memeorandum: Reid Issues Ultimatum: More Time Or No Wiretaps (The Huffington Post)

9:10 PM ET, January 25, 2008

Top Items:

Bill Clinton: John McCain and Hillary are ‘very close’ — (CNN) — If Hillary Clinton and John McCain become their party's presidential nominees, the general election race is likely to be a love-fest. — At least according to Bill Clinton. — Campaigning in Spartanburg, South Carolina …

Discussion: The Politico, Political Punch, URGENT AGENDA and Truthdig

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do — We begin, as one always must now, again, with Bill Clinton. The past week he has traveled South Carolina, leaving discord in his wake. Barack Obama, that “fairytale,” is low, sneaky. “He put out a hit job on me." The press is cruelly carrying Mr. Obama's counter-jabs.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Reuters, Real Clear Politics, QandO, bustardblog, Macsmind, Comments from Left Field, Tapscott's Copy Desk, The Plank, Blue Crab Boulevard, Preemptive Karma and The Strata-Sphere

John Kerry / CNN:

Kerry blasts Bill Clinton for ‘abusing truth’ — WASHINGTON (CNN) — John Kerry, the Democratic Party's 2004 nominee for president, took aim at Bill Clinton Friday, telling the National Journal the former president does “not have a license to abuse the truth.”

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Liberal Values and Gateway Pundit

NationalJournal.com:

Transcript: John Kerry On Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton And More — National Journal's Linda Douglass sat down with John Kerry for “National Journal On Air." This is a transcript of their conversation. — Q: I'd like to introduce Sen. John Kerry, former Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, United States senator now.

Discussion: The Field, Spin Cycle, Washington Post, Boston Globe and Marc Ambinder

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:

Bill Clinton Takes on the ‘Polarizing’ Issue — SPARTENBURG, S.C.- Bill Clinton just staged a passionate defense of his wife here, after a voter asked how Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton could unite this country when it is so split, politically and racially, and when she is such a polarizing figure.

Discussion: politburo diktat 2.0 and Hot Air

Blue Texan / Firedoglake:
Peggy Noonan: “George W. Bush Destroyed The Republican Party”

Discussion: Pat Dollard, Flopping Aces, Norwegianity, American Street and Captain's Quarters

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

CLINTON TRIES TO REINSTATE MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA'S DELEGATES. — This is a very, very, very big deal. From the Clinton campaign: … This is the sort of decision that has the potential to tear the party apart. In an attempt to retain some control over the process and keep the various states …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Opinionator, Liberal Values, Say Anything, The Edge of the American West, QandO, Blue Crab Boulevard and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

NO WAY — The Clinton camp really needs to be shut down on this new gambit of theirs to muscle the party and the other candidates into seating the Michigan and Florida delegate slates. — And let me be very clear about what I mean. It was very debatable decision whether the DNC …

Discussion: TalkLeft, D-Day and Matthew Yglesias

HillaryClinton.com:

Statement by Senator Hillary Clinton on the Seating of Delegates at the Democratic National Convention — “I hear all the time from people in Florida and Michigan that they want their voices heard in selecting the Democratic nominee. — “I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support …

Discussion: TPM Election Central, Emptywheel and PoliGazette

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Exclusive: Sen. Bill Nelson To Endorse Hillary Clinton

Discussion: TPM Election Central and The Page

Marc Ambinder:
Clinton. Obama Spar Over Florida Delegates

Discussion: MyDD

The Raw Story:

UPDATE: ‘No way of knowing’ who whispered, MSNBC says — The whisper that could be heard just before an answer from Mitt Romney at Thursday's Republican debate was the result of a microphone malfunction, an MSNBC spokesman tells RAW STORY, but its source remains a mystery.

Discussion: MSNBC, The Jawa Report, Hot Air, AfterDowningStreet.org, The Strata-Sphere, Daily. Gay. News., D-Day and Wonkette

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Was that a whisper in Romney's Ear?

Discussion: MSNBC, Democrats.com, CANNONFIRE and National Review

P.M. Jaworski / The Shotgun:
“Psst: He raised taxes”

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and PoliGazette

NEWSRADIO - 1290 WJNO:
Bizarre Whisper During Romney Debate Answer

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and Shakespeare's Sister

Stewart Rhodes / Dirt Rhodes Scholar:
The Great Romney “Whisper in His Ear” Puppet Show

Discussion: The Raw Story

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Mystery whisper at the debate!

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Riehl World View and Confederate Yankee

Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone: The Romney Whisper Mystery

Scott Horton / Harper's:

The Illustrated President — W.H.D. Koerner, “A Charge to Keep” (1916) — George W. Bush is famous for his attachment to a painting which he acquired after becoming a “born again Christian." It's by W.H.D. Koerner and is entitled “A Charge to Keep." Bush was so taken by it …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Pharyngula, CREDO Action, Political Machine, democracyarsenal.org and Daily. Gay. News.

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
The unintentional humor of ‘A Charge to Keep’

Discussion: Think Progress

The Huffington Post:

Reid Issues Ultimatum: More Time Or No Wiretaps — At a State of the Union preview speech today at the National Press Club, Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a dramatic ultimatum to President Bush: either sign an extension of the Protect America Act (which sets conditions …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, Washington Post and Wake up America

Rasmussen Reports:

Attorney General Edwards? — An Inside Report by Robert Novak — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Illinois Democrats close to Sen. Barack Obama are quietly passing the word that John Edwards will be named attorney general in an Obama administration. — Installation at the Justice Department …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Political Machine, Hot Air, Don Surber, Overlawyered and QandO

Mark Blumenthal / Pollster.com:

SOUTH CAROLINA: WHY SO MUCH VARIATION? — We've had quite a bit of discussion today in the comments section about the wide variation in results from the South Carolina polls. Reader Ciccina noticed some “fascinating” differences in the percentages reported as undecided …

Discussion: Hotline On Call, The Field, politburo diktat 2.0, TPM Election Central, Taegan Goddard's … and McClatchy Washington Bureau

Charles Franklin / Pollster.com: SOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC ENDGAME

Michelle Malkin:

John McCain's open-borders outreach director: The next DHS secretary? — Dr. Juan Hernandez, McCain Hispanic outreach director: “We must not only have a free flow of goods and services, but also start working for a free flow of people." — Last month, I received an e-mail from a concerned reader.

Discussion: WorldNetDaily, Hot Air, Ankle Biting Pundits, Wizbang, The Corner, Lonewacko, Cold Fury, The Sundries Shack, Pat Dollard, Say Anything, Patterico's Pontifications and Gateway Pundit

Michelle Malkin:
Meet the open borders family: McCain, Hernandez, Soros, and the “Reform Institute”

Discussion: Hot Air, The Sundries Shack, Riehl World View and Pat Dollard

Megan McArdle:

Why not food stamps? — 1) The poor don't need more food. Obesity is a problem for the poor in America; except for people who are too screwed up to get food stamps (because they don't have an address), food insufficiency is not. — 2) Food stamps only imperfectly translate into increased cash income …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, TBogg, Salon, Obsidian Wings, Unfogged and Feministe