memeorandum: More on What Might Have Been — I promised more thoughts … (Myglesias/Matthew Yglesias)

3:45 PM ET, December 23, 2008

Top Items:

Warren On? Party Off. — Not that he was planning to attend, but Barack Obama should know that my sister's inauguration night party — the one for which she was preparing Obama Punch — has been canceled. The notice went out over the weekend, by e-mail and word of mouth …

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, TalkLeft, Wake up America, Babalu Blog, Stop The ACLU, Riehl World View, Commentary, Macsmind and The Huffington Post

E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

A Gamble for Obama — By inviting Pastor Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation, President-elect Barack Obama has alienated some of his friends on the left. By accepting, Warren has enraged some of his allies on the right. — Obama and Warren have helped each other in the past, and both know exactly what they're doing.

Discussion: Boston Globe, The XX Factor, The New Republic, The Corner, Scripting News, Townhall.com and AMERICAblog News

Digby / Hullabaloo:

One Way Street — I saw something very interesting today on MSNBC. Barnicle, filling in for Matthews on Hardball, hosted Reverend Eugene Rivers, a well respected, uncontroversial African American preacher, and Mike Rogers, strident gay activist. — Loaded for bear, Rivers came out firing …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Pam's House Blend and Rising Hegemon

Susan Kelleher / Seattle Times:

Seattle refuses to use salt; roads “snow packed” by design — To hear the city's spin, Seattle's road crews are making “great progress” in clearing the ice-caked streets. — But it turns out “plowed streets” in Seattle actually means “snow-packed,” as in there's snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Townhall.com, Betsy's Page, On Deadline and Commentary

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

Kennedy Declines to Make Financial Disclosure — If she were applying to be, say, an undersecretary of education in Barack Obama's new administration, Caroline Kennedy would have to fill out a 63-item confidential questionnaire disclosing potentially embarrassing text messages and diary entries …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Donklephant, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Post, The Caucus, Gawker, Hot Air, Spin Cycle, The Note, NY Daily News, Commentary, Pajamas Media, Don Surber and Transterrestrial Musings

Quinnipiac University:

New York Is Semi-Sweet On Caroline, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Cuomo Is Favored By Upstate Voters — New York State voters split 40 - 41 percent on whether Caroline Kennedy is qualified to be a U.S. Senator, but they expect by a 48 - 25 percent margin that Gov. David Paterson will name …

Discussion: TPM Election Central, The Daily Politics, Hotline On Call, Daily Kos, Liberal Values, Real Clear Politics, MyDD and Spin Cycle

Bill Gertz / Washington Times:

Obama wants Bush war team to stay — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has asked most Bush administration political appointees except those targeted for dismissal to stay on in the Pentagon until replaced by the Obama administration in the coming months. — “I have received authorization …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Sister Toldjah and At-Largely

Bill Gertz / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Obama wants Bush war team to stay

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Fox News and Open Left

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

THERE IS NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO ABOUT IT. — Over at BoingBoing, Clay Shirky engages in a bit of self-congratulatory schadenfreude for predicting the collapse of the newspaper business model back in 1993. And no doubt: He was prescient. But like a lot of folks (many of them named Jeff Jarvis) …

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
What Might Have Been — Ezra Klein makes the case that the decline …

Discussion: Eschaton

John O'Sullivan / Wall Street Journal:

Conservative Snobs Are Wrong About Palin — I know Maggie Thatcher. The two women have a lot in common. — Being listed in fourth place for Time magazine's “Person of the Year,” as Sarah Palin was for 2008, sounds a little like being awarded the Order of Purity (Fourth Class).

Discussion: PoliBlog, Townhall.com, AmSpecBlog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Commentary, BLACKFIVE and Media Blog

The Huffington Post:

Emanuel Heads To Africa As Blagojevich Report Drops — With the Obama transition team set to release an internal report regarding the extent of its interactions with embattled governor Rod Blagojevich, one of the key figures in the mix is heading out of the country.

Discussion: The Caucus and Gawker

CNN:
Biden: Report to clear Obama, staff in Blagojevich matter

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Independent, TPM Election Central, The Note and New York Times

Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:

Bush pardons 19, commutes 1 prison term — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - Before leaving for the holidays, President Bush on Tuesday commuted one prison sentence and granted 19 pardons, including one to a man who helped the Jewish resistance in the 1940s.

Discussion: Townhall.com

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

The Bush Legacy — Ed Gillespie's RealClearPolitics article on “Myths and Facts About the Real Bush Record” is about as stupid and dishonest as you'd expect. But after “debunking” five perfectly accurate alleged myths, Gillespie gets into the whopper that really gets my goat:

Discussion: Think Progress, Bloomberg, Real Clear Politics, Washington Monthly, rubber hose, Macsmind, Eschaton and Jules Crittenden

Washington Post:

Motorists Rescued After Massive Water Main Break — Aging Pipe Bursts, Sending Wall of Water onto River Road — A massive underground pipe rupture flooded River Road with four feet of rapidly swirling water this morning — trapping motorists, blocking a major commuter artery linking Washington …

Discussion: Megan McArdle, Achenblog and On Deadline

Associated Press:
Huge water main break traps drivers in DC suburb

Discussion: Think Progress, Associated Press and TVNewser

James H. Burnett III / MiamiHerald.com:

Quirky Festivus holiday gains followers — Those who celebrate Festivus display a pole instead of a tree and air grievances instead of exchanging gifts. — JBURNETT@MIAMIHERALD.COM — Alexandra Casuso was only 11 years old when Festivus made its TV debut on Seinfeld in 1997 …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Impolitic and Booman Tribune

Maggie Haberman / New York Post:

O, MY BOD! IT'S BEACH BARACK — NEXT PREZ HEATS UP HAWAII — Just call him “Ab"-bama. — Buff-bodied President-elect Barack Obama put his chiseled frame on full display - as seen on Page 1 - during a stroll in Hawaii while on vacation with his family.

Discussion: CNN, TIME.com, The Jed Report, Real Clear Politics and Associated Press

John H. Richardson / Esquire:

Why Obama Really Might Decriminalize Marijuana — The stoner community is clamoring to say it: “Yes we cannabis!” Turns out, with several drug-war veterans close to the president-elect's ear, insiders think reform could come in Obama's second term — or sooner.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Wizbang

CNN:

Child porn investigation catches California lawyer — (CNN) — A lawyer who served in the Clinton administration and more recently was an adviser to California's lieutenant governor pleaded guilty to a child porn charge in a San Diego federal court Monday. — Wade Rowland Sanders admitted …

Discussion: Tabloid Edition

Bob Owens / Pajamas Media:

The Op-Ed the New York Times Wouldn't Run — An FBI informant's response to Bill Ayers' rewriting of history got the cold shoulder — but you can read it here. — On December 5, the New York Times afforded former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers a chance to publish an op-ed …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Jules Crittenden, Dean's World and Cold Fury

New York Times:

As Economy Dips, Arrests for Shoplifting Soar — Richard R. Johnson is the first to admit it was a bad idea. — Recently laid off from a job building trailers in Elkhart, Ind., Mr. Johnson came up a dollar short at Martin's Supermarket last month when he went to buy a $4.99 bottle of sleep medication.

Discussion: Gawker, The BLT, This Week With Barack Obama, Political Machine and On Deadline

Wall Street Journal:

Bush and Scooter Libby — The former White House aide deserves a full pardon. — Rarely can Presidents improve their legacy in an Administration's twilight days. But President Bush now has that opportunity, by undoing a measure of the injustice inflicted on I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

Discussion: Michael Calderone's Blogs, Michael Barone, Newshoggers.com, JustOneMinute and Salon

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:

White House: Expect more pardons from Bush.» — In today's White House press briefing, a reporter noted to spokesman Tony Fratto that the “administration has indicated that the president is unlikely, at the last minute, to issue a batch of pardons.” Fratto, however …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:

Shuster Pushes Inhofe On Global Warming Skepticism: 'If There Is A Hoax, Isn't It This Report Of Yours?' — Earlier this month, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) released a report citing “more than 650 international scientists” who back up his claims that manmade global warming is a hoax.

Discussion: Washington Monthly