memeorandum: Cornyn rips Reid on Blago calls (Alex Isenstadt/The Politico)

4:30 PM ET, January 3, 2009

Top Items:

Israel launches ground offensive in the Gaza Strip — Palestinian witnesses said the artillery barrage caused a large explosion in Gaza City as well as a series of blasts stitching the nearby frontier with Israel. — Channel 10 television quoted a witness as saying that Israel …

Discussion: ATTACKERMAN, Israellycool, Reuters, Taylor Marsh, AlterNet.org, Israpundit, The Muqata, Gateway Pundit, Yourish.com and Multi Medium

New York Times:

Israeli Troops Launch Attack on Gaza — JERUSALEM — Israeli tanks and troops swept across the border into Gaza on Saturday night, opening a ground war against the militant group Hamas after a week of intense airstrikes. — The Israeli military said in a statement that the objective …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Associated Press:

IDF begins shelling northern Gaza for 1st time since op began — For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF began firing artillery shells into northern Gaza on Saturday afternoon, IDF officials said. — According to reports, the artillery units were attacking targets …

Discussion: Haaretz, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Firedoglake, reliefweb.int, The Moderate Voice, Agence France Presse, Israel Matzav, A Blog For All, focus-fen.net and Ynetnews

Fox News:

Israeli Ground Forces Cross Border Into Gaza Strip — DEVELOPING: Israeli ground forces began moving across the border into the northern Gaza Strip in an escalation late Saturday night of the weeklong offensive against Hamas. — The incursion was confirmed to FOX News by Israeli defense officials …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Ethan Bronner / New York Times:

News Analysis: Israel Weighs Goal: Ending Hamas Rule, Rocket Fire, or Both — EREZ CROSSING, on the Israel-Gaza border — As Israel's tanks and troops poured into Gaza on Saturday, the next phase in its fierce attempt to end rocket attacks, a question hung over the operation …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Mondoweiss

Fida Qishta / Guardian:
Do Israel pilots feel happy killing innocent women and children?

Discussion: bastard.logic

Orange County Register:
Mark Steyn: Gaza has its version of rocket scientists

Discussion: Ghost of a flea and five feet of fury

Tim Butcher / Telegraph:
No ground attack as Israel seeks to decapitate Hamas with airstrikes

Discussion: Yourish.com and Mere Rhetoric

Ynetnews:
IDF enters Gaza; dozens of terrorists hurt

Discussion: Commentary and Atlas Shrugs

Ron Ben-Yishai / Ynetnews:
IDF artillery targets Gaza

Discussion: Mere Rhetoric, Gateway Pundit, Israel Matzav and Yourish.com

BBC:
Israeli troops ‘move into Gaza’

Discussion: PoliBlog

Chicago Sun Times:

Reid pressured Blagojevich not to appoint Jackson Jr. to Obama's U.S. Senate seat — Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn't want in the post …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, JammieWearingFool, FiveThirtyEight.com, Emptywheel, Hot Air, Political Punch, Hullabaloo, D-Day, BLACKFIVE, RedState, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber, TIME.com, Sister Toldjah, Jack & Jill Politics, Stop The ACLU, Macsmind and Gateway Pundit

Lynn Sweet / Chicago Sun Times:

Roland Burris tells Lynn Sweet: ‘We are the senator’ — NO CIRCUS? Says he'll try to avoid a scene when he shows up to claim seat — WASHINGTON — Roland Burris, being Roland Burris, put it to me this way Friday when we talked: “We are the senator.” — And we, that is he …

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, RedState, TalkLeft, Taylor Marsh, TIME.com, Moonbattery, TPM Election Central and Wall Street Journal

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:

Cornyn rips Reid on Blago calls — A top Senate Republican is criticizing Harry Reid's involvement in the Illinois Senate seat scandal, accusing him of meddling in the state's affairs by pushing certain candidates in phone calls to Gov. Rod Blagojevich. — Sen. John Cornyn …

Discussion: The Marathon Blog

Chris Bowers / Open Left:

IL-Sen: Electability As Corruption — A new story in the Chicago Sun-Times indicates that, the day before Blagojevich's calls were taped, Harry Reid pushed Blagojevich not to appoint the three leading African-American politicians in Illinois (after Barack Obama, of course).

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TalkLeft, Democrats.com, The Other McCain and Political Punch

Manu Raju / The Politico:
Coleman may lose office until election is decided

Discussion: Associated Press, Firedoglake, The Caucus, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Political Machine, AMERICAblog News, Prairie Weather, The Big Question, Macsmind, The Hill and New York Times

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
As 111th Senate Is Set to Begin, Four Seats Still Up in Air

Discussion: The Caucus and New York Times

Laurence H. Tribe / Forbes:
Blagojevich And The Constitution — The Senate doesn't have to seat Burris.

Discussion: Don Surber, Balkinization and PoliBlog

Khalid al-Ansary / Reuters:

U.S.-installed Iraqi ex-PM says Bush “utter failure” — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Former U.S.-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has denounced the policies of President George W. Bush as an “utter failure” that gave rise to the sectarian venom that ravaged his country.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Harold Ambler / The Huffington Post:

Mr. Gore: Apology Accepted — You are probably wondering whether President-elect Obama owes the world an apology for his actions regarding global warming. The answer is, not yet. There is one person, however, who does. You have probably guessed his name: Al Gore.

Ben Feller / Associated Press:

Analysis: Bush's personality shapes his legacy — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will be judged on what he did. He will also be remembered for what he's like: a fast-moving, phrase-mangling Texan who stays upbeat even though his country is not.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and The Jed Report

Roni Caryn Rabin / New York Times:

A New Cigarette Hazard: ‘Third-Hand Smoke’ — Parents who smoke often open a window or turn on a fan to clear the air of second-hand smoke, but experts now have identified another smoking-related threat to children's health that isn't as easy to get rid of: third-hand smoke.

Discussion: Villainous Company

Julian Sanchez / Law & Disorder:

Reinventing conservatism, one tweet at a time — Since the humbling results of the November election came in, the conservative movement has been scrambling to assess what happened—and to figure out how to prevent it from happening again. Much of this effort, in light of the Obama campaign's …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Matthew Yglesias, Liberal Values, Macsmind, Oliver Willis, The Next Right and AmSpecBlog

David Kocieniewski / New York Times:

Rangel Pushed for a Donation; Insurer Pushed for a Tax Cut — On April 21, 2008, Representative Charles B. Rangel met with officials of the American International Group, the now-troubled insurance giant, to ask for a donation to a school of public service that City College of New York was building in his honor.