Top Items:
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
End It Today, Ben — There's a really big snowstorm coming to D.C.tonight. It would be unsafe to ask all the staffers and Hill employees who'd be needed at the Capitol if Congress stays open all hours this weekend, as Harry Reid intends, to drive to and from work—especially since …
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Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Fox News: Ben Nelson Opposes Health Reform Because He ‘Understands The True Meaning Of Christmas’ — Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is still refusing to support Senate health care reform legislation, with his main objection being that the bill doesn't restrict women's rights enough by severely limiting access to abortions.
Washington Post:
Ben Nelson's Medicaid concerns questioned
Ben Nelson's Medicaid concerns questioned
Discussion:
TPMDC, Matthew Yglesias, Ezra Klein, Wonk Room, Omaha World-Herald, Washington Monthly and The Washington Independent
Tony Romm / The Hill:
Nelson supports opt-in for ‘reformed health care system’
Nelson supports opt-in for ‘reformed health care system’
Discussion:
The Gaggle
Jed Lewison / Daily Kos:
Ben Nelson: Bill covers too many uninsured people, must be scaled back
Ben Nelson: Bill covers too many uninsured people, must be scaled back
Discussion:
BuzzFlash.org, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, RedState, Politics Daily and The Political Carnival
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Abortion Holdout — Ben Nelson doesn't come in for as much scorn …
The Abortion Holdout — Ben Nelson doesn't come in for as much scorn …
Discussion:
pandagon.net
Jonathan Weisman / Washington Wire:
Rahm Emanuel: Don't Worry About the Left — Turn off MSNBC. Tune out Howard Dean and Keith Olbermann. The White House has its liberal wing in hand on health care, says White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. — “There are no liberals left to get” in the Senate, Emanuel said in an interview …
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Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Dean's Blind Spot — Maybe one reason former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and so much of the digital Left can so casually dismiss the Senate health care reform bill is that they operate in an environment where so few people need to worry about access to insurance.
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Journalists Cheerfully Urinating On Senate Bill's “Ideological” Critics — It would really be nice if certain Beltway journalists could get it into their heads that the Senate bill's critics on the left have actual substantive differences with the bill's proponents, and are not motivated solely by …
Guardian:
Obama speech fuels frustration at Copenhagen — US president offers no further commitment on reducing emissions or on finance to poor countries — Barack Obama stepped into the chaotic final hours of the Copenhagen summit today saying he was convinced the world could act “boldly and decisively” on climate change.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Richard Black's Earth Watch, Political Punch, It's Getting Hot In Here, Don Surber, The Washington Independent, The Huffington Post, Open Left, American Power, The New Republic, Hot Air, Environmental Capital, protein wisdom, MyDD, JustOneMinute, Little Green Footballs, Saberpoint and The Lonely Conservative
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New York Times:
Climate Deal Announced, but Falls Short of Expectations — COPENHAGEN — Leaders here concluded a climate change deal on Friday that the Obama administration called “meaningful” but that falls short of even the modest expectations for the summit meeting here.
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, Washington Post, BBC, Guardian, Telegraph, Political Punch, Climate Progress, msnbc.com, Hot Air, The Politico, Green Inc., Newsweek Blogs, CBS News, The BRAD BLOG, INHABITAT, Washington Monthly, Copenhagen Insider, Don Surber, Jules Crittenden, CNN, Truthdig, The Caucus, Raw Story, Agence France Presse, The Washington Independent, The Page, the talking dog, The Monkey Cage, Scared Monkeys and The BLT
Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Flashback: McCain Refused To Grant 30 Seconds Of Time During Iraq War Debate — Yesterday, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), acting on the orders of the Senate leadership, refused to grant Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) “an additional moment” to continue speaking on the Senate floor after his 10 minutes expired.
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Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:
Flashback of the Day — When Sen. Al Franken objected to Sen. Joe Lieberman's request for additional time, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that in his 20-plus years in the Senate he had never heard a senator do that before. — However, a Political Wire reader sends this excerpt from the Congressional Record from October 10, 2002:
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WHEN MCCAIN'S BAD MEMORY AND MCCAIN'S HYPOCRISY COLLIDE. …
WHEN MCCAIN'S BAD MEMORY AND MCCAIN'S HYPOCRISY COLLIDE. …
Discussion:
Think Progress
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Reid to unveil final offer on healthcare bill on Saturday morning — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will make his final offer on healthcare legislation on Saturday morning, unveiling a highly-anticipated amendment to the Senate healthcare bill. — Reid will unveil his amendment …
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
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Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily:
Washington in 60 Seconds: Reporter to James Inhofe — 'You're Ridiculous'
Washington in 60 Seconds: Reporter to James Inhofe — 'You're Ridiculous'
Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:
Grayson threatens to imprison critic — File this story under the pot calling the kettle black. — Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), prone for throwing his own political bombs at Republicans, has threatened a local critic with five years in jail for creating the website “mycongressmanisnuts.com,”
Patrick J. Michaels / Wall Street Journal:
How to Manufacture a Climate Consensus — The East Anglia emails are just the tip of the iceberg. I should know. — Printer — Friendly — Few people understand the real significance of Climategate, the now-famous hacking of emails from the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (CRU).
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Ezra Klein:
What Lieberman has wrought — Joe Lieberman's reckless decision to blow up last week's compromise has had exactly the impact many of us predicted. Much of the left has flipped into vicious, angry opposition to the bill. Is that because the Medicare buy-in, a good but limited policy, has disappeared from the bill?
Michael Calderone / The Politico:
Editor's politics raise Qs at WSJ — Not long ago, a British conservative columnist and Weekly Standard contributor who once wrote a column asking if America was ready for a “dangerous left-winger” like Barack Obama would have been an unlikely second-in-command at The Wall Street Journal.
Michelle Malkin:
Coburn defends the Party of No; Durbin blasts “styptic-hearted Republicans;” Update: Video added — On the Senate floor a few minutes ago, GOP Sen. Tom Coburn gave a rousing defense of the “Party of No.” — “We're accused of being the party of no,” he said. But “no is a wonderful word.
Wall Street Journal:
The Adam Lambert Problem — “Wrong track” poll numbers aren't just about the economy. — Printer — Friendly — The news came in numbers and the numbers were fairly grim, all the grimmer for being unsurprising. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll reported this week that more than half …
Sammy Benoit / YID With LID:
DISGUSTING!!!: Rock the Vote & Hollywood Make Ad Promoting Teens Withholding Sex as Way to Sell Obamacare — Rock the Vote says their mission is to engage and build the political power of young people in order to achieve progressive change in our country.
CNN:
DC snowstorm chills Pelosi's global warming trip — Copenhagen (CNN) - In a strange twist, a Washington snowstorm is forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, to make an early departure from a global warming summit here in Denmark. — Pelosi told CNN that military officials leading …
Washington Post:
Most influential person of the decade — Which of these nominees had the greatest influence in shaping the past decade, either by changing how we live or by making the greatest impact on our culture? Cast your votes now and we'll reveal the winner on Monday, Dec. 21st. Want to nominate someone else?
Bloomberg:
Harvard Swaps Are So Toxic Even Summers Won't Explain — Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) — Anne Phillips Ogilby, a bond attorney at one of Boston's oldest law firms, on Oct. 31 last year relayed an urgent message from Harvard University, her client and alma mater, to the head of a Massachusetts state agency that sells bonds.