Wonkette

* Sting would be rolling over in his grave, if he were, you know, dead, or knew who the hell Ben Bernanke is. [Columbia Business School Follies] MORE »

A correction from the Washington Post: MORE »

You may have the day off on Monday, but your tireless editors will be doing some blogging that day (and perhaps even over the weekend too). So check back soon! MORE »

Tomorrow Alan Greenspan is scheduled to step down as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, a post he has held for 18 years. On Tuesday, in addition to voting on the far more contentious Alito nomination, the Senate will also vote to confirm Greenspan’s successor at the Fed, Ben S. Bernanke. MORE »

• Senators, by vote of 79 to 19, pass a resolution marking next year as “a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty. . . thereby creating the conditions for the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq.” Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.): “Staying the course will not do.” Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.): “It’s a continuation of the oversight we’ve been conducting for years in the United States Senate.” WP, NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• Senators from both parties “are demanding that the administration show that it has a strategy to turn the conflict over to the Iraqis and eventually bring U.S. troops home.” [WP]
• Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) defends critics of the war: “[T]he Bush administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonized for disagreeing with them. . . to not question your government is unpatriotic.” [WP]
• Oil executives did meet with Cheney’s energy task force in 2001. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.): “The White House went to great lengths to keep these meetings secret, and now oil executives may be lying to Congress about their role in the Cheney task force.” [WP]
• Alito tries to downplay conservative remarks from 1985. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Rice reaches deal on access to the Gaza Strip. [WP, NYT, NYT, USAT]
• Lewis Libby plans to “seek testimony from journalists beyond those cited in the indictment and will probably challenge government agreements limiting their grand jury testimony.” [NYT]

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Who is Ben Bernanke, Bush’s nominee for Fed chair? We’ll tell you one thing: He’s not Harriet Miers. MORE »

• Cheney was first to tell Libby about Plame, but not necessarily by name; notes taken by Libby contradict his own testimony. Cheney’s information came from Tenet; it’s unclear whether Cheney or Libby knew of Plame’s undercover status. [NYT]
• White House advisors use lessons learned by Reagan and Clinton to survive the “darkest days of the Bush presidency”; Bush will reiterate the necessity of staying on the offensive in Iraq and will urge fiscal discipline at home. [WP]
• Ben Bernanke, senior White House advisor and renowned economist, nominated to succeed Greenspan; noted as “the economic equivalent” of John Roberts. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Bernanke has “unassailable credentials and enough distance from the White House to blunt charges of cronyism or ideological motivations.” [WP, LAT]
• Bush will not release documents related to Miers‘ White House work. Bush: “It’s a red line I’m not willing to cross.” [NYT, LAT, WT]
• Coalition of conservative groups calls for Miers to withdraw in a “dramatic escalation in the battle over her nomination.” [WP, WSJ, WT]
• Iraq approves draft constitution; American death toll reaches 1,999. [WP, WP]
• Frist “has also been deeply involved in legislation affecting his family’s business” since arriving on Capitol Hill. [NYT]
• Parties ready talking points for possible indictments. [WSJ, WT]
• CIA leak scandal is rooted in disagreements over Iraq between administration officials and the “permanent bureaucracy of Washington”; Brent Snowcroft and Lawrence Wilkerson provide details of administration’s decision-making process. [WP]

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