memeorandum: A Strange Change — John Negroponte has given up his Cabinet … (Captain Ed/Captain's Quarters)

12:55 PM ET, January 4, 2007

Top Items:

Intelligence Chief Is Shifted to Deputy State Dept. Post — John D. Negroponte, whom President Bush installed less than two years ago as the first director of national intelligence, will soon leave his post to become the State Department's second-ranking official, administration officials said Wednesday.

Discussion: The Reaction, PoliBlog (TM), First Draft, Outside The Beltway, Thomas P.M. Barnett, The Moderate Voice, The Democratic Daily and Talking Points Memo

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Negroponte to Leave Job to Be State Dept. Deputy — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has persuaded John D. Negroponte to leave his post as director of national intelligence and come to the State Department as her deputy, government officials said last night. — Negroponte's move would fill a crucial hole on Rice's team.

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org, The Belgravia Dispatch and Daniel W. Drezner

Booman Tribune:

Negroponte to State: What's Going On? — My little hamster wheel has been spinning white hot ever since I read that John Negroponte is leaving his position as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to take a position as Deputy Secretary of State. This is some really, really strange stuff.

Discussion: NO QUARTER, Democrats.com, CorrenteWire and The Impolitic

Confederate Yankee:

Lateral or Downward? The Negroponte Shuffle — John Negroponte is stepping down from his Cabinet-level position as Director of National Intelligence to become the #2 man in the State Department, backing Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. What does it all mean?

Discussion: Secular Blasphemy

Captain Ed / Captain's Quarters: A Strange Change — John Negroponte has given up his Cabinet …

Associated Press:
Spy chief will quit to fill diplomatic hole

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Atlas Shrugs

James Gordon Meek / NY Daily News:

W pushes envelope on U.S. spying — New postal law lets Bush peek through your mail — WASHINGTON - President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned. — The President asserted his new authority …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Brilliant at Breakfast, Pacific Views, The Impolitic, Attytood, TalkLeft, QandO, Unfogged, Eschaton, Liberty Street, Shakespeare's Sister, Preemptive Karma, State of the Day and Obsidian Wings

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
You've got mail — which Bush thinks he can read

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

In the House, Suddenly Righteous Republicans — Thirty-one-year-old Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is not a large man, standing perhaps 5 feet 3 inches tall in thick soles. But he packed a whole lot of chutzpah when he walked into the House TV gallery yesterday to demand …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Ankle Biting Pundits, The Carpetbagger Report, The Caucus, TPMmuckraker and Wonkette

New York Times:

Ethics Overhaul Tops the Agenda in New Congress — On the brink of regaining power after 12 years, House Democrats said Wednesday that they would move immediately to try to sever ties between lawmakers and lobbyists who figured into scandals that helped Democrats win control of Congress.

Discussion: Washington Post and Decision '08

Opinion Journal: The 100 Hours Rush — Speaker Pelosi learned a few things from Tom DeLay.

Brian Naylor / NPR:
Democrats Dictate Plans for Congress, GOP Says

Discussion: DownWithTyranny! and The Corner

George F. Will / Washington Post:

The Right Minimum Wage — A federal minimum wage is an idea whose time came in 1938, when public confidence in markets was at a nadir and the federal government's confidence in itself was at an apogee. This, in spite of the fact that with 19 percent unemployment and the economy contracting …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Oliver Willis, Eschaton, The Carpetbagger Report, The Heretik, PrairiePundit, Blue Crab Boulevard, Central Sanity and Decision '08

Robert Tracinski / realclearpolitics.com:

To Win in Baghdad, Strike at Tehran — As early as next week, President Bush is expected to give a major speech announcing a new strategy in Iraq. This is an excellent opportunity for the administration to announce a big strategic change that could dramatically improve America's prospects in Iraq.

Discussion: The Heretik, Dr. Sanity, Right Wing Nut House, Counterterrorism Blog, Daily Pundit, New York Sun and Security Watchtower

Brent Scowcroft / New York Times:
Getting the Middle East Back on Our Side

Discussion: The Belgravia Dispatch, It Shines For All and Balloon Juice

Barack Obama / Washington Post:

A Chance To Change The Game — This past Election Day, the American people sent a clear message to Washington: Clean up your act. — After a year in which too many scandals revealed the influence special interests wield over Washington, it's no surprise that so many incumbents were defeated …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

New York Post:

RANGEL BOOTS VEEP — EVICTS CHENEY FROM CHOICE CAPITOL DIGS — Rep. Charles Rangel has evicted Vice President Dick Cheney from his office in the Capitol, and the Harlem heavyweight is moving into the prime digs today, The Post has learned. — Gilded letters were freshly painted atop …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, CNN Political Ticker, Outside The Beltway and AMERICAblog

Lois Romano / Washington Post:

Passed Over by Pelosi, Harman Doesn't Get Even. She Gets Mad. — Catfight aftermath: Rep. Jane Harman is still quite irked that House Speaker-designee Nancy Pelosi nixed her for chairman of the House intelligence committee — and she's not exactly being stoic about it.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah

Washington Post:
Pelosi Walks Tightrope Enforcing Rules

Discussion: GregsOpinion.com

Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:

Miers Resigns As White House Counsel — WASHINGTON (AP) — Harriet Miers, President Bush's failed Supreme Court nominee, has submitted her resignation as White House counsel, the White House announced Thursday. — White House press secretary Tony Snow said the president reluctantly accepted …

Deb Riechmann / Associated Press:
White House won't condemn Saddam taunts

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice and Washington Post

Associated Press:

Angry Nixon vowed to 'ruin' diplomatic corps … WASHINGTON (AP) — Embittered by career diplomats during his first term, President Nixon said he wanted to "ruin the Foreign Service" before leaving office, according to newly released State Department documents.

Discussion: New York Sun, DownWithTyranny!, Captain's Quarters and Macsmind

Stephen Singer / Associated Press:

Lieberman Party Now in Hands of Critic — HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The party Sen. Joe Lieberman created to mount his independent re-election campaign has been seized by one of his critics, and the secretary of state's office said Wednesday that it won't challenge the takeover.

Discussion: Editor and Publisher, Wizbang and SOTUblog

Fred Kaplan / Slate:

Iron Man — WHY BUSH STILL WON'T CHANGE HIS STRATEGY. — In the final paragraph of the New York Times' Jan. 2 story about the impending new Iraq strategy, President George W. Bush is quoted as telling members of the Baker-Hamilton commission that "victory" was still his goal.

Discussion: neo-neocon, American Footprints and Redstate