Top Items:
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Dodd's Filibuster Threat Stalls Wiretap Bill — Senator Chris Dodd won a temporary victory today after his threats of a filibuster forced Democratic leadership to push back consideration of a measure that would grant immunity to telecom companies that were complicit in warrantless surveillance.
Discussion:
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Think Progress:
Dodd filibuster threat causes Reid to withdraw FISA bill. — "Senator Chris Dodd won a temporary victory today after his threats of a filibuster forced Democratic leadership to push back consideration of a measure that would grant immunity to telecom companies that were complicit in warrantless surveillance."
Senator Edward M. Kennedy / kennedy.senate.gov:
KENNEDY ON FISA — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Mr. President, I am troubled by the FISA bill that has come to the Senate floor. Since I introduced the original FISA legislation over 30 years ago, I've worked to amend the FISA law many times, and I believe that this bill is not faithful to the traditional balance that FISA has struck.
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
BREAKING: REID PULLED TELECOM BILL — Harry Reid just pulled the telecom bill. The Senate will take it up again after the first of the year, but for now there will be no retroactive telecom immunity. — Karen Tumulty wrote over at Swampland earlier in the day: … I guess he did.
Matt Browner-Hamlin / Chris Dodd National Blog:
Constitution Protected...For Now — Majority Leader Harry Reid has just pulled the FISA bill from consideration in this session. It will be brought up at some point next month. — Without Senator Dodd's leadership today, it is safe to assume that retroactive immunity would have passed.
Seattle Times:
"Muslim" issue resurfaces for Obama — COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president Sunday but stirred a continuing controversy by noting her chief rival's name is "Barack Hussein Obama" and that Obama had Muslim ancestors.
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Marc Ambinder:
Obama's Contrast Mailing In New Hampshire — Hillary Clinton _and_ John Edwards are included in the un-love from Barack Obama today. — Something new: the Des Moines Register reports that Obama said that he, not John Edwards, was the champion challenger to special interests.
Peterhamby / CNN Political Ticker:
Bill Clinton: George H.W. Bush will help President Hillary — ORANGEBURG, South Carolina (CNN) - Former President Bill Clinton said Monday that the first thing his wife Hillary will do when she reaches the White House is dispatch him and his predecessor, President George H.W. Bush …
Anthony Boadle / Reuters:
Castro hints he will not hold on to power — HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public for 16 months, suggested on Monday he might give up his formal leadership posts — the first time he has spoken of his possible retirement.
Spectator:
The blood runs cold — The lights are going out on liberal society - and it is the most liberal societies with their fingers on the 'off' switch. The thesis of Mark Steyn's book America Alone, that Europe was succumbing to an Islamist takeover, has been proved spectacularly correct …
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James Pindell / Boston Globe:
Did Billy Shaheen resign or was he fired? — Hillary Clinton contradicted her campaign's line about what how the campaign's relationship with Bill Shaheen ended last week. — Shaheen, of course, is the husband of former Governor Jeanne Shaheen, who was Clinton's New Hamphire campaign co-chair.
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Washington Post:
FBI, CIA Debate Significance of Terror Suspect — Agencies Also Disagree On Interrogation Methods — Al-Qaeda captive Abu Zubaida, whose interrogation videotapes were destroyed by the CIA, remains the subject of a dispute between FBI and CIA officials over his significance as a terrorism suspect …
Matthew Flamm / Crain's New York Business.com:
Slow going for Rove memoir auction — Early reports had predicted a $3 million sale, but an auction for the Republican strategist's memoir has dragged on for a month. — December 17. — The auction for Karl Rove's memoir drags on a month after the Republican strategist made the rounds …
RushLimbaugh.com:
Does Our Looks-Obsessed Culture Want to Stare at an Aging Woman? — BEGIN TRANSCRIPT — RUSH: Now, this theory of mine based on this Drudge picture of Mrs. Clinton, with the headline: "The Toll of a Campaign." Now, it could well be that that's a sympathy photo, too, to make people feel sorry for how tough the campaign trail is.
Donald Sensing / Sense of Events:
Clarity — "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing." Battered pilot Bob Robertson waits in shock for rescuers to cut him free from his plane after it disintegrated around him. — In The Right Stuff, the story of the Mercury 7 astronauts, Tom Wolfe related some stories about jet fighter flight testing in the 1950s.
Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
The Scribe Who Gets The Candidates' Vote — DES MOINES — Back in May, when speculation burbled up that Hillary Clinton might bypass Iowa, David Yepsen dashed off a blog entry comparing the New York senator's campaign to previous clunkers, including the early days of Reagan 1980, Gore 2000 and Kerry 2004.
