memeorandum: Who Wants to Buy a Politician? (Binyamin Appelbaum/New York Times)

2:05 PM ET, December 9, 2014

Top Items:

Mark Fallon / Politico:

Dick Cheney was lying about torture — The Senate report confirms it doesn't work. As those of us on the inside knew. — It's official: torture doesn't work. Waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, did not in fact “produce the intelligence that allowed us to get Osama bin Laden …

Discussion: American Prospect, Outside the Beltway and Washington Free Beacon

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:

Senate Torture Report Condemns C.I.A. Interrogation Program — WASHINGTON — A scathing report released by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday found that the Central Intelligence Agency routinely misled the White House and Congress about the information it obtained from the detention …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Hinterland Gazette, Prairie Weather, New York Magazine, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Dish

Wall Street Journal:

CIA Interrogations Saved Lives — The Senate Intelligence investigators never spoke to us—the leaders of the agency whose policies they are now assailing for partisan reasons. — The Senate Intelligence Committee has released its majority report on Central Intelligence Agency detention and interrogation in the wake of 9/11.

Discussion: ABC News, NBC News, Hot Air, Techdirt and Twitchy

Anthony D. Romero / New York Times:

Pardon Bush and Those Who Tortured — BEFORE President George W. Bush left office, a group of conservatives lobbied the White House to grant pardons to the officials who had planned and authorized the United States torture program. My organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, found the proposal repugnant.

Discussion: emptywheel and The Dish

Shane Harris / The Daily Beast:

The Most Gruesome Moments in the CIA ‘Torture Report’ — The CIA's rendition, interrogation, and detention programs were even more nightmarish than you could imagine. — Interrogations that lasted for days on end. Detainees forced to stand on broken legs, or go 180 hours in a row without sleep.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Guardian and Political Wire

Washington Post:

Senate report on CIA program details brutality, dishonesty — An exhaustive, five-year Senate investigation of the CIA's secret interrogations of terrorism suspects renders a strikingly bleak verdict of a program launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, describing levels of brutality …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Gawker, Washington Free Beacon and Obsidian Wings

CNN:

Senate report: CIA misled public on torture — Washington (CNN) — The CIA's harsh interrogations of terrorist detainees during the Bush era didn't work, were more brutal than previously revealed and delivered no “ticking time bomb” information that prevented an attack, according to an explosive Senate report released Tuesday.

Discussion: Telegraph, Washington Monthly, Liberaland, Balloon Juice, Hot Air and New York Magazine

New York Times:

White House and Republicans Clash Over C.I.A. Torture Report — WASHINGTON — On the eve of a long-awaited Senate report on the use of torture by the United States government — a detailed account that will shed an unsparing light on the Central Intelligence Agency's darkest practices …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Reuters, BBC, Washington Post, Prairie Weather and First Draft

K.T. McFarland / Fox News:
CIA interrogation report: Democrats want to punish America, blame Bush

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Dish, Liberty Unyielding and The PJ Tatler

Brian Bennett / Los Angeles Times:
Dianne Feinstein leaving intelligence job amid clash on tactics report

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Addicting Info

New York Times:
7 Key Points From the C.I.A. Torture Report

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and ProPublica

Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:
Live Coverage of the Senate Torture Report

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, emptywheel, Reuters, Guardian, The Dish, Politico, The Verge, Taylor Marsh, RedState, Washington Examiner and TalkLeft

Digby / Hullabaloo:
The president of the ACLU wants Obama to pardon the torturers

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Crooked Timber

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Dismissing Senate Report, Cheney Defends C.I.A. Interrogations

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, US Department of State, Mediaite, Hit & Run and rubber hose

ABC News:
Torture Report Reveals CIA's ‘Brutal’ Interrogation Tactics

Discussion: NBC News and ABC News

Jose A. Rodriguez Jr. / Washington Post:
Today's CIA critics once urged the agency to do anything to fight al-Qaeda

Discussion: TIME, Telegraph, Hot Air, National Review, Bloomberg View, The Huffington Post, NO QUARTER USA NET, The Dish, Hit & Run, Foreign Policy and New York Times

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

Issa To Gruber: ‘Are You Stupid?’ — House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) cut right to the chase in his questioning of MIT professor Jonathan Gruber's comments on the “stupidity of the American voter” at a Tuesday oversight committee hearing.

Discussion: Bloomberg Politics and Political Wire

Tom Howell Jr / Washington Times:
Gruber to face hostile House panel, tea party 'I'm with Stupid' T-shirts

Discussion: Truth Revolt and The Gateway Pundit

Sarah Ferris / The Hill:
Circus set for Gruber at Capitol

Discussion: Politico and Fox News

Fox News:
Gruber apologizes for ‘mean and insulting’ ObamaCare comments

Discussion: American Spectator and New Hampshire Journal

James Kirchick / The Daily Beast:

The Rise and Fall of Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge, America's Worst Gay Power Couple — Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge have always been entitled brats. And now the media has finally noticed. — Just three years ago, Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge were the toast of the liberal establishment.

Discussion: Gawker, RedState, alicublog, The Federalist, Althouse, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality, Fox News, The PJ Tatler, Advocate, Mashable, Washington Post, New York Times, Balloon Juice and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Republicans clash on reversing nuclear option in Senate — Republicans are split over whether to change the Senate's rules to allow filibusters on executive and judicial nominations. — As they head into a conference meeting on Tuesday, some Republicans say it's time to undo a wrong committed …

Discussion: rubber hose, The PJ Tatler, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air

WHAS-TV:

Rand Paul talks 2016 plans, Senate majority, bi-partisanship and marijuana — His decision whether he will enter the 2016 presidential race still months away, U.S. Senator Rand Paul is already navigating presidential waters. — CONNECT — HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. (WHAS11) …

Discussion: Politico and Talking Points Memo

Geoff Pender / The Clarion-Ledger:
Rand Paul: Speaks out on Obama, war on drugs, police

Discussion: CNN, OnPolitics, Talking Points Memo and Bloomberg Politics

NY Daily News:

Cops swarm Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue, shoot knife-wielding man after student gets stabbed (VIDEO) — WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT NYPD anti-terror officers swarmed Chabad-Lubavitch in Crown Heights after Israeli student Levi Rosenviat, 22, was stabbed during prayer early Tuesday.

Discussion: New York Post, The Jawa Report, Truth Revolt, CNN, New York Magazine, Liberaland, Gawker, The PJ Tatler and Washington Free Beacon

Margaret Talev / Bloomberg Politics:

Approval Ratings Hit 5-Year High for Republicans — Republicans are enjoying a five-year peak in popularity after their wins in the midterm elections, according to a new Bloomberg Politics poll, while President Barack Obama struggles with his lowest job approval rating, at 39 percent.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Stuart Rothenberg / Rothenblog:

Mary Landrieu's Loss and the End of Ticket Splitting — Louisiana Sen. Mary L. Landrieu's defeat in the Dec. 6 runoff certainly was no surprise. If anything, it seemed inevitable since the evening of Nov. 4, when it became clear a Republican rout was underway and Democrats would lose control of the Senate.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Roll Call

Pew Research Center:

Sharp Racial Divisions in Reactions to Brown, Garner Decisions — Many Blacks Expect Police-Minority Relations to Worsen — The public has very different reactions to the recent grand jury decisions in two police-related deaths that have sparked protests in cities across the country.

Discussion: Hot Air, Jezebel, The Gateway Pundit and Washington Post