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Bill Clinton, on 'Charlie Rose' Show, Suggests Obama Not Ready — And Would Be a 'Miracle' If Hillary Won Iowa — NEW YORK In a surprisingly frank interview with Charlie Rose on his PBS show late Friday night, former President Bill Clinton declared that his wife was not only far better prepared …
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The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Open Left, THE REACTION, TPM Election Central, PSoTD, The Belmont Club, Pressing Matters and Boston Globe
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Obama fires back at Bill Clinton — Democratic contender counter-punches ex-president on experience issue — Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama calls on a reporter at his news conference before a rally in Waterloo, Iowa on Saturday. — WATERLOO, Iowa - Former president …

Bill Clinton ... Well, He Just Puts Everything On The Table. Read It. — In a hard-changing interview with Charlie Rose tonight, Bill Clinton said Americans who are prepared to choose someone with less experience, are prepared to "roll the dice" about the future of America. "It's less predictable, isn't it?
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TalkLeft, The Debatable Land, The Trail, Political Punch, The Nation, Commentary, Riehl World View, Instapundit.com and Washington Times

Obama Showing New Confidence With Iowa Sprint — WATERLOO, Iowa — Senator Barack Obama is striving to seize on a moment of opportunity in the final weeks before the Iowa caucuses to challenge Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's long dominance of the Democratic field, even as he faces intensified questions …

Time to Move On...From Hillary — And from the Clintons' brand of politics. — The defining moment of the Democratic presidential campaign so far came during the Des Moines Register debate, December 13, at 2:10 P.M. Central time. … As are we all. What we are not looking forward …


Huckabee Sees WH 'Bunker Mentality' — CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Mike Huckabee, who has joked about his lack of foreign policy experience, is criticizing the Bush administration's efforts, denouncing a go-it-alone "arrogant bunker mentality" and questioning decisions on Iraq.
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McCain's Last Stand — He still has a chance. Inman, South Carolina — John McCain finished a Q-and-A session with reporters here with a shot of his offbeat humor. "Thank you, jerks," he said. A few hours later, he suggested in a speech to the Greenville Rotary Club …


Fading Romney targets Huckabee — CARROLL, Iowa — Seemingly resigned to his new role as an Iowa underdog, Mitt Romney said Friday that he would use the remaining three weeks before the caucuses to draw bright-line differences with Mike Huckabee. — But he also acknowledged …

The Perils of Huckaplomacy — Don't know much about foreign policy. — Just moments into the third Republican presidential debate, last June 5, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee about Iraq. "Governor Huckabee, do you have confidence in the government of Iraq …
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Videotape shows Sharpton cutting a deal — With a hidden FBI camera rolling inside a New York hotel suite in 2003, an unsuspecting Rev. Al Sharpton, Democratic candidate for president, spoke candidly. — Sharpton offered to help Philadelphia fund-raiser Ronald A. White win …

Congresswoman Julia Carson dies — U.S. Rep. Julia Carson died at home this morning following a battle with lung cancer. She was 69. — Carson's death comes just weeks after she announced the cancer, which she had beaten before, was back with "terminal vengeance."
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Catching Up With the Complaints — Does the ombudsman sometimes procrastinate on complaints? Sure. Here are a couple of examples: — Several Rush Limbaugh fans complained about an Oct. 20 Style story by Neely Tucker about a dust-up between conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh …
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Wider Spying Fuels Aid Plan for Telecom Industry — WASHINGTON — For months, the Bush administration has waged a high-profile campaign, including personal lobbying by President Bush and closed-door briefings by top officials, to persuade Congress to pass legislation protecting companies …
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Emptywheel

IS ROMNEY BECOMING THE CHOICE OF MAINSTREAM CONSERVATIVES? — Judge Robert Bork has endorsed Mitt Romney for president. He explains: … As much as conservatives respect Judge Bork, his endorsement is less significant as guidance for undecided conservatives than as evidence of how undecided …
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FDL Book Salon Welcomes Bob Drogin, Author of Curveball — Join me in welcoming Bob Drogin to FDL's Book Salon. As a reminder, please take other off-topic conversations to another thread. — My favorite passage from Bob Drogin's Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused …

Justice Dept.: Back off on CIA tapes — WASHINGTON - The controversy over destroyed CIA interrogation tapes is shaping up as a turf battle involving the courts, Congress and the White House, with the Bush administration telling its constitutional coequals to stay out of the investigation.
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Children? Not if you love the planet — This is the time of year, as Hillary Rodham Clinton once put it, when Christians celebrate "the birth of a homeless child" - or, in Al Gore's words, "a homeless woman gave birth to a homeless child." — Just for the record, Jesus wasn't "homeless."
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GINA COBB