Top Items:
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Axelrod: Left ‘insane’ to sink bill — Trying to stave off a sudden fusillade from the left, White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Thursday that Howard Dean's criticisms of health-care reform are “predicated on a bunch of erroneous conclusions” and that for progressives to torpedo the legislation …
Discussion:
The Swamp, TalkLeft, Washington Post, Don Surber, Hot Air, National Review, Seeing the Forest, DISSENTING JUSTICE and Raw Story
RELATED:
Andy Stern / SEIU:
Letter from President Andy Stern to SEIU members: Where do we go from here? — A little over a year ago, you stood up and showed a nation that Yes, We Can. You knocked on doors, picked up phones, wrote your friends and family and neighbors and helped ring in a resounding victory.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Left rebels against health reform — In a stunning reversal of fortune for President Barack Obama, top progressives are attacking the health-reform plan moving through the Senate as “hollow,” “unsupportable” and a sellout to corporate interests. — Republicans, after plotting for months …
Matthew Dowd / Washington Post:
Success on health reform holds risks for Democrats
Success on health reform holds risks for Democrats
Discussion:
New York Times, Commentary, Washington Times, Bloomberg, Dr. Melissa Clouthier and Weekly Standard
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
20 Questions, 20 Responses — I'm happy that this debate seems to be evolving into something a little more civilized on all sides. This is my response to Markos Moulitsas (DK) at Daily Kos and Jon Walker (JW) at FireDogLake who were kind enough to respond to the 20 questions I posed earlier.
RELATED:
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THE KIND OF DEBATE THAT'S LONG OVERDUE.... Maybe this is an esoteric point, but it occurs to me that the quality of the policy debate between competing progressive contingents is infinitely better and more interesting than the policy debate between Democrats and Republicans we witnessed over the last eight or nine months.
Tom Coburn / Wall Street Journal:
The Health Bill Is Scary — Government guidelines would likely have forbidden the test I used to discover Sheila's cancer. — Printer — Friendly — I recently suggested that seniors will die sooner if Congress actually implements the Medicare cuts in the health-care bill put forward by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Ezra Klein:
Chat transcript: Reconciliation, cost controls and Lieberman, oh my!
Chat transcript: Reconciliation, cost controls and Lieberman, oh my!
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Peter Wallsten / Wall Street Journal:
Democrat Blues Grow Deeper in New Poll
Democrat Blues Grow Deeper in New Poll
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Business Insider, Top of the Ticket, Pollster.com All Content, Taylor Marsh, Washington Examiner, The Note, Hotline On Call, Pundit & Pundette, Commentary, National Review Online, Daily Kos, Connecting.the.Dots, AmSpecBlog, Real Time Economics, Shot in the Dark, msnbc.com and The Lonely Conservative
TMZ.com:
Sarah Palin's McCain Cover Up — For the first time ever, Sarah Palin used her head to make a searing political comment — a frontal attack on Sen. John McCain. — The failed Vice Presidential nominee took time off from shilling her book to vacation with her son Trig …
RELATED:
TMZ.com:
Todd Palin Goes Rogue with Message Tee — Taking a cue from Sarah Palin's McCain Visor-Gate, Todd Palin is now speaking his mind with the use of bad fashion too. — The failed Vice Presidential nominee's man-wife was spotted in President Barack Obama's birth state of Hawaii on Wednesday wearing …
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Palin supports McCain ‘100 percent’ — Declaring that she “was honored and proud to run with him,” former Alaska governor Sarah Palin pushed back hard Wednesday against a report that she had disrespected Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) by blacking out his name on a sun visor she wore on vacation.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, The Note, msnbc.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Raw Story, Top of the Ticket, TPM LiveWire and The Awl
The Hill:
Nelson a ‘no’ on health reform bill pending further changes — Centrist Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.) won't advance healthcare reform efforts unless further changes are made, the senator said Thursday afternoon. — Nelson said that modifications to the bill, including provisions …
Discussion:
TPMDC, Wall Street Journal, TalkLeft, Betsy's Page, Raw Story, Riehl World View, AMERICAblog News, Daily Kos and Open Left
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones — $26 Software Is Used to Breach Key Weapons in Iraq; Iranian Backing Suspected — WASHINGTON — Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need …
Discussion:
Danger Room, RealClearWorld, Pajamas Media, CBS News, Hot Air, Truthdig, BBC, The Moderate Voice, CrunchGear, Engadget, The Strata-Sphere, Defense Tech, Commentary, Global Guerrillas, ATTACKERMAN, The Washington Independent, Fausta's Blog, European Tribune, BLACKFIVE, The Page and This ain't Hell …
Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: Missouri Senate — Missouri Senate: Carnahan 46% Blunt 44% — Democrat Robin Carnahan and Republican Roy Blunt remain locked in a tight race to become the next U.S. senator from Missouri. — The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds that Carnahan attracts 46% …
Discussion:
TPMDC, Swing State Project, Scorecard's Blog, MyDD, National Review Online, Weekly Standard and True North
RELATED:
blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
Climategate goes SERIAL: now the Russians confirm that UK climate scientists manipulated data to exaggerate global warming — Climategate just got much, much bigger. And all thanks to the Russians who, with perfect timing, dropped this bombshell just as the world's leaders are gathering …
RELATED:
Washington Times:
Walpin-gate may snag Mrs. Obama — Skullduggery alleged in White House dismissal of inspector general — No inspector general can unearth corruption without access to his office, computer or staff. An “administrative leave” putting an IG in that position has the same effect, for all intents and purposes, as an immediate firing.
The Politico:
Monica's back - says Clinton lied — In the years since their bitter battle, both former President Bill Clinton and independent counsel Ken Starr have predicted they'd be vindicated in the history books. — Now the first definitive history of the Clinton scandal is about to arrive …
Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
GAO tells Smith, Issa it will probe ACORN — The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has informed two House Republicans that it will investigate ACORN's use of federal funds. — The GAO sent a letter to Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee …
Christian Wienberg / Bloomberg:
Blizzard Dumps Snow on Copenhagen as Leaders Battle Warming — Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) — World leaders flying into Copenhagen today to discuss a solution to global warming will first face freezing weather as a blizzard dumped 10 centimeters (4 inches) of snow on the Danish capital overnight.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, Hot Air, Townhall.com, The Lonely Conservative, Don Surber and race42008.com
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Missing Ted Kennedy — For those of us who like Barack Obama on some level think single-payer health care would be best but impractical, then hoped for a system with a public option, but who are still enthusiastic about health reform that doesn't include it, I think we've really reached …
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Palin's Favorable Up Slightly; Obama's Holds Steady — Obama (56%) more popular than Palin (44%) — PRINCETON, NJ — After the release of her much-publicized autobiography and the ensuing book tour, Sarah Palin is still viewed more unfavorably than favorably by Americans …
Gail Collins / New York Times:
Sorry, Senator Kerry — Let us contemplate the badness of Joe Lieberman. — Who would have thought that this holiday season we'd be obsessed with the senator from Connecticut? Really, I was hoping it would be more about shopping for mittens on the Internet.