memeorandum: Crack Pipe — I'm watching a lot of neoconservative policy activists … (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)

11:35 AM ET, January 7, 2013

Top Items:

Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn:

Topsy-turvy Hagel politics — President Obama wants to get credit for bipartisanship, so he picks a Republican defense secretary who will garner few if any Republican votes. He walks away from a politically loyal African American woman for secretary of state (whose nomination would open …

Discussion: Power Line, Politico, Forbes, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Weekly Standard, The Daily Caller and NationalJournal.com

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Crack Pipe — I'm watching a lot of neoconservative policy activists and a lot of people in the press telling me that it's a very up in the air thing whether Chuck Hagel gets confirmed as Secretary of Defense. These folks should stop smoking crack. Because crack isn't good for you.

Discussion: Guardian and Balloon Juice

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

John Brennan tapped to lead CIA — President Barack Obama will announce Monday that he's nominating the White House's point person on counterterrorism, John Brennan, to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency, White House officials told POLITICO.

Discussion: Israel Matzav, CNN and Business Insider

Scott Shane / New York Times:

Counterterror Adviser to be Named Chief of C.I.A. — President Obama will announce on Monday that John O. Brennan, his counterterrorism adviser and a career Central Intelligence Agency officer, is his choice to head the agency, two months after David H. Petraeus stepped down after admitting …

Discussion: emptywheel, Guardian, Taylor Marsh and Outside the Beltway

Michael Schwirtz / New York Times:
Obama Expected to Pick Chuck Hagel for Defense Post

Discussion: JustOneMinute, First Read, The Plum Line, emptywheel, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico, The Week, BuzzFeed, msnbc.com, Taylor Marsh, The BLT, Talking Points Memo, Quartz, The Atlantic Online, The Caucus, ThinkProgress and CNN

Mickey Kaus / The Daily Caller:
Hagel's Mideast blunder-not on Israel

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Atlantic Online and The Week

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
The Real Reason Republicans Hate Hagel

Discussion: The Week, Mondoweiss and Via Meadia

Julie Pace / Associated Press:
Obama taps Hagel for Pentagon, Brennan for CIA

Discussion: Firedoglake, Taegan Goddard's … and Washington Post

Politico:
Chuck Hagel takes fire from Capitol Hill

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Page, Right Turn, ABCNEWS, Daniel W. Drezner, Algemeiner.com, msnbc.com and The Hill

Fox News:
Obama to nominate counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan for CIA director

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard and Althouse

CBS News:
Obama to tap John Brennan to head CIA: sources

Discussion: Politics, Power …, Wired, CBS DC, Hot Air and CBS New York

presstv.ir:
Obama to name anti-Israeli Hagel as Defense Secretary: Reports

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Atlas Shrugs and Weasel Zippers

Carrie Dann / First Read:
Senators signal tough fight for Hagel

Discussion: Guardian, msnbc.com, Omaha World-Herald, Washington Monthly and Trail Blazers Blog

Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
Obama Taps Hagel for Defense, Girds for Fight

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed, Taegan Goddard's …, Politicker, ABCNEWS and The Week

Stephen Moore / Wall Street Journal:

The Education of John Boehner — Leverage for the next clash: GOP willingness to let the spending sequester take effect. — What stunned House Speaker John Boehner more than anything else during his prolonged closed-door budget negotiations with Barack Obama was this revelation …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Wire, Business Insider, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Althouse, The Fix, Power Line, Betsy's Page, Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit, Our American Constitution, Booman Tribune and Taegan Goddard's …

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Democrats look for up to $1 trillion in new tax revenues this year — Democrats say they want to raise as much as $1 trillion in new revenues through tax reform later this year to balance Republican demands to slash mandatory spending. — Democratic leaders have had little time to craft …

Discussion: The New Republic, Weasel Zippers, New York Times, The Gateway Pundit and The Reaction

Jonathan Strong / Roll Call:

Boehner Coup Attempt Larger Than First Thought — A concerted effort to unseat Speaker John A. Boehner was under way the day of his re-election to the position, but participants called it off 30 minutes before the House floor vote, CQ Roll Call has learned.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

Elisabeth Arriero / The Charlotte Observer:

Man ID'd as Rand Paul's son arrested at airport — A teenager identified in several media outlets as the son of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and the grandson of former presidential candidate Ron Paul was arrested Saturday morning at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

Discussion: Gawker, ABCNEWS and The Raw Story

Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:

Rand Paul in Israel: US foreign aid can't be one-way — Republican Senator tells Israeli audience it will be harder to be a friend to Israel if the US is “out of money.” — Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, a fierce opponent of US foreign aid who is being touted already …

Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller

Josh Haskell / ABCNEWS:
Senator Rand Paul's Son Arrested at Charlotte Airport

Discussion: Post Politics, Business Insider and Joe. My. God.

Bobby Cervantes / Politico:
Rand Paul's son arrested, report says

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette

Paul Krugman:

Be Ready To Mint That Coin — Should President Obama be willing to print a $1 trillion platinum coin if Republicans try to force America into default? Yes, absolutely. He will, after all, be faced with a choice between two alternatives: one that's silly but benign, the other that's equally silly but both vile and disastrous.

Discussion: Business Insider

Alex Pareene / Salon:

The conservative movement is still an elaborate moneymaking venture — The story of FreedomWorks' big Glenn Beck payout encapsulates the right-wing media — The conservative media movement exists primarily as a moneymaking venture. As Rick Perlstein explained in the Baffler …

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Immoral Minority

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Big Fail — It's that time again: the annual meeting of the American Economic Association and affiliates, a sort of medieval fair that serves as a marketplace for bodies (newly minted Ph.D.'s in search of jobs), books and ideas. And this year, as in past meetings …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CANNONFIRE and Prairie Weather

Paul Krugman:

The Outside Man — Yes, I've heard about the notion that I should be nominated as Treasury Secretary. I'm flattered, but it really is a bad idea. — Part of the reason is that I am indeed the World's Worst Administrator — and that does matter. Someone else can do the paperwork …

Discussion: Politico, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Economist's View and Truthdig

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

Democrat Says Obama's Gun Control Proposals Are Extreme — On ABC's This Week yesterday, Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp described President Obama's gun control proposals as “extreme.” … Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. — Heitkamp's comments come …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Hot Air, Washington Post and The Hill

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

GOP Rep: 'It's About Time' We Had Another Government Shut Down — Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation this morning, Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) enthusiastically called for a government shut down: … Watch it: — Salmon's theory, that the government shutdown somehow led to balanced budgets …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and The Political Carnival