Top Items:
James Fallows:
In praise of George W. Bush — Since the results of the 2008 election became clear, the 43rd President of the United States has behaved in a way that brings honor to him, his family, his office, and his country. By all reports he did what he could to smooth the transition to his successor …
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The Politico:
Cheney slams Obama for projecting ‘weakness’ — MCLEAN, Va. — On the eve of the unveiling of the nation's new Afghanistan policy, former Vice President Dick Cheney slammed President Barack Obama for projecting “weakness” to adversaries and warned that more workaday Afghans will side …
Discussion:
James Fallows, The Swamp, CNN, Washington Monthly, Bloomberg, Washington Wire, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Another Black Conservative, Coop's Corner, The Caucus, The Greenroom, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, The Awl, The Hill, Megan McArdle, Politics Daily, At-Largely, The New Republic, msnbc.com, The Political Carnival, Laura Rozen's Blog, The Lonely Conservative, Jack & Jill Politics and Boston Globe
New York Times:
Pullout From Afghanistan to Begin in 2011, Officials Say — WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to announce Tuesday night that he will begin to transition American forces out of Afghanistan beginning in July 2011, setting the first time frame to wind down the war there nearly a decade …
Discussion:
The Caucus, Townhall.com, CNN, Washington Post, TPMDC, The Corner on National …, TPMMuckraker, NO QUARTER, The Politico, Michael Calderone's Blog, Left Coast Rebel, Guardian, Commentary, Boston Globe, Newsweek Blogs, Hot Air, democracyarsenal.org, Vanity Fair, About.com Conservative …, The Huffington Post, TPM LiveWire, At War, Think Progress, Macleans.ca, The Atlantic Politics Channel, VetVoice, Ben Smith's Blog, Swampland, Erick's blog, msnbc.com, RedState, Politics Daily, Cato @ Liberty, Prairie Weather, Michelle Malkin, Wall Street Journal, Neptunus Lex and The Foundry
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Bitter And Afraid — The former vice president, the man who imported torture into the American constitutional system, failed to capture bin Laden, invaded a country under false pretenses, allowed the Afghanistan campaign to disintegrate, and added $5 trillion to the next generation's debt burden …
Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
Why Would Anyone Think the Bush Administration Botched Afghanistan?
Why Would Anyone Think the Bush Administration Botched Afghanistan?
Associated Press:
UK climate scientist to temporarily step down — LONDON — Britain's University of East Anglia says the director of its prestigious Climatic Research Unit is stepping down pending an investigation into allegations that he overstated the case for man-made climate change.
Discussion:
The Paper Trail, Commentary, EU Referendum, The Jawa Report, Climate Progress, NewsBusters.org and Doug Ross
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John Tierney / New York Times:
E-Mail Fracas Shows Peril of Trying to Spin Science
E-Mail Fracas Shows Peril of Trying to Spin Science
Discussion:
The New Republic, Dot Earth, Hot Air, Big Government, Stop The ACLU, Pajamas Media, NewsBusters.org and Wall Street Journal
Douglas J. Keenan / Pajamas Media:
The Fraud Is Everywhere: SUNY Albany and Queens University Belfast …
The Fraud Is Everywhere: SUNY Albany and Queens University Belfast …
CNN:
Just In: Key Obama speech excerpts released — (CNN) - The White House just released excerpts of President Obama's prime-time televised speech where he will outline his strategy on Afghanistan.
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Leaving the Right — It's an odd formulation in some ways as “the right” is not really a single entity. But in so far as it means the dominant mode of discourse among the institutions and blogs and magazines and newspapers and journals that support the GOP, Charles Johnson is absolutely right …
Discussion:
Joe. My. God.
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Little Green Footballs:
Why I Parted Ways With The Right — 1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.) — 2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway, The Other McCain, Washington Monthly, ChattahBox News Blog, Saberpoint, Crooks and Liars, Another Black Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Liberal Values, DaTechguy's Blog, AMERICAblog News, TigerHawk, Right Wing Nut House, Harry's Place, Dennis the Peasant, Jihad Watch, The Strata-Sphere, Riehl World View and At-Largely
John Cook / Gawker:
A Bravo Contract Delivered White House Gatecrashers to the Today Show — NBC News didn't pay the Salahis for their exclusive Today appearance this morning. They didn't have to: According to rival bookers trying to land the Salahis, they already have a contract with Bravo preventing them from talking to anyone else.
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Gary Fields / Wall Street Journal:
Job Cuts Loom as Stimulus Fades — WASHINGTON—Highway-construction companies around the country, having completed the mostly small projects paid for by the federal economic-stimulus package, are starting to see their business run aground, an ominous sign for the nation's weak employment picture.
Discussion:
White House.gov Blog Feed, Paul Krugman, The New Republic, ProPublica, Beat the Press and National Review Online
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Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:
Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act …
Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, The Hill, Mouth of the Potomac, The Page, Newshoggers.com and Donklephant
Alice Schroeder / Bloomberg:
Arming Goldman With Pistols Against Public: Alice Schroeder — Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol.
Bob / Capitol Ideas with John L. Micek:
The Worst Kind Of Scheduling Conflict. — President Barack Obama ... ... is slated to deliver a prime-time address on Tuesday night in which he'll lay out his plans for the American war in Afghanistan. — The address before the United States Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday night …
Seattle Times:
Lakewood police shooting suspect killed by officer in South Seattle early today — Maurice Clemmons, the suspect wanted in the slaying of four Lakewood police officers, was shot and killed in South Seattle early this morning by a Seattle police officer making a routine check of a stolen car.
Discussion:
Times of London, Townhall.com, NY Daily News, KING-TV, Lights & Sirens, Weekly Standard, Liberal Values, The Jawa Report, ABCNEWS, Hot Air and Scared Monkeys
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Eric Zimmermann / The Hill:
Palin blasts media for bus tour stories — Sarah Palin fired back at the media today for a series of stories on her travel arrangements. — Over the last few days, several outlets have picked up on the story that Palin actually flew to some of the stops on her “bus tour.” (Here, here, and here, for example.)
Jeannie Kever / Houston Chronicle:
Some toy drives check immigration status — They don't claim to know who's been naughty or nice, but some Houston charities are asking whether children are in the country legally before giving them toys. — In a year when more families than ever have asked for help, several programs …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, 24Ahead, Newshoggers.com, Wonk Room, Immigration Chronicles and Joe. My. God.
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Max Blumenthal / Mondoweiss:
Gutsy progressive congressman Alan Grayson leads a double life — Since defeating an incumbent in Florida's Republican-heavy 8th congressional district last year, Rep. Alan Grayson has emerged as one of the progressive movement's most vocal champions. His attacks on Republican obstruction …
Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Ben Nelson to offer Stupak-like amendment — Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a key swing vote, plans to offer an amendment that would impose Stupak-like restrictions on abortion under the Senate health care bill. — The amendment would mirror language authored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) …
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Derek / pipeline.corante.com:
Climategate and Scientific Conduct — Everyone has heard about the “Climategate” scandal by now. Someone leaked hundreds of megabytes of information from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, and the material (which appears to be authentic) is most interesting.
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Threat of reconciliation hovers over centrist Democrats on healthcare — Talk about using budget reconciliation to pass healthcare reform in the Senate has faded from public view, but Democratic leaders continue to hang the threat over centrists in private.
Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Grassley: 'I've lived off the public tit' as a congressman. — On C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked if he thought the health care reform bill before the Senate amounted to socialism. “No,” Grassley said, but he then attacked the public option aspect of the bill, calling it “socialism.”
The Note:
MoveOn Mobilizes Against Obama on Afghanistan — ABC News' Rick Klein reports: The liberal drumbeat against President Obama's new Afghanistan policy is about to get a whole lot louder. — MoveOn.org, the liberal advocacy group that claims 5 million members, today sent an e-mail blast urging members …
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Huck: Political attacks ‘disgusting’ — Under fire for commuting the sentence of suspected cop-killer Maurice Clemmons, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday called some of the criticisms “disgusting” and suggested they were attempts to score political points.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Huffington Post, National Review Online, Hot Air, Wonkette, GOP 12 and The Washington Independent
Richard S. Lindzen / Wall Street Journal:
The Climate Science Isn't Settled — Confident predictions of catastrophe are unwarranted. — Printer — Friendly — Is there a reason to be alarmed by the prospect of global warming? Consider that the measurement used, the globally averaged temperature anomaly (GATA), is always changing.
Chris Good / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Dept. Of Bad Timing: Obama And Tiger On The Cover Of Golf Digest — What timing: President Obama and Tiger Woods will appear together on the cover of the January issue of Golf Digest. — It could be the most politically charged Golf Digest cover ever. Woods is dealing with a swirl …