Top Items:
The Politico:
Obama strategy: Marginalize critics — This is the first of a two-part look at the marginalization of the GOP. Tomorrow: GOP officials fear that the party's image is being defined increasingly by boisterous conservative commentators. — President Obama is working systematically …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Plum Line, Wizbang, The Foundry, Commentary, Hot Air, Top of the Ticket, Christian Science Monitor, Winds of Change.NET, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, YID With LID, Washington Monthly, Wonkette, Kausfiles, USA Today, Neptunus Lex, Mediaite, The Corner on National …, Raw Story and The Political Carnival
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Dems spell GOP ‘S-P-A-M’ — Republican critics pilloried the White House for making it too easy to request e-mail updates about health reform, but it turns out the GOP could have spam problems of its own. — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) sent a tweet this morning from her @michelebachmann account saying …
David Corn / Politics Daily:
Why the White House Shouldn't Play Chicken With Fox — It's war! A rumble in Washington. Two titanic political forces locked in a bloody battle to the very end. A confrontation between good and evil. A clash of civilizations. Of course, I'm talking about the scuffle between the White House and Fox News.
Peter Wehner / Commentary:
It's the Media Intimidation, Stupid — The exchange that Jake Tapper of ABC News had with Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, was significant because of the locution used by Tapper. Several commentators have criticized the White House for going to war with Fox News …
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Fate of White House Counsel Is in Doubt — WASHINGTON — Every morning, Gregory B. Craig, the White House counsel, sits at the conference table of the Roosevelt Room with the rest of the president's senior staff. — His colleagues greet him, friendly as always.
Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
Jake Tapper can't figure out how Fox News is different from ABC News? — At Tuesday's White House briefing Tapper seemed completely baffled, and quite insulted, by the White House's claim that Fox News is not a real news organization. Tapper demanded WH spokesman Robert Gibbs back up the claim [emphasis added]:
Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:
Obama hits opponents with Chicago brass knuckles
Obama hits opponents with Chicago brass knuckles
Discussion:
Betsy's Page
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Alexander to Obama: No ‘enemies list’
Alexander to Obama: No ‘enemies list’
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Note, Washington Monthly, The Swamp and Ben Smith's Blog
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
NY-23: Scozzafava Photo-Op Goes Horribly Wrong — Michael Patrick Leahy, the Tea Party activist who has been going after NY-23 GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava with hammer and tongs, produces this photo of the candidate stumping today outside of one of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman's offices.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Scorecard's Blog, AmSpecBlog, RedState and Riehl World View
Stephen Labaton / New York Times:
U.S. to Order Steep Pay Cuts at Firms That Got Most Aid — WASHINGTON — Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in federal bailouts, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Open Left, Gawker, Behind the Numbers, Felix Salmon, Clusterstock and Indecision Forever
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USA Today:
Watchdog excoriates execution of TARP — A Treasury Department watchdog is warning that a key $700 billion bailout program has damaged the government's credibility, won't earn taxpayers all their money back and has done little to change a culture of recklessness on Wall Street.
James O'Keefe / Big Government:
BREAKING** ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in Philadelphia, PA Part I — *UPDATE Below* — Alinsky Rule #1: “Power isn't only what you have, it's what the enemy thinks you have.” — [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]
Discussion:
The Washington Independent, Fausta's Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard, American Power, Hot Air, Wizbang and Doug Ross
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
‘Doc fix’ collapses, Reid tells colleagues AMA led him astray — A group of Democrats joined all Republicans in blocking a 10-year freeze of scheduled cuts to doctors' Medicare payments, legislation that was considered important to getting a broader healthcare bill through later this year.
The Hill:
‘Die quickly’ congressman creates namesofthedead.com; GOP cries foul — Rep. Alan Grayson, whose “die quickly” remark gained him much attention, has created a new website based on his meme called “namesofthedead.com.” — On the site, visitors can log the names and stories of friends …
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WTOP.com:
Coffee-making naked guy rebuffed by exposure charge — SPRINGFIELD, Va. - Eric Williamson faces an indecent exposure charge after a passerby saw him in the buff in his own home making coffee. — It happened at 5:30 a.m. Monday. — Channel 5 reports the woman and 7-year-old boy who saw …
John Cook / Gawker:
They All Look Alike: MSNBC Mistakes Jesse Jackson for Al Sharpton — Reverends! All reverends look alike. Jesse Jackson was on MSNBC today to help poor people, and Contessa Brewer introduced him as “the Rev. Al Sharpton.” If Fox News did this, there would be sit-ins.
Steven Rattner / Fortune:
The auto bailout: How we did it — The man who led the effort gives an inside look at the bankruptcies that shook America. … Reporting for my first day of work on the auto task force, I lingered outside a guard shack on Pennsylvania Avenue. My clearance into the fortress-like Treasury building …
Washington Wire:
Senators Express Discomfort With Health Overhaul — Greg Hitt reports on the politics of health care legislation. — With floor debate over health care looming, Republican and Democratic senators in the political middle are becoming more assertive about their concerns.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
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Caroline Binham / Bloomberg:
Goldman Sachs's Griffiths Says Inequality Helps All — Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) — A Goldman Sachs International adviser defended compensation in the finance industry as his company plans a near-record year for pay, saying the spending will help boost the economy.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Wonk Room, Raw Story, Real Clear Politics, Gawker and The Moderate Voice
Morgen Richmond / Big Government:
The Public Option Deception — The public option has been a political football since early summer. The President has said more than once that he prefers it but will not demand it. This was considered capitulation by many on the left who see the public option as necessary for “real” reform.
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Jesse McKinley / New York Times:
San Francisco Alters When Police Must Report Immigrants — SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco board of supervisors voted Tuesday to overturn a city policy that has been at the center of a national debate over offering illegal immigrants sanctuary. — The policy, ordered by Mayor Gavin Newsom …
Zaid Jilani / Think Progress:
Franken Schools Right-Wing Analyst On Medical Bankruptcies In Countries With Universal Care: 'It's Zero' — Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “Medical Debt: Can Bankruptcy Reform Facilitate a Fresh Start.” The hearing examined medical bankruptcies in America …
Louis Uchitelle / New York Times:
Volcker Fails to Sell a Bank Strategy — Listen to a top economist in the Obama administration describe Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who endorsed Mr. Obama early in his election campaign and who stood by his side during the financial crisis.
Ezra Klein:
Will lower health-care costs mean higher wages? — As we went over yesterday, the theory of the excise tax is that employers will buy less costly health-care plans and put the money they save into wages. Most of you had one question in response to that, which was well expressed …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Emptywheel, The Atlantic Business Channel, TalkLeft and Real Time Economics
Gary A. Harki / Charleston Gazette:
Megan Williams to recant Logan County sex-torture testimony — CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Seven people pleaded guilty for their part in abusing Megan Williams — but now Williams says that abuse never happened. — She will hold a press conference Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, to recant her claims of abuse …
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Michelle Obama Hula-Hooping our way to health — First, the buff first arms. Then the First Lady's White House playground. Then the First Lady's White House victory garden. Then the First Lady's patronage of farmer's markets for things that grow in the filthy ground or hang on trees where birds perch and do things.
Discussion:
Stephen Kruiser
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
The New Untouchables — Last summer I attended a talk by Michelle Rhee, the dynamic chancellor of public schools in Washington. Just before the session began, a man came up, introduced himself as Todd Martin and whispered to me that what Rhee was about to speak about — our struggling public schools …
David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Iran Agrees to Draft of Deal on Exporting Nuclear Fuel — VIENNA — The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday that Iranian negotiators had agreed to a draft of a deal to ship much of Iran's stockpile of nuclear fuel to Russia, but cautioned that it would still …
Jim Geraghty / National Review Online:
It's Time for the RNC and NRCC to Ask for Their Money Back — By: Jim Geraghty — Earlier this week, I was noting that it was unrealistic for conservatives to expect national Republican committees, like the RNC and National Republican Congressional Committee, to do anything but back the Republican …
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Obama Takes a Health Care Hiatus — WASHINGTON — As Congressional leaders and White House officials huddle behind closed doors to settle their differences on health care legislation, one of the most powerful voices in the debate — President Obama's — has grown noticeably quieter.
Daniel W. Drezner:
The convenient obsession with the dollar — Over at Politico, Eamon Javers notes an odd trend in the Drudge Report: … Drudge isn't the only one obsessed about the dollar. Last week, James Pethokoukis blogged the following for Reuters: … OK, let's be as plain as possible about this …