memeorandum: Obama accepts Nobel, seeks ‘just peace’ (Mark Silva/The Swamp)

10:15 AM ET, December 10, 2009

Top Items:

Accepting Peace Prize, Obama Evokes ‘Just War’ — OSLO — President Obama, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize here on Thursday, acknowledged the age-old tensions between war and peace but argued that his recent decision to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan was justified to protect the world from terrorism and extremism.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Los Angeles Times, Jules Crittenden, TalkLeft, AMERICAblog News, Dot Earth, The Page and Althouse

Political Punch:

In Oslo, President Obama is Asked About His “Premature” Nobel Peace Prize — Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report: — OSLO, NORWAY — At his press conference in Oslo, Norway, with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, President Obama was asked by a local reporter about criticism …

Discussion: The Note, The Hill, Guardian, Hot Air, NY Daily News and normblog

Guardian:

Norwegians angry over Obama snub — Barack Obama's trip to Oslo to pick up his Nobel peace award is in danger of being overshadowed by a row over the cancellation of a series of events normally attended by the prizewinner. — Norwegians are incensed over what they view as his shabby response to the prize by cutting short his visit.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, The Politico, The Caucus, Pundit & Pundette, msnbc.com, Shot in the Dark, Gates of Vienna, Scared Monkeys, Stop The ACLU, Sister Toldjah, JammieWearingFool, CNN, The Lonely Conservative, Fausta's Blog and New York Times

Associated Press:

Text of Obama's Nobel Peace Prize speech — By The Associated Press (AP) - 1 hour ago — The text of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, delivered Thursday in Oslo, Norway, as provided by the White House: — Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses …

Discussion: James Fallows, Washington Monthly, Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit

CNN:

CNN Poll: Does Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Hours before Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a new national poll indicates that fewer Americans than ever think the president deserves the award. But according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey …

Discussion: The Politico, Top of the Ticket, The Hill and NO QUARTER

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama accepts Nobel, seeks ‘just peace’

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and The Huffington Post

Washington Post:

Emerging Medicare buy-in proposal could have costly unintended consequences — THE ONLY THING more unsettling than watching legislative sausage being made is watching it being made on the fly. The 11th-hour “compromise” on health-care reform and the public option supposedly includes …

Discussion: Commentary, Weekly Standard, American Spectator and The Washington Independent

New York Times:

Senate Democrats See Room for Hope on Health Care Bill — WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats said on Wednesday that they were not sure exactly what was in a deal that the majority leader said would surmount a disagreement over a proposed government-run health plan.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Politico, NPR, Washington Monthly, Boston Globe, The Huffington Post, George's Bottom Line and Prairie Weather

Chris Bowers / Open Left:
Making the case for the compromise

Discussion: RedState, Hot Air, Politics Daily, The Confluence, The Reaction, Democratic Strategist, The Huffington Post, The Plum Line, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Suburban Guerrilla and Crooks and Liars

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Obama FAIL — We just sent this email out: … Click here to sign the petition.

Discussion: The Politico, Wall Street Journal, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Confluence, Jules Crittenden, Invictus and Docudharma

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Obama Job Approval — Each result is based on a three-day rolling average — Gallup tracks daily the percentage of Americans who approve or disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. — Editorial note: Gallup did not conduct interviews Dec. 8 …

Discussion: POWIP, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, NewsBusters.org, Donklephant and Think Progress

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2010: Pennsylvania Democratic Senate Primary — 2010 Pennsylvania Senate Primary: Specter 48%, Sestak 35% — Longtime Senator Arlen Specter holds a 13-point lead over his Democratic Primary challenger Joe Sestak. — A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey …

Discussion: pa2010.com

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2010: Pennsylvania Senate Election — 2010 Pennsylvania Senate: Toomey With Narrow Lead Over Both Specter and Sestak — Likely Republican nominee Pat Toomey is now ahead of both Democrats who are vying to run against him next year in Pennsylvania's 2010 race for the U.S. Senate.

Discussion: Real Clear Politics

the nytpicker:

NYT Gift Guide Includes A Separate Section For “People Of Color.” White NYT Readers, You May Skip To The Next Page! — We don't like to throw around words like “racist” in the same sentence as the NYT's name, but there's no other word we can think of to describe this page …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Gawker, JustOneMinute and NewsBusters.org

Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:
NYT Creates Separate But Equal Holiday Gift Guide for People of Color

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Hot Air and The Other McCain

Glynnis MacNicol / Mediaite:
This Exists: NYT Holiday Gift Guide For People Of Color

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com

Megan McArdle:

ClimateGate: Was Data Faked? — I am thoroughly unimpressed with the belief that global warming scientists have been engaging in some kind of massive conspiracy to conceal the truth. First, because we seem to be able to observe things like polar ice sheets melting, which point to warming.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, TigerHawk, Vox Popoli, theblogprof, Atlas Shrugs and Climate Skeptic

Washington Post:

Ginnie Mae's growth gives fuel to risky lenders — Ginnie Mae enables the firms to issue more taxpayer-backed loans — The trouble signs surrounding Lend America had been building for years. A top executive was convicted of mortgage fraud but still helped run the company.

Discussion: The Big Picture and Mish's Global Economic …

Washington Post:

Tea party conservatives gear up to affect 2010 elections with fundraising, PACs — 'It's time to take control,' say ‘tea party’ groups — The energized “tea party” movement, which upended this year's political debate with noisy anti-government protests, is preparing to shake up the 2010 elections …

Discussion: Hotline On Call, The Page, Prairie Weather and Gawker

Hotline On Call:

Baird Retires; GOP Lands Solid Recruit — Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) announced his retirement tonight, becoming the third Dem in a vulnerable seat to announce his departure in the last few weeks. “The time has now come to pursue other options, other ways of serving.

Discussion: Scorecard's Blog, Swing State Project, The Atlantic Politics Channel and Politics Nation

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Baird Retires in Washington State

Discussion: National Journal Online, The Page, Eye on 2010 and PoliPundit.com

Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb:

The Day Has Come: Facebook Pushes People to Go Public — Facebook announced this morning that its 350 million users will be prompted to make their status messages and shared content publicly visible to the world at large and search engines. It's a move we expected but the language used in the announcement is near Orwellian.

Discussion: The American Mind and TechCrunch

ABCNEWS:

Chris Cuomo Promoted to ‘20/20’ Anchor Desk — Chris Cuomo Ends Three-Year Run at ‘GMA’ News Desk, Promoted to ‘20/20’ — After three years with “Good Morning America,” news anchor Chris Cuomo announced today that he will leave the morning show. — Cuomo has been promoted to “20/20” …

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Post and Michael Calderone's Blog

David Rogers / The Politico:

Dems to lift debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion, fear 2010 backlash — In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year's rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections. — “We've incurred this debt.

Lee Fang / Wonk Room:

A Case Of Classic SwiftBoating: How The Right-Wing Noise Machine Manufactured ‘Climategate’ — In mid-November, thousands of emails from the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit webmail server — a top climate research center in the United Kingdom — were hacked and dumped on a Russian web server.

Discussion: Get Energy Smart! and Hullabaloo

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Limbaugh vs. McConnell: GOP leader targeted by conservatives — Rush Limbaugh and conservative interest groups are criticizing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for not putting up a strong enough fight to stop the Democratic healthcare legislation.

Discussion: Think Progress

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

Can Republicans Retake the Senate in 2010? — Probably not, but their candidate recruitment so far has been stellar. — Printer — Friendly — Democrats began the year as masters of the political universe, winning the White House and increasing their majorities in Congress.

Discussion: The Hill, The Corner on National … and Commentary

Eric Kleefeld / TPM LiveWire:

Grayson To Cheney: ‘STFU’ — Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) appeared on Hardball this evening, and dispensed some of his signature wit against the Republicans: Telling former Vice President Dick Cheney to “STFU,” speculating that gasoline would only cost a dollar per gallon if former President George W. Bush …

Discussion: Hot Air, Weekly Standard and Raw Story

Gail Collins / New York Times:

The Joys of Political Sex — It's time for political sex scandals to reclaim their rightful place in our national discourse. The way things have been going lately, you'd think extramarital sex only happened to professional athletes. — Consider the case of Senator Max Baucus of Montana.

Discussion: Prairie Weather