Top Items:
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, Telegraph, RedState, Prescriptions, The New Republic, The Caucus, Taylor Marsh, The BLT, RHRealityCheck.org, The Foundry, Michelle Malkin and The Page
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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:
ABCNEWS, TPM LiveWire, The Note, Politics Daily, Think Progress, Los Angeles Times, The Foundry, GayPatriot, Washington Post, Political Byline and TPMDC
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) …
Discussion:
Open Left
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
More Americans Believe In UFOs Than Oppose A Public Option
Katharine Q. Seelye / Prescriptions:
Live Blogging: Senate Finance Committee Debate on Public Option
Live Blogging: Senate Finance Committee Debate on Public Option
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, TPMDC, The Nation, Blogometer, Open Left, Left in the West and Daily Kos
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
How Finance swing votes break down
How Finance swing votes break down
Discussion:
The Politico, Associated Press, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, TalkLeft 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:
theblogprof, Atlas Shrugs, The Sundries Shack, Nice Deb, HotAirPundit, RedState, Gateway Pundit and Whiskey Fire
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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:
Commentary, The Mahablog, Washington Monthly, NewsBusters.org, Wake up America and JustOneMinute
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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 …
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John Nolte / Big Hollywood:
Hollywood Unites to Defend Polanski — Pleading guilty to unlawful sex with an underage girl — the drugging, raping and sodomizing of a 13 year-old — isn't stopping Hollywood from ginning up an indignation campaign over the possibility of fugitive director Roman Polanski being held accountable for his crimes.
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William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Obama to Afghanistan? — A prediction: President Obama will add a “surprise” visit to Afghanistan to his Olympics-lobbying trip to Copenhagen. — The preisident and his advisers must realize, in Mark McKinnon's words, that “people elected Obama to be president—not the head of the Illinois Chamber …
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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 …
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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
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!
Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
In Bad Times for Capitalism, Socialists in Europe Suffer — 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 …
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.
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Wall Street Journal:
French Atomic Pique — Sarkozy unloads on Obama's ‘virtual’ disarmament reality. — Printer — Friendly — President Obama wants a unified front against Iran, and to that end he stood together with Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown in Pittsburgh on Friday morning to reveal the news …
Telegraph:
Andy Williams accuses Barack Obama of following Marxist theory — Andy Williams, the veteran pop singer, has accused Barack Obama of “following Marxist theory” and “wanting the country to fail”. — Williams, a lifelong Republican whose hits include Moon River and Music To Watch Girls By …
Stanley Kurtz / The Corner on National Review Online:
Patrick Gaspard, ACORN, and Obama — By: Stanley Kurtz — With the revelation that White House Director of Political Affairs, Patrick Gaspard, has close ties to Bertha Lewis and to ACORN, Matthew Vadum and Erick Erickson appear to be onto something significant.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Washington Monthly, American Spectator, Dr. Sanity, The Strata-Sphere and YID With LID
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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 …
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Deeds continues to close in — Creigh Deeds has now pulled to within five points of Bob McDonnell in the race to be Virginia's next Governor, and most of the remaining undecided voters are Democrats. — McDonnell leads 48-43. A month ago his lead was 49-42 and the month before that it peaked at 51-37.
NY Daily News:
Former Bill Clinton aide claims ex-president got touchy-feely with her — A book due out in January by Stacy Parker Aab alleges Steven Spielberg's wife greeted then-President Clinton in a bathing suit. Above, Clinton gives a speech on energy efficiency. — Monica Lewinsky may not always …
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
Philip K. Howard / Wall Street Journal:
Why Medical Malpractice Is Off Limits — A few thousand trial lawyers have a lock on Democrats, who refuse to consider any legal reform. — Printer — Friendly — Eliminating defensive medicine could save upwards of $200 billion in health-care costs annually, according to estimates …