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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Palin: Obama birth certificate ‘a fair question’ — Speaking to the conservative talker Rusty Humphries today, Sarah Palin left the door open to speculation about President Obama's birth certificate. — “Would you make the birth certificate an issue if you ran?” she was asked (around 9 minutes into the video above).
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Facebook:
Stupid Conspiracies — Voters have every right to ask candidates for information if they so choose. I've pointed out that it was seemingly fair game during the 2008 election for many on the left to badger my doctor and lawyer for proof that Trig is in fact my child.
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The Washington Independent, The Hill, Politics Daily, The Huffington Post, The Faster Times, American Power, Raw Story, The Awl and GOP 12
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Palin: Obama's birth certificate is fair game; Update: Transcript added; Update: Palin responds — At 7:45, your quote of the day. Something for (almost) everyone here: For the left, smoking-gun proof that she's a fringe character, and for Birthers, smoking-gun proof that their concerns are mainstream.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME.... I'm not surprised Sarah Palin would lend credence to the “birther” nonsense; I'm surprised it took her this long. — Alex Koppelman posted this transcript of Palin's on-air chat yesterday with far-right talk-show host Rusty Humphries.
Javier C. Hernandez / New York Times:
U.S. Economy Lost Only 11,000 Jobs in November — The United States economy shed 11,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 10 percent, down from 10.2 percent in October, the Labor Department said Friday. — The government also revised the October number to show …
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Christina Romer / White House.gov Blog Feed:
On the Employment Situation in November — Today's employment report was the most hopeful sign yet that the stabilization of financial markets and the recovery in economic growth may be leading to improvements in the labor market. — Payroll employment declined 11,000 in November.
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The Hill, The Hill, CEPR, The New Republic, The Atlantic Politics Channel, msnbc.com and Swampland
Wall Street Journal:
Unemployment Rate Falls to 10% — U.S. job losses slowed sharply in November and the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined, in a sign the labor market is finally starting to heal as the economy recovers. — Nonfarm payrolls fell by just 11,000 last month, slowing down from a downwardly …
CNN:
Two very different takes on the jobs report — Washington (CNN) - The White House calls Friday's unemployment report a hopeful sign of an economic recovery, but warns that “there are many bumps in the road ahead.” — The nation's jobless rate dropped to 10 percent in November, the Labor Department reported.
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Reform or Else — Health care reform hangs in the balance. Its fate rests with a handful of “centrist” senators — senators who claim to be mainly worried about whether the proposed legislation is fiscally responsible. — But if they're really concerned with fiscal responsibility …
The Politico:
POLITICO Q & A: Al Gore — Former Vice President Al Gore, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change, talked with POLITICO's John F. Harris and Mike Allen about climate issues and the upcoming United Nations conference in Copenhagen. Here are edited excerpts.
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Nelson amendment expected to fall short even with GOP support — An amendment restricting abortions does not appear to have enough support to be attached to the Senate healthcare bill. — Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.) said he expected that all but a few Republicans would support …
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Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:Sen. Reid has recipe for getting health-care deal done
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J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
Coburn, Vitter want to force Congress into public health plan — Two of the Senate's most ardent opponents of a public health program, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and David Vitter (R-La.), are preparing an amendment to force members of Congress into any plan that is passed.
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David Brooks / New York Times:
The Analytic Mode — Many Democrats are nostalgic for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign — for the passion, the clarity, the bliss-to-be-alive fervor. They argue that these things are missing in a cautious and emotionless White House. — But, of course, the Obama campaign …
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JustOneMinute, DailyHowler.com, The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, Washington Post and Prairie Weather
Benjamin Spillman / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
SENATE RACE: Reid in a battle, poll reveals — Nine Republicans running for seat — Nevadans aren't warming up to Sen. Harry Reid, despite plenty of early advertising designed to boost his image, a new poll shows. — Just 38 percent of respondents said they had a favorable opinion …
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Hot Air, Scorecard's Blog, The Tolbert Report, JammieWearingFool, National Review Online and TPMDC
Scott Shane / New York Times:
C.I.A. to Expand Use of Drones in Pakistan — WASHINGTON — Two weeks ago in Pakistan, Central Intelligence Agency sharpshooters killed eight people suspected of being militants of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and wounded two others in a compound that was said to be used for terrorist training.
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Obama's hollow speech on Afghanistan — We shall fight in the air, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, we shall fight in the hills — for 18 months. Then we start packing for home. — We shall never surrender — unless the war gets too expensive …
New York Times:
NATO Pledges 7,000 More Troops for Afghanistan — BRUSSELS — Responding to American entreaties for more soldiers in Afghanistan, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO secretary general, announced Friday that the alliance had agreed to contribute a further 7,000 “new forces” to the coalition …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Bernanke's Plan for Unemployment: Do Nothing — I've been holding out some kind of vague hope that Ben Bernanke's confirmation hearings might provide a way out of our political impasse on the jobs front. After all, Bernanke's job is to try to achieve as close to full employment …
Discussion:
The New Republic, New York Times, AmSpecBlog, The Hill, The Huffington Post, J. Bradford DeLong's …, Firedoglake, Mother Jones, The Agonist and Eschaton
Washington Post:
Homeland Security panel faces ethics scrutiny after credit card hearing — At a hearing in late March, the nation's credit card companies faced the threat of expensive new rules from an unlikely regulator: the House Committee on Homeland Security, chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
The battle for Teddy's seat — NEWTON, Mass. — For years, the anticipation loomed. — Just wait, Massachusetts politicos whispered, until one of the state's two coveted Senate seats comes open. With all the ambitious, hard-charging Democrats in the House delegation and another generation …
Richard Borreca / Star Bulletin:
Obamas will spend holidays in Hawaii — Hawaii's home-grown president, Barack Obama, is expected back in Honolulu on Dec. 23, according to sources in Washington. — The president and his family are expected to stay until Jan. 2, meaning he will celebrate both Christmas and New Year's in the islands.
Hotline On Call:
Pawlenty Hires Finance Director — MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) has hired a new top aide to help him raise big money, a source tells Hotline OnCall. — Pawlenty, who has begun exploring a Pres. bid for '12, has hired Brian Haley as his PAC's finance director.
Spiegel Online:
Prostitutes Offer Free Climate Summit Sex — Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard sent postcards to city hotels warning summit guests not to patronize Danish sex workers during the upcoming conference. Now, the prostitutes have struck back, offering free sex to anyone who produces one of the warnings.
Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
Breaking: Obama's “Safe Schools Czar” Is Promoting Child Porn in the Classroom- Kevin Jennings and the GLSEN Reading List — Scott Baker from Breitbart-TV.com and Co-Host of ‘The B-Cast’ submitted this shocking report today on Obama's deviant Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings.
CNN:
Romney defends Huckabee's clemency decision — Washington (CNN)- Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney defended Mike Huckabee's clemency decision that allegedly led to the shooting death of four police officers in Washington state.. — During an interview Thursday night with CNN's Larry King Live …
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