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, Don Surber, Hot Air, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Confluence, Seeing the Forest, Raw Story and National Review
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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.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Think Progress, The Huffington Post, D.C. Now, Matthew Yglesias, Daily Kos, Michelle Malkin, Weekly Standard, White House.gov Blog Feed, Philly.com, The Hill, Left in the West, The Note, Open Left, Riehl World View, JammieWearingFool, RedState, Ben Smith's Blog, The Hill and Wonk Room
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 …
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.
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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.
Ezra Klein:
Chat transcript: Reconciliation, cost controls and Lieberman, oh my! — Reconciliation: Howard Dean and others on the left are saying that a better health-care bill can still pass through reconciliation. What is your take on this? — Ezra Klein: I think there's no chance of it.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
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.
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:
Wall Street Journal, TPMDC, Betsy's Page, TalkLeft, Raw Story, Riehl World View, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog News and Open Left
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
NELSON PREPARED TO JOIN GOP FILIBUSTER.... Going into the week, Senate Democrats were still hoping to get support for health care reform from Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). After making some very painful concessions, Lieberman seemed happy.
Robert Pear / New York Times:In Senate Health Showdown, Round Goes to G.O.P.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Caucus, Prescriptions, TPMDC, Prairie Weather and Taegan Goddard's …
Peter Wallsten / Wall Street Journal:Democrat Blues Grow Deeper in New Poll
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool, The Moderate Voice, The Business Insider, Top of the Ticket, Taylor Marsh, Pollster.com All Content, Washington Examiner, The Note, Hotline On Call, Commentary, Pundit & Pundette, National Review Online, Daily Kos, The Politico, Connecting.the.Dots, AmSpecBlog, Real Time Economics, Shot in the Dark 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 …
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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 …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
Mike Allen / The Politico:Palin supports McCain ‘100 percent’
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
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
AFL demands ‘substantial changes’ — AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka went a bit further than the SEIU's Andy Stern in a statement today, insisting that “[F]or this health care bill to be worthy of the support of working men and women, substantial changes must be made.”
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Matthew Dowd / Washington Post:Success on health reform holds risks for Democrats
Discussion:
Commentary, Washington Times, Bloomberg, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Weekly Standard and The World Newser
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, Pajamas Media, RealClearWorld, CBS News, BBC, Engadget, Truthdig, Hot Air, CrunchGear, The Moderate Voice, 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 …
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 …
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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 …
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
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Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama's '10 challenge: ‘Waking liberals’ — With President Barack Obama's job approval rating at a term-low near the end of his first year, the Pew Research Center's Andrew Kohut suggests that “what's really exceptional at this stage of Obama's presidency is the extent to which the public …
Discussion:
D.C. Now
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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.
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 …
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:
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, Don Surber, The Lonely Conservative and race42008.com
Ari Melber / The Nation:
Plouffe Counters Obama's Healthcare Critics — David Plouffe, the former campaign manager of Obama for America, has one of the lowest drama-to-power ratios in American politics. As the Senate wrangling over health care hits solipsistic theatrics, even by Lieberman standards, the President's confidante remains decidedly calm.
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