Top Items:
David Espo / Associated Press:
Dems agree to drop gov't-run insurance option — WASHINGTON — Democratic senators say they have a tentative deal to drop a government-run insurance option from health care legislation. No further details were immediately available. — But liberals and moderates have been discussing an alternative …
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Reuters:
Democrats reach deal on health plan — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic negotiators said they had reached agreement on Tuesday on a compromise on a scaled-back public insurance plan in a broad healthcare overhaul and would seek cost estimates on the deal.
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Snowe Says She Opposes Medicare Buy-In Idea — Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) says a Medicare buy-in approach will be a hard sell with her. She told reporters this afternoon that she's not inclined to support the idea, currently being discussed by liberal and conservative Democrats seeking a compromise on the public option.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The Confluence, Washington Monthly, TPM LiveWire, No More Mister Nice Blog and AmSpecBlog
The Huffington Post:
Medicare Buy-In Proposal Could Begin In 2010 — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — There is “growing enthusiasm” for a proposal that would make Medicare coverage available to more consumers as early as next year, a Democratic source with knowledge of health care negotiations tells the Huffington Post.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, TPMDC, The Politico, Ezra Klein, Open Left and Think Progress
Jon Walker / Firedoglake:
Public Option Grand Compromise Becomes a Grand Big Nothing — Well, that did not take long. Earlier today, I wrote how closely the new “grand compromise” on the public option at least seemed to closely resemble the theoretical alternative I wrote about several months ago based on several smart ideas.
Prescriptions:
Senate Leaders in Tentative Deal to Alter Public Option
Senate Leaders in Tentative Deal to Alter Public Option
Discussion:
Washington Post, TPMDC, The Greenroom, Swampland, Daily Kos, Newsweek Blogs, AMERICAblog News and Gawker
Sarah Palin / Washington Post:
Copenhagen's political science — With the publication of damaging e-mails from a climate research center in Britain, the radical environmental movement appears to face a tipping point. The revelation of appalling actions by so-called climate change experts allows the American public …
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Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Sarah Palin: Obama, boycott Copenhagen — In the practice of preaching to the choir, Sarah Palin appears to have all but patented the art of saying what a few want to hear — and it's an all-new tune now. — Palin, who was the Republican Party's nominee for vice president …
Discussion:
D.C. Now
Boston Globe:
Coakley, Brown win primaries for US Senate seat — Martha Coakley, a no-nonsense lawyer who has worked more than two decades in law enforcement and rose to become Massachusetts attorney general, won the Democratic primary election tonight in the race to fill the US Senate seat left vacant by the late Edward M. Kennedy.
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ABCNEWS:
Massive TSA Security Breach As Agency Gives Away Its Secrets — Online Posting Reveals a “How To” for Terrorists to Get Through Airport Security — In a massive security breach, the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) inadvertently posted online its entire airport screening procedures manual …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Debbie Schlussel, Hot Air, Technologizer, The Lonely Conservative and The Political Carnival
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
My friend the president — Over the past couple of days, Andrew Sullivan has linked to and published protests from various individuals who are quite angry that people “on the left” are being so mean to President Obama, and several of them are so upset that they have decided they are “leaving the left,” whatever that might mean.
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Suzi Gablik / Virgil Speaks:
Why I'm Not a Liberal Anymore — Maybe the initial illuminating moment came when I learned that Tom Hayden, the anti-Vietnam war activist, had removed the Obama bumper sticker from his car. All I know is that I can hardly stand reading the Huffington Post these days.
John Vidal / Guardian:
Copenhagen talks in chaos after leak — Developing countries react furiously to leaked draft agreement that would hand more power to rich nations, sideline the UN's negotiating role and abandon the Kyoto protocol — The UN Copenhagen climate talks are in disarray today …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Wall Street Journal, The Politico, NewsBusters.org, Gateway Pundit, Newsweek Blogs, Grist, The New Republic, Donklephant, JustOneMinute, Politics Daily, Watts Up With That?, The Greenroom, YID With LID, American Power, Green Energy Reporter, Confederate Yankee, Plunderbund, EU Referendum, Taylor Marsh, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Vox Popoli, Tim Blair, Left Coast Rebel, Samizdata.net and The Strata-Sphere
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Senate tables Nelson's abortion amendment 54-45 — Senators voted Tuesday afternoon to set aside a healthcare amendment that would have curbed federal support for abortion coverage. — Senators voted to table a measure from Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Pa.) …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Power Line, MyDD, George's Bottom Line, The Hill, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Gateway Pundit
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
House Liberals Skeptical Of Senate Proposals, Vow Not To Swallow Senate Compromise — With negotiations dragging on in the Senate, a central topic emerging on Capitol Hill is the intense pressure House Dems are likely to feel to adopt the eventual Senate proposal, and how they're likely to react to it.
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Andy Barr / The Politico:
Palin: Huck made ‘horrible decision’ — Sarah Palin says former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee made a “horrible decision” nine years ago in granting clemency to a man suspected of killing four police officers two weeks ago in Washington state. — “It was a bad decision obviously …
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Bob Egelko / San Francisco Chronicle:
White House wants suit against Yoo dismissed — (12-07) 11:33 PST SAN FRANCISCO — The Obama administration has asked an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing former Bush administration attorney John Yoo of authorizing the torture of a terrorism suspect, saying federal law does …
Robert Reich / Robert Reich's Blog:
The President's Job's Initiative Doesn't Measure Up — Barack Obama is trying once again for balance. On the one hand, he wants enough government spending to offset the timid spending of consumers and businesses. Otherwise, the jobs and wage recession could drag on for years.
Rasmussen Reports:
Most Americans Oppose Second Stimulus and Using Bailout Funds for States — President Obama hopes to use money still unspent from the $787-billion economic stimulus plan to fight the nation's 10% unemployment rate, and one of the ideas on the table is to channel money to states to keep them from laying off public employees.
New York Times:
Obama Offers Help for Small Businesses — WASHINGTON — President Obama presented a series of initiatives on Tuesday aimed at turning around the nation's beleaguered job market, paying particular attention to increasing the hiring of small businesses by opening lines of credit and offering tax breaks …
Discussion:
Switchboard, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and The Corner on National …
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Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Cheney: Obama ‘more radical’ than seen — President Barack Obama, bowing to other leaders of the world, fails to understand the concept of “American exceptionalism,” former Vice President Dick Cheney contends. — “There's never been a nation like the United States of America in world history …
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
FDA opposes Senate drug importation amendment offered to healthcare bill — A proposal to enable the importation of cheaper prescription drugs could endanger the U.S. medicine supply and would be difficult to implement, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday