Top Items:
John Cushman / The Caucus:
From the White House Briefing Room, a Swan Song — President Bush's last press conference opened with cordial words for the reporters who have covered his remarkable eight years in office. — Acknowledging that relations have been strained at times - that some had “misunderestimated me …
Discussion:
CNN, Michael Calderone's Blogs, MoJoBlog, The Moderate Voice, Fox News, Washington Post, Wonk Room, David Corn, James Fallows and Connecting.the.Dots
RELATED:
CNN:
Bush admits mistakes in his final news conference — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Addressing reporters in his final news conference before leaving office, President Bush admitted Monday to several mistakes during his tenure in office. — “Clearly putting a ‘Mission Accomplished’ (banner) on an aircraft carrier was a mistake,” Bush said.
Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blogs:
Portman running to succeed Voinovich — Former Republican congressman Rob Portman will announce that he is running for the Senate soon after Ohio Sen. George Voinovich's retirement announcement, according to multiple Republican sources. — Portman's official announcement is expected to take place on Wednesday.
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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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The Directors / RedState:
If Not Ken Blackwell, Keep Mike Duncan — RedState endorses Ken Blackwell for Chairman of the Republican National Committee. — While RedState's endorsement in the race for Chairman of the Republican National Committee does not set us apart from many of our colleagues in the online right movement, our second choice does.
Brian Bakst / Associated Press:
Officials turn down Franken request in Minn. race — 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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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:
Wonkette
Paul Kane / Washington Post:
House Republicans Invite Obama to Address Them — House Republicans have invited President-elect Barack Obama to speak before the entire GOP conference, hoping to set a different tone to the partisan wars of the last two years in which congressional Democrats battled President Bush.
Discussion:
TIME.com
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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:
Sister Toldjah, Gateway Pundit, AmSpecBlog, Vox Popoli, Fausta's Blog, Lost in Transition, JammieWearingFool and RedState
Khaled Abu Toameh / Jerusalem Post:
Iran warns Hamas not to accept Egyptian truce proposal — Iran is exerting heavy pressure on Hamas not to accept the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire with Israel, an Egyptian government official said on Sunday. — The official told The Jerusalem Post by phone that two senior Iranian officials …
Discussion:
Haaretz, The Daily Dish, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, Yourish.com, Commentary, QandO, A Blog For All, Israellycool, Ynetnews, Townhall.com, Israel Matzav, Newshoggers.com and Hot Air
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Ideas for Obama — Last week President-elect Barack Obama was asked to respond to critics who say that his stimulus plan won't do enough to help the economy. Mr. Obama answered that he wants to hear ideas about “how to spend money efficiently and effectively to jump-start the economy.”
Discussion:
The New Republic, Matthew Yglesias, Guardian, Gristmill, Portfolio, Blog entry, The Jed Report, MSNBC, Financial Times, Prairie Weather and FiveThirtyEight.com
Rachel Abramowitz / Los Angeles Times:
The bleeping Golden Globes — Some of the acceptance speeches were saltier than usual this year, thanks to Mickey Rourke, Tina Fey and others. — The Golden Globes are supposed to be loose, but so loose that it could spur FCC sanctions? The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn …
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Alexander Burns / The Politico:
NYT reporter warns of one-term Obama — White House reporters for The New York Times predict that the market collapse will force President-elect Barack Obama to abandon for now many of his campaign promises. — If his stimulus plan “doesn't work out, he may very well be a one-term president …
Bob Owens / Pajamas Media:
Pro-Joe: Plumber's Trip to Israel Scares the Establishment Media — After all, some of the best reporting of the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah War came from a cook. (Watch Joe's first report here) — Pajamas TV is turning Joe the Plumber into a journalist, and the media class doesn't like it one bit.
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.
Jonathan Weisman / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Plans to Keep Estate Tax — Democrats Want to Freeze Levy at Current Levels Instead of Letting It Expire Next Year — President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders plan to move soon to block the estate tax from disappearing in 2010, suggesting the levy might outlive the …
James Fallows:
Refining the point about GW Bush's final press conference — I mentioned a few minutes ago, while GW Bush's final press conference was underway, that the president seemed unusually “self-aware.” — That's not quite right. On matters of policy, he revealed himself to be as isolated …
William Kristol / New York Times:
Continuity We Can Believe In — Barack Obama made news Sunday on ABC's “This Week”: The White House dog will likely be a Labradoodle or a Portuguese water dog. — I've got to say I'm a little disappointed. These are nice, friendly, generally obedient breeds (or in the case of the Labradoodle, a crossbreed).
Christian Science Monitor:
An inside story of how the US magnified Palestinian suffering — The covert push to empower Fatah failed. And isolating Hamas just made things worse. But it's not too late to change course. — CHERRYFIELD, MAINE; AND WASHINGTON - — A million and a half Palestinians are learning …
Discussion:
War in Context