Top Items:
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Howard Dean: “Kill The Senate Bill” — In a blow to the bill grinding through the Senate, Howard Dean bluntly called for the bill to be killed in a pre-recorded interview set to air later this afternoon, denouncing it as “the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate,” the reporter who conducted the interview tells me.
Discussion:
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Why Progressives Are Bats**t Crazy to Oppose the Senate Bill — Pick your subheadline: — a) It's time to stop being polite and start getting real. — b) Here's hoping a picture is worth 1,000 words. — Any questions? — OK, I imagine that there will be a few. Here's how I came up with these numbers.
New York Times:
Lieberman Gets Ex-Party to Shift on Health Plan — WASHINGTON — Just the thought of Joseph I. Lieberman makes some Democrats want to spit nails these days. But Mr. Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, is not the least troubled by his status as Capitol Hill's master infuriator …
Discussion:
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WEINER SCARED LIEBERMAN AWAY?.... Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) spoke with reporters this morning about the state of the health care debate. Lieberman said that if the leadership meets his conditions — no public option, no Medicare buy-in — “I'm going to be in a position …
Ezra Klein:
Is the Senate health-care reform bill still worth passing? — “Insurance companies win,” Markos Moulitsas tweeted last night. “Time to kill this monstrosity coming out of the Senate.” — This was, for progressives, a frustrating vote. But the flip side of it being morally unconscionable …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Will Wilkinson, Brendan Nyhan and Crooks and Liars
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Why Democrats push health care, even if it kills them — To some observers, the Democrats' race to pass national health care seems irrational — even suicidal. Don't party leaders understand how much the public opposes the bills currently on the table? Don't they know that voters are likely …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, The Lonely Conservative, Wake up America, Stop The ACLU, Townhall.com, Pundit & Pundette and Commentary
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Dem calls for Lieberman recall — A House Democrat from Connecticut said Tuesday that Sen. Joe Lieberman should be recalled from office over his opposition to the Senate health care bill. — “No individual should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I'll say it flat out …
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
Snowe has ‘misgivings’ about health bill, Christmas vote — Democrats from the White House to Capitol Hill are still holding out hopes of winning the support of Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) for their healthcare bill. But despite major concessions made to centrist Democrats, Snowe has not yet jumped aboard.
The Politico:
Obama: ‘Cautiously optimistic’ on bill
Obama: ‘Cautiously optimistic’ on bill
Discussion:
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Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:
Source: Dems Threaten Nelson In Pursuit of 60 — While the Democrats appease Senator Lieberman, they still have to worry about other recalcitrant Democrats including Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson. Though Lieberman has been out front in the fight against the public option and the Medicare buy-in, Nelson was critical of both.
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The Note:
Liberals Target Rahm Emanuel in New TV Ad
Liberals Target Rahm Emanuel in New TV Ad
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Washington Wire, TigerHawk, The Politico, AmSpecBlog, American Power and The Huffington Post
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Obama Orders Illinois Prison to House Detainees — WASHINGTON — President Obama ordered the federal government on Tuesday to acquire a prison in northwestern Illinois to house some terrorism suspects now being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in a major step toward shutting down the military detention center.
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Henry C. Jackson / Associated Press:
Rural Illinois Prison to Get Some Gitmo Detainees
Rural Illinois Prison to Get Some Gitmo Detainees
Discussion:
The Politico
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
U.S. Said to Pick Illinois Prison to House Detainees
U.S. Said to Pick Illinois Prison to House Detainees
Discussion:
Political Punch, Ben Smith's Blog, CNN, USA Today, Washington Post, Progressive Fix, ChattahBox News Blog, Washington Monthly, Lynn Sweet, PoliBlog and ACS Blog
Gerry Tuoti / The Taunton Gazette News RSS:
Taunton second-grader suspended over drawing of Jesus — A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross. — The father said he got …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, FOX News Radio, Stop The ACLU, The Lonely Conservative, Michelle Malkin and Joanne Jacobs
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John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:
The GOP had at most 55 Senators during Bush's presidency — I've heard people say that it's not fair to criticize the Democrats for botching health care reform because the Democrats never truly had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Sure, they have 60 votes in principle …
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Buddy Winston / The Huffington Post:
Bill O'reilly Admits Obama is Smarter than George W. Bush
Bill O'reilly Admits Obama is Smarter than George W. Bush
Discussion:
Mediaite
Eliot Van Buskirk / Epicenter:
Pranksters Make Short Work of GOP's URL Shortener for Conservatives — The Republican National Committee's GOP.am home page was offline Tuesday morning, and several URLs entered into the system by pranksters have been blocked. — Revised and expanded at 12:50 ET, with comment from Political Media president Larry Ward.
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Tim Craig / Washington Post:
D.C. Council approves bill legalizing gay marriage — Bill heads to Fenty's desk, still must survive congressional review period — The D.C. Council gave final approval Tuesday to a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, setting off a wave of excitement in the gay community even as opponents vow to continue the fight on Capitol Hill.
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Dominic Lawson / Times of London:
Inconvenient truth for Al Gore as his North Pole sums don't add up — Hannah Devlin, Ben Webster, Philippe Naughton in Copenhagen — There are many kinds of truth. Al Gore was poleaxed by an inconvenient one yesterday. — The former US Vice-President, who became an unlikely figurehead …
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Daily Express:
CLIMATE CHANGE IS NATURAL: 100 REASONS WHY — HERE are the 100 reasons, released in a dossier issued by the European Foundation, why climate change is natural and not man-made: — 1) There is “no real scientific proof” that the current warming is caused by the rise of greenhouse gases from man's activity.
KOKI-TV:
Oral Roberts Dead At 91 — TULSA, OK — Founder of ORU, Oral Roberts, has died at the age of 91 due to complications from pneumonia. Below is the full text from the Press Release sent out. — Dr. Oral Roberts, a legendary evangelist who rose from humble beginnings to become …
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Justin Juozapavicius / Associated Press:
Evangelist Oral Roberts dies in Calif. at age 91
Evangelist Oral Roberts dies in Calif. at age 91
Discussion:
USA Today
AnnArbor.com News:
Young Pittsfield Township man struggles with sex offender label — Matthew Freeman is struggling to move on with his life, six years after being convicted of having sex with a high school girlfriend who was one year below the legal age of consent. — Freeman, who is required to register …
Discussion:
Hit & Run
Bjorn Lomborg / Wall Street Journal:
Time for a Smarter Approach to Global Warming — Investing in energy R&D might work. Mandated emissions cuts won't. — Printer — Friendly — Copenhagen — The saddest fact of climate change—and the chief reason we should be concerned about finding a proper response …
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David Brooks / New York Times:
Obama's Christian Realism — If you were graduating from Princeton in the first part of the 20th century, you probably heard the university president, John Hibben, deliver one of his commencement addresses. Hibben's running theme, which was common at that time, was that each person is part angel, part devil.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Atlantic Correspondents, The Other McCain, Spiritual Politics and normblog
The Huffington Post:
Rep. Capuano Tells Fellow Dems: 'You're Screwed' — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — When House Democrats gathered on Friday for their end-of-the week caucus meeting in the basement of the Capitol, caucus chairman John Larson (D-Conn.) told the group he wanted them to hear first from Rep. Michael Capuano …
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Herseth Sandlin's Standing — The Democratic brand in South Dakota is not very strong right now, and that has Stephanie Herseth Sandlin looking at her toughest fight for reelection since 2004 next year despite the fact that she herself is pretty popular. — 52% of voters in the state disapprove …