Top Items:
New York Times:
Reid Says Deal Resolves the Impasse on the Public Option — WASHINGTON — The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said Tuesday night that he and a group of 10 Democratic senators had reached “a broad agreement” to resolve a dispute over a proposed government-run health insurance plan …
Discussion:
The Politico, Los Angeles Times, Weekly Standard, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, RedState, Prescriptions, USA Today, Boston Globe, Wake up America, The Note, Think Progress, QandO, Indecision Forever, The Faster Times, Hot Air, Swampland, Washington Monthly, msnbc.com, Prairie Weather, JustOneMinute, Christian Science Monitor and Firedoglake
RELATED:
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Democrats Agree To Tentatively Trade Opt-Out For Trigger, Medicare Buy In, And More — An aide briefed on the negotiations among the gang of 10 offers up the rundown of the most important aspects of the public option compromise being sent to CBO. — If this trade-off carries the day, the opt out public option is gone.
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Kristol: Reid Doesn't Have 60 — The much hyped (if utterly incoherent) deal that Harry Reid is touting doesn't look as if it's doing the trick — the trick being to cobble together anything (and I mean anything) that can get 60 votes in the Senate, introduce it as a manager's amendment later this week, and jam it through.
Discussion:
Commentary
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Howard Dean: Senate Health Care Deal Contains “Real Reform” — In a boost for the Senate health care deal reached yesterday, Howard Dean said in an interview with me moments ago that the current compromise contains “real reform,” and said that as it stands now, progressives could support it.
Ezra Klein:
The team of 10 reaches a deal on the public option — But, err, they won't tell anyone what it is. At least not until they hear back from the Congressional Budget Office. The most telling tidbit so far has come from Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who said, “I've got a smile on my face. I don't smile naturally.”
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, The New Republic, Firedoglake, The Politico, Daily Kos, Politics Daily, Open Left, TPMDC, Angry Bear, Democratic Strategist, The Daily Dish, American Spectator, The Huffington Post, Reuters, Rumproast, Blog entry, The Washington Independent, Suburban Guerrilla, TalkLeft, The Atlantic Politics Channel and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Michael D. Tanner / Cato @ Liberty:
FEHBP Plan Is No ‘Moderate Compromise’
FEHBP Plan Is No ‘Moderate Compromise’
Discussion:
Megan McArdle, Hit & Run, Marginal Revolution, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, QandO and Prescriptions
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 …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, The Huffington Post, Weekly Standard, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Think Progress, Climate Progress, msnbc.com, Confederate Yankee, FP Passport, Guardian, Deltoid, Gateway Pundit, At-Largely, DailyHowler.com, Taylor Marsh, Swampland, Gawker, Achenblog, Commentary, Newshoggers.com, The Politico, Green Energy Reporter, Conservatives4Palin.com, Environmental Capital, The Reaction, Cato @ Liberty, The Intersection, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, No Left Turns, NewsBusters.org, Get Energy Smart!, No More Mister Nice Blog and Little Green Footballs
RELATED:
Jeremy Schulman / Media Matters for America:
Wash. Post publishes falsehood-laden Palin op-ed that is contradicted by scientists, temperature data, and ... the Post itself — The Washington Post's has published an op-ed by Sarah Palin in which she claims that the apparently stolen Climate Research Unite emails “reveal that leading climate ‘experts’ …
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Sotomayor Draws Retort From a Fellow Justice — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court released its first four decisions in argued cases this term on Tuesday. They were all minor, but one was notable for being Justice Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court debut and for prompting a testy concurrence from Justice Clarence Thomas.
Discussion:
ImmigrationProf Blog, ScotusWiki, culturekitchen, Emptywheel, TigerHawk, Wonk Room, SCOTUSblog, Immigration Chronicles, Election Law and USA Today
RELATED:
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Sotomayor's opinion marks the Supreme Court's first use of the …
Sotomayor's opinion marks the Supreme Court's first use of the …
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Bush closes the gap — Public Policy Polling: — Perhaps the greatest measure of Obama's declining support is that just 50% of voters now say they prefer having him as President to George W. Bush, with 44% saying they'd rather have his predecessor. Given the horrendous approval ratings …
Discussion:
Indecision Forever
RELATED:
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama's December Standing — For the second month in a row we find Barack Obama's national approval rating at 49%, with 47% of voters disapproving of him. He has the support of 83% of Democrats, 46% of independents, and 11% of Republicans. None of those numbers have really changed from our November poll.
Art Beast / The Daily Beast:
Did Obama Snub the King? — Home - Cheat sheet - Buzz board - Big Fat Story - Blogs & stories - Videos - Galleries - Crossword — Blogs and Stories — Finally some Europeans are angry with Obama—the very ones who are awarding him his peace prize. Katarina Andersson on the president's rebuff …
RELATED:
Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Obama to GOP: ‘Stop trying to frighten the American people’ — President Barack Obama told House Republican leaders to “stop trying to frighten the American people” even as he and Democrats said they see a possibility for bipartisan cooperation on job creation legislation.
RELATED:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Mark Penn's two firms got $6 million from stimulus for PR campaign — Nearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's pollster in 2008. — Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Townhall.com, Big Government, Hit & Run, The Corner on National …, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and Wonkette
Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: Ohio Governor — In 2010 Ohio Governor Match-up, Strickland Trails Kasich — Unemployment in Ohio has jumped to 10.5%, the state is wrestling with an $851 million budget shortfall, and Governor Ted Strickland has proposed delaying a tax cut approved in 2005.
Jeffrey Goldberg / Tablet Magazine:
‘Eight Days of Hanukkah’ — MORE: Watch the “Eight Days of Hanukkah” video. — Ten years ago, I visited Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah and a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Capitol Hill. I was writing for The New York Times Magazine and Hatch was thinking of running for president.
RELATED:
Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
Coincidence? I Think Not... On Monday, an environmental reporter for Mother Jones magazine reported on Twitter that EPA Administration Lisa Jackson linked the EPA “endangerment” finding to the Climate Change conference in Copenhagen. — Kate Sheppard wrote:
RELATED:
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
EPA chief: Hey, timing of new CO2 regulations just a coincidence!
EPA chief: Hey, timing of new CO2 regulations just a coincidence!
Discussion:
THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
Andrew Bolt:
Wigley denies: “I did not choke on the deceit” — Sheesh, I try to do Climategate scientist Tom Wigley a favor by suggesting he was principled enough to have choked on the deceit he was witnessing, and this is how he repays me: … In fact, he refuses to accept the accolade of being the kind …
RELATED:
Hanna Rosin / The Atlantic Online:
Did Christianity Cause the Crash? — LIKE THE AMBITIONS of many immigrants who attend services there, Casa del Padre's success can be measured by upgrades in real estate. The mostly Latino church, in Charlottesville, Virginia, has moved from the pastor's basement, where it was founded in 2001 …
Ezra Klein:
Industry gears up to oppose Medicare buy-in — Politico reports that hospitals are readying to fight Medicare buy-in tooth-and-nail: … This scares hospitals a lot more than the House's public option. Medicare pays less for services than private insurers do, or than the public plan would.
RELATED:
John H. Richardson / Esquire:
Alberto Gonzales: What I've Learned — The former attorney general opens up on the value of torture, his Senate hearings, Karl Rove's role in the U.S. attorney firings, and more wrong guesses from the Bush administration — I guess I would use my son's word: cool. It was cool to work in the White House.
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Steele gets heated over ‘you people’ — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele got into a heated exchange Wednesday morning with the cast of MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” — It started with CNBC commentator Donny Deutsch, who pointedly asked Steele about the GOP's criticism …
Dan Abramson / The Huffington Post:
Jon Stewart Calls Out Gretchen Carlson For “Dumbing Herself Down” (VIDEO) — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Jon Stewart went after “Fox & Friends” host Gretchen Carlson last night. Saying she plays the “troubled mom, just trying to make sense of this modern country,” Stewart explained Carlson seems …
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Exclusive: George gets ‘GMA’ — ABC News will announce George Stephanopoulos as an anchor of “Good Morning America,” to start as soon as Monday, industry sources tell POLITICO. The announcement is planned for Thursday. — Stephanopoulos, 48, joins Robin Roberts at the anchor desk of the lucrative morning show.