Top Items:
Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blogs:
Obama meets with liberal columnists — Obama held a meeting with several columnists and liberal commentators this morning, following up on last night's dinner with conservative writers, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting. — The group included the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne …
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Sorry, No Details — Lots of emails from readers asking about the chat with the president-elect this morning. It was totally off the record and I'm a stickler for those rules. I can say, however, the following: it's hard to express the relief I feel that this man will be the president soon.
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Silence of the lamb chops — Call it a charm offensive or a high-level “Listening Tour,” but Barack Obama is already signaling that he intends to break with the current president in one obvious way: hearing from his critics. — Obama Tuesday night trekked to the Chevy Chase, Md. …
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blogs, Gawker, The Confluence, The Nation, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, Political Punch and TIME.com
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
Why Liberals Aren't Angry Over Obama's Dinner — I actually don't find it terribly surprising that liberals haven't shown any outrage over Barack Obama's dinner party with George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, and David Brooks. I'll get to my hypothesis why liberals aren't upset in a moment.
Greg Mitchell / Editor and Publisher:
Cheney Tells Jim Lehrer Tonight: No Torture, Few Mistakes, Economy Not Our Fault — NEW YORK In an exit interview with PBS's Jim Lehrer on the NewsHour airing tonight, Vice President Cheney repeats claims that Saddam Hussein worked with al-Qaeda. Asked if he made any mistakes in his eight years as V.P. …
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Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Cheney On Whether Iraq War Was Worth The 4,500 Americans Killed: ‘I Think So’ — In an interview airing tonight on PBS's Newshour, host Jim Lehrer asks Vice President Cheney about the U.S. soldiers who have lost their lives in the war in Iraq. Cheney shows little remorse:
Andrew Roberts / Telegraph:
History will show that George W Bush was right — The American lady who called to see if I would appear on her radio programme was specific. “We're setting up a debate,” she said sweetly, “and we want to know from your perspective as a historian whether George W Bush was the worst president …
Douglas B. Brill / lehighvalleylive.com:
WARREN COUNTY, N.J. NEWS — Real-time news for Belvidere, Phillipsburg and more — Boy named Adolf Hitler, his sisters removed from parents' home by New Jersey authorities … State authorities have removed Adolf Hilter Campbell and his two sisters from their parents' home in Holland Township …
Discussion:
Fox News, Gothamist, QandO, Outside The Beltway, Don Surber, Wizbang, Patterico's Pontifications and Sweetness & Light
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
New Jersey official: We didn't take the kid because he's named after Hitler — So they say. … Dad, who's never been shy with the media, has conspicuously clammed up on why the kids were taken. Make of that what you will. A local cop told Fox News that he's dealt with the family …
Wall Street Journal:
IMF Informed Geithner on Taxes — Senate Delays Treasury Nominee's Hearing Till Jan. 21; Obama Vote of Confidence — Timothy Geithner, whose nomination as Treasury secretary has been delayed by his past failure to pay taxes, was repeatedly advised in writing by the International Monetary Fund …
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Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Tim Geithner! Why Are Rich People So Cheap?
Tim Geithner! Why Are Rich People So Cheap?
Discussion:
Salon, The New Republic, The Huffington Post, New York Times, Climate Progress, Washington Post, Wizbang, NY Daily News and Political Punch
The Politico:
Can Obama save Geithner?
Can Obama save Geithner?
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Associated Press, NewsBusters.org, Weekly Standard, The Caucus and Reuters
Diana Washington Valdez / El Paso Times:
U.S. military report warns ‘sudden collapse’ of Mexico is possible — President-elect Barack Obama listens as Mexico's President Felipe Calderon makes a statement to reporters in Washington, Monday, Jan. 12, 2009. Mexico is one of two countries that “bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse …
Discussion:
Hot Air, QandO, YID With LID, Chicago Boyz, Pat Dollard, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Fausta's Blog
Dave Rochelson / Change.gov:
New official portrait released — Today we are releasing the new official portrait for President Barack Obama. — It was taken by Pete Souza, the newly-announced official White House photographer. — It is the first time that an official presidential portrait was taken with a digital camera.
Fox News:
Obama to End Military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy — WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama will allow gays to serve openly in the military by overturning the controversial “don't ask, don't tell” policy that marred President Clinton's first days in office, according to incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
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Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
Gannett Plans to Furlough Employees for a Week — The Gannett Company, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. — Gannett, which owns 85 daily newspapers across …
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JammieWearingFool
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Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:
Poll: Broad Backing for Obama, Stimulus — WASHINGTON — Americans support the economic-stimulus plan being pushed by President-elect Barack Obama but worry the government will spend too much money and widen the budget deficit, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found.
Salon:
Obama's early stumbles — Longtime listener, first-time caller. Although I wasn't yet alive in the times it describes, I too was blown away (pun intended) by “The Weather Underground” film, not so much by the namby-pamby William Ayers — who for all his scandalous reputation …
Discussion:
Vox Popoli
Wall Street Journal:
Bank of America to Get Billions in U.S. Aid — Deal Is Said to Be Reached on Fresh Bailout Cash; Lender Told Government It Needed Funds to Absorb Ailing Merrill Lynch — WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has agreed to commit billions in additional aid to Bank of America Corp. to help …
Daily Mail:
It's an injustice to NOT marry girls aged 10, says Saudi cleric … Saudi Arabia's most senior cleric has told followers it is permissible for ten-year-old girls to marry and anyone who think they are too young are doing the youngsters ‘an injustice’. — Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh …
Barbara Demick / Los Angeles Times:
In China, Bush remains a popular president — He is shown in a dozen flattering photographs at a Beijing exhibit marking 30 years of Sino-U.S. diplomatic ties. Many Chinese openly express affection toward ‘Xiao Bush,’ or Young Bush. — Reporting from Beijing — Walk into the exhibit hall …
Discussion:
The Peking Duck
Mark Steyn / The Corner:
Re: Ricardo Montalban — Jonah, I'm with you on Ricardo Montalban. He was one of a select group of actors who could redeem almost any nonsense. My memory of the Dynasty spin-off, The Colbys, is that he was cast as a guy called “Zach Powers” but played him as his usual Latin charmer anyway.
Discussion:
Big Hollywood
Scott Thill / The Underwire:
R.I.P. Patrick McGoohan, The Prisoner's TV Visionary — “I am not a number, I am a free man!” Patrick McGoohan's character Number Six shouted at the panoptic eye in the sky at the beginning of every episode of the revolutionary '60s sci-fi TV series The Prisoner.
Geoff Boucher / Hero Complex:
Nick Fury no more? Samuel L. Jackson says 'Maybe I won't be Nick Fury' — EXCLUSIVE AND UPDATED — Samuel L. Jackson, clearly bristling, said today that negotiations to put him in the role of Nick Fury have broken down because “there seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world.”
Marc Ambinder:
The House Republicans Propose A Stimulus Alternative — There is no pride of authorship, President-elect Barack Obama said last week. His economic team is open to and all ideas, regardless of progenitor. — So — the Republican Study Committee in the House has come out with an all-tax, no spending variant.
Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Ex-Bush aide takes blame for ‘Mission Accomplished’ — (CNN) - It's a moment President Bush has repeatedly called a mistake: Delivering a speech on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Spring of 2003 with a “Mission Accomplished” banner featured prominently behind him.
Quinnipiac University:
Kennedy Fades As New Yorkers Back Cuomo For Senate, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; More Voters Don't Think Kennedy Is Qualified — New York State voters have cooled on Caroline Kennedy and more voters now prefer State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo 31 - 24 percent for Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate seat …
Nikki Tait / Financial Times:
Czech art spoof sparks EU outrage — As if the Russian gas crisis and war in Gaza were not headache enough, the Czech Republic, which took over the rotating EU presidency at the start of the year, has been landed with a cultural debacle. — Sited prominently in the headquarters of the EU Council …
Discussion:
FP Passport
Newsdesk / Clout St:
Senate takes oath as Blagojevich impeachment jurors — SPRINGFIELD—The Illinois Senate took an oath today to be sworn in as jurors in the historic impeachment trial of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, hours after he made his first Capitol appearance since his arrest last month on federal corruption charges.
Discussion:
Pat Dollard, TIME.com, Taegan Goddard's …, TPM Election Central and Chicago Breaking News
Tom Goldstein / SCOTUSblog:
The Surpassing Significance of Herring — By way of full disclosure, I was one of the defendant's lawyers in the Herring case, though my involvement in it was very limited. I am not an expert on the Fourth Amendment, but my preliminary reaction is that we will at some point soon regard …
Ross Douthat:
Race and The Israel Lobby — Freddie deBoer emails: … It's a fair issue to raise. To be clear, I don't think that Walt and Mearsheimer are mimicking anti-Semitic tropes intentionally; I think they're doing so obtusely, in the course of a tendentious and simplistic argument about the roots of U.S. foreign policy.
Hugh Hewitt / Townhall.com:
“And What Do We Have To Show For It?” The Nuclear Opportunity Before The New President — In that question is the new president's greatest political danger. He's about to oversee the spending of an unthinkable $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars ($350 billion in the second half of the bank bailout …