Top Items:
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Obama Returning to Capital to Seek Fiscal Deal — KAILUA, Hawaii — President Obama was planning to cut his Christmas vacation short and return to Washington to make a last-ditch push for a compromise on a tax and spending dispute that remains stubbornly unresolved.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Politicker, msnbc.com, The Maddow Blog, The PJ Tatler, americanthinker.com and Prairie Weather
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Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Americans' Optimism Wanes About Averting “Fiscal Cliff” — Obama, Democratic leaders see increase in approval on budget negotiations — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' optimism that President Barack Obama and congressional leaders will reach a budget agreement before Jan. 1 has waned somewhat over the past week.
Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
The White House's Kent Conrad problem
The White House's Kent Conrad problem
Discussion:
Mother Jones and Balloon Juice
Amy Gardner / Washington Post:
FreedomWorks tea party group nearly falls apart in fight between old and new guard — The day after Labor Day, just as campaign season was entering its final frenzy, FreedomWorks, the Washington-based tea party organization, went into free fall. — Richard K. Armey, the group's chairman …
Josh Margolin / New York Post:
Benghazi penalties are bogus — The four officials supposedly out of jobs because of their blunders in the run-up to the deadly Benghazi terror attack remain on the State Department payroll — and will all be back to work soon, The Post has learned. — The highest-ranking official caught …
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Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Give Chuck a Chance — In case you haven't heard, President Obama is considering appointing Chuck Hagel, a former United States senator from Nebraska and a Purple Heart winner, as the next secretary of defense — and this has triggered a minifirefight among Hagel critics and supporters.
Discussion:
Israel Matzav and Weekly Standard
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Robert Wright / The Atlantic Online:
Chuck Hagel Gets His Second Wind — Tom Friedman, in this morning's New York Times, endorses Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense. Friedman finds it “disgusting” that Hagel has been “smeared as an Israel hater at best” by his detractors (some neoconservatives).
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and The Washington Note
Starbucks Coffee Company:
Let's Come Together, America — Posted by Howard S., Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer — There are moments in our lives when we have an opportunity to ignite tremendous positive change—not just in the lives of the customers and communities we serve every day, but in our country.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Reuters, Post Politics, ABCNEWS and Mediaite
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Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Frank Luntz: NRA not listening to public — Pollster Frank Luntz, who has studied attitudes about gun control, said on Wednesday that he doesn't “think the NRA is listening” to the American public in the wake of the massacre of 20 children at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.
Discussion:
Ballot Box and The Hinterland Gazette
Jonathan Martin / Politico:
Virginia embodies GOP's woes — RICHMOND, Va. — Look no further than Virginia to catch a glimpse of the GOP's national dilemma. — As the Old Dominion becomes a firmly centrist state, more closely resembling the rest of the country demographically and politically, Virginia Republicans are shifting rightward.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway
Norman J. Ornstein / Washington Post:
Look beyond the Capitol for the next speaker — Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and co-author of “It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.”
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Katie Glueck / Politico:
Police probe NBC's David Gregory on gun clip — The Washington Metropolitan Police Department is investigating whether any city laws were violated when NBC's David Gregory displayed what appeared to be a 30-round gun magazine on NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday, a spokesman confirmed to POLITICO.
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Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
W.H. Petition: ‘Press Charges Against David Gregory’ for Breaking D.C. Gun Laws
W.H. Petition: ‘Press Charges Against David Gregory’ for Breaking D.C. Gun Laws
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Power Line, Booman Tribune and Mediaite
Warner Todd Huston / BREITBART.COM:
DC POLICE INVESTIGATING NBC'S GREGORY FOR BRANDISHING ILLEGAL MAGAZINE
DC POLICE INVESTIGATING NBC'S GREGORY FOR BRANDISHING ILLEGAL MAGAZINE
Discussion:
Mediaite, TheBlaze.com, Twitchy, TVNewser, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Althouse
Jack Moore / BuzzFeed:
Mark Zuckerberg's Sister Complains Of Facebook Privacy Breach — Randi Zuckerberg, Mark's sister and former marketing director of Facebook, posted a photo to her Facebook. She was less than thrilled when someone reposted it to Twitter. — Randi Zuckerberg posted this photo to her Facebook showing …
Discussion:
Gawker, Mashable!, The Moderate Voice and NYT Bits
FRANCE 24:
Gunmen kill six at Nigerian Christmas service — Gunmen attacked a church in northern Nigeria during a midnight mass on Christmas Eve, killing six people including the pastor, before setting the building ablaze, residents and police said Tuesday. — Gunmen killed six people attending midnight mass …
Discussion:
Atlas Shrugs
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