Top Items:
Ezra Klein:
Chuck Grassley Fundraises Against Health-Care Reform — Chuck Grassley is facing a potentially difficult primary challenge in 2010. As such, he's been working hard to cover his right flank. That would all be fine except for one thing: As ranking member of the Finance Committee …
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Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Gibbs responds: Why is anyone still listening to Dick Cheney? — In an interview with Fox News Sunday yesterday, Vice President Cheney aggressively attacked Attorney General Eric Holder for opening preliminary investigation into CIA interrogation abuses. He called it an “outrageous political act …
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Gibbs: Enzi's Flipped Over His Cards And Walked Away from the Health Care Table
Gibbs: Enzi's Flipped Over His Cards And Walked Away from the Health Care Table
Mike Allen / The Politico:
George Will calls for pull-out — George F. Will, the elite conservative commentator, will call in his next column for U.S. ground troops to leave Afghanistan, according to publishing sources. — “[F]orces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy …
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Anthony H. Cordesman / Washington Post:
A Chance to Avoid Defeat in Afghanistan — The United States cannot win the war in Afghanistan in the next three months — any form of even limited victory will take years of further effort. It can, however, easily lose the war. I did not see any simple paths to victory while serving …
Boston Globe:
Governor sets date for special Senate election, presses for interim appointment — Governor Deval Patrick continued today to press for a change to state law to allow him to appoint an interim replacement for Senator Edward M. Kennedy as he announced that a special election for the seat will be held on Jan. 19.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Sister Toldjah, Salon, The Politico, The Swamp, TPMDC, Hotline On Call, Wonkette, The Page, Below The Beltway, Real Clear Politics and msnbc.com
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Frank Phillips / Boston Globe:
Senate field hinges on Kennedy decision — With Massachusetts having paid its final respects to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the politics of succession begins in earnest this week - candidates will emerge, a race will take shape, and the Kennedy clan will have to reveal whether it wants to keep the seat in the family.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Capitol Briefing, USA Today, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Boston Herald, NPR Blogs, Bloomberg and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
Josh Kraushaar / The Politico:
Experts see double-digit Dem losses — After an August recess marked by raucoustown halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.
Discussion:
NY Daily News, Hot Air, New York Times, Politics Daily, Right Wing Nut House, Blue Crab Boulevard, Think Progress, The Caucus, Wake up America, DownWithTyranny!, Political Byline, Open Congress, Christian Science Monitor, Flopping Aces, AmSpecBlog, Commentary, The TrogloPundit, NPR Blogs, Don Surber, Another Black Conservative, Sister Toldjah and Ezra Klein
Big Hollywood:
EXCLUSIVE: Carrie Prejean Takes Legal Action Against Miss California USA Officials — RANCHO SANTA FE, CA - Carrie Prejean's attorney, Charles S. LiMandri announced today that the former Miss California USA is filing a complaint in the Superior Court of California against Miss California USA …
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Zachery Kouwe / New York Times:
As Banks Repay Bailout Money, U.S. Sees a Profit — Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation's biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that many critics thought might never be seen again.
Political Punch:
ABC News Exclusive: National Security Adviser Says President Obama Is Having Greater Success Taking Terrorists Out of Commission Than Bush Did — Responding to criticism from former Vice President Cheney that President Obama is making the nation more vulnerable to terrorism …
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Gabriel Sherman / The New Republic:
The Courtship — The story behind the Obama-Brooks bromance. — In the spring of 2005, New York Times columnist David Brooks arrived at then-Senator Barack Obama's office for a chat. Brooks, a conservative writer who joined the Times in 2003 from The Weekly Standard, had never met Obama before.
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Ross Douthat / New York Times:
A Different Kind of Liberal — Only 13 days separated the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics, from the death of her brother Ted last week. But amid the wall-to-wall coverage and the stream of retrospectives for the senior senator from Massachusetts …
Discussion:
Shakesville
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Palin gets 1,070+ invitations — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin this week will begin accepting and rejecting the more than 1,070 invitations she has received for paid speeches and political appearances since she resigned as Alaska governor, aides said. — Twenty speakers' bureaus made offers to represent her.
Discussion:
The Mudflats, The TrogloPundit, Jezebel, Gawker, Salon, Another Black Conservative, Don Surber and Taylor Marsh
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Why Don't Markets Clear in Urban Storefronts? — Vacant storefront on 1300 block of U Street; good place for a Wendy's? (cc photo by NCinDC) — One of the enduring mysteries of urban life is the prevalence of vacant storefronts. This is understandable in a truly depressed area where the whole local economy has broken down.
Discussion:
Megan McArdle
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Howard M. Brandston / Wall Street Journal:
Save the Light Bulb! — Compact fluorescents don't produce good quality light. — Printer — Friendly — The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 will effectively phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2012-2014 in favor of compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs.
Tory Newmyer / Roll Call:
Burner Helping House Liberals Hold Firm on Public Insurance Option — An organizer for liberal House Democrats says the bloc “isn't bluffing” as it prepares to take a reputation-defining stand to protect a public insurance option in the health care overhaul.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Jon Henke / The Next Right:
Organizing Against WorldNetDaily — This is just hideously embarrassing for the Right. … In the 1960's, William F. Buckley denounced the John Birch Society leadership for being “so far removed from common sense” and later said “We cannot allow the emblem of irresponsibility to attach to the conservative banner.”
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Liberal Values, Media Matters for America, The Impolitic and Below The Beltway
Ylan Q. Mui / Washington Post:
Blue Chip, White Cotton: What Underwear Says About the Economy — For one answer to the nation's most pressing economic question — when will the recession end? — just take a peek inside the American man's underwear drawer. — There may be some new pairs there, judging by recent reports …
Mimi Hall / USA Today:
Ridge backpedals on pressure to raise terror alert level — WASHINGTON — Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, speaking for the first time about accusations made in his new book, says he did not mean to suggest that other top Bush administration officials were playing politics …
Discussion:
Swampland, Time, Crooks and Liars, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hot Air, The Note, Politics Daily, Washington Monthly and Michelle Malkin
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Fewer Newspapers Fight to Open Court Proceedings — You don't see newspapers fighting to open court proceedings the way they used to, and people are starting to notice. — “The days of powerful newspapers with ample legal budgets appear to be numbered,” wrote a public defender in Georgia …
Discussion:
MoJo Blog Posts
Gateway Pundit:
New— Pole Dance Doll For Little Girls & Tassle Tees For Tots — It's come to this. — New for toddlers— Now your little toddler can own her first tassle T-shirt (I'm assuming it's for girls?). — Stroller Derby reported: … And after she outgrows her tassle-T she'll be old enough …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Key Republican: GOP would repeal health bill if they win in 2010 — Republicans will repeal healthcare reform legislation if they win control of Congress because of that bill, a key Republican pledged late Sunday. — The health bill is “dead on arrival” in Congress, said Rep. Joe Barton …
George F. Will / Newsweek:
An Ivy League Huey Long — Washington is seriously unserious. — From the magazine issue dated Sep 7, 2009 — In August our ubiquitous president became the nation's elevator music, always out and about, heard but not really listened to, like audible wallpaper.
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Commentary, Power Line, Democratic Strategist and Connecting.the.Dots
James Pethokoukis:
Dems/unions push new wave of investment taxes — American equity investors have suffered a lost decade of portfolio performance — the S&P 500 is about where it was back in 1998 — and trillions of dollars of lost net worth, so it may seem a terrible time to hit them with a $100 billion-a-year investment tax.