memeorandum: Obama Stimulus Numbers: The Return of Enron-Style Accounting (Mike Flynn/Big Government)

4:20 PM ET, November 19, 2009

Top Items:

Rudy Giuliani to run for U.S. Senate; If elected may aim for White House in 2012 — Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor next year - but will run for U.S. Senate instead, sources told the Daily News. — A source familiar with Giuliani's thinking …

Discussion: NPR Blogs, The Fix, TPMDC, Scorecard's Blog, AmSpecBlog, Liberal Values, MyDD, Taegan Goddard's …, Big Brass Blog, Real Clear Politics and The Page

Danny Hakim / New York Times:

Giuliani Is Said to Have Decided Not to Run for Governor — Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has decided not to run for governor of New York next year after months of mulling a candidacy, according to people who have been told of the decision. — His decision is a blow to many Republican leaders …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Washington Wire, The Hill, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Moderate Voice, Gawker, George's Bottom Line, Politics Daily, GOP 12, Ben Smith's Blog, Swing State Project, Gothamist, JammieWearingFool, Indecision Forever and Hotline On Call

New York Post:
But Giuliani leaves open possibility of Senate run

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Joseph Curl / Washington Times:

Health bill could get 34-hour reading in Senate — The 2,074-page Senate health care bill would take 34 hours to read cover to cover — and that's just what Sen. Tom Coburn wants done on the Senate floor. — The Oklahoma Republican has threatened to invoke parliamentary rules to force the Senate clerk …

Discussion: Townhall.com

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

FDL Statement on Senate Combined Health Care Bill — The Senate Health Care Reform Bill (photo by roemerman) — It is encouraging that Senator Reid respected the will of the American people and included a public option in the merged Senate bill. However, the addition of a state opt …

Discussion: The Politico, The Huffington Post, TalkLeft, Raw Story, Feministe and The Nation

Michael O'Brien / The Hill: Lieberman: More Dems could join public option filibuster

Jeffrey Young / The Hill: Reid uncertain of tally as healthcare bill heads for rare Saturday vote

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Reid announces Saturday test vote

Discussion: The Swamp, Washington Monthly and Health Care Task Force

Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
Ben Nelson: Senate bill's abortion provisions not good enough

Discussion: Washington Monthly

New York Times:
Comparing the House and the Senate Health Care Proposals

Discussion: The Purple Center and SEIU

Jeffrey H. Anderson / New York Post:
Reid's fuzzy math

Discussion: Weekly Standard and American Spectator

Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:

Poll: Majority Of Republicans Think Obama Didn't Actually Win 2008 Election — ACORN Stole It! — The new national poll from Public Policy Polling (D) has an astonishing number about paranoia among the GOP base: Republicans do not think President Obama actually won the 2008 election — instead, ACORN stole it.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Matthew Yglesias, The Washington Independent, Comments from Left Field, MoJo Blog Posts, No More Mister Nice Blog, ATTACKERMAN, Indecision Forever and Talking Points Memo

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

ACORN — Losing NY-23 candidate Doug Hoffman became the latest in an increasingly long line of conservative politicians to blame his problems on ACORN yesterday despite the complete lack of evidence the organization played any role in his defeat. — The Republican base is with him though.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, Raw Story, The Gaggle, Salon, MyDD, Taegan Goddard's … and Hullabaloo

Jude Seymour / Watertown Daily Times:

Hoffman: ACORN, unions, Dems tampered with NY-23 election — With his prospect of winning the 23rd Congressional District race now almost zero, Conservative Party candidate Douglas L. Hoffman suggested Wednesday in a letter that “ACORN, the unions and the Democratic Party” “tampered” with results to deny him victory.

Discussion: Capitol Briefing, Scorecard's Blog, Washington Monthly, The Washington Independent, The Hill, AmSpecBlog, The Mahablog, TPMDC, Syracuse Post-Standard, Politics Daily, Left in the West, MyDD, Gawker and Think Progress

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Leahy: No need to interrogate bin Laden — If the U.S. captures Osama bin Laden, there's no need to interrogate him, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday. — Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chairman of that committee, said that arguments raised by Republican senators …

Discussion: Power Line, Weekly Standard, The Corner on National …, YID With LID and Jules Crittenden

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:

NPR Shocker: Attorney General Holder Stumped By Lindsey Graham — During Wednesday's Justice Department oversight hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stumped Attorney General Eric Holder on what should have been a fairly routine question for America's top law enforcement official.

Discussion: NPR Blogs, Althouse, TigerHawk, theblogprof, The Other McCain, RedState, Fausta's Blog, Wizbang, Power Line, The Strata-Sphere, Neptunus Lex, Riehl World View and The Foundry

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

FOX rolls wrong video, heads may roll — by Mark Silva and updated with FOX apology — FOX has done it again, and this time, once again, FOX says its misplay of the wrong crowd video was another regrettable mistake. — Today, FOX News host Gregg Jarrett was talking …

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
The “Going Rogue” tour — by the numbers

Discussion: The Politico, Hot Air, Real Clear Politics and The Caucus

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Fox issues on-air apology for misleading footage of Palin crowds.

Discussion: The Swamp, The Politico, The Political Carnival and TPM LiveWire

Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:

White House aides: No Afghan decision before Thanksgiving — SEOUL — President Obama will not announce his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan before the Thanksgiving holiday, senior aides said Thursday. — The news came as the president greeted 1,500 troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Weekly Standard, Mudville Gazette, RedState and Atlas Shrugs

Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
Obama Tells Troops: “You Guys Make a Pretty Good Photo-Op”

Discussion: theblogprof

Tom Blumer / NewsBusters.org:
Oh, So Now U.S. Soldiers Are ‘A Pretty Good Photo-op’; Let's …

Discussion: Pajamas Media and Don Surber

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2010: California Governor Election — 2010 California Governor: Brown 41%, Whitman 41% — State Attorney General Jerry Brown is the only major Democrat still running for governor of California next year, and now he's tied with Republican hopeful Meg Whitman at 41% each …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Swing State Project, Real Clear Politics and GOP 12

Rasmussen Reports:
To Create Jobs, Voters Say Cut Taxes and Stop Spending

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel, YID With LID, Power Line and HotAirPundit

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

House Dem: ‘Growing’ liberal consensus to dump Geithner — A Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) member said there's “growing consensus” among liberals that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should step down. — {mosads}Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said Wednesday that he and other liberal House members …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Hotline On Call and MyDD

Matthew Jaffe / ABCNEWS:
Two Republicans Call for Geithner's Resignation, Echo Democrat's Comments

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Gateway Pundit, The Hill and Riehl World View

Quinnipiac University:

American Voters Like Obama, But Not His Policies, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Support For Public Option, But Not Overall Health Plan — Three-quarters of American voters - 74 percent - like President Barack Obama as a person, but only 47 percent like most of his policies …

Discussion: Hot Air, Politics Daily, Townhall.com, The Hill and The Atlantic Politics Channel

Manu Raju / The Politico:
Lieberman slams public option, brushes off critics

Discussion: Ezra Klein, The New Republic and Commentary

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Fred Thompson: Afghan war ‘has been lost’ — Former Sen. Fred Thompson today intensified his party's criticism of President Obama's long deliberation over policy in Afghanistan, announcing that Obama's delay signals that “the war has been lost” and that nothing the president now does will “make any difference.”

Discussion: Think Progress, The Corner on National … and Say Anything

Kbh / KeithHennessey.com:

Major tax increases in the Reid health care bill — The following is from the Joint Tax Committee estimate of the revenue effects of the Reid bill. I have listed provisions with major revenue effects (+$20 B / 10 years) and a few others that have significant policy or political impacts.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Ruby Slippers, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, TaxProf Blog, Cato @ Liberty, Hot Air, YID With LID, The New Ledger, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Conservatives, Betsy's Page and Riehl World View

Daniel Zwerdling / NPR:

Hasan's Supervisor Warned Army In '07 … text sizeAAA — Two years ago, a top psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was so concerned about what he saw as Nidal Hasan's incompetence and reckless behavior that he put those concerns in writing. NPR has obtained a copy of the memo …

Discussion: Capitol Briefing, Washington Post, The Purple Center, PostPartisan, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air, YID With LID, Betsy's Page, The Jawa Report, Mudville Gazette and The New Republic

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

THERE BAYH GOES AGAIN.... Sen. Evan Bayh (D) of Indiana wrote a column for CNN, explaining why he intends to vote against raising the debt ceiling, “unless Congress adopts a credible process to balance our books and eliminate the red ink.” … What Bayh wants is a congressional commission …

Discussion: CNN

Matt Corley / Think Progress:

Foxx: Republicans ‘Passed Civil Rights Bills Back In The 60s Without Very Much Help’ From Democrats — During a debate on the House floor today over designating 21 miles of the Molalla River as “wild and scenic,” Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who opposes the legislation, tried to claim a progressive environmental record for her party.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Wonkette

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Conyers: 'I'm getting tired of saving Obama's can' — President Barack Obama is “bowing down” to Republicans and corporate interests on health reform, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said Thursday. — Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a longtime advocate of single-payer healthcare …

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

To Our Readers, An Update — This Dish will resume as normal tomorrow morning. We apologize for the lacuna. And I suppose some will say we've gotten this book and the issues it raises out of perspective. But since the last campaign, we have raised many questions about Palin …