Top Items:
James Wolcott:
CIRCLE JERKS — After reading this—and this—and this, I've come to a couple of conclusions. — 1) So-called reputable journalists have completely forfeited their high horse when it comes to complaining about bloggers as a species of riffraff—they no longer have the right …
Discussion:
First Draft
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Empty Wheel / The Next Hurrah:
What Vivnovka Tells Us — I don't know whether Rove and Libby will ever go to jail for outing Valerie Plame. But the investigation has already done one important thing—it has demonstrated in stark terms the pathetic state of political journalism. Judy Miller has been exposed as a sycophantic liar.
Viveca Novak / Time:
What Viveca Novak Told Fitzgerald — It was in the midst of another Washington scandal, almost a decade ago, that I got to know Bob Luskin. He represented Mark Middleton, a minor figure in the Democratic campaign-finance scandals of 1996. Luskin kept Middleton out of the spotlight and never told me much.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Eschaton, firedoglake, The Washington Monthly, Macsmind and First Draft
Jane Hamsher / firedoglake:
Vivac — Well I will give Viveca Novak one thing. Unlike the brazen and unapologetic explanations written by Bob Woodward and Judy Miller following their quality time with Patrick Fitzgerald, she does have the good sense to be contrite in tone for her account in today's Time Magazine.
Greg Mitchell / Editor and Publisher:
Viveca Novak: Another Plame Journo Kept Her Editor in the Dark — Where will it end, and when will reporters pay with their jobs? First we learn that Bob Woodward failed to tell his editor for years about his role in the Plame/CIA leak case. Today, we find out that Time reporter Viveca Novak …
ReddHedd / firedoglake:
The Penitent — Vivaca Novak's article is up at Time. There are a number of aspects about the article that I find troubling and puzzling, not the least of which is the substantial lack of any solid factual detail on precise dates and items discussed. — In my mind a reporter actively working …
Reuters:
Iraqi insurgents urge Sunnis to vote, warn Zarqawi — FALLUJA/RAMADI Iraq (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein loyalists who violently opposed January elections have made an about-face as Thursday's polls near, urging fellow Sunni Arabs to vote and warning al Qaeda militants not to attack.
Newsweek:
Bush in the Bubble — He has a tight circle of trust, and he likes it that way. But members of both parties are urging Bush to reach beyond the White House walls. How he governs-and how his M.O. stacks up historically. — Dec. 19, 2005 issue - Jack Murtha still can't figure out why the father and son treated him so differently.
Discussion:
ProfessorBainbridge.com, The Reaction, firedoglake, NewsBusters.org, Ace of Spades HQ, The Heretik, Oliver Willis and PhotoDude.com
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Time:
His Search For A New Groove — The President has had a dreadful year, and his approval ratings are anemic. What Bush is doing to try to reverse his second-term slump — The Yuletide decorations at the White House are simpler this year. The gaudy tinsel and the 155,000 lights of 2004 …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
Times of London:
Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran — Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, Washington — ISRAEL'S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.
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Roger L. Simon / OSM:
Remembering Richard — Some time in 1979, shortly after I had done The Big Fix for Universal, the studio called to ask if I would like to write a movie for Richard Pryor. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Pryor was at the top of his game then, acknowledged by many to be possibly the greatest standup comic of all time.
Discussion:
Blinq, Houston's Clear Thinkers, Daily Kos, Pam's House Blend, neo-neocon, Althouse, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Pandagon and Power Line
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Michelle Malkin:
CANDIDATE FOR DUMBEST NYTIMES PIECE EVER — On Friday, Editor and Publisher hyped this Sunday NYTimes magazine piece by Michael Crowley about the influence of conservative vs. liberal blogs. — Maureen Dowd and Paul Krugman offer stiff competition on a weekly basis, but Crowley's embarrassing little squib …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Beltway Blogroll, The Anchoress, ShrinkWrapped and Angry in the Great White North
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Gateway Pundit:
Video Released from Site of Massacre, Dongzhou Village — Video from Dongzhou Village has made its way out of Communist China. — An injured Dongzhou Village man with visible wounds on his side and feet recuperates from Tuesday's carnage when government forces fired on land rights protesters.
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Ron Fournier / Associated Press:
Democrats Test Themes for `06 and `08 — LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - To hear Democrats tell it, an anxious and isolated public craves a sense of national community and would galvanize behind a leader who asks people to sacrifice for the greater good. John Edwards says he's that leader.
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Henry A. Kissinger / San Diego Union-Tribune:
Moving toward a responsible exit strategy in Iraq — Since every turning point occurs in some finite time period, a key test of policy-making is when to schedule the seminal decisions. The debate over withdrawal from Iraq hinges on such a question. The administration and its critics seem …
US News:
Washington Whispers — Hastert's helper — House Speaker Dennis Hastert is a last-minute shopper. But this Christmas won't end with a mad dash to the mall for impersonal gift cards. That's because he's getting help from a shopaholic: Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. And it's all in a day's work.
Angelica / Battlepanda:
Outrage — The Cory Maye case is just about the ugliest nexus of race, civil rights violations, southern juries and our criminal justice system that I can think of. … Cory Maye is now on death row in Mississippi. — When the Instapundit and I both agree that something is wack.
