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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David Brooks / New York Times:
The Hardest Call — The first reason to support the Senate health care bill is that it would provide insurance to 30 million more Americans. — The second reason to support the bill is that its authors took the deficit issue seriously. Compared with, say, the prescription drug benefit …
Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily:
Washington in 60 Seconds: Reporter to James Inhofe — 'You're Ridiculous' — Good morning, Capitolists! The Senate has officially gone from herding cats to Christmas chaos, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announcing last night that he will hold procedural votes at 7:30 a.m. Saturday …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Methodists work Nelson: 'Set aside his personal agenda and think …
Methodists work Nelson: 'Set aside his personal agenda and think …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Alec MacGillis / Washington Post:
Ben Nelson's Medicaid concerns questioned
Ben Nelson's Medicaid concerns questioned
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Omaha World-Herald, Washington Monthly, TalkLeft, TPMDC and The Washington Independent
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
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Pass the Bill — A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy. Declare that you're disappointed in and/or disgusted with President Obama. Demand a change in Senate rules that, combined with the Republican strategy of total obstructionism, are in the process of making America ungovernable.
Discussion:
TPMCafe, Matthew Yglesias, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, Achenblog, Raw Story, The Gaggle, Congress Matters, Jezebel, BuzzFlash.org, Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog News, DailyHowler.com, Think Progress, Democratic Strategist, Wonk Room, Weekly Standard, Prairie Weather, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, MyDD, The Huffington Post and Ezra Klein
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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 …
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 …
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.
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Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
On the verge of a deal in Copenhagen — COPENHAGEN — President Obama and world leaders are on the verge of finalizing a climate deal that caps the global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees — but punts major emissions decisions until 2012 — after a day of frantic leader-to-leader talks in Copenhagen.
Washington Post:
World leaders reach deal on climate change in Copenhagen
World leaders reach deal on climate change in Copenhagen
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Betsy's Page, Sister Toldjah and The Page
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.
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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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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.
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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Walter Alarkon / The Hill:
Pelosi, Rahm do not scare Rep. DeFazio — Rep. Peter DeFazio's phone rang. On the other end was Rahm Emanuel. — The White House chief of staff last month expressed frustration with DeFazio's resignation calls for President Barack Obama's top two economic aides — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner …
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?
Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Democratic congressman from North Carolina angers supporters by voting against health-care bill — KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — To voters in this hard-luck town where stable factory jobs and the health care that came with them have long since disappeared, change looked good a year ago.
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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.
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?
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.