memeorandum: KOSenfreude* — The Moose gloats and kvells. — There is great joy in Mooseland. (Bull Moose)

4:25 PM ET, November 8, 2006

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Rumsfeld quitting as defense secretary — WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush announced Wednesday that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down from his post. — "The timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon," Bush said at the White House Wednesday afternoon.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Blogcritics Section, War and Piece, Whiskey Bar, democracyarsenal.org, State of the Day, David E's Fablog and Swords Crossed

Fox News:

DONALD RUMSFELD RESIGNING AS DEFENSE SECRETARY — WASHINGTON — Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down as defense secretary and former CIA Director Robert Gates will be nominated to take his place. — Rumsfeld, President Bush's sole defense secretary in six years of leadership …

Discussion: Townhall.com Blog's …, BLACKFIVE, Don Surber, Confederate Yankee, On Deadline, Hang Right Politics, The Jawa Report and Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Think Progress:

VIDEO: Bush Admits He Lied About Rumsfeld For Political Purposes » — Last week, President Bush unequivocally told a group of reporters that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney would "remain with him until the end of his presidency, extending a job guarantee …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, DownWithTyranny!, AMERICAblog and Seeing the Forest

Jim Young / MSNBC:

Bush announces Rumsfeld stepping down — President taps ex-CIA chief Gates to replace embattled defense secretary — After six years on the job, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will resign, President said Wednesday. — NBC VIDEO … WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld …

Discussion: Tom Watson, Iowa Voice and State of the Day

The Allen Report:

President Bush's Opening Gambit for Surviving Divided Government — Despite his dramatically weakened political position, the President plans to stand up to Democrats and challenge them to work with him on issues he has been promoting. But the opposition now has little reason to cave.

Discussion: Political Radar, The Mahablog, Unclaimed Territory and Think Progress

William Branigin / Washington Post:
Rumsfeld to Step Down as Defense Secretary

Discussion: Sound Politics

Washington Post:
Democrats Reclaim House; Control of Senate Pending

Discussion: Instapundit.com, INDCJournal and The Democratic Daily

Kristin Roberts / Reuters: Democrats' win alone won't drive Rumsfeld out

Washington Post:

A Voter Rebuke For Bush, the War And the Right — The political pendulum in American politics swung away from the right yesterday, putting an end to the 12-year Republican Revolution on Capitol Hill and delivering a sharp rebuke of President Bush and the Iraq war.

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, Fox News, Redstate, The Strata-Sphere, Hyscience, TalkLeft, Decision '08, The Agonist, The Glittering Eye, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Heretik and State of the Day

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Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

No. — I ask you, considering the margins that we are looking at this morning in a whole lot of the races that the Democrats won yesterday, in both the House and the Senate, what was Rahm Emmanuel thinking saying this: … Let me get this straight, we have just taken back the House and …

Discussion: TAPPED, The Huffington Post, JustOneMinute, MaxSpeak, Macsmind, Suburban Guerrilla, The Sideshow and Sister Toldjah

Peter Wallsten / Los Angeles Times:

Bush likely to resist calls for major change — Statements during the campaign suggest there is little that House Democrats and the president can be expected to agree on. — WASHINGTON — With increasing fervor, President Bush spent the final weeks of the 2006 campaign castigating Democrats …

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, MyDD, Is That Legal? and TPMCafe blogs

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Democratic House Win And Changed Senate Suggests GOP Lost Independents And Moderates

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, NewsHog, Maggie's Farm and Kiko's House

Robin Toner / New York Times:
A Loud Message for Bush

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Dick Polman's American Debate, Bloomberg, The Democratic Daily and PoliBlog (TM)

Hugh Hewitt / Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog:

The Good News And The Bad — I have to assume that the Dems will get the Senate as well as the House, though Conrad Burns may be able to pull off an upset, in which case I hope the GOP in the Senate reject the silly rules they agreed to the last time the body was 50/50.

Discussion: Ed Driscoll.com, Outside The Beltway, Iowa Voice, The Agonist, Amygdala, Atlas Shrugs, Flopping Aces, Ankle Biting Pundits, Preemptive Karma, Crooked Timber, Sadly, No! and Wizbang

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Calvin Woodward / Associated Press:

Democrats on brink of controlling Senate — WASHINGTON - Democrats won a cliffhanger race in Montana on Wednesday that took them to the brink of control of the Senate, after Americans sick of scandal and weary of war brought down the Republican House majority.

Discussion: The Washington Note, The Political Pit Bull and All Spin Zone

CNN:
Dems take House, CNN projects; Senate still undecided

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Daniel W. Drezner and The Peking Duck

Howard Schneider / Washington Post:
Challenger Maintains Lead Over Sen. Burns

Discussion: Whiskey Bar and The Caucus

Belle Waring / Crooked Timber:
If It's Not Close They Can't Cheat

Discussion: Alabama Liberation Front

Bull Moose:

KOSenfreude* — The Moose gloats and kvells. — There is great joy in Mooseland. The nutroots have struck out. Joe Lieberman has prevailed. The vital center is victorious! — Read and weep, dear nutroots, … Yes, there is justice. Joe took a brave stand by putting country before party.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Taylor Marsh and Blue Crab Boulevard

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Jennifer Medina / New York Times:

'Liberated' Lieberman Likely to Be Courted by Both Sides — Throughout his career, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman has proudly proclaimed himself an "independent-minded Democrat." But in the closing days of this campaign, Mr. Lieberman added a superlative, promising to be a "very independent Democrat."

Discussion: Reason Magazine

John O'Neil / New York Times:

A Virginia Recount Would Not Come Soon — Virginia's election laws allow an apparent loser to request a recount if a contest's margin is less than 1 percent — and the margin in the preliminary results of the state's Senate election stood this morning at about one-third of 1 percent.

Discussion: Election Law, Inactivist, Outside The Beltway, A Tiny Revolution and Wonkette

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Tyler Whitley / Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Nation watches Virginia

Discussion: Washington Post and DonkeyRising

Austin Bay Blog:

Rumsfeld resigns- with analysis — Jim Dunnigan and I will be discussing the resignation on the Glenn and Helen podcast for pajamas media — to be recorded later this afternoon. So stay tuned. — A few thoughts: — (1) I think the resignation wasn't entirely contingent on the election- though …

Discussion: neo-neocon, The Anchoress and Ed Driscoll.com

Ibrahim Barzak / Associated Press:

Hamas urges attacks on U.S. targets — GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas' military wing called Wednesday on Muslims around the world to attack American targets following reports that an Israeli tank strike killed 18 people in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.

Discussion: Counterterrorism Blog, Democrats.com and 7.62mm Justice

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:

Post Mortem — THIS ONE IS PRETTY EASY TO EXPLAIN. Republicans lost the House and probably the Senate because of Iraq, corruption, and a record of taking up big issues and then doing nothing on them. Of these, the war was by far the biggest factor. Unpopular wars trump good economies and everything else.

Discussion: TIME and The Corner