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Rove Offers Republicans A Battle Plan For Elections — White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove offered a biting preview of the 2006 midterm elections yesterday, drawing sharp distinctions with the Democrats over the campaign against terrorism, tax cuts and judicial philosophy …
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In Preview of G.O.P. Campaign, Rove Tears Into Democrats — WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 - Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, gave nervous Republicans here a preview of the party's strategy to maintain its dominance in the fall elections today, assailing Democrats for their positions on terrorism …
Discussion:
Oliver Willis, THE BRAD BLOG, The Washington Monthly, Angry Bear, The Heretik and The Sideshow

Rove: Security will be focus of 2006 campaigns — GOP strategist say Democrats have a 'pre-9/11' worldview — Embattled White House adviser Karl Rove vowed Friday to make the war on terrorism a central campaign issue in November and said Democratic senators looked "mean-spirited and small-minded" …

Washington Post Blog's Jim Brady on the profane meltdown of the left this week. — HH: Moving from an interview with the Vice President to an interview with Jim Brady, executive editor of Washingtonpost.com, the phenomenally successful online edition of the Washington Post. Mr. Brady, welcome.
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FDL Late Nite: What Say You About Greater Blogistan's Newest Celebrity?
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Jesus' General

Real Hardball — There's something that doesn't sit right with me when, on the day Osama Bin Laden resurfaced in a disturbing audio tape, cable television ends up in a game of name calling as a war protester is compared to Osama Bin Laden. — That's reason to be outraged …
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Television Cul-de-Sac Mystery: Why Was Reality Show Killed? — AUSTIN, Tex. - A year ago, Stephen Wright and his partner, John Wright, embarked on a sociology experiment that only a reality show producer could concoct: theirs was one of seven families competing to persuade the residents …
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The Washington Monthly
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ABC/Disney may have killed new TV show because gay couple won and they didn't want to anger religious right — This is bad. The NYT article below provides a lot of evidence that the religious right got "Welcome to the Neighborhoo," a reality TV show, killed before it even aired a single episode …
Discussion:
Prometheus 6

Sudden plea deals in tire-slashing case — In an unexpected twist in the Election Day tire-slashing trial, four former Kerry-Edwards campaign staffers, including the sons of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) and former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt, have agreed to plead no contest to misdemeanors.
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Plea Agreement in Tire Slashing Case
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Outside The Beltway

Heeding Pakistani Protest, U.N. Blocks Talk by Rape Victim — UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 - Mukhtar Mai, the Pakistani woman whose defiant response to being gang-raped by order of a tribal court brought her worldwide attention, was denied a chance to speak at the United Nations on Friday …

SLOWER, PLEASE — Anytime I hear someone suggest that the only proper way to deal with Iran is to steer the country on the path towards democracy, I think of Michael Ledeen and his calls to topple regimes across the Middle East in some unspecified way—"Faster, please"—and cringe a bit.

Bin Laden's No. 2 releases poetry tape — Al-Zawahiri recording doesn't mention CIA attempt to kill him — (CNN) — With no mention of last week's attempt on his life, Ayman al-Zawahiri recited poetry to jihadists on a 17-minute audiotape that appeared on the Internet on Friday.

Red tape 'turning best firms away from Europe' — Europe's most successful companies are turning their backs on EU markets because of red tape, a high-level report said yesterday. — The companies that Europe needed to survive were instead investing more money than ever in the United States and Asia …

Aloha Means Goodbye — So, those big things ahead. Promise not to hate me too much. — After almost exactly six years as a blogger, about three of them at this domain, I believe it's time for me to bow out. My dedication to my writing here has waned and I am tired of the oddly daunting responsibility …
Discussion:
Pandagon

Pentagon Analyst Gets 12 Years for Disclosing Data — WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 - A federal judge sentenced a former Defense Department analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, to more than 12 years in prison today after Mr. Franklin admitted passing classified military information to two pro-Israel lobbyists and an Israeli diplomat.
Discussion:
Roger Ailes