Sunday Roundup

This week, President Obama's initial proposal in the fiscal cliff showdown sparked merriment and outrage from Republican leaders, who pretended they hadn't heard the same details six weeks ago. Susan Rice continued to have nomination meetings even without a nomination, but failed to win over GOP senators who are still "troubled" by Benghazi but not by their own failure of judgment on Iraq. Palestine scored a victory at the U.N., where it was given non-participating observer status -- the same status Mitt Romney has in U.S. politics. Romney was invited to the White House for lunch, where he and the president dined on white turkey chili [insert your own "white turkey" punchline here]. Meanwhile, revised figures show the U.S. economy had its best third-quarter performance in five years. How this fits into Jack Welch's conspiracy theories about "imagination defying" government stats, we'll just have to wait and see.