"On Morning Joe today, Joe Lieberman called me "sweetheart" ... do you really think he meant it??" tweeted Arianna Huffington this morning. Lighthearted, affectionate banter, perhaps? Not quite.

The dismal setback yesterday in Senate efforts to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell — despite the support of the American public, the president, military leaders, the House — may not be the end of the story. Now what?

Joe Lieberman thinks that repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell is worth debating through Christmas. That's because we Jews hate Christmas! But seriously, Lieberman is making sense, and so is Scott Brown. Really. But Secretary Robert Gates is getting pessimistic.

Senators Joe Lieberman and Olympia Snowe can rejoice: the public option and the Medicare buy-in are off the table. What will happen next? Howard Dean's soundbyte is to "kill the bill," but his actual stance is much more nuanced.

In the grand tradition of cartoon villains Snidely Whiplash and Dick Dastardly, Joe Lieberman scored a blow to health reform by engaging in what Matt Yglesias describes as "the old double cross."

• Lindsay Lohan's Hollywood home was burglarized over the weekend. Dina Lohan says:

It's the return of Crappy Hour! Today, the Washington Independent's Spencer "Attackerman" Ackerman rejoins me with an analysis of the situations in Iran, North Korea, and Afghanistan... plus a primer on why I should sleep with Jewish men.

• Last night, Sarah Palin ended up stopping by a Republican fundraiser that she was scheduled to headline, dropped out of and tried to get back into when her 2012 rival, Newt Gingrich, took her slot. [Washington Post]

With the election over, the terrorist attacks in India in the rearview mirror (at the moment) and appointment speculation slowing, the news is, as Latoya Peterson of Racialicious says, "weird" today. So it's all about what Bill Clinton wants to do for Obama, John McCain's buddy trip, Saxby Chambliss's win, Jeb Bush's…

• The fighting that began Wednesday in Mumbai is continuing today. Nearly 200 people have been confirmed dead so far, with almost 300 others injured. Militants are still fighting and holding (and killing) hostages in the Taj Mahal hotel and in a Jewish community center. [NY Times, Huffington Post, NY Times]
• Barack Obama…

• Barack Obama and John McCain met this afternoon in which they talked about combating government waste and bitter partisanship and took some pretty, pretty pictures for us peons. [Washington Post]
• Vetting Bill Clinton's sketchy dealings in Central Asia and the donor list for his library might well cost Hillary Clinton…

• Officials are confirming that Hillary Clinton met with Barack Obama in Chicago to talk about a potential Cabinet slot. Two "senior Democratic officials" confirmed to the Huffington Post that Clinton was offered Secretary of State and asked for time to consider it, but she didn't admit to anything at a press…

• Barack Obama will officially resign his Senate seat on Sunday, one day before Congress reconvenes for its lame duck session. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has 60 days to appoint a successor to serve until a special election in 2010, but hasn't signaled who he's leaning towards. [Washington Post]
• In the meantime,…

• Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided that the entire Democratic caucus will vote next week whether Independent Senator Joe Lieberman will keep his seat as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee after having back John McCain and gone negative against Obama. [TPM Election Central]
• How negative did…

• Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, a group of supposely intelligent women decided that Barack Obama wasn't sexy enough for them. And thus the world was denied his image in a Harvard Law beefcake calendar. I guess we'll always have People. [Politico]
• Obama has told people he wants Lieberman to continue to…

• Though Barack obama told Americans nothing about forthcoming nominations, that doesn't mean there's nothing to speculate about! John Kerry, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson are lead speculative Secretary of State candidates, Robert Gates might stay at the Defense Department, Janet Napolitano could be headed to Justice…