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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Cheney: Obama ‘trying to pretend’ — Former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Barack Obama on Tuesday of “trying to pretend we are not at war” with terrorists, pointing to the White House response to the attempted sky bombing as reflecting a pattern that includes banishing the term …
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Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
As the Nation's Pulse Races, Obama Can't Seem to Find His — I was walking through a deserted downtown on Christmas Eve with a friend, past the lonely, gray Treasury Building, past the snowy White House with no president inside. — “I hope the terrorists don't think this is a good time to attack …
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Obama takes the heat Bush did not — Eight years ago, a terrorist bomber's attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner was thwarted by a group of passengers, an incident that revealed some gaping holes in airline security just a few months after the attacks of Sept. 11.
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Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Unfair attack from the Right on Obama's lack of response? — Gary Gross notes this completely unfair attack on Barack Obama's response to the Eunuch Bomber on Christmas Day: … Man, that Bill Kristol can get nasty when Obama makes a mistake, can't he? Oh, wait — that wasn't Kristol?
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YID With LID
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
DICK THE COWARD.... It was only a matter of time before Dick Cheney decided to trash the president again. … Let's review a few pesky details. First, it was Cheney's administration that released some of the alleged terrorists who plotted the attack into an “art therapy rehabilitation program” …
Susan Crabtree / The Hill:Feinstein: Halt transfers to Yemen
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The Hill, Congress Blog, Hot Air, Betsy's Page, The Page, RedState, Weekly Standard, CNN and YID With LID
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Obama Can Still Designate Abdulmutallab An Enemy Combatant — Unable to defend themselves on the merits, the administration and Democratic leaders are trying to change the topic to blaming Bush and Republicans. This is pathetic. — First of all, Obama is president. He has been for almost a year.
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Political Byline
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS GOOD NEWS FOR REPUBLICANS.... If facts, history, evidence, and reality have no meaning whatsoever — and they may not — then this makes sense. … By all appearances, it doesn't matter if the Republican attacks are baseless and ridiculous. It doesn't matter if Republican national security policies failed.
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CNN:
8 U.S. deaths at military base in Afghanistan — Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Eight Americans were killed in a suicide bombing Wednesday at a military base in eastern Afghanistan, according to a U.S. military official and a U.S. Embassy official. — A suicide bomber wearing …
Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: Americans most admire Obama, Clinton, Palin — WASHINGTON — President Obama is the man Americans admired most in 2009, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, while Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin are virtually tied as the most-admired woman.
Discussion:
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Clinton Edges Out Palin as Most Admired Woman — Obama easily wins Most Admired Man title — PRINCETON, NJ — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues her reign as the Most Admired Woman in the eyes of Americans, but barely edges out former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin this year, 16% to 15%.
Don Walton / Lincoln Journal Star:
Beleaguered Nelson to air TV ad tonight — As a fresh poll measured the political cost of Sen. Ben Nelson's health reform vote, he prepared Tuesday to take his case directly to Nebraskans during Wednesday night's Holiday Bowl game. — Nelson will air a new TV ad in which he attempts …
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Ben Smith's Blog, The Caucus, Michelle Malkin, Scorecard's Blog, TPMDC, Shot in the Dark, Scared Monkeys and Rasmussen Reports
John Schwartz / New York Times:
Debate Over Full-Body Scans vs. Invasion of Privacy Flares Anew After Incident — The technology exists to reveal objects hidden under clothes at airport checkpoints, and many experts say it would have detected the explosive packet carried aboard the Detroit-bound flight last week.
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Associated Press:
Somali held last month with chemicals, syringe — ‘We caught him red-handed,’ official says after arrest in Mogadishu airport — MOGADISHU, Somalia - A man tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused …
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Laura Saunders / Wall Street Journal:
Rich Cling to Life to Beat Tax Man — Nothing's certain except death and taxes — but a temporary lapse in the estate tax is causing a few wealthy Americans to try to bend those rules. — Starting Jan. 1, the estate tax — which can erase nearly half of a wealthy person's estate — goes away for a year.
Discussion:
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Exclusive: Details from Obama's probe — Information that would have kept a bomb off Northwest's Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was “vague but available” to intelligence agencies, according to officials involved in reviews ordered by President Barack Obama.
Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:
Dems Blame Bush Admin For Terror Attempt — As GOPers begin increasingly using the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner to score political points, 2 Dems are blaming the Bush admin for events that led directly to the failed attack. — While many Dems stay silent and let the WH lead the way …
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Sausage is Delicious, Mediocre Legislation is Problematic — Various analogies between the legislative process and sausage-making are always in the air. A hardy perennial of the American political discourse. But when considering the prospects for legislative reform, it's worth considering some serious differences between the two.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
Paul Caron / TaxProf Blog:
TurboTax, Geithner Edition — Following up on my January post, Geithner Blames Turbo Tax For His Tax Troubles: … Mary O'Keeffe (Union College) provides screenshots showing that TurboTax has changed its tax preparation software for 2009 to prompt those working for an international organization …
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