Top Items:
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Harkin says he has the votes to pass public option bill in the Senate — The Senate has the votes to pass a healthcare reform bill including a public option, a key Senate chairman said Tuesday. — Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa.), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) …
RELATED:
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Abortion Fight Complicates Debate on Health Care — WASHINGTON — As if it were not complicated enough, the debate over health care in Congress is becoming a battlefield in the fight over abortion. — Abortion opponents in both the House and the Senate are seeking to block the millions …
Discussion:
Megan McArdle, AmSpecBlog, Prescriptions, Telegraph, The Caucus, RedState, Taylor Marsh, The New Republic, The BLT, RHRealityCheck.org, Michelle Malkin, The Foundry and The Page
The Politico:
Public option may have new life — The public option limped out of August, battered and left to die in the Senate. — But its supporters are working hard this week to bring it back, against the odds, with a series of high-profile votes in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.
Discussion:
The Swamp, The Hill, New York Times, ABCNEWS, Politics Daily, The Note, Los Angeles Times, The Foundry, GayPatriot, Think Progress, Washington Post, TPMDC and Political Byline
Associated Press:
Key Senate panel rejects public health plan — Outcome of vote on government-sponsored insurance was expected — WASHINGTON - A key Senate panel on Tuesday voted against creating a new government health insurance plan to compete with the private market. — The 15-to-8 vote …
Patrick Yoest / Wall Street Journal:
Senate Committee Rejects Public Option for Health Overhaul — WASHINGTON—The Senate Finance Committee rejected amendments Tuesday that would add a government-run health-insurance plan to the committee's health-care legislation, but debate over whether to adopt a public plan isn't expected to end at the committee.
Ed Hornick / CNN:
Senate Democrats plan to force vote on public option — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Two members of the Senate Finance Committee plan to put their Democratic colleagues on the spot on Tuesday by offering amendments on whether to give uninsured Americans the opportunity to join a government insurance program.
Chris Harris / Media Matters Action Network:
More Americans Believe In UFOs Than Oppose A Public Option … THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE — As health insurance reform makes its way through congress, it's easy to observe the partisan fighting in Washington and believe the country is deeply divided over a “public option.” — Luckily, that is not the case.
Katharine Q. Seelye / Prescriptions:
Live Blogging: Senate Finance Committee Debate on Public Option
Live Blogging: Senate Finance Committee Debate on Public Option
Discussion:
TPMDC, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, The Nation, Blogometer, Open Left, Left in the West, Politics Nation and Daily Kos
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
DEPRESSING DEBATE.... As advertised, the Senate Finance Committee …
DEPRESSING DEBATE.... As advertised, the Senate Finance Committee …
Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily:
Senate Finance Committee Rejects Public Option for Health Insurance
Senate Finance Committee Rejects Public Option for Health Insurance
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
How Finance swing votes break down
How Finance swing votes break down
Discussion:
The Politico, Associated Press, The Greenroom, TalkLeft, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Think Progress
Sid Vacuous / Breitbart.tv:
NEWLY DISCOVERED: COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS APPEAR TO ‘PRAY’ TO PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA — The Gamaliel National Clergy Caucus held “a New Orleans style funeral procession as they deliver a casket symbolizing the death of old ways of providing health care and pray for a new day for health care in America.”
Discussion:
Stop The ACLU, theblogprof, Atlas Shrugs, Nice Deb, Gateway Pundit, HotAirPundit, RedState and Whiskey Fire
RELATED:
The Huffington Post:
GOP Rep. Trent Franks Calls Obama “An Enemy Of Humanity” — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — A Republican member of the House of Representatives accused President Barack Obama of being “an enemy of humanity” during a conservative values forum this past weekend. — In a speech Saturday …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, The Washington Independent, Glenn Thrush's Blog and TPMDC
RELATED:
Don Walton / Lincoln Journal Star:
Nelson wants health reform in 2 parts — SCOTTSBLUFF - Sen. Ben Nelson said Monday he'd prefer a health care reform package that centers on cost savings this year, leaving extended insurance coverage for a later date. — Such a scenario would give 2010 voters an opportunity to weigh in on …
Discussion:
Democracy in America, The Hill, Washington Monthly, Taegan Goddard's … and The Plum Line
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Start making your case. — Use the entry form to send us a short opinion essay (400 words or less) pegged to a topic in the news and an additional paragraph (100 words or less) on yourself and why you should win. Entries will be judged on the basis of style, intelligence and freshness of argument …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Accuracy in Media, Wonkette, Michael Calderone's Blog, Matthew Yglesias, Gawker, Reason and PostPartisan
Reuters:
U.S. to Israel: Probe alleged Gaza war crimes to advance peace — The United States called on its close ally Israel on Tuesday to conduct credible investigations into allegations of war crimes committed by its forces in Gaza, saying it would help the Middle East peace process.
RELATED:
Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
Europe's Socialists Suffering Even in Downturn — PARIS — A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of Socialism's slow collapse. — Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to “irrational exuberance …
Chris Lee / kff.org:
Public Support For Health Reform Increases in September, Reversing Summer Declines as Congress Takes Up Legislation — Survey Finds Support For New Proposals For Fees And Taxes on Insurance Companies to Help Pay For Overhaul — MENLO PARK, CA — Public support for health reform ended its summer slide …
RELATED:
Mickey Kaus / Kausfiles:
Did ACORN Elect Al Franken? — Robert Samuelson scorns the egomaniacal “quest for glory” of Congressional Democrats who are trying to pass health care reform. But of course the quest for glory may be the only reason a worthwhile reform could still pass. It ain't going to pass it because it's popular!
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: Whoopi says Polanski didn't commit “rape-rape” — How low will Hollywood go in defending Roman Polanski? Former Oscar hostess Whoopi Goldberg tries to parse the meaning of rape between rape and something called “rape-rape” — which, if you read the testimony of Polanski's victim …
RELATED:
Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Time for Obama to Act Like a President — Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States. As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is.
Discussion:
Salon, Commentary, The Mahablog, Washington Monthly, Wake up America and NewsBusters.org
Diane Bell / San Diego Union-Tribune:
S.D. ghostwriter mum on Sarah Palin memoir — One San Diegan knows all the details of Sarah Palin's soon-to-be released memoir, but don't ask her about it. She can't tell. — Lynn Vincent, Palin's ghostwriter, has signed a non-disclosure agreement. She has been hard at work on the book …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
400 Pages In Four Months — That's Sarah Palin's achievement for Jonathan Burnham, who runs the marketing company, Harper Collins. Several questions naturally arise. Did she actually write those 400 pages? Please. Her peregrinations in the couple of months since she quit her “day-job” …
Discussion:
TBogg
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Morning Fix: Attack Dog Needed? — AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dawn Majors — The national debate over President Obama's health care plan has exposed a weakness in the Democratic Party apparatus: it lacks a high profile surrogate to push back — hard — against the rhetorical arguments put forward by Republicans.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Commentary, NewsBusters.org, Conservatives4Palin.com and Club for Growth
Jim McElhatton / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Porn surfing rampant at U.S. science foundation — Number of cases overwhelms watchdog, costs taxpayers — Employee misconduct investigations, often involving workers accessing pornography from their government computers, grew sixfold last year inside the taxpayer-funded foundation …
Ed Henry / CNN:
First lady says ‘gloves are off’ in bid for Olympics — WASHINGTON (CNN) — First lady Michelle Obama vowed Monday to “take no prisoners” as she and her husband launch an unprecedented bid for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. — “It's a battle — we're going to win — take no prisoners,” …
Wall Street Journal:
The Neocons Make a Comeback — Neocons are back because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il and Vladimir Putin never went away. — Printer — Friendly — The other day I was asked by a writer for a mainstream French newspaper to say something about the “return” of the neoconservatives.