Wonkette

• Senate votes to extend the Patriot Act for six months. [WP, NYT]
• Senate approves $40b in budget cuts with Cheney casting tie-breaking vote; two Republicans and 42 Democrats block plan for drilling in ANWR with filibuster. Sen. John Kerry: “I’m confident we will see another debate on ANWR.” [WP, WP, WP, WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
• FISA judges request briefing on eavesdropping program. [WP]
• Jack Abramoff inches closer to a plea deal. [NYT, LAT]
• Bush reaches out to black critics, suggesting “that the White House has not abandoned its political goal of trying to draw black voters from Democratic ranks”; Donna Brazile speaks highly of the president’s efforts. [NYT]
• Eavesdropping program is unlikely to be challenged in court because of its secrecy. [USAT]

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• FISA judge resigns to protest warrant-less eavesdropping. [WP]
• Eavesdropping program accidentally captured purely domestic calls, officials admit. [NYT]
• Secretly briefing 14 lawmakers about the eavesdropping program may not have been enough legally, officials contend. [NYT, LAT]
• Congressional inquiries “blamed interagency communication breakdowns

• Bush defends eavesdropping program but offers no details: “This is a different era, a different war.” [WP, WP, NYT, USAT, USAT]
• House approves $39.7b in cuts and drilling of ANWR; showdown expected in the Senate. Sen. Kerry: “Let’s be very clear about what’s happening here. Republicans — Senator Stevens in particular — are putting oil companies ahead of our troops.” [WP, WP, WP, NYT, USAT, LAT]
• Approval of Bush rebounds to 47% in WP-ABC poll: “His approval rating on Iraq jumped 10 percentage points since early November, to 46 percent, while his rating on the economy rose 11 points, to 47 percent. A clear majority, 56 percent, said they approve of the way Bush is handling the fight against terrorism.” [WP]
• Bush ” apparently decided that a passionate offense was his best defense”; his mood “was casual and crisp.” [WP]
• ACLU claims the FBI has wrongly monitored antiwar, environmental, and civil rights groups; FBI used secret informants to track PETA for years. [NYT, WP]
• Sen. Rockefeller penned hand-written note to Cheney about civil liberties concerns over eavesdropping. [WP]
• Force reductions expected in Iraq, Afghanistan. [WP, NYT]

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• Bush strikes a subdued tone in Oval Office address about Iraq: “This work has been especially difficult in Iraq — more difficult than we expected. Reconstruction efforts and the training of Iraqi security forces started more slowly than we hoped. We continue to see violence and suffering, caused by an enemy that is determined and brutal, unconstrained by conscience or the rules of war.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Bush was “uncharacteristically contrite”; speech “culminated a weekend in which his administration tried to retake lost ground” on Iraq and national security. [WP, NYT, NYT, USAT]
• Cheney makes surprise visit to Iraq; violence returns after election lull. Cheney: “Well, Iraq’s looking good. . . I think when we look back from 10 years hence, we’ll see that the year ‘05 was in fact a watershed year here in Iraq.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Republican leadership approves $41.6b in spending cuts and attempt to open ANWR for drilling. House approves; Senate to take up debates today. [WP, NYT, USAT, LAT]

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• White House backs Sen. McCain’s ban on the torture of detainees; noted as a “particularly significant setback” for Cheney. [WP, WP, NYT, USAT, LAT]
• In 2002, Bush authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop domestically without needing a court warrant; under pressure from the White House, the New York Times held the story for a year to “conduct additional reporting.” Former senior official: “This is really a sea change. It’s almost a mainstay of this country that the N.S.A. only does foreign searches.” [NYT]
• Republicans try to outmaneuver Democrats on final legislation. Filibuster may be in order for the Patriot Act debate; Republican lawmakers “are increasingly showing independent streaks.” [WP, NYT, LAT, LAT]
• Bush on Iraq vote: “There’s a lot of joy, as far as I’m concerned, in seeing the Iraqi people accomplish this major milestone in the march to democracy.” [NYT]
• Bush doubles proposal for rebuilding New Orleans levees to $3b; new structure would not shield from Category 5 hurricanes. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Congressional report finds that the administration withheld some prewar intelligence from lawmakers; White House disputes claim. [WP]

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• House votes 308 to 122 on symbolic measure to ban torture and limit interrogation measures. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Bush’s recent speeches on Iraq show “a determined effort to reshape the angry debate at home over the war” by “presenting a more sober picture of the situation while highlighting the progress”; the wording is “carefully calibrated” to provide “maximum flexibility in determining ultimately just what will constitute victory.” Senior official: “It’s not as if we have a secret ersatz timetable and we just won’t say what it is.”
[WP, NYT, NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• House approves renewal of the Patriot Act by vote of 251 to 174; Democrats may filibuster in the Senate. [WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Republicans losing ground among key senior citizen voting bloc. NBC/WSJ poll: “By a 65%-19% margin, Americans age 65 and above disapprove of the performance of Congress” and “say by 47%-37% that they want Democrats rather than Republicans to win control of Capitol Hill.” [WSJ]
• Senate expected to require the administration to reveal specifics about secret overseas prisons. [NYT]
• Robert Novak: “I’m confident the president knows who the source is. I’d be amazed if he doesn’t.” [WP]

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• Supreme Court agrees to review Texas redistricting; Justices may want to impose new guidelines. [WP, LAT, NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• Bush says 30,000 Iraqis have died in the war. Bush: “Knowing what I know today, I’d make the decision again. . . The long run in this war is going to require a change in governments in parts of the world.” [WP, NYT, USAT, WT]
• Bush is “confident” that a deal can be reached with Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) regarding the treatment of detainees. [NYT]
• Bush says race was not a determining factor in the government’s response to Katrina. [NYT]
• Federal budget deficit hit a record-high for November, up 43% from last year. [WSJ]

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• Congress is expected to vote next week on the renewal of the Patriot Act; Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) threatens to use the filibuster. [WP, NYT, USAT, WT]
• House votes mostly along party lines to pass more tax cuts. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Administration linked Iraq and al Qaeda with information received from prisoner who “fabricated [the tie] to escape harsh treatment”; Democrats seek access to White House documents about prewar intelligence. [NYT, NYT]
• Time reporter Viveca Novak meets with Patrick Fitzgerald regarding her conversations with Karl Rove. [NYT]
• Second business partner of Jack Abramoff is near a plea agreement with prosecutors. [WP]
• American and Saudi officials wrote about Osama bin Laden’s interest in using civilian aircraft back in 1998. [NYT]

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• Second Time magazine reporter is called to testify in leak investigation. [NYT, WSJ]
• Time table for withdrawal from Iraq seems dependent on next month’s Iraqi election and next year’s midterm election. Former administration aide: “We’ve moved from ‘if’ to ‘how fast.’” [NYT]
• Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO) are injured when their vehicle overturns in Iraq. [NYT]
• Advocacy groups target swing senators in fight over Alito’s confirmation. [WP]
• Alito has convinced most senators to support him — “an unusual political feat.” [USAT]
• The Washington Post’s special relationship with Bob Woodward “has sparked some resentment among the staff,” writes Howard Kurtz; criticism of star journalist is spreading. [WP]
• Bush visits Arizona today for speech on illegal immigration that is designed to reassure his conservative base. [WT, WSJ]

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• Democrats threaten to filibuster against the extension of the Patriot Act. Feingold (D-Wis.): “This is worth the fight.” [NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• The CIA has secret Counterterrorist Intelligence Centers in more than two dozen countries; new emphasis on cooperation with intel agencies of other countries. [WP]
• 22 Republicans join Democrats to defeat GOP spending plan; “stunned” Republican leaders, left scrambling, pass “softened” bill hours later along party lines, 217 to 215. [WP, NYT, WSJ, LAT]
• Administration’s response to its critics stems from 2004 campaign tactics; Bush said to be “happy to be fighting back.” [WP, LAT]
• Who was Bob Woodward’s source? Executive editor of the Washington Post: “[I]f the information is found independent of our source relationship, sure we’ll print it.” [WSJ, NYT, NYT]
• Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.), a Vietnam veteran, tearfully calls for the immediate withdrawal of forces from Iraq; 13 service members from his district have died in Iraq. Murtha: “Our military has done everything that has been asked of them. It is time to bring them home.” [WP, NYT, WSJ, LAT, USAT]
• Bush, in South Korea, says a North Korea with nuclear weapons “will not be tolerated”; trip is overshadowed by criticism of Iraq war. [NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• Bush’s meeting with Putin “was choreographed to minimize the potential for another display of the tensions that now color their relationship.” [USAT]
• Advocacy ads about Alito hit the airwaves. [WP, NYT]
• Americans are feeling more isolationist, less unilateralist, according to Pew study. [NYT]
• Senate Indian Affairs Committee digs into friend of Jack Abramoff. [WP, LAT]

• Administration likely to get its way on the renewal of the Patriot Act. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Libby’s attorneys plan “to use Woodward’s testimony to try to show that Libby was not obsessed with unmasking Plame and to raise questions about the prosecutor’s full understanding of events.” [WP, WP, USAT]
• Revelation of Woodward’s knowledge of Plame extends life-span of the leak scandal. [NYT, USAT]
• Woodward’s “handling of the matter has now raised questions about his paper’s credibility and has roiled The Post’s newsroom.” [NYT]
• Alito’s 1985 memo fuels partisan fire. Schumer: “Anyone who thinks that this nomination is a foregone conclusion is sadly mistaken.” [NYT, WT]
• Cheney attacks critics of the Iraq war at a conservative gathering: “The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone, but we’re not going to sit back and let them rewrite history.” [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Administration strategy attacks Democrats critics and courts congressional Republicans. Nicolle Wallace: “Our strategy has to include hitting back. . . and calling them out for what are actually lies.” [USAT]

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• Approval of Bush slips to 37%, a new low in WSJ/NBC polling; 79% believe the leak investigation is “a serious matter” and a majority say Bush “deliberately misled people” to war. [WSJ]
• House Republicans scrap ANWR drilling to ensure passage of budget. Schumer: “If you are a moderate Republican, you are starting to say, ‘I am not going to follow George Bush over the cliff.’” [WP, NYT]
• Republicans fear implications of Tuesday’s elections; Democrats have their own lessons to learn. Pollster: “The waning of enthusiasm for Bush and his presidency is national.” [LAT, WP, WT]
• Senators press top oil executives about their profits; “if the hearing had an air of the theater, the public resentment articulated by the senators was real.” Milbank: “[I]nstead of calling oil executives on the carpet yesterday, senators gave them the red-carpet treatment.” [WP, NYT, WSJ, USAT, WT]
• Bush splits with Republicans over ban of abusive treatment of detainees. [USAT]
• Judith Miller leaves The New York Times. [WP, WP, NYT]
• Chalabi denies misleading the U.S. and offers to testify before Congress. [USAT, WP]
• Senate Judiciary Committee considers televising Supreme Court proceedings. [LAT]

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• Cheney has “waged an intense” private campaign to reject changes to the guidelines concerning detainee treatment; the position is facing increased opposition from other officials and lawmakers. [WP]
• Senators express concern about misuse of the Patriot Act. Tom Coburn: “We should not ever give up freedom on the basis of fear, and any freedom that we give up should be limited in time and limited in scope.” [NYT, WP]
• Bush, in Brazil: “Our goal is to promote opportunity for people throughout the Americas, whether you live in Minnesota or Brazil, and the best way to do this is by expanding free and fair trade.” On the protests: “I expect there to be dissent. That’s what freedom is all about.” [WP, USAT, ]
• Latin America Summit proved to be no reprieve for Bush; on the first day, he did not return to his hotel until after midnight. [WP]
• New York Times on Alito: “An examination of several chapters in his life suggests he is conservative by temperament, upbringing and experience - conditions that appear to have shaped his approach to life and his work more than any narrow ideological niche.” Los Angeles Times: Alito’s “15 years’ worth of legal opinions do not promise fealty to any ideology.” [NYT, LAT]

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• White House readies for possible indictments as Fitzgerald may report to the grand jury today; the FBI conducted interviews yesterday with Valerie Plame’s neighbors, who had no knowledge of her CIA job. Administration official: “Everybody just wants this week over.” [WP, FT, NYT, WSJ]
• Republican senators seem skeptical of Miers‘ chances; Lott says Republicans may vote against her. The White House may have Miers speak publicly to gain supporters ahead of confirmation hearings. [NYT, WP, USAT]
• U.S. death toll in Iraq tops 2,000. Bush: “Each loss of life is heartbreaking. . . This war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve.” [WP, WP, NYT, USAT]
• Bush’s approval rating rises slightly to 42% in Gallup Poll; 54% prefer congressional candidates who oppose him; 57% say war in Iraq is going badly. [USAT]
• Fitzgerald “has delved deeply into conversations that government officials and reporters had every reason to believe would remain confidential.” [NYT]
• House version of Patriot Act reauthorization would transform the federal death penalty structure. [WP, NYT]
• Intelligence officials say Bush exaggerated claim that U.S. foiled 10 al-Qaeda plots; at least six of the 10 plots were “preliminary ideas,” not “terrorist operations.” [USAT]

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