Top Items:
The Politico:
Obama plans for health care delay, new jobs bill — The White House privately anticipates health care talks to slip into February — past President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address — and then plans to make a “very hard pivot” to a new jobs bill, according to senior administration officials.
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
SIREN: White House plans ‘very hard pivot to jobs’ next month — will be ‘prescriptive’ — Health reform NOT expected to pass before SOTU, but opponents concede it's ‘when’ not ‘if’ — BREAKING — AP's Glen Johnson, in Boston: “Teresa Heinz says she is being treated for breast cancer discovered …
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
WH putting health-care off until ... February? — Politico's Mike Allen and Alexander Trowbridge have some bad news for Democrats, especially in the Senate, where Harry Reid has kept the chamber locked in battle over ObamaCare for weeks in an attempt to hit the finish line by Christmas.
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Plan to Move Guantánamo Detainees Faces a New Delay — WASHINGTON — Rebuffed this month by skeptical lawmakers when it sought finances to buy a prison in rural Illinois, the Obama administration is struggling to come up with the money to replace the Guantánamo Bay prison.
Discussion:
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Zaz Hollander / Anchorage Daily News:
Palin's Wasilla book signing feels like a homecoming — AT HOME: Only signs seen for conservative causes or Christmas. — zhollander@adn.com — WASILLA — Sarah Palin was treated like a homecoming queen when she brought her national book tour to Wasilla on Tuesday.
Discussion:
Gawker, Think Progress, Personal Democracy Forum blogs, TPMMuckraker and The Immoral Minority
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David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Why I Don't Write About Sarah Palin's Facebook Posts — Last week, PolitiFact.com announced its “Lie of the Year”: Sarah Palin's claim that the health care bill might create “death panels” that would kill elderly or disabled Americans. It was a lie, the editors pointed out …
Gryphen / The Immoral Minority:
BANNED!! Making it on Sarah Palin's enemies list. Update! — Today was the last day of Sarah Palin's book tour. — And it was to be held in the “picturesque” town of Wasilla, at the Curtis C. Menard Memorial Sports Center. — How could I miss it? — So Dennis Zaki and I loaded …
Discussion:
Gawker, SHANNYN MOORE, ChattahBox News Blog, Politicususa.com, The Political Carnival and Riehl World View
Louise M. Slaughter / CNN:
A Democrat's view from the House: Senate bill isn't health reform — Editor's note: Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, a Democrat, represents the 28th Congressional District of New York. Slaughter is the first woman to chair the House Rules Committee and the only microbiologist in Congress.
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Senior Dem: Kill the healthcare reform bill and start over — The Senate's healthcare bill is fatally flawed, a senior Democrat atop a powerful committee said on Wednesday. — Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House Rules Committee and co-chairwoman …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
Ezra Klein:
Yes, Obama did campaign on the public option — Oy. I'll defend the argument that the health-care bill that looks likely to pass is structurally similar to the health-care proposal released by the Obama campaign. But it's impossible to defend Obama's statement that “I didn't campaign on the public option.”
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
After quiet first months, Franken's sharp tongue emerges in Senate — Al Franken, the Democrat from Minnesota who won election to the Senate after a successful career as a comic and author, has begun to show the sharp-tongued side of his personality by ripping into GOP staffers behind the scenes.
James Warren / Atlantic Correspondents:
Colbert Dishes On Bush, Glenn Beck, and MSNBC — When Chicago's Second City comedy troupe held a weekend-long 50th anniversary bash, the obvious highlights were Friday and Saturday shows with Martin Short, Steve Carell, Bonnie Hunt, Jim Belushi, George Wendt, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin …
Facebook:
Midnight Votes, Backroom Deals, and a Death Panel — Last weekend while you were preparing for the holidays with your family, Harry Reid's Senate was making shady backroom deals to ram through the Democrat health care take-over. The Senate ended debate on this bill without even reading it.
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Ezra Klein:
In praise of the Nelson deal — Ben Nelson is getting a lot of blowback for the deal he struck exempting Nebraska from paying for its Medicaid expansion. But though it was his deal, it wasn't his preference. It was Harry Reid's. And Reid made the right decision.
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Igor / Think Progress:
Nelson Insists Carve-Out Isn't 'A Special Deal For Nebraska …
Nelson Insists Carve-Out Isn't 'A Special Deal For Nebraska …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Capitol Confidential / Big Government:
EXCLUSIVE: Transvestites, Mao And Obama Ornaments Decorate White House Christmas Tree — Why let a holiday season come between the White House and making some political statements? The White House pegged controversial designer Simon Doonan to oversee the Christmas decorations for the White House.
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Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
Change... Obama Now More Loathed Than Bush at End of His Second Term
Change... Obama Now More Loathed Than Bush at End of His Second Term
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway, Scared Monkeys, Power Line, WILLisms.com and The Lonely Conservative
Los Angeles Times:
Schwarzenegger to seek federal help for California budget — Facing another huge deficit, the governor wants $8 billion or threatens massive cuts in social services. He also plans to renew push for offshore oil drilling. — Reporting from Sacramento - Facing a budget deficit of more than $20 billion …
Discussion:
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John Holbo / Crooked Timber:
Star Trek and Moral Judgment — Kevin Drum is amused, and rightly so, by this bit from the Corner's Mike Potemra: … Kevin notes it is not every day you get conservatives to admit they oppose (or at least dislike) peace, tolerance, due process and progress.
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Jake Sherman / The Politico:
CRS report: ACORN didn't break law — A Congressional Research Service report commissioned by the House Judiciary Committee says ACORN hasn't violated any federal regulations the last five years. — The report, released by Judiciary Chairman John Conyers' (D-Mich.) staff Tuesday evening …
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Cornyn: Conservatives ‘have to yield’ to reality in upcoming Senate races — Conservative primary voters “have to yield” to reality, Senate Republicans' campaign chairman said Wednesday. — Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) …
Richard A. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:
Harry Reid Turns Insurance Into a Public Utility — The health bill creates a massive cash crunch and then bankruptcies for many insurers. — Printer — Friendly — As Harry Reid's 2,000 page health-care bill is being rammed through the Senate, most of the public debate has been focused …
Lee Fang / Think Progress:
Gingrich: If GOP takes back the House, Bachmann would become a committee chair. — For much of the year, Newt Gingrich has helped to lead the Republican opposition to President Obama. Gingrich talks regularly with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), sits in on GOP House caucus meetings …
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