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New York Times:
Obama's Nobel Remarks — Following is the prepared text of President Obama's speech at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday, as released by the White House: — Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:
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Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
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.
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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 …
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The Note, Top of the Ticket, Guardian, The Hill, The Greenroom, NY Daily News, Hot Air 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.
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Michelle Malkin, The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, Pajamas Media, Classical Values, The Caucus, Shot in the Dark, Pundit & Pundette, AMERICAblog News, American Glob, Scared Monkeys, Gates of Vienna, Stop The ACLU, JammieWearingFool, CNN, Sister Toldjah, Fausta's Blog, The Lonely Conservative and New York Times
James Fallows:
Obama's Nobel speech — Just after Barack Obama was chosen for the Nobel Prize, I confidently predicted that his acceptance address would not become the second-ever truly memorable address in the long history of such presentations by storied writers, thinkers, leaders, etc.
The Takeaway:
Newt Gingrich On the President's Nobel Peace Prize — The mastermind of 1994's “Republican Revolution,” former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, has never been shy with his opinion. He joins us this morning giving his read on President Obama's accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.
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The Swamp
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 …
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Open Left, RedState, Commentary, American Spectator, Weekly Standard and The Washington Independent
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Limbaugh vs. McConnell: GOP leader targeted by conservative groups — 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.
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Think Progress
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Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
DeMint: Republican leaders have ‘gone to the left’
DeMint: Republican leaders have ‘gone to the left’
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Washington Monthly
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.
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CNN:
Leading Senators call for fiscal commission — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The push to address the United States' long-term fiscal problems - and to remove the debate from the partisanship in Congress - took a step forward Wednesday. — Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D. …
Bloomberg:
Americans Want Government to Spend for Jobs, Send Bill to Rich — Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) — Americans want their government to create jobs through spending on public works, investments in alternative energy or skills training for the jobless. — They also want the deficit to come down.
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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 …
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Jerry Markon / Washington Post:
Pakistan arrests 5 N.Va. men, probes possible jihadist ties — Five young men from Northern Virginia have been arrested in Pakistan at the home of a man linked to a radical jihadist group, and Pakistani authorities are questioning them about any possible links to terrorism, diplomatic and law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
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Wonk Room, The Washington Independent, Newsweek Blogs, The Corner on National … and Gawker
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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 …
The Note:
Reid Asks Republicans for Weekend Off, Has Big Easy Fundraiser to Get To — ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports: Senators and staffers watched CSPAN breathlessly from their offices Wednesday evening as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated they might not have to work this weekend.
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The Politico, Firedoglake, Townhall.com, Michelle Malkin, The New Republic, Weasel Zippers, AmSpecBlog and The Hill
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.
Giles Tremlett / Guardian:
Police called to jazz festival that had no jazz — Festival-goer claims it was ‘psychologically inadvisable’ for him to hear Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core perform — Jazzman Larry Ochs has seen many things during 40 years playing his saxophone around the world but, until this week, nobody had ever called the police on him.
Discussion:
Lean Left
Tony Romm / The Hill:
Wyden, Collins team up on healthcare amendments — A bipartisan set of amendments to the Senate's healthcare bill filed Thursday would permit employees already covered by their employers' healthcare policies to purchase insurance in the proposed exchange. — The changes would also allow patients …
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.
Josh Nathan-Kazis / The Jewish Daily Forward:
In Shift, Oren Calls J Street ‘A Unique Problem’ … Published December 09, 2009, issue of December 18, 2009. — Breaking with his previous restraint, Israel's ambassador to the United States delivered an unprecedented blast against J Street, the new dovish Israel lobby that has made waves …