Top Items:
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 …
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Ezra Klein:
Jane Hamsher's 10 reasons to kill the bill — I've gotten a lot of requests to respond to Jane Hamsher's list of 10 reasons to kill the Senate bill. At this point, I'm not sure there's much in the way of productive dialogue to be had here. Some of the list is purposefully misleading …
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.
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.
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Kamikaze Democrats? — I see a meme developing among conservative-ish opponents of healthcare reform: … Sounds grim! And Trende in particular marshals plenty of wonky, district level evidence to support this view. But I'm going to repeat what I said over the weekend …
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Don't Kill the Bill, Cont'd — In a new column posted this morning, Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher renews her call to defeat the Senate health bill—a position, I know, many of our mutual friends on the left share. — I respect her right to that opinion. I respect the fact …
Kaiser Health News:
The Senate Bill Saves Families Money
The Senate Bill Saves Families Money
Discussion:
The Agenda on National …, Guardian, Matthew Yglesias, The Gaggle, Ezra Klein, The Daily Dish, Democracy in America and RADAMISTO
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Why 2014? — Josh Marshall mentions something about the …
Why 2014? — Josh Marshall mentions something about the …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, TPMCafe, YID With LID, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, The Foundry, Matthew Yglesias, TalkLeft and National Review
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:
Jesus' General, DownWithTyranny!, NewsBusters.org, race42008.com, Time, TPM LiveWire, Cato @ Liberty, The Field on the Narcosphere, Politics Daily, protein wisdom, BuzzFlash.org, Indecision Forever, Political Byline, Swampland, The Huffington Post, Jay Bookman, RADAMISTO, Prairie Weather, QandO, The Moderate Voice, Democratic Strategist, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, New York Times, Althouse, The Note, Raw Story and The Politico
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Confederate Yankee:
All I Want Is A Byrd Dropping For Christmas
All I Want Is A Byrd Dropping For Christmas
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Video Cafe's feed, At-Largely, Washington Post and NewsBusters.org
David Saltonstall / NY Daily News:
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani expected to announce Tuesday he will not run for U.S. Senate — So long, Rudy. — Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is expected to announce Tuesday he is not running for U.S. Senate or anything else in 2010, effectively ending his storied - and often stormy - electoral career, The Daily News has learned.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Scorecard's Blog, Ben Smith's Blog, JammieWearingFool, Hot Air, MyDD, Swing State Project and GOP 12
Little Green Footballs:
Why I Left the Right, Exhibit P for Pawlenty — Newsweek has an interview with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, the very model of a modern GOP candidate, considered by many as a possible front runner for the Presidency in 2012: Anti-science and anti-gay. … Is this a kind of “moderate” creationism?
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Howard Fineman / Newsweek:
Tim Pawlenty Gets No Respect
Tim Pawlenty Gets No Respect
Discussion:
Right Wing Watch, Ben Smith's Blog, Pharyngula, Hotline On Call, GOP 12 and The Washington Independent
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Exclusive: ACORN Qualifies for Funding in Senate Health Care Bill — Senator Roland Burris is claiming credit for a provision in Harry Reid's “manager's amendment,” unveiled Saturday morning, that could funnel money to ACORN through the health care bill. — On December 9, Burris …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin
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:
NewsBusters.org, The Hill, Hot Air, Firedoglake, Wonk Room, Crooks and Liars, Ezra Klein, Raw Story, TPMDC, FiveThirtyEight, IntoxiNation, AMERICAblog News and Washington Post
Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:
MSNBC Libtalker: ‘Morning Joe’ Team Takes Direction From WH — STATE CONTROL? — Schultz: WH Contacts Team ‘Joe’ Directly During Program! — For anyone wondering why an increasing number of conservatives now use the term “state-controlled media” (which originated with Rush Limbaugh) …
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 …
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Rasmussen: Dorgan trailing in ND re-election bid by 22 points — Call it the Wages of ObamaCare. When only 30% of a state's likely voters support the one piece of legislation on which the incumbent has worked for most of the year, they tend to get a little chippy about the idea of sending him back to Washington.
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The Politico:
Former speaker gets pricey perks — U.S. taxpayers are spending more than $40,000 per month on office space, staff, cell phones and a leased SUV for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, even as he works as a lobbyist for private corporations and foreign governments.
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 …
Discussion:
Unqualified Offerings
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 …
Discussion:
The Hill, Associated Press, Moonbattery, Stop The ACLU, Gateway Pundit and protein wisdom
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.
J.H. / Media Matters for America:
Glenn Beck: Media Matters ' 2009 Misinformer of the Year — Glenn Beck's well of ridiculous was deep and poisonous before he launched his Fox News show, but the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States — and the permissive cheerleading of his Fox News honchos …
Capitol Confidential / Big Government:
Code TEA: Tea Parties, Go Home! All Politics Is Local — TEA Parties nation-wide have found that calling, writing, and showing up in person in D.C. has the same impact as a hiccup in a hurricane. After turning out thousands of citizens at rallies, overwhelming the Senate phone lines …
Discussion:
Dr. Melissa Clouthier
BBC:
Mexico City backs gay marriage — Lawmakers in Mexico City have become the first in Latin America to legalise gay marriage. — City legislators passed the bill 39-20, with five abstentions. The city's mayor is now widely expected to sign the bill into law.