memeorandum: Public Agrees With Court: Campaign Money Is “Free Speech” (Lydia Saad/Gallup)

12:25 PM ET, January 23, 2010

Top Items:

THE TALKS THAT MAY SAVE HEALTH CARE REFORM.... Over the last few days, it's become increasingly evident that congressional Democrats aren't sure how, when, or whether to move forward on health care reform. There is an obvious course that would deliver an extraordinary victory …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

Chris Frates / The Politico:

Reid, Pelosi work to save reform — Struggling to salvage health reform, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have begun considering a list of changes to the Senate bill in hopes of making it acceptable to liberal House members, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Discussion: Paul Krugman, The Page and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Zaid Jilani / Think Progress:
Matthews Tells Congressman Grayson That He Doesn't Represent …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and The Political Carnival

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Sherrod Brown: Still No Health Care Reform Strategy

Discussion: The Confluence, Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake, TPM LiveWire, The Plum Line and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Leading Health Care Experts Tell House To Pass Senate Health Care Bill

Discussion: The Nation, Wonk Room, Talking Points Memo, TalkLeft, Open Left, Newsweek Blogs and The New Republic

E.J. Dionne / PostPartisan:
How the Democrats may solve their health-care problem

Discussion: Swampland, Crooks and Liars, Commentary, The Fix, Daily Kos, Washington Post and Hullabaloo

Ian Urbina / New York Times:

Campaign Finance Case Calls 24 States' Laws Into Question — In Wisconsin, conservative and pro-business groups said Friday that they were considering a lawsuit to block a proposed law that would ban corporate spending during political campaigns. — In Kentucky and Colorado …

Discussion: Rethink Afghanistan War Blog, Law Review, Opinionator, Eye on 2010, Prairie Weather, The Reaction, The Caucus, News Desk, The Washington Independent and Joust The Facts

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Obama slams decision on campaign finance in his weekly address — In his weekly address, President Barack Obama hammered the Supreme Court's decision this week to lift limits on corporate spending on politics, saying it could lead to the unchecked influence of special interests he opposes.

Discussion: The Politico

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Public Agrees With Court: Campaign Money Is “Free Speech” — But have mixed views on other issues at heart of new Supreme Court ruling — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' broad views about corporate spending in elections generally accord with the Supreme Court's decision Thursday that abolished …

Discussion: Wake up America, Gateway Pundit, The Politico, Outside The Beltway, Top of the Ticket, Politics Daily and Will Wilkinson

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Obama vs Boehner: Power to the people — President Barack Obama, who will deliver his State of the Union address next week, and House Minority Leader John Boehner, delivering today a pre-buttal to that address, are torn over the implications of two far-reaching rulings handed down this week.

Discussion: D.C. Now and The Hill

The White House:

WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Vows to Continue Standing Up to the Special Interests on Behalf of the American People — WASHINGTON - In this week's address, President Barack Obama vowed to continue fighting for the American people to ensure their voices are heard over the special interests …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Jonathan Dee / New York Times:

Right-Wing Flame War! — Charles Johnson has been writing a blog for almost as long as the word “blog” has existed. A bearish, gentle-voiced, ponytailed man who for three decades enjoyed a successful career as a jazz guitarist accompanying the likes of Al Jarreau and Stanley Clarke …

Discussion: Power Line, And So it Goes in Shreveport, The Other McCain, Jihad Watch, Little Green Footballs, Achenblog, QandO, Atlas Shrugs, Riehl World View, Gateway Pundit, Tim Blair and Althouse

Barrett Brown / Vanity Fair:

Ex-Conservative Charles Johnson's Next Crusade — With many among the left having lately been bogged down in a wonkish debate over health care in general and the question of best-versus-possible in particular, it's easy to forget that the somewhat more fundamental conflict among conservatives regarding …

Discussion: Dennis the Peasant, The Other McCain and Little Green Footballs

Amanda Lee Myers / Arizona Daily Star:

J.D. Hayworth says he'll run against John McCain — Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth says he is planning to run against John McCain for his U.S. Senate seat. — Hayworth, a Republican, told The Associated Press late Friday he stepped down as host of his radio program on KFYI-AM, a conservative radio talk show in Phoenix.

Discussion: Scorecard's Blog, The Lonely Conservative, The Page, Michelle Malkin and RedState

Jim Geraghty / National Review Online:

Obama's Train Wreck of a Town Hall in Ohio — By: Jim Geraghty — Earlier this week, during a radio interview, I had said that Obama's appearance for Martha Coakley on Sunday was the least effective stump appearances I had seen from a president. A lot of factors contributed to that …

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Reuters, Another Black Conservative, Hot Air, Riehl World View and Pundit & Pundette

Edward Luce / Financial Times:

White House nightmare persists — At the end of Barack Obama's worst week since taking power a year ago, the US president's fortunes look set only to deteriorate over the coming days. Following the shock defeat of the Democratic candidate in Massachusetts on Tuesday, a move that deprived …

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Obama, With Defiant Tone, Vows to Push Agenda

Discussion: The Caucus, Balkinization and New York Times

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

Et Tu, Fox News Channel? — It's a horrible, unspeakable tragedy that gets you right in the core of your humanity. The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere is flattened by a huge earthquake. Hundreds of thousands killed, thousands of children orphaned, more than 1.5 million now homeless.

Discussion: Mirror.co.uk, The Swamp and White House.gov Blog Feed

Pat G. / Think Progress:

Bayh Claims 'There's A Fighting Chance' Obama Will Call For A Spending Freeze — In an interview yesterday with Bloomberg's Al Hunt, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) — who met with members of the administration's economic team this week — said that he believes there's a “fighting chance” …

Discussion: Bloomberg and Wonk Room

Simon Johnson / The Baseline Scenario:

Paul Krugman For The Fed — The case for Ben Bernanke's reappointment was weak to start with, weakened with his hearings, and is now held together by string and some phone calls from the White House. Bernanke is an airline pilot who pulled off a miraculous landing, but didn't do his preflight checks …

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Grasping Reality …, Calculated Risk and Eschaton

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: GE/MSNBC political commentator pretty upset about political influence of corporations — Irresistible as a follow-up to Stewart's takedown, which I took to be a green light from one of the left's arbiters of cool that it's officially okay not to like this grandstanding bottom-feeder anymore.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Mediaite and Hit & Run

NECN:

Ayla Brown acknowledges it: She voted for Kerry — (NECN: Boston) - Her father is the talk of Washington Republicans, but Ayla Brown says she has an independent streak - and a voting record to prove it. In an interview with Beth Shelburne of New England Cable News Friday, Ayla Brown …

Discussion: USA Today and American Power