memeorandum: Proposals Clash on States' Role in Health Plans (Reed Abelson/New York Times)

11:30 AM ET, January 14, 2010

Top Items:

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Coakley Takes Slap Shot At Fenway Fans — The Massachusetts special election continues to amaze. Democratic candidate Martha Coakley has taken a swipe at Fenway Park fans: … Well yes, politicians go out to meet the voters even if it means standing out in the cold.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Moonbattery, DaTechguy's Blog, NO QUARTER, Weasel Zippers, Boston Globe, The Greenroom, Ruby Slippers, QandO, The Plum Line, GayPatriot, neo-neocon, Gateway Pundit, American Power, The Lonely Conservative, Pundit & Pundette and Associated Press

Hillary Chabot / Boston Herald:

Scott Brown: Obama not invited to this party — Surging GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown yesterday warned President Obama to “stay away” from the Bay State during his roiling race against Democratic rival Martha Coakley and not to interfere with their intensifying battle in the campaign's final days.

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Boston Globe, Gateway Pundit and JammieWearingFool

Gail Collins / New York Times:

The 10 Percent Rules — If Massachusetts was the Department of Homeland Security, the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's senate seat would have the Democrats about four-fifths of the way up the terror alert code. — Green: Everything is fine, and who cares if we spelled “Massachusetts” wrong in one of the ads.

Discussion: Boston Globe, Commentary and The Awl

Abby Goodnough / New York Times:
Democrats Fight to Hold Crucial Seat: Kennedy's

Discussion: Boston Herald, Mudville Gazette, USA Today, Washington Post and The Page

Josh Marshall / TPMDC:
Brown Says He's Unfamiliar with Tea Partiers; Campaign Pix Say Otherwise

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Salon, Boston Globe, Media Nation, Blue Mass. Group, The Washington Independent and Daily Kos

Brian C. Mooney / Boston Globe:
Outside groups fund attack ads

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Hotline On Call, Red Mass Group, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Ben Smith's Blog and Boston Herald

Yoon S. Byun / Boston Globe:
Globe endorsement: Martha Coakley for Senate

Discussion: Blue Mass. Group, Red Mass Group, Associated Press, Townhall.com, MyDD, Mudville Gazette, Boston Herald, The Daily Caller, sisu, TPMDC and TPMMuckraker

Glen Johnson / Associated Press:
Seating Mass. Senate winner could be delayed

Discussion: Red Mass Group, race42008.com, The Lonely Conservative, Clusterstock, Don Surber, The washington times Blogs, RedState and Real Clear Politics

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:

Reid, Lieberman clash over letter — For the second time in a week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) finds himself at the center of a political imbroglio stemming from something that he said in private that was subsequently broadcast to the outside world by unnamed sources.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and The Daily Caller

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

Reid: It Was A Waste Of Time Dealing With Olympia Snowe — Hindsight's 20-20, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now thinks he and leading Democrats, at the behest of the White House, flushed months down the toilet courting Sen. Olympia Snowe's (R-ME) support for health care reform.

Discussion: Brilliant at Breakfast, The Reaction, Hullabaloo, Don Surber and The Politico

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:

Obama's Bank Tax Seeks $90 Billion to Repay Bailout — WASHINGTON—President Obama plans to call on Thursday for taxing about 50 big banks and major financial institutions for at least the next decade to recoup all taxpayer losses from the bailout of Wall Street.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Felix Salmon, The Note, The New Republic, Left Coast Rebel, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Washington Post, The Caucus, New Deal 2.0, skippy the bush kangaroo, AMERICAblog News, Wonk Room and Ezra Klein

Domenico Montanaro / msnbc.com:

FIRST THOUGHTS: ENTER THE EX-PRESIDENTS — Bush 43 and Clinton to team up to help relief efforts in Haiti... Marathon sessions (yesterday and today) at the White House to wrap up health care... Does the bank tax put Republicans in a box?... Newt makes a 2012 list... Vicki Kennedy cuts a TV ad for Coakley …

Discussion: Associated Press, Scorecard's Blog, American Power, Gawker and Ezra Klein

Binyamin Appelbaum / Washington Post:

Obama administration seeks tax hike on financial firms to recoup cost of bailout — President Obama plans Thursday to propose a sharp increase in the taxes paid by the nation's largest financial institutions designed to raise $90 billion over the next decade while constraining the industry's ability …

Discussion: Swampland and The BLT

Silla Brush / The Hill: Obama to raise $90B with bank fee

Andy Barr / The Politico:

Palin, Beck rail against ‘system’ — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin portrayed herself as a reluctant warrior for freedom on Tuesday during an hour-long interview with Fox News host Glenn Beck. — Despite having just signed a multi-year deal with Fox that will require her to spend time in New York …

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel

Eric Kleefeld / TPM LiveWire:

Beck Calls ‘Bullcrap’ On Palin's Non-Answer About Favorite Founding Father (VIDEO) — During Sarah Palin's interview with Glenn Beck today, something extraordinary happened — Beck challenged Palin on a stock, noncommittal answer to a question. Beck asked: “Who's your favorite Founder?”

Discussion: PoliBlog, Talking Points Memo and Newshoggers.com

Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Palin says her favorite founding father is ‘all of them.’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian and The Impolitic

The Politico:
Beck and CPAC: Outsider steps in

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Mediaite and Think Progress

Michael Rowe / The Huffington Post:

The Never-Ending Horror of Pat Robertson — Last night, as I was updating my Facebook status, I briefly considered a post wondering how long it would take before Pat Robertson made some monstrous insinuation about the earthquake in Haiti being God's will. I remember thinking, No …

Discussion: MyDD

David Waters / Washington Post:
Haiti, the devil and Pat Robertson

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community and Prairie Weather

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Robertson: Haiti ‘cursed’ since Satanic pact

Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:

Majority Would Vote Against Obama — A year into his tenure, a majority of Americans would already vote against Pres. Obama if the '12 elections were held today, according to a new survey. — The Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll shows 50% say they would probably or definitely vote for someone else.

Discussion: Hot Air, AMERICAblog News and Commentary

Andrew Scott / Pocono Record:

Sex sting in Poconos nets former chief U.N. weapons inspector … A former chief United Nations weapons inspector is accused of contacting what he thought was a 15-year-old girl in an Internet chat room, engaging in a sexual conversation and showing himself masturbating on a Web camera.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Sweetness & Light and The Corner on National …

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Gingrich says he's a potential 2012 contender — (CNN) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says he's among a handful of Republican candidates who are thinking about running for president in 2012. — “I think I'm probably on a list of seven or eight possible candidates at this stage,” …

Discussion: The Hill

Mike Baker / Associated Press:
Gingrich considers self among top 2012 prospects

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, Outside The Beltway, Betsy's Page, Hot Air, US News, The Politico and AMERICAblog News

Reed Abelson / New York Times:

Proposals Clash on States' Role in Health Plans — Should someone in Idaho or Nevada have significantly different health care coverage from someone in Massachusetts? — That, essentially, is one of the biggest questions Congress will be wrestling with as it tries to meld House and Senate bills …

Discussion: Associated Press and Wonk Room

New York Times:
Obama and Lawmakers Seek Accord on Health Care

Discussion: Firedoglake, Wall Street Journal, The Politico, CNN, Kansas City Star, Washington Post, The Hill and The Incidental Economist

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

EXCLUSIVE: Obama wins more cuts in spending than Bush — Congress accepts 60% of proposals — President Obama notched substantial successes in spending cuts last year, winning 60 percent of his proposed cuts and managing to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled President George W. Bush for years.

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Manu Raju / The Politico:

Nelson tries to repair damage at home — Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and his wife were leaving dinner at a new pizza joint near their home in Omaha one night last week when a patron began complaining about Nelson's decisive vote in favor of the Senate's health care bill. — Other customers started booing.

Discussion: Wake up America, Firedoglake and RedState

New York Times:

Amid Untold Dead, Haiti's Devastation Hobbles Efforts to Reach Survivors — PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Foreign aid trickled into Haiti's devastated capital on Thursday morning as the victims of Tuesday's earthquake, many of them injured and homeless, began to wake from another night spent in makeshift accommodations or out in the open.

Discussion: Washington Post, Think Progress, Online NewsHour, Room for Debate, La Plaza, Reuters, Associated Press, FP Passport and The Lede

Karen Travers / ABCNEWS:

Accessible and Transparent? Obama Hasn't Held Press Conference Since July — Media Complain, But White House Insists Obama is Accessible — There's a tug of war in every administration between the White House and the media that cover it. Reporters want more access and more quality …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah

CNBC.com:

Jobless Claims, Retail Sales Show Economy Still Weak — The number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment benefits rose last week as jobs remain scarce amid a sluggish economic recovery, while holiday retail sales were weaker than expected as well.

Discussion: Hot Air and HazZzMat

Lizette Alvarez / New York Times:

Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List — The Transportation Security Administration, under scrutiny after last month's bombing attempt, has on its Web site a “mythbuster” that tries to reassure the public. … “Meet Mikey Hicks,” said Najlah Feanny Hicks, introducing her 8-year-old son …

Discussion: Unreported, City Room, Hit & Run and Gawker

John / Power Line:

Mistakes a High School Newspaper Wouldn't Make — The New York Times—described by a reader earlier today as “the junk-bond issuing, Mexican-controlled New York Times”—continues to decline. The paper's grasp of history is illustrated by these corrections, just a few days apart.

Discussion: HazZzMat

Scott Brown / Boston Globe:

A new day is coming: restore faith and balance — I DIDN'T grow up with all the advantages in life. My mom was on welfare for a time, but I had the support of a loving family and good friends and neighbors. I don't have all the advantages in this race either, and that's fine by me.

Discussion: Townhall.com

Bill Clinton / Time:

What Haiti Needs — Hillary and I went to Haiti for the first time in December 1975. A banker friend of ours had some business down there. He had built up a lot of frequent-flyer miles and called and said he was giving us a delayed honeymoon. We were married in October, and we went down there in December.