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1.) A Petraeus Kraut-spiracy Theory — To date, there hasn’t been a particularly good theory on how President Obama would have gained electorally by keeping the news of now-former CIA Director David Petraeus sexual indiscretions secret until after the election, if he indeed knew about them, which is far from certain. But the ever perceptive Charles Krauthammer proffered a theory Tuesday that, if true, would make Obama’s tie to the scandal quite sinister. TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:
“On Tuesday night’s ‘Special Report’ on the Fox News Channel, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer suggested that federal government officials may have leveraged former CIA Director David Petraeus’ extramarital affair to influence what he told Congress about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya. ‘I think the really shocking news today was that Gen. Petraeus thought and hoped he could keep his job [after the affair was discovered by federal investigators],’ Krauthammer said. … ‘[H]ere’s a man who knows the administration holds his fate in his hands and he gives testimony completely at variance with what the secretary of defense had said the day before, at variance with what he heard from the station chief in Tripoli, and with everything that we had heard. Was he influenced by the fact he knew his fate was held by people in the administration at that time?'”
Now, if only we have some evidence of this. Until then, it’s merely speculation.
2.) Giving up the crown? — She became the first female House speaker. Since losing the House majority in 2010, she has toiled away in the minority. Today, we’ll find out if Leader Pelosi will seek to be leader no more. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“Nancy Pelosi is staying mum about whether she wants to keep leading the Democrats in the House of Representatives, though she suggested Tuesday that she’ll announce one way or the other on Wednesday if she plans to step down from her leadership position. ‘While I love you all very dearly, I thought maybe I would talk to my own caucus before I shared that information with you,’ Pelosi told reporters during a Tuesday press conference at the Capitol.”
If Pelosi decides to relinquish her role as leader without a fight, it will be a crushing blow to America, in the same way America suffered a crushing blow when Jimmy Carter left the White House. But without her leadership responsibilities, she may have time for some reading. Perhaps she’ll begin with the health care bill she helped push through Congress.
3.) Allen West to go North? — It looks like Allen West will probably lose his seat in Congress, unless he is miraculously successful in his recount effort. But the soon-to-be former Florida congressman is in demand. TheDC’s Alexis Levinson reports:
“If at first you don’t succeed at getting re-elected, try again in a different district? That’s what the Georgia Republican Party has invited Florida Congressman Allen West to do, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after he appears to have lost his bid for re-election in his Florida congressional district. ‘I would be glad to have him come back to Georgia and at some point run here,” Georgia GOP Chair Sue Everhart told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ‘I would certainly try to help him because he has done his job. The way he ran his race didn’t in any way interfere with the job he did. He ran as a Republican, a conservative Republican.’ West is a native of Atlanta.”
If West were to take a run in a new district in two years, he would be in good company. The great 18th century conservative Irish philosopher and politician Edmund Burke switched districts after being voted out of Parliament for supporting policies his original district didn’t like. Not that TheDC Morning is necessarily comparing West to Burke! There are differences, for sure. For instance, while West has never written anything quite has lasting as “Reflections on the Revolution in France,” TheDC Morning can’t recall Burke ever firing a gun next to a detainee in a war zone in order to coax information out of him that could potentially save the lives of soldiers under his command.
4.) Project (Not W)orca — You probably can’t blame it for Mitt Romney’s loss last week, but the campaign’s digital voter turnout program Project Orca was a train wreck, according to many accounts that have trickled out after the election. And judging by the tales of its failure, it seems it was a truly epic disaster. So TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein has sought to put the program’s failure in context by coming up with 10 things that were more successful than Project Orca. For instance, Pauly Shore’s career post-“Son in Law.” Also, Saddam Hussein’s 1991 military strategy in the Gulf War. And, of course, the LZ 129 Hindenburg’s May 1937 journey. Check out the rest of the list.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Andy Levy: Totally stuck on the Call of Duty level where you have to defeat the Taliban while sending 20,000 emails
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Kim Jon Il’s Songun Feats Lauded Nigerian Paper”
VIDEO: And now, Joe Biden on a 1993 episode of “Carmen Sandieg0”
REMEMBER THE LIZARD: If you haven’t yet purchased and read “The Lizard King: The Shocking Inside Account of Obama’s True Intergalactic Ambitions By An Anonymous White House Staffer,” edited and introduced by Daily Caller writers Jamie Weinstein and Will Rahn, BUY … IT … NOW.