Top Items:
Lara Jakes / Associated Press:
Obama preparing order to close Gitmo — WASHINGTON (AP) — Advisers to President-elect Barack Obama say one of his first duties in office will be to order the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. — That executive order is expected during Obama's first week on the job …
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Ed Henry / CNN:
Obama to close Guantanamo Bay prison quickly — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama plans to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay as early as his first week in office to show a break from the Bush administration's approach to the war on terror, according to two officials close to the transition.
Paul Krugman / New York Times:Ideas for Obama — Last week President-elect Barack Obama …
Discussion:
The Washington Independent, Guardian, Matthew Yglesias, The New Republic, Portfolio, The Impolitic, Gristmill and The Jed Report
White House:
Press Conference by the President — James S. Brady Press Briefing Room — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Tapper. We have been through a lot together. As I look through the room, I see Jake, Mike, Herman, Ann Compton. Just seemed like yesterday that — that I was on the campaign trail …
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John Cushman / The Caucus:
A Money Request, and a Swan Song — Obama Requests Money | 11:28 a.m. President-elect Barack Obama asked President Bush to request the $350 billion remaining in the financial rescue package, the White House said Monday, shortly after Mr. Bush finished a news conference.
New York Times:
In Final News Conference, Bush Strikes Elegiac Tone — WASHINGTON — A sentimental and occasionally defiant President Bush held his final news conference on Monday, conceding that the past eight years have dealt him some disappointments but declaring that, contrary to some critics of his policies …
David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:At Obama's Urging, Bush to Seek Rest of Bailout Funds
Discussion:
Democracy in America
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Dem senators to swear in Burris — The Roland Burris saga is over, as Democratic Senate leaders have accepted his credentials and will swear him in as the junior senator from Illinois by the end of this week. — The decision ends an embarrassing chapter in Democratic politics and allows …
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Kate Phillips / The Caucus:
Burris Cleared to Take Senate Seat — Senate Democratic leaders today cleared the way for Roland Burris to be seated as a senator from Illinois, after more than a weeklong spectacle surrounding the state's corruption scandal and the questioning of Mr. Burris's credentials.
Signorile / The Gist:
RNC Chair Candidate: “Homosexuality is a compulsion that can be contained, repressed or changed.” — Yes, that's what Ken Blackwell, the sketchy former Ohio Secretary of State who now has a good shot at running the Republican National Committee, told me a few months back, among some other very interesting and kooky things.
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:Blackwell: Gay ‘Compulsion’ Can be ‘Restrained’
Discussion:
The Daily Dish
Associated Press:
Israel bans Arab parties from running in upcoming elections — The Central Elections Committee on Monday banned Arab political parties from running in next month's parliamentary elections, drawing accusations of racism by an Arab lawmaker who said he would challenge the decision in the country's Supreme Court.
Agence France Presse:
Rice shame-faced by Bush over UN Gaza vote: Olmert — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — JERUSALEM (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was left shame-faced after President George W. Bush ordered her to abstain in a key UN vote on the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday.
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Huffington Post, Think Progress, Commentary, Taylor Marsh, Phawker and Booman Tribune
Telegraph:
Student auctions off virginity for offers of more than £2.5 million — A student who is auctioning her virginity to pay for a masters degree in Family and Marriage therapy has seen bidding hit £2.5million ($3.7m). — Natalie Dylan, 22, claims her offer of a one-night stand …
Lauren Kornreich / CNN:
Joe the Plumber: Ban media from war — Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, is in Israel. (Getty Images/Israeli GPO) — (CNN) - ‘Joe the Plumber’ Wurzelbacher told a group of journalists covering the conflict in Israel and Gaza that he didn't think the media should be allowed to report on war.
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Voinovich Announces Retirement, GOP Problems Mount — Ohio Sen. George Voinovich is retiring in 2010, the fourth Republican to announce he is stepping aside at the end of his term. — Voinovich announced his retirement this morning after a weekend filled with speculation that he was planning to step aside.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Washington Post, Hot Air, DownWithTyranny!, Writes Like She Talks and The Washington Independent
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Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blogs:Portman running to succeed Voinovich
Discussion:
The Caucus, Matthew Yglesias, MyDD, AmSpecBlog, The Swamp, Swing State Project and Daily Kos
Mariana Cook / New Yorker:
A COUPLE IN CHICAGO … MICHELLE OBAMA: There is a strong possibility that Barack will pursue a political career, although it's unclear. There is a little tension with that. I'm very wary of politics. I think he's too much of a good guy for the kind of brutality, the skepticism.
Discussion:
Spin Cycle
buffalobeast.com:
THE BEAST 50 MOST LOATHSOME PEOPLE IN AMERICA, 2008 — 50. Barack Obama — Charges: Beyond a few token acts of bipartisan marketing, Barry's major duty in the Senate was to avoid legislating, so he could pretend Washington-outsider status and nullify attacks on his non-existent policy positions.
Discussion:
My Left Wing
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Obama climate czar has socialist ties — Group sees ‘global governance’ as solution — Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society …
Discussion:
Townhall.com, Gateway Pundit, Wonk Room, Salon, AmSpecBlog, Sister Toldjah, JammieWearingFool, RedState and Fausta's Blog
Brian Bakst / Associated Press:
Officials turn down Franken's request for an election certificate — ST. PAUL, Minn. - Democrat Al Franken was quickly turned down Monday when he asked Minnesota's governor and secretary of state to issue an election certificate that would let him take office in the Senate.
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Ali Frick / Think Progress:
Scarborough: 'That's the silliest thing I've ever heard' that torture doesn't work.» — Today on MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough waged an ardent, six-minute defense of torture, arguing with the Financial Times' Krystia Freeland that torture is always effective …
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