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 …
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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.
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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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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.”
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The New Health Care Deal — Stroll on over to this Igor Volsky Wonk Room post for your explanation of the latest public option compromise. Before I delve in, I think it's worth stepping back. — The original public option was for a “public option modeled on Medicare.”
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Howard Dean: Senate Health Care Deal Contains “Real Reform”
Howard Dean: Senate Health Care Deal Contains “Real Reform”
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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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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Palin's “Boycott Copenhagen” Op-Ed: Annotated — Once again, the Washington Post has given Sarah Palin the chance to harness herself to the political story of the hour. The former Alaska governor has written an op-ed, published Wednesday, about the “Climate-gate” controversy at East Anglia University.
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’ …
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 …
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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.
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.
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 …
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Mark Leibovich / New York Times:
A Senator's Gift to the Jews, Nonreturnable — WASHINGTON — The canon of Hanukkah songs written by Mormon senators from Utah just got a little bigger. — Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a solemn-faced Republican with a soft spot for Jews and a love of Barbra Streisand, has penned a catchy holiday tune, “Eight Days of Hanukkah.”
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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 …
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Hot Air
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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 …
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.
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 …
Discussion:
Raw Story
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.
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Going Cheney on Climate — In 2006, Ron Suskind published “The One Percent Doctrine,” a book about the U.S. war on terrorists after 9/11. The title was drawn from an assessment by then-Vice President Dick Cheney, who, in the face of concerns that a Pakistani scientist was offering nuclear-weapons expertise …
Susan Goldsmith / Oregonian:
Anonymous donor helps pay bill for prisoners to go to college behind bars — SALEM — At Chemeketa Community College, they call him The Investor. — He's a Salem businessman, but he wishes to remain anonymous. — Nancy Green, director of corrections education for Chemeketa, took the man's call that day in 2007.
Michelle Malkin:
Sarah in the Springs — We had frigid weather and several inches of Goreflakes on the ground here in Colorado Springs, but Sarah Palin lit up the town for a Borders signing earlier this evening that drew yet another massive crowd on her nationwide “Going Rogue” book tour.
Nile Gardiner / Daily Mail:
Does Obama have it in for Britain? — He insults our troops and PM while sucking up to the French and Germans. But, says NILE GARDINER, the President needs to remember who his friends are . . . For decades, Britain and the U.S. have been the closest of allies, enjoying a transatlantic alliance forged …
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Commentary
Belinda Luscombe / Time:
Search Engines: Why Examiner.com Tops Google Results — If you type the name of a celebrity — say, Angelina Jolie — into Google News, chances are somewhere in the top five results you'll get a story from Examiner.com. This is particularly true if the celebrity is in the news that day.
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New York Times
Ezra Klein:
Letting insurers ‘win’ — “We WIN,” some insurance industry insider crowed to Ben Smith. “Administered by private insurance companies. No government funding. No government insurance competitor.” Similarly but oppositely, a few anxious e-mailers have written to ask whether Medicare buy …
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WSJ.com