Top Items:
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.
Discussion:
Swampland, JustOneMinute, Los Angeles Times, Mediaite, Indecision Forever, Taylor Marsh, TalkLeft, Jules Crittenden, Althouse, AMERICAblog News, The Page and Dot Earth
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:
Washington Wire, 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.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, Pajamas Media, Classical Values, Gateway Pundit, The Caucus, Shot in the Dark, Pundit & Pundette, Scared Monkeys, American Glob, AMERICAblog News, Gates of Vienna, Stop The ACLU, JammieWearingFool, CNN, Fausta's Blog, Sister Toldjah, The Lonely Conservative and New York Times
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:
Open Left, Commentary, RedState, 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.
Discussion:
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’
Discussion:
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.
Discussion:
The Washington Independent, Wonk Room, Newsweek Blogs, The Corner on National … and Gawker
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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 …
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.
Discussion:
The Politico, Firedoglake, Townhall.com, Michelle Malkin, The New Republic, George's Bottom Line, Weasel Zippers, AmSpecBlog and The Hill
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 …
Ezra Klein:
How liberal is Obama? — It's not every day that Christian conservative Ross Douthat enthusiastically recommends people read social democrat Tony Judt: … The first year of the Obama presidency has been a long tutorial on the difference between liberal ends and liberal means.
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.