12/12 Roundup: Very Bad Christmas, Inauguration 2.0, John McCain Doesn't Want to Talk About the Bleeping Campaign

Leader: Senate to Big Three-- Drop Dead

- With just 52 votes, the bailout bill failed to gain cloture in the Senate, and no action will be taken before January.  GM and Chrysler have both suggested they might not make it that long, and GM, in particular, could go up in flames before the new year. Both auto manufacturers are hoping that President Bush will authorize the Treasury to use some of the $700 billion in the Wall Street fund to bail them out. 

- At times through the marathon negotiation session, it appeared the two sides would be able to reconcile and reach an agreement. The ultimate sticking point was over Republican demands for steep cuts in pay and benefits for the United Auto Workers union members. Democrats agreed in principle, but disagreed with the timetable insisted upon by the GOP. 

- European and Asian markets tumbled on the news,  and US markets have begun the day in the red. As Harry Reid said last night: "This is going to be a very, very bad Christmas for a lot of people as a result of what takes place here tonight."

Politics

- A bipartisan Senate panel published a report that blames Donald Rumsfeld and other senior Bush administration officials for detainee abuse at Guantanamo. Their decisions led to excessively harsh treatment in Iraq and elsewhere.

- Election 2.0 is past, Presidency 2.0 is in the future.  Coming soon: Inauguration 2.0, in which regular folks are inspired by their president to use new tech to prepare for inauguration.

- With an approval rating of seven percent, Crooked Rod Blagojevich does not stand to last very long.  We still don't know how the empty senate seat will be filled, but if it's a special election, two things are fairly clear: Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. will not be a candidate, and Rep. Jan Schakowski will.

- Now that all the racial boxes have been checked, people are looking for other constituencies absent from Obama's cabinet. Found one! Southerners.

International

- A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded restaurant in Kirkuk, killing 48 (The WaPo says it was 57). The attack injured nearly 100, and is the deadliest in Iraq in six months.

- Joe Klein returns from Afghanistan with a question: What are we doing there?

One More Thing

- Last, John McCain doesn't want to talk about the bleeping campaign: