memeorandum: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Reichle v. Howards (Adam Liptak/New York Times)

2:01 AM ET, December 6, 2011

Top Items:

Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPM SLIDESHOW: Meet The 2012 GOPers — Newt Gingrich — Pelosi knows more about Gingrich than perhaps any other major national political figure. She was a senior Democrat when Gingrich was House Speaker, served on the ethics committee that investigated Gingrich for tax cheating …

John Parkinson / ABCNEWS:

Pelosi Not Sitting on Trove of Gingrich Secrets — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi now says she is not sitting on a trove of opposition research on former House Speaker-turned-GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. — In an interview conducted Friday and published Monday …

Discussion: HotAirPundit

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Newt Gingrich defends Donald Trump from Ron Paul — After a nearly hour-long meeting at Trump Tower, Donald Trump and Newt Gingrich emerged for a joint press conference, where the former House Speaker defended The Donald from slams from Ron Paul that him moderating a debate would create a “circus” atmosphere.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Los Angeles Times, American Times, ABCNEWS, The Political Carnival, CNN, Mediaite, Indecision Forever, The Loyal Opposition, Swampland, The Spectacle Blog, The Page, Portland Mercury and Daily Kos

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Pelosi: I'll reveal information on Gingrich ‘when the time is right’ — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is holding back some information on Republican Newt Gingrich that could detract from his presidential campaign, according to a report published Monday.

Discussion: The Right Scoop, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, The Politico, The PJ Tatler, Indecision Forever, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Michelle Malkin and Mediaite

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Gingrich fires back at Pelosi over threat

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, National Review and Weasel Zippers

Maggie Haberman / The Politico: Newt Gingrich: Nancy Pelosi comments on ethics are ‘early Christmas gift’

The Politico:
Telling: Newt's critics shut up

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, Rod Dreher, Daily Kos, A plain blog about politics, Little Green Footballs, The Atlantic Online, Betsy's Page and Washington Examiner

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Republicans See Gingrich, Romney as “Acceptable” Nominees — All other candidates seen as unacceptable by half or more of Republicans — PRINCETON, NJ — Newt Gingrich (62%) and Mitt Romney (54%) are the only two candidates Republicans say would be acceptable presidential nominees from their party …

Discussion: 2012 Decoded, Washington Post, Washington Wire, Hot Air, A plain blog about politics, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, NewsBusters.org, National Review, HotAirPundit, Firedoglake and Guardian

Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:

GOP Is Now a Three-Man Race: Romney vs. Gingrich vs. Gingrich — Now that Herman Cain has “suspended his campaign” (I've decided to honor him by suspending my reading of anything further about his candidacy/book tour), the race is down to three people: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Campaign 2012, Business Insider and US Politics

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Send in the Clueless — There are two crucial things you need to understand about the current state of American politics. First, given the still dire economic situation, 2012 should be a year of Republican triumph. Second, the G.O.P. may nonetheless snatch defeat from the jaws of victory — because Herman Cain was not an accident.

Discussion: Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Moderate Voice, Business Insider, US Politics, Truthdig, Ed Driscoll, Washington Post, Prairie Weather and The Mahablog

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Newt up in Iowa — Newt Gingrich has taken the lead in PPP's newest poll of Iowa Republican caucus voters with 27% to 18% for Ron Paul, 16% for Mitt Romney, 13% for Michele Bachmann, 9% for Rick Perry, 6% for Rick Santorum, 4% for Jon Huntsman, and 1% for Gary Johnson.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, No More Mister Nice Blog and Right Wing News

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The Morning Plum — * Top Romney operative admits ad attacking Obama …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Impolitic, Daily Kos and Campaign Stops

The Politico:

Parties roll out dueling payroll tax proposals — House Republicans and Senate Democrats are on a collision course over extending a payroll tax break as the two sides intensify their legislative gamesmanship ahead of a crucial year-end deadline. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans …

Discussion: Washington Wire, ThinkProgress, The New Republic, Opinion L.A. and The Spectacle Blog

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Romney Comes Out In Favor Of Payroll Tax Holiday Extension, After Dismissing It As A ‘Band-Aid’

Discussion: 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, msnbc.com and Booman Tribune

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate Democrats shrink payroll tax cut to lure GOP support

Discussion: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com, msnbc.com, CNN, Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh and Hullabaloo

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:

Fox News Business: The Muppets Are ‘Brainwashing’ Young People To Hate The Oil Industry — Life's a happy song, but not when Fox Business is singing along. The network is upset that the new Muppets movie, The Muppets, features an oil tycoon as a villain, with various contributors complaining …

Discussion: The Reaction and Harry's Place

Jordan Zakarin / The Huffington Post:
The Muppets Are Communist, Fox Business Network Says

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post and Indecision Forever

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Romney staff spent nearly $100,000 to hide records — (Reuters) - Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Hot Air

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

George Orwell on the Evil Iranian Menace — “Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them” — The U.S. has long had Iran virtually encircled as a result of the American occupation of Afghanistan on Iran's Eastern border …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Danger Room, The Long War Journal, Unqualified Offerings and Reuters

John T. Bennett / The Hill:
Rep. Kucinich: Downed drone plane ‘a step’ toward war with Iran

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

ABCNEWS:
U.S. Continues Radio Silence on Drone Held by Iran

Discussion: Washington Post and The Raw Story

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Reichle v. Howards — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether Secret Service agents protecting Vice President Dick Cheney may be sued for violating the free speech rights of a member of the public who made critical remarks about the Bush administration's war policies.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Post and SCOTUSblog

Michael B. Mukasey / Wall Street Journal:
The ObamaCare Recusal Nonsense

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Law Blog, The Volokh Conspiracy and Betsy's Page

The Playlist / Indiewire Blogs, Film News and Reviews:

Exclusive: ‘Dragon Tattoo’ Producer Scott Rudin Replies To David Denby's Upcoming New Yorker Review Embargo Break — “They reviewed what?” — If you follow movie insider baseball news you may have heard the embargo on Sony's “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is about to break tomorrow …

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Poynter and Gothamist, more at Mediagazer »

David Denby / New Yorker:
DOUBLE DARE … - BOOKS - MOVIES - ART - MUSIC …

Discussion: Guardian, AllThingsD, Washington Post and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

CBS News:

NASA finding feeds talk of a new Earth — Artist's conception illustrates Kepler-22b (NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech) — NASA has found a new planet outside Earth's solar system that is eerily similar to Earth in important aspects. — Scientists say the temperature on the surface of the planet is about a comfy 72 degrees (22 Celsius).

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Balloon Juice and Shakesville

Joe Weisenthal / Business Insider:

CHART OF THE DAY: Something Has Really Shifted In Europe This Time — It's tempting and easy to just say that whatever European leaders are cooking up right now is bound to fail, like every other past attempt at ending the crisis. — But here's a noteworthy market fact: Italian yields are collapsing today.

Discussion: Felix Salmon

oecd.org:

Society: Governments must tackle record gap between rich and poor, says OECD — The gap between rich and poor in OECD countries has reached its highest level for over over 30 years, and governments must act quickly to tackle inequality, according to a new OECD report.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Guardian, Washington Post, The Politico, Real Time Economics and ThinkProgress

Con Coughlin / Telegraph:

Iran's Revolutionary Guards prepare for war — Iran's Revolutionary Guards have been put on a war footing amid increasing signs that the West is taking direct action to cripple Iran's nuclear programme. — An order from Gen Mohammed Ali Jaafari, the commander of the guards …

Discussion: Hot Air, Atlas Shrugs, Weasel Zippers and Sky Dancing

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

OWS Are Just Sleeping in Tents, College Football Fans Are Rioting — Check out the scene in Stillwater at the end of Oklahoma State's college football victory against rival Oklahoma Saturday night. Some reports called it as terrifying as a natural disaster. Thousands of crazed fans rushed onto the field.

Discussion: Hot Air

Washington Post:

Occupy D.C. protesters arrested in standoff over makeshift shelter at McPherson Sq. — View Photo Gallery — Two groups of demonstrators have entrenched themselves in Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square downtown. Another group of Occupy protesters from New York walked to the District to join them.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Wonkette, americanthinker.com and Verum Serum