Top Items:
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Lieberman: Suck On That, Liberals! … I hope this puts to rest the notion that this is all some master stroke of kumbayah, of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. — This is about telling you that you mean nothing. That democracy is a nice word, but it should never threaten …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, The Fix, Reuters, The Huffington Post, The Caucus, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Open Left, Kevin Drum, Weekly Standard, Daily Kos, The Mahatma X Files, DownWithTyranny!, AMERICAblog News, BobGeiger.com, Salon, Michael Bérubé, Commentary, www.redstate.com and Stop The ACLU
RELATED:
New York Times:
Democrats Let Lieberman Keep Senate Chairmanship — WASHINGTON — Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent from Connecticut, was allowed to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday despite his support for Senator John McCain in the presidential campaign.
Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Howard Dean Is Fine With Senate's Lieberman Decision, Suggests It Was What Obama Wanted — Howard Dean says that he's “fine” with the Senate's decision not to kick Joe Lieberman off the Homeland Security committee and suggested that the Senate had acted in accordance with what Barack Obama wanted.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Has there been too much bipartisanship or too little? — (updated below - Update II) — As Senate Democrats this morning prepare to reward Joe Lieberman with the powerful Chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee, the most commonly recited claim — both with regard to the Lieberman issue …
Michael Isikoff / Powering Up:
Obama's Attorney General — President-elect Obama has decided to tap Eric Holder as his attorney general, putting the veteran Washington lawyer in place to become the first African-American to head the Justice Department, according to two legal sources close to the presidential transition.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Associated Press, Washington Monthly, Pajamas Media, The Swamp, Firedoglake, The Fix, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, TIME.com, The Washington Independent, The Caucus, Big Lizards, Ben Smith's Blogs, Marc Ambinder, ATTACKERMAN, Hot Air, The RBC, Hotline On Call, The Jed Report, City Desk, Taylor Marsh, Gateway Pundit and Commentary
RELATED:
Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
HOLDER TO BE NAMED ATTORNEY GENERAL — From NBC's Pete Williams — President-elect Obama has offered Eric Holder the position of attorney general, and Holder has accepted it, according to sources involved in the process. The formal announcement has been held up while Obama transition team members ran the idea past key senators.
Discussion:
Top of the Ticket
Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
Hillary could reject State offer — Hillary Rodham Clinton isn't certain she would accept the Secretary of State post even if Barack Obama offers it to her, several people close to the former first lady say. — Press reports that portray Clinton as willing to accept the job …
RELATED:
CNN:
Hagel takes aim at Limbaugh, Senate colleagues — (CNN) — As his Senate career nears its end, Republican Chuck Hagel isn't holding back when it comes to criticizing members of his own party — including conservative talk radio hosts. — “We are educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh
RELATED:
George Packer / New Yorker:
AFTER KRISTOL … It's time for the newspaper to move on. For Pinch Sulzberger and Andy Rosenthal to renew Kristol's one-year contract, in 2009, would be for the Times to reward failure—and look where that got Wall Street and General Motors. It's not just that Kristol isn't another Safire …
Discussion:
New York Observer, Portfolio, Washington Monthly, Kevin Drum, Wonkette and The New Republic
Washington Post:
Administration Protects Bush Appointees by Converting Positions to Career Civil Service Jobs — Political Positions Shifted To Career Civil Service Jobs — Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department's top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies …
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Zogby Engages in Apparent Push Polling for Right-Wing Website — The conservative website HowObamaGotElected.com reports that it has commissioned Zogby International to conduct a poll of 512 Barack Obama voters as part of what can best be described as a viral marketing effort to discredit the intelligence of Obama supporters.
RELATED:
Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:
Begich lead over Stevens grows — Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich's lead over Sen. Ted Stevens is growing as ballot counting continues today in the race for U.S. Senate. — The latest numbers, issued just before 1 p.m., show Begich up by 2,374 votes. — The state has counted over 16,000 absentee …
Daily Mail:
TRAILER: Star Trek gets a sexy makeover in new film with love scenes, motorbikes and hunky stars … The eagerly anticipated Star Trek film is set to cast off the geeky associations of the sci-fi genre with a handsome cast, vicious fights and sex scenes. — A trailer for the new movie …
Alexis Simendinger / Lost in Transition:
Obama To Name Peter Orszag As Budget Director — President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to tap Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag, once a veteran economic adviser in the Clinton White House, to become his budget director, according to several National Journal sources.
Discussion:
Marc Ambinder
Anne Schroeder Mullins / Anne Schroeder's Blogs:
Bad blood for Musgrave — It's no surprise Rep. Marilyn Musgrave is taking her recent loss to Betsy Markey really, really hard. — Musgrave, a Republican who's been representing Colorado's 4th District since 2002, became part of the Republican Casualty List when she lost in a landslide …
Discussion:
Colorado Independent
The Trail / Washington Post:
Obama Girls Get a White House Tour — After trips to two D.C. private schools, Malia and Sasha Obama are getting a special personal tour of the White House this afternoon, accompanied by grandma Marian Robinson and their mother. — “Mrs. Obama greatly appreciated this invitation to provide …
Discussion:
TIME.com
zombietime:
Victory in Iraq Day — We won. The Iraq War is over. — I declare November 22, 2008 to be “Victory in Iraq Day.” (Hereafter known as “VI Day.") — By every measure, The United States and coalition forces have conclusively defeated all enemies in Iraq, pacified the country …
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Beau Biden Will Not Accept Senate Appointment — Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden will not accept an appointment to the Senate to replace his father, according to knowledgeable state sources, a decision that scrambles the race to to replace the vice president-elect in the Senate next year.
Discussion:
TIME.com
Eric Kleefeld / TPM Election Central:
GOP Senator In Georgia Race Launches New Attack Ad — Against Obama — GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss, who's fighting a high-stakes runoff in Georgia against Democratic candidate Jim Martin, has unveiled a tough new ad strategy — he's attacking Barack Obama in his latest spot:
Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
Draft Sarah group surfaces — A group dedicated to pushing Sarah Palin into the 2012 presidential race was formed last week and is already emailing Iowa Republicans. — The “2012 Draft Sarah Committee” has a rudimentary website up showing the Alaska governor dishing out moose chili …
Mere Rhetoric:
OBAMA'S TOP NSA AND CIA PICKS: HARSH ON ISRAEL, SYMPATHETIC TO IRAN AND HEZBOLLAH — Well that was totally unpredictable wasn't it? … Totally, totally unpredictable: … The US should exercise “strategic patience” with Iran - who as of today has four navy bases in the Gulf …
Discussion:
Middle East Quarterly
Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
Web Sites That Dig for News Rise as Watchdogs — SAN DIEGO — Over the last two years, some of this city's darkest secrets have been dragged into the light — city officials with conflicts of interest and hidden pay raises, affordable housing that was not affordable, misleading crime statistics.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
David Montgomery / Washington Post:
Bill Ayers Delivers Two Speeches in Washington — William Ayers, the Weather Underground founder, popped up in Washington yesterday from his self-imposed no-publicity, no-comment underground and looked like he was loving the sunshine. — He gave two speeches, took questions, told jokes …