Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The bear market continues to rear its ugly head: “Wall Street sold off sharply Monday as concerns about a weakening credit market wiped out investors’ enthusiasm about strong retails sales over the holiday weekend. The Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 240 points. Investors were unnerved by another series of announcements that pointed to continuing problems in the credit markets that stem from home loan debt going bad under the weight of a faltering housing market.”
* Dick Cheney, who has already had four heart attacks, will undergo a heart procedure this afternoon, following the discovery of an irregular heartbeat. “Cheney was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, when he visited his doctor Monday morning complaining of a lingering cough after a cold. It was then that the arrhythmia was diagnosed, the vice president’s office reported. Doctors described the procedure — intended to shock the heart back into normal rhythm — as routine, and said they expect the vice president to return to his residence Monday night.”
* Trent Lott’s announcement that he will resign from Congress has set off a scramble in the GOP Senate leadership. Lott, of course, is giving up the Senate Minority Whip post, and Senate GOP Conference Chairman Jon Kyl (Ariz.) quickly announced that he would give up his post to seek Lott’s. Kyl will likely face competition from Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
* With Kyl giving up the Senate GOP Conference Chairman gig, there’s also, naturally, a scramble for that job, too. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) was first out of the gate, announcing her plan to run for the chairmanship, and she will likely face competition from Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.).
* Remember FEMA’s fake press conference during the wildfire crisis? It wasn’t the agency’s first: “A Homeland Security public affairs official acted like a reporter asking questions during a briefing in San Antonio in January 2006. A Homeland Security Department investigation found that an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked a question during that news conference. The ICE official was standing with about 12 reporters but didn’t identify herself when she posed the question, Homeland says the employee was verbally reprimanded for asking the question after the news conference.”
* Moving away from a Petraeus-centric policy: “Top military leaders at the Pentagon want to avoid a repeat of the last public assessment of the Iraq war — with its relentless focus on the opinion of a single commander — when the Bush administration makes its next crucial decision about the size of the U.S. force. Concerned about the war’s effect on public trust in the military, the leading officials said they hoped the next major assessment early next year would not place as much emphasis on the views of Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, who in September spent dozens of hours in testimony before Congress and in televised interviews.”
* NYT: “Representative Julia Carson, Democrat of Indiana, has terminal lung cancer, a newspaper reported Sunday. Ms. Carson, 69, said in a statement in The Indianapolis Star that she had planned to return to Washington after recuperating from a leg infection but that a doctor then found the cancer. ‘It had gone into remission years before, but it was back with a terminal vengeance,’ Ms. Carson said.” Carson added today that she will not seek re-election.
* His complaints yesterday notwithstanding, Fred Thompson has generally been treated pretty well by Fox News.
* This might be interesting: “Larry Flynt, editor and publisher of Hustler magazine, just told FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto that he’s ‘hoping to expose a bombshell’ that will stand ‘Washington and the country on its head.’ Within the next week or two, he says his magazine will expose a sex scandal of huge proportions involving a prominent United States Senator. Flynt refused to comment on the Senator’s political affiliation, but alluded that he or she is a Republican.”
* Tucker Carlson’s MSNBC show is in trouble, and he apparently knows it. He recently signed off his program this way: “That does it for us. Thank you for watching, as always. We mean that sincerely to all eight of you.” MSNBC was reportedly not at all amused, and considering that his career is in jeopardy anyway, it probably wasn’t a smart move. (That said, it was both amusing and accurate.)
* Following up on last week’s brouhaha over Scott McClellan’s new book, Dana Perino told reporters today that she has discussed the book with the president, and added that Bush “has not and would not knowingly pass false information.” No, of course not. It’s not like the president is known for having trouble telling the truth, right?
* Did everyone catch Keith Olbermann on “The Simpsons” last night?
* And seven years too late, Al Gore was in the Oval Office today — when Bush received America’s Nobel Prize winners: “In his private Oval Office meeting with President Bush, the former vice president insisted that they had spoken about global warming ‘the whole time.’ It wasn’t clear if the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who shared the honor for his work on climate change, was serious.” Gore went on to call the meeting with Bush “very cordial” and “substantive.” He would not elaborate.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.