Top Items:
James Gordon Meek / NY Daily News:
NCTC director Michael Leiter remained on ski slopes after Christmas Day airline bombing attempt — WASHINGTON - The top official in charge of analyzing terror threats did not cut short his ski vacation after the underwear bomber nearly blew up an airliner on Christmas Day, the Daily News has learned.
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Jesse Lee / White House.gov Blog Feed:
Release of the Security Review Conducted After the Failed Christmas Terrorist Attack — The review of our security and intelligence systems following the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day has been completed. The President spoke two days ago about “the urgency of getting this right …
Discussion:
Top of the Ticket, Michelle Malkin, NO QUARTER, AMERICAblog News and The Lonely Conservative
Susan Page / USA Today:
National security adviser: Airline bomber report to ‘shock’ — WASHINGTON — White House national security adviser James Jones says Americans will feel “a certain shock” when they read an account being released Thursday of the missed clues that could have prevented the alleged Christmas Day bomber from ever boarding the plane.
Discussion:
Reuters, Commentary, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, msnbc.com, CBS News, The Foundry, The Strata-Sphere, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Mudville Gazette, Laura Rozen's Blog, The Hill, Top of the Ticket, The Washington Independent, The Lonely Conservative, The Corner on National …, Scared Monkeys, Cafe Hayek, Breitbart.tv, TRAIL BLAZERS, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Taylor Marsh, Politics Daily, Riehl World View, Raw Story, Weasel Zippers, NPR Blogs and GINA COBB
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Obama: ‘My responsibility’ — President Barack Obama on Thursday accepted responsibility for intelligence shortcomings that led to a failed Christmas Day bombing plot on a Detroit-bound airliner, saying, “Ultimately, the buck stops with me. — “As president, I have a solemn responsibility …
Discussion:
The Swamp, Neptunus Lex, Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Verum Serum and Political Byline
Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Obama: ‘The buck stops with me’ on attempted terrorist attack
Obama: ‘The buck stops with me’ on attempted terrorist attack
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
The Note:
Steele Lashes Out: Critics Should ‘Get a Life,’ ‘Shut Up,’ ‘Fire Me ... or Get out of the Way’ — ABC News' Aaron Katersky and Rick Klein report: RNC Chairman Michael Steele is lashing out his critics, with a series of blunt messages for prominent Republicans who have blasted him over his leadership for the Republican Party.
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Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:
GOP Furious At Steele; RNC Admits Little Control — House and Senate leadership aides are furious with RNC chair Michael Steele and have angrily confronted the RNC's press shop over their inability to keep the chair on message. — In the course of a regular daily conference call between …
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Is Palin Getting $100,000 to Speak at the Tea Party National Convention? — This morning, I asked whether Sarah Palin's decision to speak at the Tea Party National Convention — while (so far) eschewing the much higher-profile Conservative Political Action Conference — had anything to with money.
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Hotline On Call:
GOP Insiders Sour On Palin — A poll of GOP insiders suggests that ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has little support among the party's professional class — and maybe that's just how she wants it. — In a survey of 109 party leaders, political professionals and pundits, Palin finished 5th …
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The Star-Ledger Continuous / New Jersey Online:
N.J. Senate rejects bill legalizing gay marriage … TRENTON — The state Senate rejected a same-sex marriage bill today, a major victory for opponents who contend the measure would infringe on religious freedom and is not needed because the state already permits civil unions.
Discussion:
Gothamist, Box Turtle Bulletin, JammieWearingFool, TPM LiveWire and The Corner on National …
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Greenwich Time:
Former White House lawyer charged with attempting to kill wife in New Canaan — NEW CANAAN — A prominent attorney and former White House lawyer was charged with attempting to kill his wife Wednesday night. — John Michael Farren, 57, of New Canaan, was charged with attempted murder …
Discussion:
Law Blog, The BLT, Associated Press, Above the Law, Wonkette, Raw Story and Washington Post
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Palin aide warned of ‘epic debacle’ — Sarah Palin's charming opening debate line for now-Vice President Joe Biden — “Hey, can I call you Joe?” — was scripted after she repeatedly referred to him as “O'Biden” in preparation sessions, former McCain campaign senior adviser Steve Schmidt told “60 Minutes.”
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Seema Mehta / L.A. NOW:
Reagan grandson arrested in Van Nuys [Updated] — Former President Reagan's grandson is in jail this morning after police arrested him at his parents' house in Van Nuys, Los Angeles Police Department officials said. — Cameron Reagan, 31, was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest …
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Carlson Launches Right's Answer to HuffPost — The offices of The Daily Caller evoke a long-ago era of journalism, circa 2005 or 2006, before the Los Angeles Times closed its big-city bureaus, The Washington Times fired 60 percent of its staff, and magazines from Gourmet to Portfolio shuttered for lack of revenue.
Discussion:
The TrogloPundit, Wonkette, Hit & Run, The Other McCain, Riehl World View, Mediaite and The Awl
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Lieberman tanks — Want to know how far Joe Lieberman has fallen in the wake of the health care vote last month? Barack Obama's approval rating with Connecticut Republicans is higher than Lieberman's with the state's Democrats. — 81% of Democrats now disapprove of Lieberman's job performance …
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Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Beck: 'African-American is a bogus, PC, made-up term. I mean, that's not a race.' — Today on his radio show, Glenn Beck wanted to discuss the census. “Apparently the census has come out,” he said. Beck's co-host then chimed in, “Yeah and there's a little confusion because there's three boxes …
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Conservatives Finish 2009 as No. 1 Ideological Group — Uptick owing largely to more independents calling themselves conservative — PRINCETON, NJ — The increased conservatism that Gallup first identified among Americans last June persisted throughout the year, so that the final year-end …
Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: Colorado Governor — With Ritter Stepping Down, Democratic Prospects Improve in Colorado — Now that Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has said he will step down rather than run for reelection, Democrats may be more competitive in this year's gubernatorial race.
Discussion:
The Fix, Open Left, Public Policy Polling, Politics Daily, Politics Nation, Swing State Project, Capitol Watch, TPMDC and Real Clear Politics
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Hugh Son / Bloomberg:
Geithner's New York Fed Told AIG to Limit Swaps Disclosure — Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by Timothy Geithner, told American International Group Inc. to withhold details from the public about the bailed-out insurer's payments to banks during the depths …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, DealBook, The Atlantic Business Channel, Crooks and Liars, Open Left, Raw Story, The Corner on National …, Daily Kos, TPMMuckraker, naked capitalism, Economy Watch, Felix Salmon, Hot Air, Wonk Room, MyDD, National Review Online and The Business Insider
Gregg Levine / Firedoglake:
Cadillac Flip Flop: Obama Was Against Health Plan Tax Before He Was For It — In a video that rings so true it hurts, Lee Stranahan-a former Obama supporter-gives us the aspiring president's own speech. Only a month before the 2008 election, Obama makes it plain just how bad an idea the …
Joe Klein / Swampland:
Zeitgeist Patrol — Alone in our nation's capital last night, I decided to keep in touch with the culture by going to see Avatar in 3D. I hadn't read much of the commentary about the movie, but the word of mouth was that it was visually spectacular—and yes, spectacular it was, especially in 3D …
Stephen Adams / Telegraph:
Snow covers Britain from head to toe — As if dusted with icing sugar, this satellite image of Britain shows the full extent of the snow coverage affecting the country. — From head to toe there is barely a patch of land not blanketed by the heaviest snowfall in 50 years.
Discussion:
The Reaction
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
A defense of Obama — I get a lot of unsolicited e-mail and should probably publish more of it; this defense of Obama, sent in by someone named Ellie Light, seemed to crystallize a point his supporters have been trying to make for a while: — A year ago, if we had read in the paper …
Discussion:
The New Republic
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Attention Conspiracy Theorists: Read This Post — I tend to be skeptical of those who believe that the Federal Reserve is engaged in a massive conspiracy, for reasons known and unknown, to protect its turf and turn us all into serfs, but then I'll read a quotation like this, and I'll scratch my head.
Golnaz Esfandiari / Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
Iran State TV Suggests Neda's Iconic Death Was ‘Faked’ — Iranian state television has made a documentary about the death of Neda Agha Soltan, a young Iranian woman who was shot dead during the June postelection protests in Tehran, suggesting she was an agent of the United States and Britain who staged her own death.