memeorandum: FNA Invites World Cartoonists to Int'l Wall Street Downfall Cartoon Festival (Fars News Agency)

1:35 PM ET, December 24, 2011

Top Items:

Gingrich, Perry disqualified from Va. primary ballot — Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, state GOP officials said Friday evening and early Saturday.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Michelle Malkin, Catholic Bandita, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, National Review, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, americanthinker.com, The Other McCain, The PJ Tatler, CNN, The Lonely Conservative, Booman Tribune and Patterico's Pontifications

Associated Press:

Gingrich fails to qualify for Va. primary ballot — WASHINGTON - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has failed to qualify for Virginia's March 6 Republican primary, a development that complicates his bid to win the GOP presidential nomination. — “After verification …

Discussion: Hot Air, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Other McCain, The Right Scoop and National Review

Sarah Maslin Nir / The Caucus:

Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry Fail to Qualify for Virginia Primary Ballot — 3:09 a.m. | Updated Newt Gingrich will not appear on the Virginia presidential primary ballot, state Republican Party officials announced Saturday, after he failed to submit the required number of valid signatures to qualify.

Discussion: The Right Sphere and Election Law Blog

Rockland County Times:
Two's Company, is Three a Crowd?

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Right Scoop

Kevinliptak / CNN:
Perry ballot petition rejected in Virginia

Discussion: The Politico

Steve Contorno / Campaign 2012:
Gingrich, Perry won't make ballot in Virginia

Discussion: Bob Owens and Hot Air

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:
Perry knocked off Va. primary ballot

Discussion: Washington Post, Weasel Zippers and RedState

Faiz Shakir / ThinkProgress:

Gingrich Defends South Carolina's Decision To Fly Confederate Flag At Capital — At an event in South Carolina yesterday, Newt Gingrich was asked by a town hall participant to offer his views regarding the state's decision to fly the Confederate flag at the statehouse in Columbia.

Discussion: The Politico and Booman Tribune

Jerry Markon / Washington Post:
Justice Dept. rejects South Carolina voter ID law, calling it discriminatory

Discussion: Election Law Blog, americanthinker.com, Questions and Observations, Pirate's Cove, Washington Monthly, Scared Monkeys, Althouse, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Instapundit, Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Joe Nocera / New York Times:

The Big Lie — So this is how the Big Lie works. — You begin with a hypothesis that has a certain surface plausibility. You find an ally whose background suggests that he's an “expert”; out of thin air, he devises “data.” You write articles in sympathetic publications …

Discussion: The Big Picture, Paul Krugman and American Prospect

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Obama's worst error — President Obama missed the boat on tax reform. He put politics above entitlement reform. He worsened already-tense relations with Israel. But the worst error, in large part because it was both avoidable and is not irreversible, was to pull all troops out of Iraq.

Discussion: americanthinker.com

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

Obama says he's not bound by Guantanamo, gun-control provisions — President Obama said Friday he will not be bound by at least 20 policy riders in the 2012 omnibus funding the government, including provisions pertaining to Guantanamo Bay and gun control. — After he signed the omnibus …

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Taylor Marsh and Weasel Zippers

Alexander Bolton / Ballot Box:

Democrats believe payroll tax victory bolsters chances of taking House — Democrats believe their chances of recapturing the House have improved significantly after what was widely seen as a GOP meltdown in the payroll tax debate. — Democrats believe the messy fight has helped narrow …

Discussion: The Right Sphere

Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:
Payroll tax fight leaves Hill Republicans divided and angry

Discussion: New York Times, Prairie Weather, Daily Kos and Firedoglake

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
Republican lawmakers frustrated with Boehner-Cantor soap opera

Discussion: Hot Air, CNN, The Hill, Campaign 2012 and The Politico

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Barbara Walters' Slobbering Interview With Obama: What Super Power Do You Want? — Barbara Walters, who famously asked Katherine Hepburn what type of tree she was, may have outdone herself in a slobbering interview with Michelle and Barack Obama. In previews of Friday's “20/20” segment …

Discussion: Althouse, Doug Ross, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller and The Atlantic Wire

Kevinliptak / CNN:

Christmas greetings replace partisanship in weekly addresses — (CNN) - After weeks of squabbling over extending the payroll tax cut, Republicans and President Barack Obama turned their focus on the holidays in their weekly addresses Saturday. — The addresses, which typically ding …

Discussion: The Politico

Fars News Agency:

FNA Invites World Cartoonists to Int'l Wall Street Downfall Cartoon Festival — TEHRAN (FNA)- Fars News Agency plans to hold an international cartoon festival on the Occupy Wall Street movement in a bid to help people in the United States take their message out to the world.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Simon van Zuylen-Wood / The New Republic:

Gingrich Gets An “A” From Niall Ferguson — I get that self-avowed “neo-imperialist” historian Niall Ferguson relishes his gig as academia's most celebrated colonial nostalgic/conservative reactionary. But this is too much: … This nugget of praise, apparently written in all seriousness …