Top Items:
Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:
Tedisco concedes to Murphy — Republican state Assemblyman Jim Tedisco conceded the New York special election this afternoon to Democratic businessman Scott Murphy, giving the Democrats a key off-year victory in a race that both parties aggressively contested.
Discussion:
Townhall.com, The Swamp, Balloon Juice, Politics Nation, On Deadline, New York Magazine and The New Ledger
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Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Democrat Murphy Wins, GOPer Tedisco Concedes NY-20 Special Election — The NY-20 special election is now officially over, with Democrat Scott Murphy the winner. — GOP candidate Jim Tedisco, who trailed by 401 votes as of yesterday's vote count, has called Murphy to concede, according to Murphy spokesman Ryan Rudominer.
Discussion:
the albany project, dccc.org, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, FiveThirtyEight, Talking Points Memo, AMERICAblog News, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo
Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:
Reconciliation Now Has a Date: October 15 — It's been in the works for a while and now, according to senior Captiol Hill staffers, it's a done deal: The final budget resolution will include a “reconciliation instruction” for health care. That means the Democrats can pass health care reform …
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Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
WAS SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM PART OF THE DEAL FOR RECONCILIATION? — We know a deal was struck on reconciliation. And we know what that looks like on the reconciliation side. But what did it take to get that? Cohn suggests Obama made a firmer commitment to paygo rules.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Is Social Security on the Chopping Block? — Not to get anyone too alarmed, but Ezra Klein's 4:34 PM blog post offers some indication that Kent Conrad's price for agreeing to give the American people the health care reform they voted for in 2008 was letting him mess around with cutting Social Security.
Eric Zimmermann / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Blackburn challenges Gore's motives — Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) challenged Al Gore's motives for supporting climate change legislation when the former VP appeared before a House panel today. — Blackburn noted Gore's role as partner in Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers …
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Key Dem Senator Likely To Vote Against Top Obama Legal Nominee — Uh oh. This could signal real trouble for a key Obama nominee under assault by the right: Office of Legal Counsel chief Dawn Johnsen, a fierce Bush critic who would be at the center of the war over whether Obama …
Discussion:
Salon, Think Progress, DownWithTyranny!, TPMDC, The Anonymous Liberal, The TrogloPundit and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
White House Worried About Johnsen Nomination
White House Worried About Johnsen Nomination
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The Daily Dish
Byron York / www.washingtonexaminer.com:
Ted Olson: “Torture” probes will never end
Ted Olson: “Torture” probes will never end
Discussion:
Townhall.com
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obtained: Cheney's Request Form Detailing The Two CIA Torture Docs He Wants — I've just obtained from the National Archives the actual request form that Dick Cheney submitted for CIA documents he claims will prove that torture worked. — Cheney requested all of two CIA documents, a total of 21 pages.
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Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: Frank in 2005 — Bubble? What bubble? — Barney Frank argued this week that he had always warned about the excesses of pushing home ownership and had advocated for rentals instead. Our friends at Verum Serum couldn't believe their ears, because Frank has long been one of the loudest …
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway
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Nick Gillespie / Reason:
Barney Frank's Meatloaf Impersonation When it Comes to Freedom …
Barney Frank's Meatloaf Impersonation When it Comes to Freedom …
Discussion:
GayPatriot
Matt Cover / CNSNews:
Barney Frank: Marijuana, Internet Gambling O.K. for Americans …
Barney Frank: Marijuana, Internet Gambling O.K. for Americans …
Discussion:
Glenn Thrush's Blog
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Piper alert: Obama relocated in caution — It happens every once in a while. — A small airplane strays into the restricted air space over Washington, D.C., and the Capitol and White House lock down — people evacuated from the halls of Congress on Capitol Hill, and automatic weaponry coming out of the bags on White House grounds.
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Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: Pennsylvania Republican Senate Primary — Pennsylvania Senate Primary: Toomey 51% Specter 30% — Incumbent Senator Arlen Specter trails former Congressman Pat Toomey by 21 points in an early look at Pennsylvania's 2010 Republican Primary. Fifty-one percent (51%) …
Paul Begala / The Huffington Post:
Yes, National Review, We Did Execute Japanese for Waterboarding — In a CNN debate with Ari Fleischer, I said the United States executed Japanese war criminals for waterboarding. My point was that it is disingenuous for Bush Republicans to argue that waterboarding is not torture and thus illegal.
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama ‘wrapped around the axle’ — The Bush administration “kept the country safe” with its tactics in the interrogation of suspected terrorists, says Dana Perino, the former press secretary for ex-President George W. Bush. — And the Obama administration has “made a mess of the whole thing” …
Discussion:
The Page
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
‘A person who can actually be trusted’ — OK, I promise to get off the Armenian genocide story soon, as it's obviously not the most important issue of the moment. — But the reason it's a worth noting is captured in this campaign video from Samantha Power, which made a big impression …
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Kevin Poulsen / Threat Level:
FBI Arrests Oklahoma Teabagger For Twitter Threats — An Oklahoma City man who announced on Twitter that he would turn an April 15 tax protest into a bloodbath was hit with a federal charge of making interstate threats last week, in what appears to be first criminal prosecution to stem from posts on the microblogging site.
John Cook / Gawker:
Ambushing Bill O'Reilly's Ambusher — Gawker has some questions for Jesse B. Watters, the Fox News producer that Bill O'Reilly likes to send out to ambush his enemies. So we're outside his building in Long Island. Right now. (Hi, Jesse!) — This apartment building is the last known address …
Bob Von Sternberg / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Minnesotans won't know second Senator until at least June — The state Supreme Court set the schedule today for the legal showdown between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman over the Senate seat that has been vacant since January. — Minnesotans won't know who will be their second U.S. Senator until at least June.
Washington Post:
Document: Military Agency Called Harsh Methods ‘Torture,’ Questioned Their Effectiveness — The military agency that helped to devise harsh interrogation techniques for use against terrorism suspects referred to the application of extreme duress as “torture” in a July 2002 document sent …
Ta-Nehisi Coates:
Why Don't We All Focus On “Looking Forward” — There's a bar in the East Village that offers five shots of anything for ten bucks. I'm going there tonight, and taking 10 shots of anything the crowd reccommends. Then I'm going to stand on the street soliciting random women for sex.
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
THE IMPORTANCE OF MEANINGLESS AMENDMENTS. — In response to the Great Amendment Hunt of Ought-Nine, commenter Badger asked, “These are pretty silly, but isn't the House going to make mincemeat out of these things once it goes to conference/reconciliation/de- crazifying committee?” — Probably.
Robert Mackey / The Lede:
Taliban Spokesman Blames American Women — Update | 1:25 p.m. Britain's Channel 4 News aired a video report on Thursday night showing Taliban forces on the streets of the strategically important Pakistani town of Buner, just 70 miles from the country's capital, Islamabad.