The Washington Times writes that, “Conservative officials who served in the Reagan administration are upset by the left-wing slant of the new movie” — Charlie Wilson’s War. They “said the movie promotes the left-wing myth that the CIA-led operation funded Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda and ultimately produced” the 9/11 attacks. “The officials blamed the anti-Reagan slant of the film on the movie’s screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin.”

The latest cover of the American Conservative depicts Rudy Giuliani in a fascist uniform. Ali Eteraz notes “it’s interesting that paleoconservatives feel this strongly against Rudy.”

Glenn Greenwald has a piece in the magazine arguing that, as NYC mayor, Giuliani “developed a reputation as a power-hungry, dissent-intolerant authoritarian, obsessed with secrecy and expanding his own power.”

Prominent conservative commentator Linda Chavez writes that Jose Rodriguez, the CIA official who reportedly undertook the destruction of the torture tapes, “deserves a medal.” Chavez — President Bush’s once-failed Secretary of Labor candidate — writes:

In the next few months, [Rodriguez's] name will likely be dragged through the mud, and he will be vilified as a rogue official engaged in a massive cover-up. I think he deserves a medal. [...]

Rodriguez’s lawyer says that his client sought and received legal clearance to destroy the tapes. Even though he is likely to become a scapegoat, what he did was right. He protected not just his men but all of us. I, for one, thank him.

Given Bush’s past record of distributing medals to individuals who carried out the White House’s disastrous policies (see George Tenet and Paul Bremer), Rodriguez would indeed qualify. The New York Times reported recently that there was “vigorous sentiment” among some top White House officials to destroy the tapes.

In November, Fox pundit John Gibson said the White House deserved a medal for outing Valerie Plame. Conservatives have made a mockery of the “presidential medal of freedom,” turning it into a symbol for absolving the Bush administration’s illegal behavior.

Newly-elected Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a surprise visit to Baghdad today and assured Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki “of a long-term partnership but stressed his combat troops deployed here would head home by June next year”:

“Earlier today I visited Australian battle group in Talil (southern Iraq) and spoke directly to what is a fine body of men and women,” Mr Rudd told a Baghdad news conference with his counterpart, Nouri al-Maliki.

“That battle group will come to a conclusion as of June next year. And that will be the last battle group we deploy.”

UPDATE: A look at the coalition of the defeated.

After a three-week bidding period, Karl Rove has signed a deal with conservative Mary Matalin’s publishing imprint, Threshold Editions, to publish his memoirs. The bidding reached at least $1.5 million, but Threshhold would not disclose Rove’s final payment. When bidding began on Dec. 6, industry experts predicted Rove would get offered $3 million, though a publisher at Alfred K. Knopf said Rove “doesn’t have the personality” to land a major deal for his memoirs.

UPDATE: Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) recently signed an $8 million deal for his memoirs.