President Obama receives first briefing on Sandy Hook shootings from Counterterrorism Advisor John Brennan, morning of December 14th, 2012.

We don’t focus on it anywhere near as much post-election but President Obama’s solid approval rating is a key backdrop to the on-going fiscal and budgetary standoff. Latest chart after the jump … Read More

Evan McMorris-Santoro talks to Max Cleland about Chuck Hagel and the possibility of Vietnam combat vets leading both State and Defense.

I’m watching a lot of neoconservative policy activists and a lot of people in the press telling me that it’s a very up in the air thing whether Chuck Hagel gets confirmed as Secretary of Defense. These folks should stop smoking crack. Because crack isn’t good for you. Read More

I feel like it’s time for John Kerry to lay into John McCain over Hagel smears. Is he up to it?

Sen. Minority Leader McConnell reiterated his position this morning: Government will shutdown unless President makes dramatic cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

In other words, big cuts to key social insurance programs are not only the price of avoiding what would likely be a catastrophic government shutdown (a real one, not like what we had back in the 90s). But Democrats must also shield Republicans from the political consequences of cutting these programs by cutting them on the Republicans behalf.

That’s a pretty big ask, no?

Is House Republicans’ electoral invulnerability actually a liability for the national party? From TPM Reader JB …

I have read some recent stuff on Dave Weigel’s website and others showing that the Dems would need a 7%+ win in the popular vote to achieve a majority in the house as a result of the impressive gerrymander in 2010. Couple that with the correct observation by many that the majority of Republican house members fear a primary far more than a general election contest and you have structural support for the rapid run into irrelevance.

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Barney Frank now says he supports Hagel.

But to focus on the important questions: what does this mean for Jennifer Rubin?

The first Republican Senators are lining up in opposition to Chuck Hagel’s nomination. Notably, they seem to be struggling to explain exactly why they are.

The following is from a Facebook post from a neoconservative-oriented acquaintance about the Hagel nomination. Nicely summarizes what this whole drama is about … Read More