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, Don Surber, TalkLeft, Hot Air, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Confluence, National Review, Raw Story, Seeing the Forest and Washington Post
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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, The Huffington Post, Think Progress, Matthew Yglesias, Jules Crittenden, Daily Kos, Michelle Malkin, D.C. Now, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Philly.com, White House.gov Blog Feed, Weekly Standard, Left in the West, The Note, Open Left, The Hill, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Riehl World View, JammieWearingFool, RedState, Ben Smith's Blog, The Hill, Wonk Room and Political Punch
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 …
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:
Matthew Yglesias, Wall Street Journal, Open Left, TPMDC, Betsy's Page, Raw Story, TalkLeft, Riehl World View, Wonkette, Daily Kos and AMERICAblog News
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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.
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’
Palin supports McCain ‘100 percent’
Discussion:
Politics Daily, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Note, msnbc.com, TMZ.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Raw Story, Top of the Ticket, TPM LiveWire and The Awl
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.
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Ezra Klein:
Chat transcript: Reconciliation, cost controls and Lieberman, oh my!
Chat transcript: Reconciliation, cost controls and Lieberman, oh my!
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.
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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.
Paul Krugman:
Health care and Iraq — Steve Benen is right: for the most part the debate among progressives about whether the final product on health reform is worth supporting has been edifying. Serious people are making serious arguments, in a way that puts conservatives, who have offered nothing but smears and lies, very much to shame.
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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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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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, CBS News, RealClearWorld, BBC, Engadget, Truthdig, The Moderate Voice, CrunchGear, Hot Air, The Strata-Sphere, Defense Tech, Commentary, Global Guerrillas, ATTACKERMAN, The Washington Independent, Fausta's Blog, European Tribune, BLACKFIVE, The Page, This ain't Hell … and Obsidian Wings
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:
Politics Daily, 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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Free exchange:
From the horse's mouth — I FEAR that I am exhausting readers' patience with my continued writing about the Federal Reserve's decision to ignore, more or less, the fact that the unemployment rate in America is at 10% and is unlikely to return to normal levels for at least a half decade.
Discussion:
Will Wilkinson
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Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Freeze! Green police! — The folks at Greenpeace think it's a crime what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has done to the country's climate change policy. — So on Thursday, they deemed themselves the climate police and sent four squad cars to declare the chamber's H Street headquarters a “global warming crime scene.”
RELATED:
David Sessions / Politics Daily:
Greenpeace Stages Dramatic Protest at U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Greenpeace Stages Dramatic Protest at U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Discussion:
Think Progress
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 …
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:
blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Hot Air, The Jawa Report, Fausta's Blog, Don Surber, Townhall.com, The Lonely Conservative and race42008.com