memeorandum: Hold Your Horses, Minnesota (Nate Silver/FiveThirtyEight.com)

12:55 PM ET, December 18, 2008

Top Items:

Obama On Rick Warren Pick: We Have To Be Able To Agree To Disagree — Obama, at his presser today, defends the decision to choose Rick Warren to deliver the invocation as his inauguration with a restatement of his commitment to gay rights and, more broadly, to the principles of unity that have been a hallmark of his rise to power:

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, AMERICAblog News and Eschaton

The Huffington Post:

Obama's Talking Points On Rick Warren — At his press conference on Thursday, Barack Obama for the first time addressed the flurry of protest that has erupted over the choice of Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation. — Stressing his own advocacy of equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, Wonkette, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, site.pfaw.org, Liberal Values, The Daily Dish, Salon and CNN

Sarah Posner / The Nation:

What's the Matter With Rick Warren? — Now it has officially gone too far: Democrats, in their zeal to appear friendly to evangelical voters, have chosen celebrity preacher and best-selling author Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Pam's House Blend, New York Times, CBN.com, CNN, Right Wing Watch, Democracy in America, AlterNet.org, Lawyers, Guns and Money and Connecticut Bob

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

THE MEANING OF “OPEN AND INCLUSIVE.” — The going explanation for Warren's presence on the inauguration podium is that “this aims to be the most open and inclusive inauguration in history,” as Linda Douglas, a spokeswoman for the inauguration committee, told Politico. It's a peculiar definition of “open and inclusive.”

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, Salon, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and The RBC

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:
Feinstein reportedly had nothing to do with Warren choice; it was Obama.

Discussion: Salon, HRC Back Story, Matthew Yglesias, Firedoglake, Wake up America and Pam's House Blend

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WARREN, REDUX.... After having had a chance to sleep on it …

Discussion: The Politico, HRC, Democratic Strategist, The Daily Dish, The Opinionator, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Washington Blade, Shakesville and TPM Election Central

New York Times:

The Torture Report — Most Americans have long known that the horrors of Abu Ghraib were not the work of a few low-ranking sociopaths. All but President Bush's most unquestioning supporters recognized the chain of unprincipled decisions that led to the abuse, torture and death in prisons run …

Discussion: Salon, The Daily Dish, TalkLeft, Booman Tribune, Democrats.com, theheretik.us and Prairie Weather

CNN:

Cheney to Emanuel: Control your VP — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Vice President Dick Cheney had some blunt — and humorous — advice for incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel at a private breakfast earlier this month, CNN has learned. — “The best thing you can do is keep your VP under control …

Washington Wire:
Rahm Emanuel's Brother Joins White House Team

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Organizing the White House Is Obama's First Test

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Commentary and marbury

Rob Bluey / The Foundry:

Conservative Leader Paul Weyrich Dies; First to Lead Heritage — Paul M. Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation and first president of The Heritage Foundation, died this morning around 1 a.m. He was 66 years old. Weyrich was a good friend to many of us at Heritage, a true leader and a man of unbending principle.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Townhall.com, The Corner, The Other McCain, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, The Next Right and Salon

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Conservative icon Paul Weyrich dies — Paul M. Weyrich, 66, who helped found the Heritage Foundation and at one time was one of Washington's most visible conservatives, died this morning. At his death, he was president and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Pam's House Blend

Lynn Sweet:

Emanuel's deeper involvement in pressing for Jarrett Senate appointment — My Sun-Times colleagues Natasha Korecki and Fran Spielman in a story in the Thusday paper report Rahm Emanuel's involvement in pushing Gov. Blagojevich to appoint Valerie Jarrett to replace President elect Barack Obama was deeper than previously known.

Discussion: Riehl World View, JammieWearingFool, Sister Toldjah, RedState, MSNBC, Macsmind, Gateway Pundit and The Caucus

Fran Spielman / Chicago Sun Times:
Emanuel likely to stay out of battle for his House seat

Discussion: Chicago Breaking News, The Politico, Progress Illinois, TPM Election Central and The Capitol Fax Blog

J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:

Dodd's rating drops after White House run — Sen. Chris Dodd's failed presidential campaign appears to have hurt him in Connecticut according to a new survey that showed the Democrat with his lowest poll numbers in 14 years. — The poll by Quinnipiac University shows the Senate Banking Committee chairman …

Discussion: Instapundit

Mark Pazniokas / Hartford Courant: Lieberman Panned In Poll, Admonished By State Democrats

Associated Press:

Saudis, Indians among Clinton foundation donors — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton's foundation has raised at least $46 million from Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments that his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton …

Discussion: The Politico, Hot Air, Political Machine, TPM Election Central and Weasel Zippers

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Moguls and Arab States Are Big Donors to Clinton Charity

Discussion: MoJoBlog, Washington Wire and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Jordy Yager / The Hill:

With economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise — A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay. — Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase …

Discussion: Fausta's Blog, Betsy's Page and Bob McCarty Writes

Brian Sharp / Democrat And Chronicle:

Kennedy visits Rochester as part of effort to learn about upstate New York — In her first visit to Rochester, U.S. Senate hopeful Caroline Kennedy met Wednesday with Mayor Robert Duffy and Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, asking questions about upstate but not asking for an endorsement.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Washington Monthly, MSNBC and NY Daily News

New York Times:
Mayor's Aide Pushes Hard for Kennedy

Discussion: Drudge Report, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Ben Smith's Blogs, Spin Cycle, City Room, The Caucus, Syracuse Post-Standard, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Huffington Post, Gawker and The Crypt's Blogs

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Gay man backed for Navy secretary — Foes cite 'Don't ask, don't tell' — Some top retired military leaders and some Democrats in Congress are backing William White, chief operating officer of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, to be the next secretary of the Navy - a move that would put …

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Don Surber, ATTACKERMAN, MSNBC, The Note and Salon

Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:

Big News in Washington, but Far Fewer Cover It — WASHINGTON — A new president arrived from a new party. The balance of power shifted in Congress. Legions of fresh new faces showed up in the nation's capital with new ideas, eager to upend the way the country does business.

Discussion: Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard, The Swamp, Silicon Alley Insider, The BRAD BLOG, Gawker and Oliver Willis

Eli Saslow / Washington Post:

Obama's Chief Speechwriter, 27, Works on Inaugural Address While Making His Own Transition — The job requires him to work unnoticed, even in plain view, so Jon Favreau settles into a wooden chair at a busy Starbucks in the center of Penn Quarter. Deadline looms, and he needs to write at least half a page by the end of the day.

Discussion: James Fallows, Althouse and Democratic Strategist

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Questions That Are Too Hard for Me — Kevin Drum raises the specter of the trade deficit: … This goes back to the fraught issue of global savings imbalances. For reasons that I don't think people understand very well, we not only have a number of high-savings perpetual-surplus countries …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Bellows, Kevin Drum and TPMCafe

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:

Hold Your Horses, Minnesota — The State of Minnesota's Canvassing Board has finished adjudicating challenges brought to the Board by Al Franken. They will begin evaluating challenges brought by Norm Coleman's campaign tomorrow. — The Star Tribune has logged 391 challenges made by the Franken campaign.

Discussion: MyDD, Alas, a blog, Daily Kos, TPM Election Central and Braublog