memeorandum: No Delay On NIE — After yesterday's release of the declassified … (Ed Morrissey/Captain's Quarters)

1:35 PM ET, December 4, 2007

Top Items:

Bush: DNI Told Me 'We Have Some New Information, He Didn't Tell Me What The Information Was' — At a press briefing this morning, President Bush said he was told by his Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell "in August" that "we have some new information" regarding Iran's nuclear program.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Talking Points Memo, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakespeare's Sister, My Two Sense, White House, AMERICAblog and Middle Earth Journal

Washington Post:

A Blow to Bush's Tehran Policy — » ANALYSIS | President Bush got the world's attention this fall when he warned that a nuclear-armed Iran might lead to World War III. But his stark warning came at least a month or two after he had first been told about fresh indications that Iran …

Norman Podhoretz / Commentary:

Dark Suspicions about the NIE — A new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), entitled "Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities," has just dealt a serious blow to the argument some of us have been making that Iran is intent on building nuclear weapons and that neither diplomacy nor sanctions can prevent it from succeeding.

Graham Bowley / New York Times:

Bush Says Iran Still a Danger Despite Report on Weapons — President Bush said today that Iran was still a danger despite the new assessment by American intelligence agencies that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. — Speaking at a White House press conference today …

Discussion: The Heretik

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

No Delay On NIE — After yesterday's release of the declassified National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, a number of pundits assumed that the White House had suppressed the report for months. The conclusions of the NIE — that Iran had stopped pursuing nuclear weapons "years earlier" …

Discussion: The Newshoggers and Des Moines Register

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Our serious foreign policy geniuses strike again

Discussion: Eschaton, The Lede and New York Times

Pajamas Media:
The Great Intelligence Scam

Discussion: New York Sun, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Washington Post, Right Wing Nut House, National Review Online, The Lede and Power Line

CNN:
Iran: U.S. must 'pay the price' for accusations

Discussion: IMAO.US, Hullabaloo and Sweetness & Light

Steven Lee Myers / New York Times:
An Assessment Jars a Foreign Policy Debate About Iran

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The Swamp, USA Today, The Atlantic Online, HorsesAss.Org, Eunomia, Outside The Beltway, The Nation, Daily Kos, Sister Toldjah and ParaPundit

The Atlantic Online:
Iran NIE Reax

Discussion: FP Passport, Corrente and Emptywheel

Associated Press:
Bush: Iran report a 'warning signal'

Discussion: The American Street, TBogg and Sadly, No!

The Corner:
The Iran NIE — I'm at a conference overseas and just got …

Discussion: Commentary and Associated Press

Jesse Berney / HillaryClinton.com:

The Dirty Tricks Are Starting — Campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle just sent the following message out to Hillary supporters in key early states.

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Salon, David Corn, Riehl World View and MoJoBlog

Jay Newton-Small / Time:

Will Clinton's Obama Attacks Backfire? — It started in earnest a couple of weeks ago when Hillary Clinton questioned how much Barack Obama's time spent living in Indonesia as a child could actually help him make foreign policy decisions as a commander-in-chief.

Discussion: BAGnewsNotes, New York Times and Blue Crab Boulevard

Scott Horsley / NPR:

Democrats Set to Debate in Iowa as Race Tightens — Listen Live Here Beginning at 2 p.m. EST — · All of the major Democratic presidential candidates will meet in Iowa on Tuesday for a two-hour debate, as an extremely close race is shaping up in the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Vulnerable Democrats See Fates Tied to Clinton

Discussion: Boston Globe, Redstate, The Swamp, GregsOpinion.com, Taylor Marsh, MSNBC, The Glittering Eye, The American Street, Tom Watson, QandO, The Carpetbagger Report, Captain's Quarters, Blue Crab Boulevard, Hot Air and Washington Monthly

Frank James / The Swamp:
Clinton campaign accuses Obama's of 'dirty tricks'

Discussion: The Politico and New Hampshire Presidential …

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama responds on "dirty tricks"

Discussion: TPM Election Central

Deacon / Power Line:

MIKE HUCKABEE — TOO MORALISTIC TO PROTECT OUR NATIONAL SECURITY — I have defended Mike Huckabee from charges that he's not a conservative. As with nearly all of the Republican candidates, there are some important conservative positions to which Huckabee has not closely adhered …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Balloon Juice, PoliBlog (TM), Liberal Values, Free Frank Warner, The American Street and IMAO.US

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Un-Mormon and Unchristian

Discussion: The Corner

Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:
Huckabee Chafes at 'Front-Runner' Label

Discussion: NY Daily News, The New Republic, Des Moines Register, TownHall Blog, Hot Air, New York Times, JammieWearingFool, TIME, TPM Election Central and Reason Magazine

Eric Kleefeld / TPM Election Central:

Hillary Pollster: "Kindergarten Attack" On Obama Was Just A Gag! — Now this is interesting. Yesterday the Hillary Clinton campaign was pilloried in the press after it issued a press release that attacked Barack Obama for claiming he wasn't running for President in order to fulfill a life-long ambition.

Discussion: Riehl World View, Washington Monthly, The Carpetbagger Report and Taylor Marsh

John Hawkins / Right Wing News:

The 2nd Annual Worst Quotes From The Daily Kos (2007 Edition) — America's most influential blog is the Daily Kos. Democratic members of Congress post on the blog, Democratic presidential contenders cater to them, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas is considered to be a mainstream figure amongst Democrats.

Discussion: Moonbattery

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

Divorce Found to Harm The Environment With Higher Energy, Water Use — Divorce is not just a family matter. It exacts a serious toll on the environment by boosting the energy and water consumption of those who used to live together, according to a study by two Michigan State University researchers.

Discussion: The Sundries Shack

New Hampshire Union Leader:

Sen. John McCain & Sen. Joe Lieberman: It's inexcusable for Congress not to fund troops in Iraq — HAVING SPENT much of the past year mired in legislative trench warfare over Iraq, advocates in Congress seeking a mandatory withdrawal of troops are now refusing to pass funding for our forces deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Wake up America, Free Frank Warner and Gateway Pundit

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Democratic-leaning PAC attacks Hillary — Here's a first look at the first independent Democratic television attack ad of the cycle. — It's a shot at Hillary Clinton from Democratic Courage, an independent, left-leaning group I wrote about earlier this fall.

Discussion: TPM Election Central