memeorandum: Obama lights National Christmas Tree in 90-year-old holiday tradition (Justin Sink/The Hill)

8:35 PM ET, December 6, 2012

Top Items:

Sen. Jim DeMint to Head Heritage Foundation — South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. DeMint will leave his post as South Carolina's junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million.

Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn:

Good riddance, Mr. DeMint — Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is leaving the Senate to take over the Heritage Foundation. He will replace Ed Feulner as the conservative think tank's president. He expressed no qualms about leaving the Senate before his term is up, nor did he reflect on his legislative achievements, of which none come to mind.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, Politico, Democracy in America, Weasel Zippers and Riehl World News

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

11 Reasons You're Glad Jim DeMint Is Leaving The Senate — In an unexpected move, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), an arch-conservative and leader of the Tea Party movement, is resigning his seat in order to head up the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington DC.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The National Memo, Esquire, The Plum Line, The Impolitic, BuzzFeed, Hullabaloo and American Prospect

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

Sources: DeMint wants Rep. Tim Scott to take his place in Senate — Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has made it known in South Carolina that he wants Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to replace him in the Senate, two state Republican sources tell The Hill. — The sources, requesting anonymity to speak candidly …

Discussion: Ballot Box, The Hill, The Atlantic Online, theGrio, Weasel Zippers, Washington Monthly, Ricochet Conversations Feed and The PJ Tatler

Valerie Bauerlein / Washington Wire:

Mark Sanford Mulls Second Act in South Carolina — So could Sen. Jim DeMint be followed by...Sen. Mark Sanford? — Don't rule it out. In an interview, the former South Carolina governor said he'd been by bombarded Thursday by calls and emails from former donors and allies encouraging …

Discussion: Ballot Box

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Pelosi jabs DeMint on his way out

Discussion: Mediaite

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
Who Will Replace Jim DeMint?

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Fix and Ballot Box

Erick Erickson / RedState:
Two Roads Diverged: Jim DeMint Leaves U.S. Senate for Heritage Foundation Presidency

Discussion: Commentary Magazine, BuzzFeed, msnbc.com, The Week, FreedomWorks blogs, Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run, Red Alert Politics, Washington Wire, The Daily Dish and Business Insider

Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Gov. Nikki Haley to fill DeMint's seat by appointment

Discussion: Post Politics, Ballot Box and Sister Toldjah

Tarini Parti / Politico:
Think tank jobs a lucrative landing spot

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog

The State:
Video from around the world

Discussion: The Hill, Guardian, Political Capital and Mother Jones

Michael McAuliff / The Huffington Post:

Debt Ceiling Bluff Called By Harry Reid, Leaving Mitch McConnell To Filibuster Himself … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Debt Ceiling, Harry Reid , Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senate, Video, Barack Obama Debt Ceiling, Fiscal Cliff, Mitch Mcconnell Filibuster, Politics News

Discussion: The Plum Line and Booman Tribune

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

McConnell Filibusters His Own Bill To Lift Debt Ceiling — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wanted to prove on Thursday that Democrats don't have the votes to weaken Congress' authority on the debt limit. Instead they called his bluff, and he ended up filibustering his own bill.

Discussion: The Plum Line, Mediaite, The Impolitic and Wonkette

Eric W. Dolan / The Raw Story:
Democrats watch in awe as McConnell filibusters himself

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Political Carnival and Applesauce

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
How Democrats' Main Filibuster Reform Would Work

Discussion: American Prospect, A plain blog about politics, Daily Kos and ACS Blog

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Republicans wave the white flag — Speaker John Boehner emerged from his weekly huddle with House Republicans on Wednesday morning to take his place behind a mahogany lectern in front of a brown backdrop. The dark tones provided ideal camouflage for the deeply tanned speaker — as though he were trying to vanish into the background.

Discussion: RedState, The Plum Line, The New Republic, The Week, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, Wonkette and The Hill

Associated Press:

Christie Reunites With Obama at White House — New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie reunited with President Barack Obama on Thursday for the first time since the pair teamed up in response to Superstorm Sandy. — Christie made an unannounced visit to the White House …

Discussion: CNN

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Boehner Gains Strong Backing of House G.O.P.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, msnbc.com, Politico, The New Republic, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Caucus, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos, Wake up America, The Fix, The Democratic Daily, Prairie Weather and ABCNEWS

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

Bush's White House Press Secretary Tells Female Victims Of Violence: ‘Make Better Decisions’ — Bush White House Press Secretary-turned-Fox News host Dana Perino asserted Wednesday night that women who are victims of violence should “make better decisions” to avoid being hurt.

Discussion: Truthdig

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:
What Jovan Belcher's Murder-Suicide Says About Our Attitudes Toward Guns, Football, And Domestic Violence

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Josh Tyrangiel / Business Week:

Tim Cook's Freshman Year: The Apple CEO Speaks — Prior to his death on Oct. 5, 2011, Steve Jobs made sure that the elevation of Tim Cook—his longtime head of operations and trusted deputy—to Apple chief executive officer would be drama-free. “He goes, ‘I never want you to ask what I would have done,’” recalls Cook.

Discussion: New York Times, AllThingsD, Quartz, Fortune, Daily Mail, VentureBeat, The Verge, The Week, TechCrunch, New York Magazine, The Tell, The Consumerist, Guardian, Engadget, Mashable! and GigaOM, more at Mediagazer »

Ronnie Polidoro / Rock Center with Brian Williams:
Apple CEO Tim Cook announces plans to manufacture Mac computers in USA

Discussion: Bloomberg, Politico, Mercury News, Guardian, Towleroad News #gay, Daily Download, The Atlantic Online, The Verge, VentureBeat, Via Meadia, GigaOM, emptywheel, Engadget, The Daily Caller and BBC

WILX-TV:

UPDATED INFORMATION: Protesters Pepper Sprayed, Arrested At Capitol — At least four people were arrested inside the state Capitol, amidst noisy protests against expected Right to Work legislation. — Michigan State Police Inspector Gene Adamczyk said that protesters tried to rush …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Rick Ungar / Forbes:

Papa John's, Applebee's And Others Pay Huge Price For Anti-Obamacare Politicking — (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) — It turns out that being a good corporate citizen is as important to selling pizzas as the thinness of the crust or the quality of the cheese.

Discussion: Hot Air, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and Booman Tribune

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Looking ahead to 2016 — PPP's newest national poll finds Marco Rubio as the early choice of Republicans for 2016. 18% would like him to be their nominee to 14% for Chris Christie, 12% for Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan, 11% for Mike Huckabee, 8% for Condoleezza Rice, 7% each for Sarah Palin and Rand Paul, and 4% for Rick Santorum.

Discussion: LifeNews.com, New York Magazine, Business Insider and The Hill

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Obama lights National Christmas Tree in 90-year-old holiday tradition — President Obama lit the National Christmas Tree on Thursday evening, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the annual holiday tradition. — The president was welcomed onto the stage by television star Neil Patrick Harris …

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Lawrence Lessig / The Atlantic Online:

Why a Democratic Tea Party Is the Best Hope for Fixing Corrupt Government — The solution must come from the grassroots — it can't be imposed from above by reform-minded members of Congress. — Reuters — At a talk at UCLA last month, I said that America's growing anti-corruption movement needs to think big, not puny.

Patrick Gavin / Reuters:

Clint Eastwood's act was ‘bad’, Stuart Stevens says — “To the degree that it was a distraction, it was bad.” — That's the review by former Mitt Romney campaign adviser Stuart Stevens about actor Clint Eastwood's controversial performance at this summer's Republican National Convention.

Discussion: CNN and his vorpal sword

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:

10 charts showing America's stunning entitlements explosion — AEI scholar Nick Eberstadt's latest book, A Nation of Takers, provides a sobering analysis of the entitlements explosion and its effect on the American economy and culture. — It's a reminder that without significant …

Discussion: Hot Air and Sister Toldjah

Andrew J. Hawkins / mycrains.crainsnewyork.com:

MSNBC's Hayes isn't through with Cuomo — For the past two weeks, MSNBC host Chris Hayes has made his disdain of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's decision to abandon the state Senate Democrats a prominent feature of his widely watched weekend morning political talk show. — And there's more to come.

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, The Observation Deck and Daily Kos

Ryan Cooper / Washington Monthly:

Liberals, the Fiscal Thingy, and Message Discipline — The last several weeks of negotiations have have provided a good example of one of the left's biggest weaknesses: message discipline. Ben Bernanke came up with the phrase “fiscal cliff,” and it stuck.

Discussion: Mother Jones, A plain blog about politics, The Impolitic and Slate

Hamed Aleaziz / ThinkProgress:

Muslim-American Group To GOP: Stop Treating Us So Poorly — The Council On American-Islamic Relations placed an open letter yesterday in the conservative Washington Times newspaper imploring Republicans to move away from the Islamophobic stance that has taken hold of the party.

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

Mariecar Mendoza / L.A. Daily News:

Seniors decry ban on Christmas tree in their complex in Newhall — Residents in a Newhall senior apartment complex are protesting an order from management to remove their beloved Christmas tree from the community room because, they were told, it's a religious symbol.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Rush Limbaugh, Wake up America, Questions and Observations, The Daily Caller and The PJ Tatler

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Bewitched by Obama — Even Jonathan Swift, who said that promises and pie crusts are made to be broken, might have marveled at the limited shelf life of Barack Obama's promise of a “balanced” deficit-reduction plan — substantial spending cuts to accompany revenue increases.

Discussion: Hot Air, Stinque, Vodkapundit and Betsy's Page