Top Items:
John Bresnahan / The Politico:
Reid vows to lead till at least 2015 — Harry Reid vowed Tuesday that he'll lead the Senate until 2015 and beyond, taunting Republicans who'd like to unseat him and dashing the hopes of Democrats who'd like to succeed him. — The Nevada Democrat, who is up for reelection in 2010 …
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Walter Dellinger / New York Times:
City of Cold Shoulders — THE scene of Roland W. Burris being escorted from the Senate by the Capitol police on Tuesday could be only the first act of an unpleasant and distracting drama. But in the days since Mr. Burris's appointment to Illinois's junior Senate seat was announced …
The Hill:
'I don't work for Obama' — Democrats must be “very, very careful” to avoid overreaching and will not rubber-stamp President-elect Obama's policies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday. — In an interview with The Hill, Reid said it is essential for Obama …
The Politico:
Burris heads into pivotal meeting — Roland Burris heads into a pivotal meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin on Wednesday with an unmistakable sense of momentum. — He's now got a top Senate Democrat on his side, a growing chorus …
Discussion:
Chicago Tribune, New York Times, D-Day, TPM Election Central, Associated Press, AmSpecBlog, Emptywheel, The Politico, Time, TIME.com, FiveThirtyEight.com and Flopping Aces
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Reid aide denies Senate seating Burris — A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is denying an AP report that Roland Burris will be seated in the Senate. The report is “wrong,” said Reid spokesman Jim Manley. — “There are have been no decisons,” Manley said.
Betsy Newmark / Fox News:
Sen. Feinstein Breaks With Democrats to Back Burris Appointment
Sen. Feinstein Breaks With Democrats to Back Burris Appointment
Discussion:
The Note, Political Machine, RedState, NO QUARTER, Balloon Juice, The Confluence and George's Bottom Line
Washington Post:
Blair House Mystery Solved: It's John Howard — The veil is lifted. We now know who is booked at Blair House, kicking President-elect Barack Obama and his family to the waiting list and across Lafayette Park to the Hay-Adams Hotel. — The only overnight visitor at the presidential guest manse …
Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
For Israel, 2006 Lessons but Old Pitfalls — JERUSALEM — This time, Israeli military commanders are leading from the front, not trying to direct the infantry from television screens. This time, the military has clear plans, in stages, drawn up with a year's preparation.
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Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
The Mideast's Ground Zero — The fighting, death and destruction in Gaza is painful to watch. But it's all too familiar. It's the latest version of the longest-running play in the modern Middle East, which, if I were to give it a title, would be called: “Who owns this hotel? Can the Jews have a room?
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Commentary, Jules Crittenden, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Mondoweiss, The Agonist, Soccer Dad and Jerusalem Post
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New York Times:
Obama Warns of Trillion-Dollar Deficit Potential — WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday braced Americans for the unparalleled prospect of “trillion-dollar deficits for years to come,” a stark assessment of the budgetary outlook that he said would force his administration …
Washington Post:
Obama Is Under Fire Over Panetta Selection — Current, Ex-CIA Officials Criticize ‘Opaque’ Process — President-elect Barack Obama said yesterday that he has selected a “top-notch intelligence team” that would provide the “unvarnished” information his administration needs, rather than “what they think the president wants to hear.”
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, MSNBC, At-Largely, The Caucus, Spin Cycle, New York Times and Obsidian Wings
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The DOJ pursues the “real criminal” in the NSA spying scandal — There are few viewpoints, if there are any, which trigger more fervent agreement across the political and media establishment than the view that George Bush, Dick Cheney and other top officials should not be criminally investigated …
Discussion:
theheretik.us
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Sweet on Caroline — Ask not, you know, what your country can, like, do for you. Ask what you, um, can, you know, do for your country. — After a lifetime of shying away from the public spotlight, Caroline Kennedy asked herself what she could do for her country.
The Atlantic Online:
The End of White America? — ANOTHER MOMENT FROM The Great Gatsby: as Fitzgerald's narrator and Gatsby drive across the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan, a car passes them, and Nick Carraway notices that it is a limousine “driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish negroes, two bucks and a girl.”
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Jeff Stein / SpyTalk:
CIA Man: Spies' Reaction to Panetta ‘Overwhelmingly Negative’ — A retired senior CIA operations officer who quit last summer after 20 years tracking terrorists says the rank-and-file reaction to President-elect Obama's choice of Leon E.Panetta to run the spy agency has been “overwhelmingly negative.”
Avi Shlaim / Guardian:
How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe — The only way to make sense of Israel's senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians.
Martin Kramer / Sandbox:
ABC: Anything But Cole — Juan Cole is running two campaigns on his blog. One is against Israel—business as usual for Cole. The other is promoting his blog in the 2008 Weblog Awards competition (Middle East category), where there are ten finalists (I am one).
Benjamin Netanyahu / Wall Street Journal:
Militant Islam Threatens Us All — Hamas rockets have the same terror goal as Hitler's blitz. — Imagine a siren that gives you 30 seconds to find shelter before a Kassam rocket falls from the sky and explodes, spraying its lethal shrapnel in all directions.
Hal Varian / Wall Street Journal:
Boost Private Investment to Boost the Economy — Excessive spending is what got us into this mess in the first place. — These days it seems like it is our patriotic duty to consume more. And if we don't choose to spend more money ourselves, the government will do it for us. — But wait a minute.
CNN:
Obama to tap new position, meet with predecessors — (CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday will announce his pick for “chief performance officer,” a newly created position that will work on the federal budget and to reform government, a Democratic official told CNN.
Daily Mail:
Synagogue set ablaze and anti-Semitic assaults soar in UK following Israel's invasion of Gaza … The number of anti-Semitic attacks in London has risen sharply following Israel's land assault on Gaza, Jewish community groups said today. — Their leaders have compiled a dossier of attacks …