Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Temporary Beltway Sanity — The doctor fix blows up in the Senate, no thanks to the AMA. — Printer — Friendly — Yesterday saw some rare good news on the health-care front, with the stealth Democratic plan to move $247 billion in ObamaCare costs off the books collapsing in the Senate on a procedural vote of 47 to 53.
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New York Times:
Democrats Lose Big Test Vote on Health Legislation — WASHINGTON — Democrats lost a big test vote on health care legislation on Wednesday as the Senate blocked action on a bill to increase Medicare payments to doctors at a cost of $247 billion over 10 years.
Discussion:
The Politico, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Don Surber, WSJ.com, Wall Street Journal and AmSpecBlog
Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily:
Harry Reid Lashes Out at Republicans After Senate Sinks Medicare Measure — After a month of praising bipartisanship, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lashed out at the GOP on the Senate floor Wednesday when a Medicare measure he brought up for a vote failed amid concerns about its impact on the deficit.
Josh Rogin / The Cable:
Exclusive: Holbrooke on Holbrooke — Washington has been abuzz with stories speculating about the role of special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, the gregarious U.S. diplomat who has been somewhat absent from public appearances recently.
Discussion:
THE WEEK News & Opinion, Taylor Marsh, ATTACKERMAN, Washington Times, New York Times and Daniel W. Drezner
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Washington Post:
Obama administration to cut executive pay at 7 bailed-out firms — NEW YORK — The Obama administration plans to order companies that have received exceptionally large amounts of bailout money from the government to slash compensation for their highest-paid executives by about half on average …
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Wall Street Journal:
Pay Czar to Slash Compensation at Seven Firms
Pay Czar to Slash Compensation at Seven Firms
Discussion:
naked capitalism, Ideoblog, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Portfolio, ABCNEWS, Expose Obama, James Pethokoukis, The Note, Stephen Kruiser and PointOfLaw Forum
Stephen Labaton / New York Times:
U.S. to Order Steep Pay Cuts at Firms That Got Most Aid
U.S. to Order Steep Pay Cuts at Firms That Got Most Aid
Discussion:
Power Line, The Huffington Post, msnbc.com, DailyFinance, Outside The Beltway, The Caucus, Marginal Revolution, Gothamist, SEIU, New York Magazine, MoJo Blog Posts, Open Left, Gawker, The Political Carnival, Felix Salmon, Raw Story, Riehl World View, Indecision Forever, Behind the Numbers, Politics Daily and Clusterstock
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Cheney's Speech Tonight — Dick Cheney that is, who will be speaking at the Center for Security Policy tonight. The speech is a real humdinger. Check back here at 6 for the full text of the former vice president's remarks.
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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 …
Discussion:
The Politico, Pundit & Pundette, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Note, TPMDC, Gateway Pundit and Moe_Lane's blog
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Ken Blackwell / The Politico:
Reagan conservative in North Country — Doug Hoffman didn't have a chance to make his case to Republican voters in a primary in New York's 23rd Congressional District. That's because the local GOP establishment chose its candidate behind closed doors, in a formerly smoke-filled room.
Discussion:
Townhall.com
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David Frum / THE WEEK News & Opinion:
Prelude to Republican fratricide
Prelude to Republican fratricide
Discussion:
National Review Online
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Revealed: Who else was at that secret Obama briefing with Olby and Maddow? — Tantalizing but frustrating, as it's only a partial list; without the full attendance sheet, it's impossible to say definitively that the most transparent administration evah was playing only to its cheerleaders.
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Chris Ariens / TVNewser:
Maddow/Olbermann Invited to White House Chat with Obama, But Fox Isn't a News Organization? — Here's a curious turn in the White House vs. Fox News fight. — On Monday, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow were among several people who attended an off-the-record briefing with Pres. Obama at the White House.
Thom Geier / EW.com:
Attention, Sarah Palin bashers: Lookalike book ‘Going Rouge’ is coming! — We know that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin can hunt, and even field-dress a moose, but how will she take to poachers on her book sales? Start-up publisher OR Books has announced plans to publish Going Rouge …
Discussion:
Jules Crittenden, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit, The Moderate Voice, GalleyCat, Guardian, Christian Science Monitor, Wizbang, PopWatch, Little Green Footballs, Conservatives4Palin.com, Deceiver.com, NY Daily News, The Oprah blog, Wonkette, The Iowa Republican, AOL News, The Political Carnival and Moraes on TV
Steven T. Dennis / Roll Call:
Leaders Confident on Health Bill Vote — House Democratic leaders sounded bullish Wednesday after launching an all-hands-on-deck effort to win support for a “robust” public insurance option in their health care bill. — “We think we have the votes now,” Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.) told reporters.
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama Quarterly Approval Average Slips Nine Points to 53% — Largest second- to third-quarter drop for an elected president — PRINCETON, NJ — In Gallup Daily tracking that spans Barack Obama's third quarter in office (July 20 through Oct. 19), the president averaged a 53% job approval rating.
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Yossi Melman and / Haaretz:
Iran, Israel attend secret nuclear meet in Cairo — Israeli and Iranian representatives recently took part in a conference in Cairo on nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) said Thursday, but Tehran said the report on the meeting was untrue.
Associated Press:
Latest N.J. governor's race poll has Corzine, Christie neck-and-neck with Daggett gaining — A poll released today found Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie running nearly even in the New Jersey governor's race. — The Rutgers-Eagleton Poll showed 39 percent …
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
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Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Daggett getting into Ventura territory in polls
Daggett getting into Ventura territory in polls
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
Republican Ways and Means:
7 Months After Stimulus 49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs — America Now Over 6 Million Jobs Shy of Administration's Projections — The table below compares the White House's February 2009 projection of the number of jobs that would be created by the 2009 stimulus law (through the end of 2010) …
Moe Lane / Moe_Lane's blog:
How Not To Do It: the infamous Dede Scozzafava photo op. — So, just how bad was this photo op that Dede Scozzafava had to try to push back on Doug Hoffman? — This bad. From our super-secret hidden peanut gallery (names left in because they said to): … ...no, that image wasn't pretty: then again, neither was this.
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Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
Tzipi Livni Shows Prime Ministerial Stuff on J Street Conference — The more I listen to Congressional Opposition chief John Boehner as of late, the more I wish he could find the dignity and common ground for big objectives that Israel's Opposition Party Leader, Kadima Party chief Tzipi Livni …
Christopher S. Rugaber / Associated Press:
New jobless claims rise more than expected to 531K — First-time jobless claims rise more than expected to 531,000, continuing claims fall — WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys
Gregory B. Hladky / Hartford Advocate:
Republicans Overtweet — Twitter shuts down 33 fake accounts created by state Republicans in an attempt to lambast Dems — Barack Obama's victory last year left many Republicans bemoaning their party's ineptitude when it came to political exploitation of the Web.
Danielle Ivory / The Huffington Post:
Rape Victim's Choice: Risk AIDS or Health Insurance? — Huffington Post Investigative Fund — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Christina Turner feared that she might have been sexually assaulted after two men slipped her a knockout drug. She thought she was taking proper precautions …