Chuck Todd:

Welcome to what I believe is the single biggest problem for Clinton. It’s Bush, America’s second “legacy” president. It’s not that any Democratic voter will believe she will be like the younger Bush as president — it’s that Democrats may want to break the cycle of Bush, Clinton, Bush and Clinton. It’s possible voters got the “change” bug out of their system in ‘06, but if not, the fatigue of the same people in charge for a 20-year period (or basically, a generation) is going to be a problem.

Me, almost two years ago:

Hillary Clinton is a great politician, and I have no doubt that she would make a great President. My preference, though, is for her to remain a Senator, and only because I do not believe that consolidating the power of the Presidency to two families is healthy for our democracy.

And me again, just over a year ago:

Absent in a lot of discussions (including Drum’s post) of whether Clinton will run or can win is the very important question of whether having another Clinton follow twenty years of Bushes and Clintons is a healthy development for our democracy. I believe that this question is just as relevant as whether Clinton can actually win.

The number of people Jack Bauer killed on 24 last season.

An elderly woman and nine other bargain hunters were injured Friday in a rush for gift certificates dropped from the ceiling of a local mall.

Elsewhere, the bodies of 21 Iraqi villagers were discovered north-east of Baghdad in Diyala province.

Some 2,000 shoppers rushed for 500 falling prize-filled balloons at the Del Amo Fashion Center, leaving nine with minor wounds and sending an elderly woman to the hospital.

Local firefighters had been investigating possible overcrowding when the balloons were dropped.

“We were given no forewarning,” Fire Capt. Steve Deuel said.

Friday’s attacks illustrated Iraqi security forces’ inability to rein in violence, at a time when U.S. leaders want them to take greater responsibility for the country’s security, a vital benchmark for any strategy to withdraw U.S. troops.

In the mixed Hurriyah neighborhood, Shiite militiamen torched at least five Sunni mosques on Islam’s holiest prayer day, police and residents reported. Other mosques were attacked by gunmen spraying bullets from the rooftops of nearby houses, witnesses said.

The mall’s marketing director, Sam Carpenter, said the mall management was “completely overwhelmed” by the turnout for the promotion.

The mob began pushing and shoving after the balloons were dropped. One teenage boy hopped two picket fences and kicked a package in the mall’s holiday display as he tried to escape the melee.

“With the chance of getting a nice prize, people start forgetting about safety, and that does concern us,” Police Officer Dave Crespin said.

US forces said they had discovered caches of rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, pipe bombs and anti-aircraft weapons in the area. These were later destroyed in an air strike.

In another incident, US forces said they had killed 12 insurgents in a convoy of cars that ignored warning shots.

“We could clearly see that there was an increase in traffic today,” said Debbie Young, marketing manager for Westfield Shoppingtown Wheaton. “This is one of the best Black Fridays we have ever seen.”

Alexander Litvinenko:

The 43-year-old Litvinenko, who fiercely criticized Putin’s government from his refuge in London since 2000, told police he believed he was poisoned Nov. 1 while investigating the October slaying of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another critic of Putin.

Litvinenko’s statement, read by his friend Alex Goldfarb to reporters outside the hospital, put the blame for his death squarely on Putin.

He accused Putin of having “no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value.”

“You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed,” the statement said.

Warren Sapp:

Sapp insisted Wednesday his food was tampered with during his nine-year tenure in Tampa Bay from 1995-03.

“You get your food poisoned,” Sapp said at Raiders headquarters. “They don’t want you out there on Sunday. You don’t think about it. It just got crazy.”

He pointed specifically to three incidents: Before the NFC championship game in Philadelphia at the end of the 2002 season, which the Bucs won on the way to the Super Bowl title; before a divisional playoff game at Green Bay in January 1998; and at New Orleans, where the Bucs played a road game during the 1998 season.

“I know it’s real, especially in Philly, come on,” said Sapp, long an unpopular figure in the NFL for his play and his mouth.

Grosse Point Blank:

Mr. Newberry: Design Division wants me dead over a leaky sunroof and you want to kill me because of *that*?
Martin Q. Blank: It’s *not* me! Why does everyone always think it’s personal?

The Highlight Of My Week: Seeing Jack Bauer walking across the street while carrying a Duane Reade bag. Fictional TV characters…they’re just like us!