memeorandum: David Axelrod Knocks Sen. Ben Nelson For Threatening Filibuster (The Huffington Post)

2:30 PM ET, December 18, 2009

Top Items:

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:

Obama: ‘Time for talk is over’ — COPENHAGEN — A visibly angry Barack Obama threw down the gauntlet at China and other developing nations Friday, declaring that the time has come to “not to talk but to act” on climate change. — Emerging from a multinational meeting boycotted …

Discussion: Watts Up With That?, The Cable, Right Wing Nut House, Flopping Aces, Wall Street Journal, Whiskey Fire, Scared Monkeys, Riehl World View, The Swamp, The Lonely Conservative, The Hill, Wonkette and Pajamas Media

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: The Huffington Post, Little Green Footballs, protein wisdom, JustOneMinute, American Power, It's Getting Hot In Here, Richard Black's Earth Watch, Hot Air, The New Republic, The Washington Independent, Open Left, Environmental Capital and Saberpoint

New York Times:

Obama Presses China on Rules for Monitoring Emissions Cuts — COPENHAGEN —President Obama, speaking to world leaders gathered here at the frenzied end of two weeks of climate talks, urged them to come to an agreement — no matter how imperfect — to address global warming and monitor whether countries …

Discussion: The Caucus, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek Blogs, CNN, Climate Progress, Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, msnbc.com, Guardian, Jules Crittenden, The Page, The Gaggle, Washington Post, Copenhagen Insider and Prairie Weather

Washington Post:
New climate draft would forgo treaty in 2010

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Betsy's Page, The Page and Sister Toldjah

Political Punch:
Senior White House Official: The ‘Chinese Are Dug In’; 'We've Done …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, TPMDC, Pajamas Media, BBC and Associated Press

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.

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.

Discussion: NPR Blogs, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, TalkLeft, The Politico and The Washington Independent

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 …

Discussion: The Washington Independent

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 …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Associated Press, No More Mister Nice Blog, Jules Crittenden, Pundit & Pundette and The Politico

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 …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Hot Air, Commentary, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, The Corner on National …, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Democratic Strategist and National Review

Jed Lewison / Daily Kos:

Ben Nelson: Bill covers too many uninsured people, must be scaled back — Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) gave one hell of an interview yesterday to Lincoln, Nebraska's KLIN-AM radio, expanding his ‘cloture ransom’ to include more than just massive new restrictions on abortion.

Discussion: Politics Daily, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, RedState, The Political Carnival and TPM LiveWire

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 …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Lonely Conservative and JammieWearingFool

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Liberal Revolt on Health Care Stings White House — WASHINGTON — In the great health care debate of 2009, President Obama has cast himself as a cold-eyed pragmatist, willing to compromise in exchange for votes. Now ideology — an uprising on the Democratic left — is smacking the pragmatic president in the face.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, American Power, QandO, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Firedoglake, Wake up America, Beat the Press, The Politico, Taylor Marsh, The Reaction, Booman Tribune and The Plum Line

New York Times:

A Race to Win One More Vote for Health Bill — WASHINGTON — The White House and Senate Democratic leaders seem willing to give Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, just about anything he wants to win his support of major health care legislation. Anything, that is …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Open Left and The Page

Mark Murray / msnbc.com:

THE LATEST HEALTH-CARE SCHEDULE — From NBC's Ken Strickland — Here's the rough outline of how the weekend should play out with health-care votes in the Senate for this weekend and Monday. — Saturday: — A approximately 7:30 am ET, the Senate will vote on the Defense funding bill.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Louise Roug / The Politico:
Inhofe gets cool reception in Denmark

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Raw Story

Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily:
Washington in 60 Seconds: Reporter to James Inhofe — 'You're Ridiculous'

Discussion: The Politico and Big Government

Washington Post:

Senate Democrats block GOP filibuster — Senate Republicans failed early Friday in their bid to filibuster a massive Pentagon bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an unusual move designed to delay President Obama's health-care legislation. — On a 63 to 33 vote …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hill, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather, The Page and msnbc.com

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Defense Bill Clears Senate Hurdle

Discussion: The Hill, Open Left, The Caucus and The Reality-Based Community

Michael E. Mann / Washington Post:

E-mail furor doesn't alter evidence for climate change — I cannot condone some things that colleagues of mine wrote or requested in the e-mails recently stolen from a climate research unit at a British university. But the messages do not undermine the scientific case that human-caused climate change is real.

Discussion: Cato @ Liberty, RedState, The Air Vent and Climate Progress

Patrick J. Michaels / Wall Street Journal:
How to Manufacture a Climate Consensus

Discussion: Betsy's Page

The Nation:

Axelrod Walks Back Insanity Defense on WH Blogger Call BY ARI MELBER — The White House swiftly organized a blogger conference call on Thursday evening to rally support for health care reform, in a bid to stem fallout from progressives over recent compromises in the Senate.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog and MyDD

Susie / Suburban Guerrilla: We Talk To The White House

The Huffington Post:
David Axelrod Knocks Sen. Ben Nelson For Threatening Filibuster

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, Think Progress, Not Under The Bus, AlterPolitics, National Review, The Swamp and Hot Air

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.

Discussion: Sweetness & Light and AMERICAblog News

Tim Graham / NewsBusters.org:
WaPo Jabs at Betrayal of Southern Dem for Rejecting ‘Badly Needed’ Health Reform

Discussion: Pajamas Media and Hot Air

Monckton / The SPPI Blog:

Is the European police state going global? — From The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley in Copenhagen — Today the gloves came off and the true purpose of the “global warming” scare became nakedly visible. Ugo Chavez, the Socialist president of Venezuela, blamed “global warming” …

Discussion: TBogg

Anthony Watts / Watts Up With That?:
Lord Monckton barred from Copenhagen conference - pushed to the ground by security

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk

Quinnipiac University:

Specter, Toomey Deadlocked In Pennsylvania Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Obama Gets Good Score On War, Bad Marks For Health Care — Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter and Republican challenger Pat Toomey are deadlocked 44 - 44 percent in Pennsylvania's marquee 2010 U.S. Senate race …

Discussion: The Fix, Politics Daily, Swing State Project, Scorecard's Blog, Hot Air, TPMDC, Politics Nation, Talking Points Memo, National Review Online and Real Clear Politics

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Stern: Pass the bill — Yesterday was, evidently, for blowing off steam and signaling outrage to constituents. Today the key institutional Democratic players are firmly back on board with the White House. — Andy Stern tweets his support for the legislation and tells Jonathan Cohn he's essentially given …

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Andy Stern: Don't Kill the Bill. Fix It.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and TPMCafe

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.

Discussion: Angry Bear, Felix Salmon and The Awl

Amy Gardner / Virginia Politics Blog:

Webb under fire on health care — U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is getting banged up by Republicans over what they expect is his impending vote for a Senate version of health reform. — Webb hasn't even voted yet, but already he's being accused of flip-flopping in a video and in media interviews by state and national Republicans.

Discussion: The Hill, Weekly Standard, The Other McCain and National Review

kff.org:

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — December 2009 — The December Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds a dip on several measures of public opinion on health care reform. The number of Americans who say they personally will be better off if reform passes fell to 35 percent in December, down from 42 percent last month.

Discussion: Politics Daily, Prescriptions and Pollster.com All Content

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Palin cuts vacation short — Sarah Palin announced Thursday night that she ended a Hawaii vacation early because of the ruckus raised after she blacked out “McCain” on her sun visor in an effort to elude paparazzi. — After the former Alaska governor was photographed on the beach earlier this week …