Top Items:
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
An ugly finale for health-care reform — Going into Monday morning's crucial Senate vote on health-care legislation, Republican chances for defeating the bill had come down to a last, macabre hope. They needed one Democratic senator to die — or at least become incapacitated.
Discussion:
New York Times, Confederate Yankee, DownWithTyranny!, Swampland, NewsBusters.org, The Huffington Post, Political Byline, Time, Jay Bookman, The Field on the Narcosphere, TPM LiveWire, race42008.com, QandO, Democratic Strategist, The Moderate Voice, Prairie Weather, BuzzFlash.org, RADAMISTO, Indecision Forever and protein wisdom
RELATED:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
A Dangerous Dysfunction — Unless some legislator pulls off a last-minute double-cross, health care reform will pass the Senate this week. Count me among those who consider this an awesome achievement. It's a seriously flawed bill, we'll spend years if not decades fixing it, but it's nonetheless a huge step forward.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, CBS News, DailyHowler.com, Washington Post, MyDD, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, The Daily Dish, NY Daily News, James Fallows, Ezra Klein, Calitics, Newsweek Blogs, The League of Ordinary …, PostPartisan, The Sideshow, The Impolitic, Daily Kos, Cato @ Liberty, Neptunus Lex, Indecision Forever, American Power, Commentary, Balkinization, Wonkette and Mirror of Justice
Robert Pear / New York Times:
Deep in Health Bill, Very Specific Beneficiaries — WASHINGTON — Buried in the deal-clinching health care package that Senate Democrats unveiled over the weekend is an inconspicuous proposal expanding Medicare to cover certain victims of “environmental health hazards.”
New York Times:
Health Bill Passes Key Test in the Senate
Health Bill Passes Key Test in the Senate
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, Guardian, DownWithTyranny!, Politics Daily, The Caucus, PERRspectives, Newsweek Blogs, Gawker, Indecision Forever, Raw Story, The Faster Times, Riehl World View, Washington Monthly, Video Cafe's feed, Think Progress, The Mahablog, Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post, Truthdig and Wonkette
CNN:
CNN Poll: 6 point jump in support for health care bill — Washington (CNN) - Support for the health care reform bill that Democrats are pushing through the Senate has risen six points since early December, according to a new national poll, and although a majority of Americans still oppose its passage …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, TPMDC, Swampland, Glenn Thrush's Blog and No More Mister Nice Blog
RELATED:
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
10 Reasons to Kill the Senate Bill — FDL has become the go-to place for coverage of the health care bill due to the work of our incredible team. Jon Walker's second-to-none knowledge of the health care bill has made the policy and political analysis he offers up at FDL Action a driving force.
Discussion:
Townhall.com, The Huffington Post, Don Surber, Feministe, Pam's House Blend, msnbc.com and Newsweek Blogs
Kaiser Health News:
The Senate Bill Saves Families Money — Health care reform looks like it's finally ready to pass the Senate, now that the Democrats have 60 votes in hand. But here on the left, not all of us are jumping for joy. Some think the Senate bill is just barely better than nothing.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Matthew Yglesias, Ezra Klein, Guardian, Democracy in America and The Gaggle
Ezra Klein:
Remembering Obama's campaign health-care plan — “Though the American left and right don't agree on much,” wrote Frank Rich over the weekend, “they are both now coalescing around the suspicion that Obama's brilliant presidential campaign was as hollow as Tiger's public image.” — It's hard to imagine why.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, The Huffington Post, Emptywheel, Matthew Yglesias, Firedoglake, AMERICAblog News, IntoxiNation and TalkLeft
Kpicket / The washington times Blogs:
Sen. Whitehouse: foes of health care bill are birthers, right-wing militias, aryan groups — ****Updated with video link and more transcript — Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) today took shots at those who are not supporting the health care legislation.
RELATED:
Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: North Dakota Senate
Election 2010: North Dakota Senate
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Real Clear Politics, Scorecard's Blog, Scared Monkeys, TPMDC and Don Surber
Ezra Klein:
The amazing disappearing bill — There's a lot of talk over whether the health-care bill should begin before 2014, and whether the long delay will give the GOP sufficient time to foment a backlash. On the one hand, the bill should certainly begin before 2014.
RELATED:
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Why 2014? — Josh Marshall mentions something about the …
Why 2014? — Josh Marshall mentions something about the …
Discussion:
TPMCafe, Washington Monthly, YID With LID, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, The Foundry and Matthew Yglesias
Drew Westen / The Huffington Post:
Leadership, Obama Style, and the Looming Losses in 2010: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator — As the president's job performance numbers and ratings on his handling of virtually every domestic issue have fallen below 50 percent …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News, Winds of Change.NET, The Confluence, TalkLeft, IntoxiNation and Politics in the Zeros
Ross Douthat:
Did The Republicans Blunder On Health Care? — Yes, say Jonathan Chait and David Frum, in pre-mortems for the G.O.P.'s efforts to derail the Democratic bill. Chait argues that the Republicans could have sold moderate Democrats on a “vastly more limited” piece of legislation, if they'd been willing to compromise early in the process.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, The New Republic, The Corner on National …, AmSpecBlog and Taegan Goddard's …
Naomi Klein / The Huffington Post:
For Obama, No Opportunity Too Big to Blow — Cross-posted with EnviroNation. — Contrary to countless reports, the debacle in Copenhagen was not everyone's fault. It did not happen because human beings are incapable of agreeing, or are inherently self-destructive.
Chris Frates / The Politico:
Reid defends deals — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) offered a vigorous defense Monday of the deals in the Senate reform bill that benefit individual states, saying “it doesn't speak well” of senators who didn't secure such deals. — “There are 100 senators here and I don't know that there's …
RELATED:
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Obama signs Franken's anti-rape amendment into law. — The White House Press Office sent out a statement today announcing that President Obama signed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 into law on Saturday: … Within the Appropriations Act is Sen. Al Franken's (D-MN) …
The Huffington Post:
Lieberman: Obama Never Pressed Me On Public Option — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) insists that the White House did not pressure him to get in line behind either a public health insurance option or a Medicare buy-in compromise during the health care debate this year.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Ezra Klein, The Hill, FiveThirtyEight, Raw Story, AMERICAblog News and IntoxiNation
Daily Mail:
Serving U.S troops could face prison if they fall pregnant while active — A top US commander is threatening soldiers who fall pregnant on active service with jail. — Under the new policy, troops expecting a baby face court martial and a possible prison term - and so do the men who made them pregnant.
Discussion:
Think Progress, Raw Story, Bob McCarty Writes, Support Your Local Gunfighter and IntoxiNation
Bloomberg:
London Exodus to Geneva Runs Into Housing, School Shortages — Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) — Geneva, touted as a haven for London bankers facing heavier U.K. taxes, may lure fewer than predicted thanks to a housing shortage, crowded schools and a 44 percent income-tax rate.
Discussion:
The Poor Man Institute
Jillian Rayfield / TPM LiveWire:
Sen. Whitehouse: There Will Be A ‘Reckoning’ For GOP's ‘Desperate, No-Holds-Barred Mission Of Propaganda’ (VIDEO) — On the Senate floor yesterday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) slammed Republicans for their “desperate, no-holds-barred mission of propaganda, falsehood, obstruction and fear …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Right-Wing Hoping Robert Byrd Dies in Time to Block Health Reform — Given that the GOP has basically been checkmated on health reform, I found myself wondering yesterday why they're persisting with obstruction tactics. Surely letting the Democrats just pass the bill and then everyone gets …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish
Weekly Standard:
Kristol: Draft Pence! — Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana has issued an excellent statement on the health care bill. He calls it “Washington at its worst,” and especially urges “Senators with the privilege of representing the great state of Indiana, to give special consideration to Hoosier families and their values and reject this bill.”
Howard Fineman / Newsweek:
Tim Pawlenty Gets No Respect — He doesn't have Sarah Palin's pizzazz or Mitt Romney's money. But the governor of Minnesota may be a shrewd Republican bet in 2012. — Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty — From the magazine issue dated Jan 4, 2010 — In the run-up to the 2008 Republican convention …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Listicle of the Day: Worst Washington Post Columnists of the Zeroes — It's beginning to feel a lot like listicle time: … I want to keep the explication to a minimum, but this is an award for the aggregate badness of one's Washington Post columns, not a holistic judgment of the character …
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Americans Judge The Bush Decade: ‘Awful’ And ‘Not So Good’ — A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that Americans are entering 2011 with a negative view of the events of the past decade, which was largely marked by President Bush's tenure from 2001-2009:
Discussion:
msnbc.com
John R. Bolton / Human Events:
Dick Cheney: HUMAN EVENTS' Conservative of the Year — In Washingtonian “inside the Beltway” terms, the most amazing aspect of former Vice President Dick Cheney's new clout is that he is achieving it the old-fashioned way: talking about public policy. He is not running for President or any other office.
Discussion:
Think Progress, Washington Monthly, Wonk Room, Wonkette, The Washington Independent and The League of Ordinary …