Top Items:
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:
PostPartisan, American Power, The Mahablog, Balkinization, Commentary and Prairie Weather
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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.
New York Times:
Health Bill Passes Key Test in the Senate With 60 Votes — WASHINGTON — After a long day of acid, partisan debate, Senate Democrats held ranks early Monday in a dead-of-night procedural vote that proved they had locked in the decisive margin needed to pass a far-reaching overhaul of the nation's health care system.
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.”
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, The Note, Townhall.com, United States Senator …, Power Line, Stop The ACLU and Prairie Weather
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
CBO pegs Nelson's Nebraska Medicaid deal cost at $100 million — Nebraska will receive $100 million in assistance for its state Medicaid program under provisions negotiated by Sen. Ben Nelson (D) in the Senate's healthcare reform bill. — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) …
Michelle Malkin:
Cash for Cloture: Demcare bribe list, Pt. II — A month ago, I compiled Part I of the Demcare bribe list as Harry Reid rushed before Thanksgiving to secure his first cloture vote on the government health care takeover. (Quick re-cap: $300 million Louisiana Purchase for Landrieu …
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Jawa Report, Wake up America, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The Hill, The Politico and The Confluence
Robynn Tysver / Omaha World-Herald:
Huckabee rakes bill over coals — Ben Nelson must have felt like a punching bag. — The Democrat was the center of attention at a rally in downtown Omaha on Sunday — and much of the attention was unfavorable, as opponents of the health care legislation in Congress expressed outrage …
Discussion:
The Hill
Martina Stewart / CNN:CNN Exclusive: Nelson answers his critics on health care reform
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Raw Story
The Note:A Whodunit: The $100 million mystery hospital
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ABCNEWS, The Corner on National …, Outside The Beltway, American Spectator, Hot Air and Power Line
The Politico:Senate advances landmark health bill
Discussion:
TPMDC, Sweetness & Light, The Hill, Flopping Aces, Scared Monkeys, Planned Parenthood, The Hill and Associated Press
Judy Patrick / The Huffington Post:
Gutted Healthcare Bill Ignores this Nation's Best Opportunity for Reform — The stripped healthcare “reform” bill fails to leverage the power of those who have the greatest potential to determine and maintain good health for all of us: women. We all suffer when women …
Discussion:
alicublog
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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.
Martina Stewart / CNN:
Obama gets an ‘A’ for effort from Schwarzenegger — Washington (CNN) - Not every Republican is a critic of President Obama. At least one thinks the president is doing a fine job - at least when it comes to the effort involved in being the country's chief executive.
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Heaven and Nature — It's fitting that James Cameron's “Avatar” arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. It's at once the blockbuster to end …
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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
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:
The Washington Independent
Con Coughlin / Telegraph:
Hamas helping British lawyers target Israel — Activists from Hamas, the Palestinian group, have been helping British lawyers bring war crimes prosecutions against Israeli officials in London. — The group, considered a terrorist organisation in Britain, is believed to have provided information …
Discussion:
Jihad Watch
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Paul Krugman:
The WYSIWYG president — There's a lot of dismay/rage on the left over Obama, a number of cries that he isn't the man progressives thought they were voting for. — But that says more about the complainers than it does about Obama himself. If you actually paid attention to the substance …
Washington Post:
Fed's approach to regulation left banks exposed to crisis — Foreclosures already pocked Chicago's poorer neighborhoods but the downtown still was booming as the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago convened its annual conference in May 2007. — The keynote speaker, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke …
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 …
Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: North Dakota Senate — 2010 North Dakota Senate: Hoeven 58%, Dorgan 36% — Incumbent Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan may have a serious problem on his hands if Republicans recruit Governor John Hoeven to run for the U.S. Senate in North Dakota next year.
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