memeorandum: Housing: How far is down? — More bad housing news this morning. (Paul Krugman)

3:10 PM ET, December 28, 2007

Top Items:

Pak govt reveals how Benazir was killed — New Delhi: Mystery shrouds the death of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto. In an explosive revelation, Pakistan's Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz on Friday said that Bhutto did not die of bullet wounds. — Nawaz said that Bhutto died from a head injury.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Washington Post, Confederate Yankee, The Moderate Voice, New York Sun, TPMmuckraker, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Comment is free, Agence France Presse, Associated Press, Macsmind, Wonkette, The Strata-Sphere and CNN

CNN:

U.S. suspects Taliban leader behind Bhutto plot — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN — U.S. officials suspect a Taliban leader from Afghanistan may be behind the plot to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a senior official said Friday. — The official identified Taliban …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, New York Times, TPMmuckraker, Reuters, Washington Post, Commentary, New York Post and Gothamist

Ralph Peters / New York Post:

THE BHUTTO ASSASSINATION: NOT WHAT SHE SEEMED TO BE — FOR the next several days, you're going to read and hear a great deal of pious nonsense in the wake of the assassination of Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto. — Her country's better off without her.

Discussion: Reuters, Captain's Quarters, Weekly Standard, The Huffington Post, MSNBC and A Blog For All

Matthew Yglesias:
Don't Cry for Me, Pakistan — Clearly, political assassinations are a bad thing.

Discussion: The Washington Note and TalkLeft

Telegraph:
Row breaks out over Benazir Bhutto's death

Discussion: Blogs of War, EU Referendum, OpenMarket.org and Guardian

CNN:
Officials: Al Qaeda claims it killed Bhutto

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Washington Post, Sky News, IraqPundit, The Newshoggers, Firedoglake, MSNBC, Newsweek, PERRspectives Blog and Gateway Pundit

Juan Cole / Salon:
With Bhutto gone, does Bush have a Plan B?

Discussion: Consortiumnews.com, Firedoglake, New York Times, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, The Washington Note, The Heretik, ac360blog, PBD and TPMmuckraker

CNN:
Confusion surrounds Bhutto's cause of death

Discussion: Danger Room, Captain's Quarters, Los Angeles Times, CANOE, Reuters, Talking Points Memo, ABS-CBN News, Little Green Footballs, ThePoliticalCat, Hot Air, Counterterrorism Blog and The Belmont Club

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:

Edwards reaches new heights in Iowa — DES MOINES, Iowa — John Edwards appears to have risen to a new high point in Iowa, marking an upward trend over the past two weeks that places him in a statistical tie with Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Discussion: The Swamp, Los Angeles Times, Political Machine, TIME and AMERICAblog

Dan Gearino / Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier:

New Lee poll: Edwards moves into 3-way tie — A new Iowa caucus poll from Lee Enterprises newspapers shows the Democratic race is a virtual three-way tie, with John Edwards rising to tie Barack Obama for the lead and Hillary Clinton rising to just one point behind.

Discussion: Open Left, TalkLeft, MyDD and TPM Election Central

Lynn Sweet:

Obama says, “No, I, I, I, I, I have to, I heard, I heard, I don't need it, I don't need to hear what you read because I was, I overheard it when he said it." — DES MOINES, IA.—The Obama campaign faced a distraction on Thursday after some news outlets ran stories suggesting chief Obama …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Taylor Marsh

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Elizabeth vs. Obama

Discussion: The Swamp, MyDD and TPM Election Central

Peggy Noonan / Opinion Journal:

Be Reasonable — As Iowa sizes up the candidates, so do I. — By next week politically active Iowans will have met and tallied their votes. Their decision this year will have a huge impact on the 2008 election, and a decisive impact on various candidacies. Some will be done in. Some will be made.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Liberal Values, The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway, TBogg, Macsmind, Blue Crab Boulevard and Booman Tribune

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Peggy Noonan is a serious “grown-up” — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — In her Wall St. Journal column today, Peggy Noonan offers up a Santa-like checklist of which presidential candidates are “reasonable” and which ones aren't. In describing the attributes that Americans …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Eschaton, Sadly, No!, Prairie Weather and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Martin Kady II / The Politico:

Dems protest Bush's surprise veto of defense bill — At the behest of the Iraqi government, President Bush will veto the annual defense authorization bill, saying an obscure provision in the legislation could make Iraqi assets held in U.S. banks vulnerable to lawsuits.

Discussion: USA Today, The Carpetbagger Report and michellemalkin.com

Ben Feller / Associated Press:
Bush plans to veto defense policy bill

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo and Flopping Aces

David Stout / New York Times:
Bush to Veto Pentagon Funds Over Iraq Provision

Discussion: Debsweb

Don Frederick / Los Angeles Times:

Clinton's “don't ask” policy — As she races through Iowa in the days before next week's caucuses, Hillary Clinton is taking few chances. She tells crowds that it's their turn to “pick a president,” but over the last two days she has not invited them to ask her any questions.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Spin Cycle, 2008Central.net, AMERICAN DIGEST, Fausta's blog, Classical Values and JammieWearingFool

Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:

Pelosi, Reid, Huckabee, Obama Among Nation's “Most Corrupt” — Judicial Watch has named its ten most corrupt political figures of 2007, and the list may surprise. It includes a number of very well-known politicians who have received little attention for their questionable business deals.

Discussion: Power Line, Wizbang, Flopping Aces and Say Anything

Deal Hudson / Deal W. Hudson:

THE PROBLEM WITH MITT ROMNEY'S PRO-LIFE CONVERSION — The Problem with Mitt Romney's Pro-Life Conversion — Mitt Romney, by his own admission, was a pro-abortion governor of Massachusetts. That changed on November 8, 2004 in his second term during a conversation with Dr. Douglas Melton from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Discussion: The Corner and The Daily Dish

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Stem cell, contraception groups paid Huck

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Corner, Associated Press, Classical Values, Hot Air, Wonkette and Chicago Tribune

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

Giuliani Campaign Official: Rudy Is The Only Candidate Who Can Chase “The Muslims"..."Back Into Their Caves" — From the Guardian UK via TPM: (h/t SteveAudio) — Winning hearts and minds the world over... John Deady, Co-Chair for New Hampshire's Veterans for Rudy:

Discussion: Left in the West, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Connecting.the.Dots, PrezVid, Shakespeare's Sister, Cliff Schecter, Wonkette and Guardian

Los Angeles Times:

What price Oprah? — The popular TV personality helps Barack Obama draw big crowds while her fans fume. — WITH less than a week until Iowa's first vote is cast in the 2008 presidential election, the politicians aren't the only ones feeling the heat: Celebrities, who have become important players …

Discussion: Say Anything and JammieWearingFool

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

Fred to go back on air — Team Fred has apparently found enough quarters in the couch to get back on TV in Iowa. — Actually, it was more like the multiple fundraising emails they've blasted it out over the past few days. — They'll be up with “Substance” by tomorrrow in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and Sioux City.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Political Radar, TPM Election Central and Hot Air