memeorandum: Creative Destruction — The best case against universal health care. (Jonathan Cohn/The New Republic)

5:45 PM ET, November 13, 2007

Top Items:

Bush vetoes health and education bill — NEW ALBANY, Ind. - President Bush, escalating his budget battle with Congress, on Tuesday vetoed a spending measure for health and education programs prized by congressional Democrats. — He also signed a big increase in the Pentagon's non-war budget although …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, AMERICAblog, All Spin Zone, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, WTF Is It Now?!?, Macsmind and Daily Kos

Anne Flaherty / Associated Press:

Reid calls on Bush to withdraw troops — WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that Democrats won't approve more money for the Iraq war this year unless President Bush agrees to begin bringing troops home. — By the end of the week, the House and Senate planned to vote …

Discussion: Wake up America, Outside The Beltway and CANNONFIRE

Peter Baker / Washington Post:

Bush Veto Sets Stage for Budget Battle — President Bush vetoed a $606 billion spending bill Tuesday that would have funded education, health and labor programs for the current fiscal year, complaining that it was larded with pork and too expensive as he took aim at a top priority of the new Democratic Congress.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Washington Monthly, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and The BLT

New York Times:

Bush Vetoes Major Domestic Spending Measure — President Bush on Tuesday vetoed a major spending measure that would have funded education, health care and job training programs, saying it contained money for too many of the special projects known as earmarks.

Discussion: CREDO Action, Prairie Weather and Blue Crab Boulevard

CNN: Panel: Hidden costs almost double war cost

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:
Reid Playing Hardball?

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Washington Wire: Veto Marks Shift in Funding Fight

Ezra Klein:

His Ideas Are Good, But I Want More Bullet Points — So we're back to arguing about John Edwards' plan to strip members of Congress of their health care if they don't pass comprehensive reform. I'm always astonished at how bizarrely literally pundits act when they approach this idea.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Newshoggers, The Politico, MyDD, Political Machine and The New Republic

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

Creative Destruction — The best case against universal health care. — More than a decade ago, Michael Kinsley, the journalist and former editor of this magazine, developed Parkinson's disease—a degenerative condition that impairs motor and speech control, producing tremors, rigidity, and eventually severe disability.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, The Atlantic Online, Middle Earth Journal, The Mahablog, BitsBlog, Paul Krugman and Ezra Klein

The Fact Hub:

Sen. Edwards Proposes Unconstitutional Law In New Ad — Sen. Edwards has a new TV advertisement about health care where he proposes the following law: … The problem is, Sen. Edwards doesn't have the power to take health care away from Congress unilaterally—he'd have to propose a law.

Discussion: The New Republic, Liberal Values, The Politico, theGarance.com, Washington Wire and The Page

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Vultures circling in Iowa — A key Obama supporter in Iowa, former Democratic Party Chair Gordon Fischer, offered a glimpse into where his campaign sees growth: In scooping up Edwards supporters. — "It's going to move much more to a two-person race - Barack Obama and Hillary," …

Discussion: CNN Political Ticker, The Swamp and Taylor Marsh

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
A Not-So-Perfect Picture of Party Unity

Discussion: CQ Politics, TalkLeft, Political Radar, michellemalkin.com, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Chicago Sun Times, Boston Globe, Democratic Strategist, MyDD, The New Republic, Washington Post, The Carpetbagger Report, MSNBC, The Van Der Galiën Gazette, theGarance.com, Cameron's Corner and Oliver Willis

GOP.com:
HILLARY CLINTON LIBRARY CARD

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, techPresident, Washington Wire and Don Surber

Greg Sargent / Election Central:
Edwards Clarifies Comment On Hillary: "I Fully Expect To Support" Dem Nominee

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and Salon

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:

Say It Enough Times It Must Be True — First the Clinton campaign whines that the other candidates were picking on the girl. Then, standing up to Russert is like standing up to Hitler. Then Bill Clinton compared Russert to the Swift Boat Vets. Now the Clinton campaign is warning Wolf Blizter that he better not "pull a Russert."

Discussion: Right Wing News, Don Surber, Flopping Aces, The Anchoress, A Blog For All, Blue Crab Boulevard, Riehl World View, Say Anything and Ian Schwartz

Roger Simon / The Politico:
Note to HRC staffers: Trust your candidate

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online, CNN Political Ticker, MSNBC, The New Republic and Hotline On Call

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
Have The Wheels Come Off For Hillary?

Discussion: Open Left, The Nation and The Strata-Sphere

The Politico:

Democrats remain stalled on Iraq debate — As the congressional session lurches toward a close, Democrats are confronting some demoralizing arithmetic on Iraq. — The numbers tell a story of political and substantive paralysis more starkly than most members are willing to acknowledge publicly, or perhaps even to themselves.

Discussion: Salon, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Hill, Real Clear Politics, TIME: Swampland, Say Anything, Connecting.the.Dots, Weekly Standard, A Blog For All, The Swamp, TownHall Blog, Wake up America, The Heretik, Gateway Pundit, Sister Toldjah, MSNBC and Cold Fury

Brian Faughnan / Weekly Standard:
Dems Fool Netroots: Quietly Fund Iraq While Talking Tough

Discussion: Wake up America

WJXT-TV:

Man Found Dead, Stuck In Cat Door — \32-Year-Old Trying To Get In Girlfriend's Home — ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — St. Johns County deputies recently launched an investigation into what they called one of the strangest accidents they've ever seen when a man was found dead after getting stuck in a cat door.

Greg Sargent / Election Central:

Full Video: McCain Says Supporter's "Bitch" Query About Hillary Is "An Excellent Question" — Below we noted that a local Fox affiliate had reported on a John McCain event in South Carolina where he'd stood by while one of his supporters called Hillary a "bitch."

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Outside The Beltway, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakespeare's Sister and Salon

Tim Grieve / Salon:
Clinton, McCain and the B-word

Discussion: New York Times, Crooks and Liars and Prairie Weather

The Sandmonkey / Rantings of a Sandmonkey:

Karim Amer is getting tortured in Prison — Abdel Karim Soliman, famously now known as Karim Amer, who got jailed for "disdain for religion" and "insulting the president" on his blog, is reportedly getting tortured by the Prison authorities. … I wish I could say I am surprised by this …

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Atrios / Eschaton:

Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007 — It's one of those below the radar things, but there's a fight brewing between mortgage brokers and the rest of us over legislation. There's legislation to outlaw something called "yield spread premiums" in which brokers are given …

Discussion: Firedoglake

Matt Stoller / Open Left: Against the Predators — I've blogged a bit on mortgage reform …

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:

Turn-Around In Iraq — My optimistic military emailer from yesterday, it needs to be said, added this vital caveat: … And the news on that front remains as dire as ever. That's why I find Glenn Reynolds' view of what's happening in Iraq to be more than typically glib.

Discussion: Instapundit.com and INSTAPUTZ

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Post Critic Page Apologizes for E-Mail Remarks To Barry Aide — A Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for The Washington Post has apologized to D.C. Council member Marion Barry for sending an intemperate e-mail to his spokesman. — "It's the stupidest thing I've done in 30 years in journalism," music critic Tim Page said yesterday.

Discussion: On Deadline and Writes Like She Talks

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Court takes no action on gun case — The Supreme Court on Tuesday announced no action on a new case testing the meaning of the Second Amendment — an issue the Court has not considered in 68 years. The Orders List contained no mention of either the District of Columbia's appeal (07-290) …