memeorandum: Giuliani's response — A former City Hall aide to former Mayor … (Ben Smith/Ben Smith's Blogs)

6:40 PM ET, November 29, 2007

Top Items:

Digging out more CNN/YouTube plants: Abortion questioner is declared Edwards supporter (and a slobbering Anderson Cooper fan); Log Cabin Republican questioner is declared Obama supporter; lead toy questioner is a prominent union activist for the Edwards-endorsing United Steelworkers

The Big Trunk / Power Line:

WORST PRETENSE TO AN IMPARTIAL NEWS ORGANIZATION: CNN, PART 2 — Jim Vicevich alerts us to a few more Democratic plants at the CNN YouTube Republican candidates forum last night. Adam Florzak asked a question on Social Security. It turns out that Florzak quit his job with Caterpillar …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Blue Crab Boulevard, NewsBusters.org, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Sadly, No!, JasonColeman.com and In From the Cold

Redstate:

CNN's Performance Was Unacceptable. There Should Be A Do Over of This Debate. — Our own Dan Spencer made USA Today today in an article by Jill Thompson. — Only if you check our front page, we don't have a contributor named Dan Spencer; well, we do, but he does not write under his name.

Discussion: USA Today, National Review and TechRepublican.com blogs

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
'Gay question' general linked to Clinton

Discussion: Left in the West, The Corner, The Carpetbagger Report, CNN Political Ticker, Los Angeles Times, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Weekly Standard, Salon, Donklephant, OPENERS, Crooks and Liars and The Heretik

LiveLeak.com: Would Ron Paul run as an Independent?

Richard Esposito Reports / The Blotter:

Giuliani's Mistress Used N.Y. Police as Taxi Service — Richard Esposito Reports: — Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, TPM Election Central, Talking Points Memo and Hot Air

CNN Political Ticker:

Giuliani: Web site report a 'hit job' — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani has called a story raising questions about the accounting of his security expenses while he was mayor of New York a "hit job." — Late Wednesday, Politico.com reported city records …

Discussion: Trailhead

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Giuliani's response — A former City Hall aide to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Joseph Lhota, today offered the campaign's fullest attempt to address the details of Giuliani's unusual practice of billing the travel of his security detail to obscure City Hall agencies, which I reported yesterday:

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Daily Kos, The Carpetbagger Report and MoJoBlog

Atrios / Eschaton:
Oh My — Judi! … I'm sure Joe will give us his take as soon …

Discussion: Group News Blog

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:
More on Government Funded Trysts: It's A Crime

Discussion: Firedoglake and Daily Kos

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The Chicago Tribune vs. Time magazine — (updated below: Klein's GOP source outs himself — As I noted yesterday, The Chicago Tribune reprinted factually false excerpts from Joe Klein's Time column. But unlike Time — which disgracefully continues to stand behind Klein's falsehoods …

Discussion: National Review Online, The Atlantic Online, The RBC, TalkLeft, Eschaton, Threat Level, The Next Hurrah, Daily Kos and Prairie Weather

Satyam / Think Progress: Rep. Hoekstra Was Source Of Joe Klein's FISA Lies, Decries 'Paranoid …

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
FISA: Klein's Source Was Hoekstra And Other Unforced Errors

Discussion: Associated Press, ACLU and The Secrecy File

Richelieu / Weekly Standard:

2008: The Year of the Upset? — I see my good friend, the distinguished neo-Jacobin Monsieur Kristol, has broken into his ample wine supply again and insulted the monarchy. A weekend chained to the cheap seats at an Alabama tractor pull would seem fitting punishment for my rabble loving friend's imprudence …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, The Atlantic Online, Southern Political Report, AMERICAN DIGEST and The Glittering Eye

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Republicans Debate: Winners and Losers

Discussion: The Politico, Comments from Left Field and Salon

Mark Silva / Baltimore Sun:
Republicans are asked: 'What would Jesus do?'

Discussion: Think Progress

Maamoun Youssef / Associated Press:

Bin Laden: Europeans should end US help — CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on the Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan, according to excerpts of a new audiotape broadcast Thursday on Al-Jazeera television.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Weekly Standard and QandO

Howie / The Jawa Report:
Bin Laden Tape Airs On al-Jazeera UPDATE: bin Laden Claims 9/11

Discussion: No Runny Eggs

Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:

Foes Use Obama's Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him — In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama's biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Muslim world. — Since declaring his candidacy for president in February …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Horses Mouth, The Huffington Post, The Swamp, Talking Points Memo, Chicago Sun Times, Sadly, No!, Taylor Marsh, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, Tom Watson, Chuck Adkins, The Carpetbagger Report, Daily Kos, Publius Pundit and BitsBlog

Jill / Brilliant at Breakfast:
Nope. No bias here. — Actual Washington Post headline:

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, skippy the bush kangaroo and Horses Mouth

Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:

Leahy: Bush Not Involved in Firings — WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate chairman acknowledged explicitly on Thursday that President Bush was not involved in the firings of U.S. attorneys last winter and therefore ruled illegal the president's executive privilege claims protecting his chief of staff …

Discussion: CNN, Think Progress and The Carpetbagger Report

ABCNEWS:

Sudan Sentences Teacher to 15 Days — Sudan Sentences Teacher to 15 Days in Prison for Allowing Students to Name Teddy Bear Muhammad — British teacher Gillian Gibbons has been convicted of inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced to 15 days …

Discussion: The Monkey Tennis Centre, The Jawa Report, michellemalkin.com, Heading Right, Little Green Footballs and A Blog For All

Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:

Why Lott Cashed It In — Well-connected Republicans in Mississippi were shocked by more than the unexpected nature of Trent Lott's resignation announcement Monday. They were stunned that Lott, in good health at age 66 and at the top of his game, was leaving the Senate just one year into his fourth term in order to make more money.

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, New York Times, Heading Right, Macsmind, Captain's Quarters and Outside The Beltway

Jerusalem Post:

Hamas demands UN rescind '47 partition — Hamas on Thursday called on the UN to rescind the 1947 decision to partition Palestine into two states, one for Jews and one for Arabs. — The group said in a statement, released on the 60th anniversary of the UN vote, that "Palestine is Arab Islamic land …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, A Blog For All and The Van Der Galiën Gazette

Washington Post:

Impeachment Is So Yesterday for Clinton, Rogan — Maybe there's hope for the Middle East, after all. If Bill Clinton and one of the men who helped impeach him can make peace, why not the Israelis and the Palestinians? — In one of the more startling cases of odd bedfellows …

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG