Top Items:
John O'Neil / New York Times:
Intelligence Deputy Defends Surveillance Program — Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who led the National Security Agency when it began a program of warrantless wiretaps, vigorously defended the program today, but acknowledged that it depends on a lower standard of evidence than required by courts.
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Jennifer Loven / Associated Press:
Bush Calls Surveillance Legal, Necessary — MANHATTAN, Kansas - President Bush pushed back Monday at critics of his once-secret domestic spying effort, saying it should be termed a "terrorist surveillance program" and contending it has the backing of legal experts, key lawmakers and the Supreme Court.
William Branigin / Washington Post:
Bush Defends Domestic Spying — Deputy National Intelligence Chief Says Program Allows Better Terrorist Tracking — President Bush and the nation's deputy national intelligence chief today defended the legality of a controversial domestic spying program, describing it as a vital tool …
Discussion:
Wonkette
Washington Post:
The President's End Run — THE MOST detailed legal justification to date for the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic surveillance has emerged from the Bush administration, but the 42-page version isn't any more convincing than its shorter predecessors.
Rick Hasen / Election Law:
BREAKING SUPREME COURT ELECTION LAW NEWS: SUPREME COURT UNANIMOUSLY REVERSES WISCONSIN CAMPAIGN FINANCE CASE, DENIES CERT IN KEY JUDICIAL ELECTIONS CASE, AND SETS ARGUMENT TIMES IN REMAINING CAMPAIGN FINANCE CASES — WRTL: Lyle Denniston reports on SCOTUSBlog: "The Supreme Court ruled on Monday …
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David Stout / New York Times:Justices Ask Court to Reconsider Campaign Finance Case
Discussion:
ACSBlog
Anthony Phillips / This Is London:
George sinks to new low — First he shocked TV viewers and his colleagues by pretending to be a cat and lapping milk from Rula Lenska's hand. — Now George Galloway is set to attract further derision after performing a dance routine on Celebrity Big Brother - in a tight-fitting, red leotard.
austinbay.net:
Oh, Canada/with some thoughts on the Canadian military — Over the weekend wire and blog reports I read said the race between the Conservatives and Liberals had tightened. Apparently voters in the Maritimes are particularly vulnerable to allegations that those "Conservatives out West" are dangerous folks, almost Americans.
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Ed Whelan / Bench Memos on National Review Online:
More of the New York Times's Wisdom — The New York Times editorial page has long shown that it does not deserve to be taken seriously on the topic of Supreme Court nominations, and its boring and baseless anti-Alito screed today merely provides further confirmation of the point.
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
'Cheap Suitcase' Watch — Chris Matthews drew fire for "comparing" Michael Moore to Osama Bin Laden, and many on the left our howling for an apology. Will Mr. Matthews fold up like a cheap suitcase? We assume so, since, as a reliable Bush-basher, he long ago lost his audience on the right.
Discussion:
Done With Mirrors
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Michelle Malkin:
THE AMAZON.COM REVIEW CESSPOOL — Much has been made of the rabid Left's online swarm that shut down the Washington Post's blog comment section. The comments seemed comparatively tame to me. Maybe I'll copy off Chapter 6 of Unhinged and send it off to the WaPo ombudsman and her editors to help them feel better.
Washington Post:
Ford to Cut Thousands of Jobs and Close 14 Factories — Ford Motor Co. announced today that it will cut as many as 30,000 jobs and shut down 14 factories to help reverse losses in its troubled North American automotive division. — The restructuring announcement came shortly after Ford reported …
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John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select The Most & Least Desired 2008 Republican Nominee (2006 Edition) — Right Wing News emailed more than 230 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send us a ranked list 1-5 of the candidates that they would most like to take the Republican nomination for President …
Shelby Steele / Opinion Journal:
Hillary's Plantation — Hillary Clinton reveals her fear of Condi Rice. — Of course Hillary Clinton's recent claim that Republicans run the House of Representatives like a "plantation" was old-fashioned political and racial pandering. After all, she uttered this remark at what certainly …
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Killing Me Softly — I'm feeling down right now. I know I shouldn't. The fact that Tom DeLay has stepped down is such a huge victory for humanity all by itself that I should be dancing a jig for the next six months. But, I'm down in the dumps, mostly because I am watching George W. Bush repeat …
David Carr / New York Times:
Soothe the Blog and Reap the Whirlwind — LAST Thursday, Deborah Howell, the ombudsman for The Washington Post, posted a clarification on the newspaper's Web site after suggesting in her Sunday column that the lobbyist Jack Abramoff had made "substantial campaign contributions to both major parties."
Spengler / Asia Times:
Why the West will attack Iran — Why did French President Jacques Chirac last week threaten to use non-conventional - that is, nuclear - weapons against terrorist states? And why did Iran announce that it would shift foreign-exchange reserves out of European banks (although it has since retracted this warning)?
Time:
When George Met Jack — White House aides deny the President knew lobbyist Abramoff, but unpublished photos shown to TIME suggest there's more to the story — As details poured out about the illegal and unseemly activities of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, White House officials sought …
Greg Myre / New York Times:
A Man Called Hitler Runs for a Seat He May Not Fill — JENIN, West Bank, Jan. 18 - The candidate's name is Jamal Abu Roub, but everyone here calls him Hitler because, well, that is the name he has answered to quite comfortably since he was a teenager. — Mr. Roub, 40, is a leader …
Ezra Klein / TAPPED:
A PRE-STATE OF THE UNION PRIMER. Another day, another detailed preview of George W. Bush's State of the Union health care proposals. This morning's iteration comes from the LA Times' Peter Gosselin, one of the best social policy reporters in the country. But even the best reporters …
Discussion:
The Washington Monthly, Angry Bear, Shakespeare's Sister, Talking Points Memo, Interesting Times and Ezra Klein
John Fund / Opinion Journal:
How to Cure Pork — And how big government produced the Abramoff scandal. — In the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal, It seems everyone has discovered the excesses of pork-barrel spending. Voters may now be disgusted enough to make the political costs to a member seeking pork greater than the benefits.
Edward O'Keefe / ABCNEWS:
John Kerry Bashes Bush Wiretaps, Talks of 2008 — Kerry Wants Independent Counsel to Investigate Wiretaps — Jan. 22, 2006 — Sen. John F. Kerry is calling President Bush's warrantless wiretaps "a clear violation of the law." — Appearing on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," …
