Top Items:
The Caucus:
Panetta to Be Named C.I.A. Director — President-elect Barack Obama has selected Leon E. Panetta, the former congressman and White House chief of staff, to take over the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that Mr. Obama criticized during the campaign for using interrogation methods …
Discussion:
BrianFaughnan's blog, The Washington Independent, Hot Air, MoJoBlog, The Corner, FP Passport, Swampland, SpyTalk, Danger Room, Weekly Standard, Jules Crittenden, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, BLACKFIVE, Michelle Malkin, Stephen C. Rose, A Blog For All, Washington Monthly, MyDD, Firedoglake, New West Notes, Pirate's Cove, Spin Cycle, The Daily Dish, TIME.com, Macsmind, TalkLeft, Think Progress and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
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Lauren Kornreich / CNN:
Feinstein slams Obama CIA head pick — (CNN) — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Senate's incoming Intelligence committee chair, slammed President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Leon Panetta as director of the CIA Monday. — “I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama's impressive new OLC chief — The Office of Legal Counsel, inside the Justice Department, is probably the most consequential federal government office that remains relatively obscure. The legal opinions which it issues become, more or less automatically, the official legal position of the Executive Branch.
Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:
Not Even the Clintons Would Have Tried This — President-elect Obama has made his first completely incomprehensible appointment: Leon Panetta for CIA Director. No, I'm serious. Clinton OMB Director and Chief of Staff to head a key intelligence agency. One can refer to him as an …
Marc Ambinder:
Panetta On Torture — Here's Central Intelligence Agency director-designate Leon E. Panetta, writing about torture, in the Washington Monthly. Actually, no — he's writing in the Washington Monthly about torture:
CNN:
Secretary of the Senate rejects Burris appointment — (CNN) — An aide to Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson tells CNN that this morning she rejected Roland Burris' certificate of appointment to the Senate. — Robert Baxter says Erickson rejected Burris' appointment because it does …
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Chicago Sun Times, Runnin' Scared, The Swamp, PoliBlog, The Crypt's Blogs, Sister Toldjah and Hot Air
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Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blogs:
Reid: Coleman will “never ever serve” — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered the toughest language he has ever used in arguing that Norm Coleman's career in the Senate is finished. — “Norm Coleman will never ever serve [again] in the Senate,” Reid told Politico's Manu Raju. “He lost the election.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Senate recount: Franken's on top; Coleman to sue — The state Canvassing Board certified final results this afternoon in Minnesota's marathon U.S. Senate race, but that won't end the battle between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman, whose Senate term ended on Saturday.
Wall Street Journal:
Funny Business in Minnesota — In which every dubious ruling seems to help Al Franken. — Strange things keep happening in Minnesota, where the disputed recount in the Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken may be nearing a dubious outcome. Thanks to the machinations …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Minnesota elections board says Franken won
Minnesota elections board says Franken won
Discussion:
The Politico, Balloon Juice, Associated Press, Swing State Project and The Crypt's Blogs
Drudge Report:
NBC BANS COULTER FOR LIFE; CUT FROM ‘TODAY’ SHOW OVER BOOK'S CLAIMS, NO MORE CABLE — The nation's top selling conservative author has been banned from appearing on NBC, insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT. — Banned for life! — “We are just not going to have her on any more, it's over,” a top network source explains.
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Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blogs:
Coulter's ‘Today’ show interview canceled — Ann Coulter was scheduled to appear on the “Today” show Tuesday morning to promote her new book, “Guilty.” But it's now been canceled, according to her website. — Coulter wrote: “TODAY SHOW AND TODAY SHOW FOURTH HOUR: CANCELLED!”
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, The Raw Story, Shakesville, NewsBusters.org, No More Mister Nice Blog and Wizbang
Connie Hair / Human Events:
Pelosi Erases Gingrich's Long-Standing Fairness Rules — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi's proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol …
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Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
REMEMBER LINCOLN? — Dave Weigel, now happily ensconced at the Washington Independent, is liveblogging the RNC chairman debate: … It's really weird that Republican candidates for high office almost never named Abraham Lincoln as their favorite Republican president. He was, after all, a Republican.
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Satyam Khanna / Think Progress:
RNC candidate Ken Blackwell compares Bush to Hoover.»
RNC candidate Ken Blackwell compares Bush to Hoover.»
Discussion:
Political Machine
Judy Lin / Associated Press:
Ex eBay CEO prepares run for Calif. governor — Former eBay Inc. chief executive Meg Whitman has edged closer to a run for California governor, with a spokesman confirming on Monday that she has resigned from three corporate boards. — Whitman's spokesman, Henry Gomez …
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TechCrunch
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Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Transition donors give less — Barack Obama's transition fundraising has fallen off its earlier pace and may just squeak by in reaching its target before he's sworn in as president Jan. 20. — According to figures released Monday, the Obama-Biden Transition Project brought in $2.6 million …
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Washington Wire:
Ron Paul-Finally-Gets His Due — Susan Davis reports on politics. — For much of the 2008 campaign, Texas lawmaker and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul and his supporters served as a thorn in the side—or a punching bag—for the mainstream GOP establishment.
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? — Since my earlier post was more arch and cryptic, I wanted to expand on what seems to be the problem with the Obama stimulus plan, as revealed in the current round of leaks. I would point to three key issues. And I'm going to base these three on the premise …
Jeffrey Goldberg:
Why I'm Not Blogging More About Gaza — Andrew Sullivan just asked me (live, not on e-mail; bloggers at the Atlantic actually talk to each other) why I haven't been posting more on Gaza. The simple answer is that I'm busy reporting, and I hope to head to the Middle East soon …
Discussion:
Michael J. Totten
Bob Barr / Los Angeles Times:
No defending the Defense of Marriage Act — The author of the federal Defense of Marriage Act now thinks it's time for his law to get the boot — but for political reasons, not in support of gays. — In 1996, as a freshman member of the House of Representatives, I wrote the Defense of Marriage Act …
Jeff Poor / The Business & Media Institute:
EPA ‘Cow Tax’ Could Charge $175 per Dairy Cow to Curb Greenhouse Gases — Farm Bureau warns just this one rule may increase milk production costs up to 8 cents a gallon. — Business & Media Institute — Call this one of the newest and innovative ways your government has come up with to battle greenhouse gas emissions.
New York Times:
Restore the Senate's Treaty Power — THE Constitution's Treaty Clause has long been seen, rightly, as a bulwark against presidential inclinations to lock the United States into unwise foreign commitments. The clause will likely be tested by Barack Obama's administration …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, Amygdala, Obsidian Wings, Shadow Government, TPMCafe, UN Dispatch, Opinio Juris, The RBC, Firedoglake and Reason
Ben McGrath / New Yorker:
CORRECTING CAROLINE — In 2001, shortly after being sworn into the Senate, Hillary Clinton gave a press conference to address questions related to her husband's Presidential pardons. The Times observed that she used the word “disappointed” ten times, in reference to her brother, Hugh Rodham …