memeorandum: NRSC: Reid is a ‘partisan bully’ (Tony Romm/The Hill)

5:55 AM ET, October 27, 2009

Top Items:

Durbin: Progressives Forced Our Hand On Public Option — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Democratic leaders were forced to include a national public health insurance option as part of health care reform by progressive Democratic senators who refused to support anything less, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday.

Discussion: Fox News, Hullabaloo, The Huffington Post, Open Left, The New Republic, Daily Kos, The Hill and TPMDC

Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:

Reid announces push for public option — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this afternoon that he plans to push ahead with a public health insurance option that includes an opt-out provision for states - even though he's currently short several votes for passage, according to people close to the situation.

Tony Romm / The Hill:

NRSC: Reid is a ‘partisan bully’ — Republicans are now hoping to use Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (Nev.) reaffirmed support for a public option as ammunition in their fight to defeat him in 2010. — In a statement released just before Reid announced his chamber's final reform bill …

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Monthly, The TrogloPundit, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, TPMDC and MyDD

Martin Kady II / The Politico:

Comeback kids? — This is turning into a heck of a comeback story. — Step away from the wonky details about opt-in, trigger, the Cadillac tax and cloture votes for a second, and you'll see a serious change in tone has overtaken the health care debate in the past few weeks.

Discussion: MyDD and CBS News

Matt Sedensky / Associated Press:
Pelosi: Health care ‘public option’ needs new name

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, American Power, The Plum Line, Townhall.com, Don Surber, Michelle Malkin, Verum Serum and Weasel Zippers

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Schumer: We Prevailed On White House That Public Option Was The Way To Go

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Firedoglake

Tony Romm / The Hill:
Snowe disappointed with ‘opt-out’ public option

Discussion: Washington Post and Connecting.the.Dots

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Reid's Roll Of The Dice

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, MyDD, Health Care Experts and AMERICAblog News

New York Times:
Public Option Push in Senate Comes With Escape Hatch

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Balkinization, The New Republic and Raw Story

David M. Herszenhorn / Prescriptions:
Senator Reid Announces ‘Opt-Out’ Public Plan

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Note, Democratic Strategist, The Politico, Capitol Briefing, The Hill, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Agonist, The Moderate Voice, The Washington Independent, Salon, MoJo Blog Posts and The Page

Ezra Klein:
Reid to announce a public option?

Discussion: The Politico, The Plum Line, TPMDC, MoJo Blog Posts, Firedoglake and MyDD

The Huffington Post:
Reid: “The Public Option With An Opt-Out Is The One That's Fair”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, MarketWatch, Christian Science Monitor, The Politico, The Huffington Post, Newsweek Blogs, Progress Illinois and Truthdig

Club for Growth:

CFG Poll: Hoffman Leading in NY-23 — Hoffman Surges Into Lead in NY-23 — New CFG Poll shows Hoffman 31.3%, Owens 27.0%, Scozzafava 19.7% — Washington - A poll released today by the Club for Growth shows Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman surging into the lead in the special election …

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Glenn Beck goes all in for Doug Hoffman — and third parties

Discussion: The Other McCain, Instapundit and AmSpecBlog

Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
REDSTATE EXCLUSIVE: Tim Pawlenty Endorses Doug Hoffman

Discussion: Scorecard's Blog, DCCC, Hot Air, Another Black Conservative, Salon, AmSpecBlog, The Other McCain, CNN, The Note, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Real Clear Politics, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Conservatives4Palin.com, The Washington Independent, American Thinker and TPMDC

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:

CNN Drops to Last Place Among Cable News Networks — CNN, which invented the cable news network more than two decades ago, will hit a new competitive low with its prime-time programs in October, finishing fourth - and last - among the cable news networks with the audience that all the networks rely on for their advertising.

Discussion: Hot Air, Mediaite, TalkLeft, Another Black Conservative, The Daily Dish, Liberal Values, Taylor Marsh, Michael Calderone's Blog, DailyFinance, Kausfiles, Truthdig, NewsBusters.org and Politics Daily

Don Surber:
CNN's numbers drop 68% in prime to last place

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Chris Harris / Media Matters Action Network:

After 6 Days, RNC Finally Removes Photo Calling Mixing Of Races A “Crime Against American Values” … RNC FACEBOOK PAGE HOSTED BLATANTLY RACIST PHOTO — Earlier today, the Republican National Committee finally removed a racist photo of President Obama that had been featured on its Facebook page since October 20th.

Daniel Tencer / Raw Story:

RNC keeps racist pics on Facebook for nearly a week — Perhaps no one noticed. Perhaps no one cared. But hours after a liberal news forum brought attention to a series of days old controversial photos on the Republican National Committee's Facebook page, the photos were finally taken down.

Discussion: Mediaite, Think Progress, The Reaction and The Impolitic

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Biden's popularity plunges; lower than Cheney's — Vice President Joe Biden's favorable rating has fallen to 42 percent in a new Gallup poll, down from a high of 59 percent just after last year's election. Biden's unfavorable rating in the new poll is 40 percent, up from 29 percent last November.

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Vice President Biden's Favorable Rating Continues to Decline

Discussion: The Hill

Washington Post:

McDonnell has double-digit lead in Va. governor's race, Post poll says — Republican Robert F. McDonnell carries a double-digit lead over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds into the final week of the campaign for Virginia governor, according to a new Washington Post poll.

Discussion: The Politico, Daily Kos, George's Bottom Line, Top of the Ticket, Real Clear Politics, The Page, National Review Online, msnbc.com and TPMDC

The Politico:

Grayson goes too far for colleagues — Republicans and Democrats slammed Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) for calling Linda Robertson, an adviser to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, a “K Street whore” in a month-old radio interview that circulated on Capitol Hill Monday night. — “There's no call for that language.

Discussion: RedState, Townhall.com and Central Florida Political …

James Fallows:

More on the Minneapolis “overflight” — According to numerous accounts in the last hour — AP here, Reuters here, WSJ here — the current story from the Northwest flight crew that forgot to land in Minneapolis is that they were so absorbed in using laptops in the cockpit that they neglected …

Discussion: Associated Press, Reuters and MoJo Blog Posts

Andy Pasztor / Wall Street Journal: Laptops Cited for Pilot Inattention

Political Punch:

President Obama Likely to Announce Afghan Decision Between Nov. 7 and 11; Will Likely Seek More Troops - But Not 40,000 — Sources tell ABC News that as of now President Obama will likely announce his decision about a new strategy in Afghanistan at some point between the Afghan run-off election …

Discussion: Top of the Ticket and Hot Air

Eric Zimmermann / The Hill:
Senator Kerry: General McChrystal's troop request is too much, too fast

Discussion: The Politico, Liberal Values, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Ben Smith's Blog, The Democratic Daily and The Page

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war — When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan. — A former Marine Corps captain …

Discussion: New York Times, Taylor Marsh, Rethink Afghanistan, Daily Kos, Philly.com and msnbc.com

Associated Press:

N.J. independent candidate Daggett says GOP rival Christie won't win … TRENTON — An independent candidate running for New Jersey governor has made a bold prediction: Republican challenger Chris Christie will not win the race. — Chris Daggett believes he'll pull the upset victory on Nov. 3.

Discussion: TPMDC and National Review Online

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
New Jersey Poll Preview

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and National Review Online

Political Punch:

NOW President on President Obama's All-Male Athletic Outings: 'It's Troubling' — We asked Terry O'Neill, the new president of the National Organization for Women, what she thought of those Democratic women and others quietly complaining about a “boy's club” atmosphere at the White House …

Discussion: The Confluence, protein wisdom, Hot Air, Don Surber, THE WEEK News & Opinion, The Politico, Washington Post, Lynn Sweet, Wonkette and Althouse

Robin Pagnamenta / Times of London:

Climate chief Lord Stern: give up meat to save the planet — People will need to consider turning vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to a leading authority on global warming. — In an interview with The Times, Lord Stern of Brentford said …

Discussion: RedState, Truthdig and Weasel Zippers

Michael Schneider / Variety:

MacFarlane special loses Microsoft — Company yanks sponsorship of Fox show — Microsoft has yanked its sponsorship from Fox's upcoming Seth MacFarlane comedy/variety special over content concerns. — Fox still plans to air “Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show” …

Discussion: Media Decoder, Mashable! and Engadget