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Tom Beaumont / Des Moines Register:
Harkin: No place for GOP at Senate health-bill table — Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said today Republicans will not be at the table when the Senate merges the health-care bills from two committees before sending one to the floor. — Harkin, a Democrat and chairman of one of the committees …
Discussion:
The Politico, The Hill, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Washington Times, Taegan Goddard's … and Raw Story
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Benjamin Spillman / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Reid: Final health bill will have a ‘public option’ — U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today there will be a “public option” in whatever health insurance reform bill comes out of Congress. — “We are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president's desk,” …
Kevin Drum / MoJo Blog Posts:
Chart of the Day — The Office of the Speaker of the House emails to nominate this for chart of the day. Sure. Why not. It's a good chart. Bottom line: the public really likes the idea of having a choice between either a private or a public health insurance plan.
Discussion:
Open Left, Ruby Slippers, The TrogloPundit, Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias and The Impolitic
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Grayson Breaks the Rules — Representative Alan Grayson's statement that the Republican plan for health care amounts to “don't get sick” and if you do “die quickly” probably doesn't meet a test of literal accuracy. Reality is I guess closer to “only get sick if you're stably employed in a good …
Discussion:
CNN, Left Coast Rebel, Washington Monthly, Michelle Malkin, American Power, MoJo Blog Posts and No More Mister Nice Blog
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Washington Wire:
Who Is Alan Grayson, Anyway? — Naftali Bendavid and Louise Radnofsky report on Congress. — Rep. Alan Grayson has been making waves since he came to Congress in January, just nine short months ago - a tack opposite to most freshmen who tend to keep their heads down.
Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Pelosi: No Grayson apology needed
Pelosi: No Grayson apology needed
Discussion:
Hot Air, Nice Deb, Breitbart.tv, Moonbattery, Flopping Aces, Gateway Pundit, Wonkette and Jules Crittenden
Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Grayson aide: Inaction is “murdering the uninsured”
Grayson aide: Inaction is “murdering the uninsured”
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Kerry blocks DeMint trip to Honduras — Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has blocked Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) trip to Honduras slated to begin Friday, according to DeMint's office. — DeMint's office informed The Hill of Kerry's decision Thursday afternoon.
Discussion:
The Note, The Field on the Narcosphere, Gateway Pundit, Fausta's Blog, YID With LID and POWIP
Katha Pollitt / The Nation:
Roman Polanski's Powerful Friends — If a rapist escapes justice for long enough, should the world hand him a get out of jail free card? If you're Roman Polanski, world-famous director, a lot of famous and gifted people think the answer is yes. Polanski, who drugged and anally raped …
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New York Times:
Senator's Aid to Mistress's Husband Raises Ethics Flags — WASHINGTON — Early last year, Senator John Ensign contacted a small circle of political and corporate supporters back home in Nevada — a casino designer, an airline executive, the head of a utility and several political consultants …
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Kristol Floats ‘Plausible Rumor’ That Hagel Will Replace Gates, Calls Him ‘An Advocate Of Retreat Everywhere’ — Yesterday, Foreign Policy Initiative co-founder Bill Kristol appeared on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, where he said that he now believes “for the first time that he will not accept …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
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Andy Barr / The Politico:
Poll: 43% say Olympics trip ‘bad idea’ — A plurality of Americans thinks President Barack Obama's trip to Copenhagen to lobby International Olympic Committee officials was a “bad idea,” according to a poll released Thursday by Rasmussen Reports. — Forty-three percent of the 1,000 adults …
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Jonah Goldberg / Commentary:
How Politics Destroyed a Great TV Show — Either you are with me, or you are my enemy!" shouted a young Darth Vader in 2005's Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, one of the execrable prequels to the original films by George Lucas. In response to this all-or-nothing provocation …
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Carter walks back racism charge — Former President Jimmy Carter insisted Thursday that he did not say protests against President Barack Obama were driven by racism. — Carter touched off a firestorm three weeks ago when he said Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-S.C.) “You Lie!” outburst was …
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PewForum.org:
Support for Abortion Slips — Issue Ranks Lower on the Agenda — Overview — Polls conducted in 2009 have found fewer Americans expressing support for abortion than in previous years. In Pew Research Center polls in 2007 and 2008, supporters of legal abortion clearly outnumbered opponents …
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New York Times:
McChrystal Rejects Scaling Down Afghan Military Aims — LONDON — The top military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, rejected calls for scaling down military objectives there on Thursday and said Washington did not have unlimited time to settle on a new strategy to pursue the eight-year-old war.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Washington Independent, democracyarsenal.org, Wall Street Journal, The Atlanticist, Pajamas Media, News Desk, ATTACKERMAN, The Cable, Below The Beltway, Commentary, Taylor Marsh, Think Tank, SWJ Blog, Mudville Gazette, BLACKFIVE, Ben Smith's Blog and Outside The Beltway
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Michael Schneider / Variety:
Letterman reveals extortion attempt — ‘Late Show’ host also admits sex with staffers — In an uncharacteristically personal revelation for David Letterman, the host took to his “Late Show” stage Thursday to admit that he was the victim of an extortion attempt — and acknowledge …
Brendan Nyhan / Pollster.com:
Assessing the GOP brand — How weak is the Republican brand right now? This issue came up yesterday when a Media Matters criticized The Hill for failing to mention the GOP's poor polling numbers in a story on the 2010 elections. Similarly, I recently suggested that that the damaged …
Mickey McLean / WORLDmag.com:
Palin cover released — On Monday night, Harper announced that Sarah Palin's memoir would be hitting the stores early, arriving just in time for Christmas. — By yesterday, the book, which was written with the help of WORLD senior writer Lynn Vincent, had already risen to the top …
Austin Walsh / Santa Cruz Sentinel:
Grant gives Grateful Dead archive new life online — SANTA CRUZ — The Grateful Dead Archive has taken another step in its long strange trip, from the UC Santa Cruz library to its own Web site, The Virtual Terrapin Station. — One of the most popular bands in rock ‘n’ roll history …
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Hannity Targeting Gay Admin Figure Because He's Feeling Heat From Glenn Beck? — As devoted watchers of Fox News know, Sean Hannity has been waging something of a jihad against Kevin Jennings, a high level education official in the Obama administration who has been targeted by conservatives because of his past as a gay rights advocate.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Short Takes: RGA Plays Hole Card Against Deeds — In a move we've been waiting on for several weeks, the Republican Governors Association is using footage of Virginia state Sen. Creigh Deeds (D) fumbling his way through an answer on whether he would raise taxes in a new blitz …
Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Boehner hasn't met “anyone” who backs public option — House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has just more or less dared proponents of a public option to bombard his office with their expressions of support of the plan. — Boehner claimed, with a semi-straight face …
Matthew Vadum / Big Government:
EXCLUSIVE: ACORN Legal Memo Confirms Depths of Troubles … ACORN's lawyer warned ACORN 15 months ago to begin fixing its massive internal problems or face certain catastrophe. It chose to do nothing. — The advice from Elizabeth Kingsley of Harmon, Curran, Spielberg Eisenberg LLP came …
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
GOP tried to recruit hero pilot ‘Sully’ for 2010 Congress bid — Sullenberger, a registered Republican and commercial airline pilot whose textbook landing in the Hudson River in January was labeled a miracle, made it clear through his business manager that he was not interested, according to multiple sources familiar with the effort.
Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE TAKES THE PRIZE — White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee took home the top prize in the 16th annual “D.C.'s Funniest Celebrity” contest on Wednesday evening, and he did so in a very unconventional way. Instead of adopting a traditional comedic routine of joke buildup and punchline …
The Huffington Post:
Sen. Graham Calls Beck ‘A Cynic’ And Birthers ‘Crazy’ — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.) offered unusually blunt assessments of the fringe elements of his party and conservative media on Thursday, calling the popular and bombastic Fox News host Glenn Beck a “cynic” …