National Finance Chair — 1. It's not a good sign that Giuliani's senior staff have decided to work without paychecks, and there is no way to spin it otherwise. The amount of money that's involved is miniscule: about $50,000 per month.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, CNN, The Politico, NewsBusters.org and race42008.com

Elizabeth Benjamin / New York Daily News Blogs:
NY Conservative Party To Endorse Thompson, Not Un-Conservative Rudy

Discussion: race42008.com, New York Observer and Daily Pundit

Joe Garofoli / San Francisco Chronicle:
Giuliani camp finds the GOP race right where he wants it

Discussion: Firedoglake, PoliBlog (TM), CBS News, Boston Globe and The Moderate Voice

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org:
Scarborough: ‘Pathetic Lapdog Freddie Boy, Hatchet Man for McCain’

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, Think Progress, You Decide 08!, Power Line, Confederate Yankee, Fred File, Eunomia and The Campaign Spot

Jane Smiley / The Huffington Post:

Shut Up, Larry — When I read Lawrence O'Donnell's post calling John Edwards a “loser” and threatening a lifetime of infamy if he doesn't get out of the race, I immediately went to O'Donnell's bio to see his party affiliation. I was sure it would say “R” — but it didn't. It didn't say anything.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Daily Pundit and American Street

Lawrence O'Donnell / The Huffington Post:

John Edwards is a loser. He has won exactly two elections in his life and lost 31. Only one of his wins and all of his losses were in presidential primaries and caucuses. He remains perfectly positioned to continue to lose with a Kucinich-like consistency. Nothing but egomania keeps Edwards in the race now.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Liberal Values, QandO, Firedoglake, Redstate, Hot Air, Sister Toldjah and PSoTD

Media Matters for America:

Does Chris Matthews have a problem with women? — Using overtly sexist language, he has referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a “she devil” and compared her to a “strip-teaser." He has called her “witchy” and likened her voice to “fingernails on a blackboard.”

Discussion: The Reaction, Group News Blog, Orcinus, Feministing and Shakespeare's Sister

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:

THE AD MS. MAGAZINE REFUSED TO RUN: — The message, I take it, is pretty clear — “Feminists should like the way women are treated in Israeli life,” coupled with the pretty strong implication of “... and look how favorably it compares on this score to Israel's enemies.”

Discussion: Wake up America, PR Newswire, Yourish.com, Gateway Pundit and Commentary

Ariel Alexovich / The Caucus:

D.L.C. Leaders Cut Edwards Out — As would be expected, the two gentlemen from the Democratic Leadership Council on a conference call today told reporters they're very confident in their party's chances of reclaiming the White House, they're happy that substantive issues are being discussed ...

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CANNONFIRE and TPMCafe blogs

Fred Kaplan / Slate:

HOW TO PREVENT A NAVAL WAR WITH IRAN. — Just how serious was the half-hour standoff Sunday morning between three American warships and five Iranian speed boats in the Strait of Hormuz? Did we come close to war? Was there any provocation? Was the Pentagon's version of events, as the Iranians claim, a fake?

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Independent Liberal, Emptywheel, The Newshoggers, Early Warning, LiberalOasis, The Glittering Eye, Middle Earth Journal, Publius Pundit, Taylor Marsh and TPMmuckraker

Salon:

“We're all fascists now” — Along those lines, you write, “What is fascist is the notion that in an organic national community, the individual has no right not to be healthy; and the state therefore has the obligation to force us to be healthy for our own good.”

Discussion: Think Progress

Matt / Think Progress:

Ricks: Baghdad Only Seems ‘Peaceful’ Because 2006 Was ‘Pure Hell’ — Discussing the one-year anniversary of President Bush's call for the “surge” on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night, Washington Post Pentagon reporter Thomas Ricks said that, “judged on the terms …

Discussion: Center for American …, Yahoo! News, QandO, Firedoglake and Weekly Standard

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Mysterious crowd suddenly stopped Bhutto's car, officer says — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Two new reports on the assassination last month of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto suggest that the killing may have been an ambitious plot rather than an isolated act of violence and that the government …

Katie / Blogging Faith:

Observant Jews Effectively Barred from Nevada Caucuses — We've been drawing attention this week to the fact that the media-sponsored exit polls in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary only asked Republicans if they are evangelicals - effectively rendering Democratic evangelical primary voters invisible.

Discussion: Wonkette Comments, Too Sense and The Trail