Top Items:
Brian Montopoli / CBS News:
Lisa Murkowski: Sarah Palin Lacks “Intellectual Curiosity” to be President — Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowki told CBS News' Katie Couric today that she would not support Sarah Palin for president because Palin lacks the “leadership qualities” and “intellectual curiosity” to craft great policy.
Discussion:
Ballot Box, CBS News, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Politics Daily and Liberal Values
RELATED:
Lauren / OUPblog:
OUP USA 2010 Word of the Year: Refudiate … Refudiate — has been named the New Oxford American Dictionary's 2010 Word of the Year! — refudiate verb used loosely to mean “reject”: she called on them to refudiate the proposal to build a mosque. — [origin — blend of refute and repudiate]
The Note:
Congratulations, Sarah Palin: “Refudiate” Named Word of the Year — ABC News' Mary Bruce reports: — Sarah Palin has officially changed the modern lexicon, one tweet at a time. While one might expect the New Oxford American Dictionary to refudiate the former Alaska governor's favorite verb …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, The Impolitic and Conservatives4Palin.com
James Hibberd / Hollywood Reporter:
'Sarah Palin's Alaska' Breaks TLC Ratings Record — Sarah Palin's documentary / travelogue / reality / biopic shattered TLC ratings records Sunday night. — The debut of Sarah Palin's Alaska delivered a whopping 5 million viewers. — The first episode of the eight-part series was the most-watched program launch in TLC's history.
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
The rest of the 2012 polls... PPP's final six state level 2012 GOP primary surveys, conducted right before this month's election, find Mitt Romney strong in another key early state, Sarah Palin weak at home, and Newt Gingrich's only first place finish out of the 18 states we polled.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, The Tolbert Report and Conservatives4Palin.com
Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Murkowski receives warm welcome from fellow senators as lame-duck begins — Sen. Lisa Murkowski received a warm welcome from fellow Senators on the Senate floor Monday and congratulations from National Republican Senate Campaign Chairman John Cornyn. — Ballots are still being counted …
Discussion:
CNN, The Politico, The Note, The Other McCain and TPMDC
RELATED:
Shira Toeplitz / The Politico:
Lisa Murkowski: Sarah Palin lacks ‘intellectual curiosity’ — Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she would not support Sarah Palin if she decides to seek the presidency because the former governor lacks the “intellectual curiosity” for the job. — “I just do not think she has those leadership qualities …
Discussion:
CNN, Newshoggers.com and Outside the Beltway
Ethan Smith / Wall Street Journal:
Apple Finally Snares Beatles — Steve Jobs is nearing the end of his long and winding pursuit of the Beatles catalog. — Apple Inc. is preparing to disclose that its iTunes Store will soon start carrying music by the Beatles, according to people familiar with the situation …
Discussion:
American Power, Deal Journal, MyFox Philadelphia, Gizmodo, Plunderbund, Gawker, CrunchGear, msnbc.com and TechCrunch, more at Mediagazer »
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Amy Gardner / Washington Post:
Virginia Thomas stepping down as head of Liberty Central — Virginia Thomas, political activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has decided to relinquish control of Liberty Central, the conservative group she founded less than a year ago, so that the organization can escape the …
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker, The Caucus, The Huffington Post, The Note, Salon, Weigel, The Politico, PostPartisan, Raw Story, Speakeasy, Politics Daily, Crooks and Liars, Wonkette, The BLT, CNN and The Impolitic
RELATED:
Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Justice Thomas's Wife May Be Exiting Advocacy Group
Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Wow! HUNDREDS OF RIDERS WITH US FLAGS Escort Cody Alicea to School Today (Video) — Hundreds of American Legion Riders and fellow patriots escorted Cody Alicea to Denair Middle School this morning. They all had American Flags on their bikes. — A veteran brings Cody to tears when he gives …
Discussion:
The New Editor, Moonbattery, The Jawa Report, Values Voter News and BLACKFIVE
Ben Smith / The Politico:
2 Dems claim Huffington stole website idea — Two Democratic consultants are accusing Arianna Huffington and her business partner of stealing their idea for the powerhouse liberal website Huffington Post. — Peter Daou and James Boyce charge that Huffington and partner Ken Lerer designed …
Discussion:
Althouse
David Kocieniewski / New York Times:
Rangel Inquiry Finds Evidence Beyond Dispute — The House ethics committee ruled on Monday that there was evidence to support 13 counts of misconduct by Representative Charles B. Rangel, and began considering whether to formally convict and recommend punishment against him.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Commentary, Sister Toldjah, Sunlight Foundation, News Desk and Washington Post
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Larry Margasak / Associated Press:
Charles Rangel Ethics Trial: Rangel Walks Out (VIDEO)
Charles Rangel Ethics Trial: Rangel Walks Out (VIDEO)
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, Weasel Zippers, Crooks and Liars and Michelle Malkin
Manu Raju / The Politico:
McConnell bows to right on earmarks — As he worked the phones over the past week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell concluded he was in a no-win situation over earmarks. — The Kentucky Republican could dig in and fight a proposed ban on earmarks, opening him up to attacks …
Discussion:
The New Republic, TPMDC, CNN, Power Line, New York Magazine, The Page and James Pethokoukis
RELATED:
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Top Republican: Hoyer is ‘the only one we really talk to’ — Outgoing House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is the GOP's primary source of contact within the Democratic leadership, a top Republican said Monday. — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee …
Discussion:
The Politico, HotAirPundit, Taylor Marsh and Beltway Confidential
RELATED:
Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:
Vicious Infighting at NBC News — Steve Capus, the NBC News president, strongly echoed this theme. Some of Olbermann's behavior was bad for the company. — Griffin, who had been friends with Olbermann since they first worked together at CNN three decades ago, pleaded for understanding.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Hollywood Reporter, NewsBusters.org and Raw Story
RELATED:
David Weigel / Slate:
How to sell horrible counterintuitive column ideas and look smart doing it. … Like This Story Follow Slate's Politics … - How Can They Tell Whether Michael Jackson Was Really the One Singing His New Song? - A Zombie Actor Reflects on Life During the Zombie Boom- How Would You Redesign Cigarette Warning Labels?
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Salon, Ben Smith's Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Weigel and The Other McCain
RELATED:
Tom Scocca / Slate:
Two Full-Time Obama Opponents Say Obama Should Pledge Not to Run Again
Two Full-Time Obama Opponents Say Obama Should Pledge Not to Run Again
Discussion:
Enik Rising, AmSpecBlog, Pajamas Media and normblog
Art Carden / The Economic Imagination:
Full Frontal Nudity Doesn't Make Us Safer: Abolish the TSA — The Republicans control the House of Representatives and are bracing for a long battle over the President's health care proposal. In the spirit of bipartisanship and sanity, I propose that the first thing on the chopping block …
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Peking Duck, EconLog, American Power, Boing Boing, Big Government, AmSpecBlog and Left Coast Rebel
Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:
Amidst National Islamophobic Upheaval, Arizonans Protest Mosque That's Actually A Church — In an era saturated with absurd moments of anti-Muslim fear-mongering, mosques have become a touchstone for Islamophobia. Even unbuilt mosques have set off a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in Tennessee …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Fhardingj / CNN:
CNN Poll: Election not a mandate for GOP — Washington (CNN) - Americans approve of the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in the midterms, but only one in six say the election results were a mandate for the GOP, according to a new national poll.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Don Surber, Politics Daily and HotAirPundit
John Yoo / National Review:
The Smart, the Dumb, and the Election — AEI's political analysts have posted an eye-opening analysis of the midterm election results, and this fact caught my eye. — Postgraduates, by which I believe the AEI analysts mean those with something more than a bachelor's degree, were 20 percent of the electorate.
Discussion:
Sadly, No! and The New Republic
The Note:
Kalpen Modi Returns To White House Job After Leaving To Film ‘Harold & Kumar’ Sequel — ABC's Michael Falcone reports: — After a brief hiatus to film a sequel to the popular “Harold & Kumar” movie, the actor, Kalpen Modi (also known as Kal Penn), is returning to a job in the White House
Discussion:
Washington Post
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Court Rules Gun Use in Drug Crimes Means Added 5 Years — WASHINGTON — People convicted of possessing a gun while selling drugs are subject to five-year mandatory minimum sentences on top of most of other sentences, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. — The ruling was the first signed decision of the term, and it was unanimous.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
The best campaign of the 2010 election — The Fix spends an inordinate amount of time thinking and talking about campaign politics. — Given that, we like to think of ourselves as connoisseurs of the political game — we know what's good, what's bad and what's just plain odd.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Althouse
msnbc.com:
Cops called on 13-year-olds for selling cupcakes — ‘Some Town Board member decided to get on his high horse and wreck their dreams’ — Below: — msnbc.com staff and news service reports — CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. — A politician in a New York suburb called police on two 13-year-old boys …
Discussion:
theblogprof, New York Magazine, Right Wing News, The Gateway Pundit, The Agitator, JammieWearingFool, Hit & Run and Gothamist
Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Obama Blames Himself for Tone in Washington — Just 20 days after his inauguration, with Republicans trying to block his stimulus bill, President Obama refused to acknowledge that he had underestimated how hard it would be to change the way Washington works.
Discussion:
The Impolitic, Hullabaloo, JustOneMinute, Daily Kos and The Atlantic Online
Ezra Klein:
Four budget calculators, one story — The New York Times' deficit-reduction calculator is worth playing around with, though the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget's calculator is more comprehensive, and the calculator from the Center for Economic and Policy Research works harder …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Yglesias, Guardian, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Atlantic Online and TalkLeft
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Harry Reid creates special leadership job for Chuck Schumer — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to overhaul the Senate Democratic leadership next year, handing New York Sen. Chuck Schumer an expanded role spearheading the party's messaging efforts. — In a letter obtained by POLITICO …
Discussion:
The Hill, Lynn Sweet, Sister Toldjah and Pajamas Media
Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
Dejected House Dems wipe away tears as GOP celebrates victory — Dejected Democrats wiped away tears on the House floor Monday night while Republicans congratulated themselves on winning back control of the lower chamber. — House members returned to the nation's capital …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Manny Gamallo / Tulsa World:
Westboro protesters face jeers and slashed tires — Related Story: McAlester soldier mourned — McALESTER - Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday. — Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army …
Lexington / Lexington's notebook:
Is America bribing Bibi or blackmailing him? — THE way the New York Times reports it, you might think that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are treating Israel's prime minister with more solicitude than he deserves. If he will only agree to freeze Israeli settlement building in the West Bank …
Discussion:
Commentary, New York Times, Israel Matzav and News Desk