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.
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.”
Erika Masonhall / Joe Lieberman …:
LIEBERMAN STATEMENT ON HEALTH CARE NEGOTIATIONS — WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) issued the following statement regarding the latest in Senate health care reform negotiations: — “I am encouraged by the progress toward a consensus on proposals to send to the Congressional Budget Office to review.
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.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Ezra Klein, CBS News, skippy the bush kangaroo and AMERICAblog News
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.
David Espo / Associated Press:
Dems agree to drop gov't-run insurance option
Dems agree to drop gov't-run insurance option
Discussion:
The Politico, Townhall.com, Reuters, Prescriptions, Hot Air, Hotline On Call, DownWithTyranny!, MyDD, Political Byline, The Reaction, TPMDC and Left Coast Rebel
Washington Post:
Senate may drop public option
Senate may drop public option
Discussion:
American Spectator, The Washington Independent, The Fix, Hit & Run, Washington Monthly, Yourish.com, Associated Press and Reuters
Chris Frates / The Politico:
Liberal and moderate Dems reach breakthrough …
Liberal and moderate Dems reach breakthrough …
Discussion:
Megan McArdle, The New Republic, Wall Street Journal, Wonk Room, Hot Air and Viking Pundit
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:
Weekly Standard, Think Progress, FP Passport, Climate Progress, The Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Deltoid, msnbc.com, At-Largely, DailyHowler.com, Cato @ Liberty, Washington Monthly, Newshoggers.com, Conservatives4Palin.com, Swampland, Guardian, Gawker, Hullabaloo, Achenblog, Commentary, No Left Turns, Green Energy Reporter, Environmental Capital, The Reaction, Taylor Marsh, Indecision Forever, National Review, The Intersection, NewsBusters.org, Mother Jones, Get Energy Smart!, Hot Air, Little Green Footballs, No More Mister Nice Blog, AMERICAblog News, EnviroKnow and Coop's Corner
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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’ …
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.
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.
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:
The Lonely Conservative
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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.
Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Poll: Only 38 percent support health care bill
Poll: Only 38 percent support health care bill
Discussion:
NOW! Blog
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.
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Mark Leibovich / New York Times:
A Senator's Gift to the Jews, Nonreturnable
A Senator's Gift to the Jews, Nonreturnable
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
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 …
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Townhall.com, Weekly Standard, Big Government, Hit & Run, The Corner on National …, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and Wonkette
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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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 …
Discussion:
Hot Air
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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 …
Discussion:
WSJ.com
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Evan Bayh's political crossroads — Photo by Nikki Kahn of the Washington Post — Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh's vote this week in favor of an amendment to the health care bill that would have strengthened restrictions on how federal funds could be spent for abortions is the latest sign …
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
Discussion:
Commentary
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.