memeorandum: I Haven't Liked James Spader Since Pretty in Pink (Kathryn Jean Lopez/The Corner)

1:50 PM ET, December 5, 2007

Top Items:

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Huckabee not aware of NIE report on Iran — My colleague David Paul Kuhn attended an on-the-record dinner with Mike Huckabee and a group of reporters tonight in Des Moines. — The transcript speaks for itself:

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Intercepting Iran's Take on America — There are two intelligence analyses that are relevant to the balance of power between the U.S. and Iran — one is the latest U.S. assessment of Iran, which certainly gave a much more complex view of what is happening there.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Attytood and Prairie Weather

Robert Kagan / Washington Post:

Time to Talk to Iran — Regardless of what one thinks about the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003 — and there is much to question in the report — its practical effects are indisputable. The Bush administration cannot …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, New York Times, Ezra Klein, RealClearPolitics, Outside The Beltway, Yourish.com, Time, Hot Air, Foreign Policy Watch, Daniel W. Drezner and Obsidian Wings

Joshua Mitnick / Washington Times:
Israel challenges report on nukes

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, PoliGazette, Cheat Seeking Missiles, Macsmind and Washington Monthly

Thomas Joscelyn / Weekly Standard:
NIE: An Abrupt About-Face

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Wolf Howling and The Tank

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
The Myth of the Mad Mullahs

Discussion: Buck Naked Politics and Cato-at-liberty

Opinion Journal:
'High Confidence' Games

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Strata-Sphere, PoliPundit.com, New York Times and Los Angeles Times

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
MORE NIE STUFF....In the Washington Post today, David Ignatius …

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere and Washington Post

The Big Trunk / Power Line:
FIVE YEARS OF THE CONDOR

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Sun, Political Machine and Gateway Pundit

CNN:
Dems aren't buying Bush's account of Iran report

Discussion: Washington Post, Political Machine, New York Times, Suitably Flip and The Politico

New York Times:
Key Judgments From a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's Nuclear Activity

Discussion: The New Republic, PoliGazette and The Huffington Post

Murray Waas / The Huffington Post:

Documents Expose Huckabee's Role In Serial Rapist's Release — Little Rock, Ark — As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee aggressively pushed for the early release of a convicted rapist despite being warned by numerous women that the convict had sexually assaulted them or their family members, and would likely strike again.

Byron York / Invalid Article on National Review Online:

The Story Mike Huckabee Dreads — In August, I interviewed former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee about the case of Wayne Dumond, the convicted rapist who was freed under Huckabee's administration, only to rape and kill a woman in neighboring Missouri. The crime attracted enormous attention in Arkansas …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Political Machine and Redstate

Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:

Which Democrat's Health Plan Really, Truly Covers More People? — While the leading Democratic presidential candidates agree on most policy issues, a sharp dispute has emerged: Who would do more to provide health coverage for the uninsured? — Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Boston Globe, New York Times, The Caucus, HillaryClinton.com and MSNBC

Paul Krugman:

Nonpartisan AEI — I have a lot of problems with this Kit Seelye piece. It's kind of weird that the usual "both sides may have a point" reporting gave way to a clear declaration that one side is right — precisely on an issue where many, many health experts believe that Obama is wrong …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and TalkLeft

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Clinton Attack on Obama Overlooks Some Realities

Discussion: The New Republic and TIME

Michael O'Hanlon / USA Today:

A new course on Iraq (for Democrats, that is) — The party that forced a new direction in the war needs to embrace the positive developments rather than remaining stuck in a pre-surge funk. — Rarely in U.S. history has a political party diagnosed a major failure in the country's approach …

Discussion: The Corner, Redstate and The Heretik

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:
Hill Democrats Explore New Strategy on Iraq

Discussion: The Reaction, Captain's Quarters and The Atlantic Online

Zogby:

Zogby Latest:Zogby Latest: Iowa: Dead Heats; New Hampshire: Clinton suffers shrinkage; Romney recovers strong lead after autumnal fade; The Angry Electorate: Four of five Democrats and two-thirds of Republicans say they are angry at the U.S. political system — Utica, New York …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Pollster.com and TPM Election Central

Regina Medina / philly.com:

THE PARTY'S OVER — medinar@phillynews.com 215-854-5985 Staff writer Gloria Campisi contributed to this report — JOCELYN SARAH Kirsch had planned to throw a 25th birthday party tonight at an upscale Rittenhouse Square eatery for her live-in love, Edward Kyle Anderton.

Robin McDowell / Associated Press:

More than 10,000 jet into Bali for global warming conference — U.N. official rejects notion attendees adding to problem — BALI, Indonesia — Never before have so many people converged to try to save the planet from global warming, with more than 10,000 jetting into this Indonesian resort island …

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, A Blog For All, Maggie's Farm, Outside The Beltway and PoliPundit.com

Rep. John Conyers / The Huffington Post:

Setting the Record Straight on FISA — In recent weeks, there has been lot of conflicting information floating around about efforts by House Democrats to protect the country by adopting rules for intelligence gathering that are both flexible and constitutional.

Mark Murray / MSNBC:

NH NEA to endorse Clinton, Huckabee — From NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller — The 16,000-member New Hampshire affiliate of the National Education Association has chosen to recommend to its members Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary and Mike Huckabee in the Republican primary …

Adam Sherwin / Times of London:

BBC 'took terrorist trainers paintballing' — The BBC funded a paintballing trip for men later accused of Islamic terrorism and failed to pass on information about the 21/7 bombers to police, a court was told yesterday. — Mohammed Hamid, who is charged with overseeing a two-year radicalisation programme …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Captain's Quarters, Weekly Standard, The Corner, The Jawa Report, Sister Toldjah, USS Neverdock, JammieWearingFool, Fausta's blog and michellemalkin.com

Kathryn Jean Lopez / The Corner:

I Haven't Liked James Spader Since Pretty in Pink — Last night on Boston Legal, Mitt Romney got hit on gay marriage: — UPDATE: "don't get your news from Boston Legal."

Discussion: James Wolcott's Blog