Top Items:
Ezra Klein:
The six Republican ideas already in the health-care reform bill — At this point, I don't think it's well understood how many of the GOP's central health-care policy ideas have already been included as compromises in the health-care bill. But one good way is to look at the GOP's …
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Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Obama to Convene Summit on Health Care — President Obama said Sunday that he will convene a half-day, bipartisan health care summit at the White House on Feb. 25 to be broadcast on television, so Americans can see Democrats and Republicans try to break the deadlock on health care legislation.
Discussion:
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
REFUSING TO TAKE ‘YES’ FOR AN ANSWER.... OK, so Republicans want health care reform to be shaped entirely by their ideas. But would they tolerate a plan that includes some of their ideas? Apparently not — the existing proposal already does that. — Ezra Klein highlights an often-overlooked point …
Lisa Lerer / The Politico:
Jobs bill gets snowed under — Senate Democrats will miss their self-imposed deadline for bringing a jobs bill to the floor Monday, and they're hoping that the weekend's epic snowstorm will give them some cover. — Senate votes scheduled for Monday evening have been pushed back to Tuesday …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, TPMDC, CBS News, The Caucus, Dennis the Peasant, The Confluence, Wonk Room, The Huffington Post and The Swamp
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Cantor: Only Route To Bipartisan Cooperation Is If Dems Fully Embrace GOP Plan
Cantor: Only Route To Bipartisan Cooperation Is If Dems Fully Embrace GOP Plan
Washington Post:
Rep. John Murtha dies at 77 — Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), 77, a Vietnam veteran who staunchly supported military spending and became a master of pork-barrel politics, died today at Virginia Hospital Center following gallbladder surgery last month. — Elected to Congress in 1974 …
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WJAC-TV:
BREAKING NEWS: Congressman John Murtha Dies At Age 77 — WASHINGTON, D.C. — A spokesman said Democratic Rep. John P. Murtha died Monday at 1:18 p.m. at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va. — Murtha had been suffering complications from gallbladder surgery. At his bedside was his family.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
John Murtha dies, special election looms — The death of longtime Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha (D) this afternoon will set off a special election in his very competitive western Pennsylvania 12th district. — According to state law, the governor has ten days once the vacancy …
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Sarah Palin Needs Help — There's something which, if you've ever been in the business of trying to sell consulting services, you've probably grown accustomed to. It's what I call the “consulting paradox”. Namely, it's the idea that the people who are most in need of help are often the least aware of it.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, The Note, Raw Story, The Huffington Post, Unfogged and Hot Air
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Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
You Betcha!... Palin Campaigns For Rick Perry- Writes “Hi Mom” On Her Hand! (Pics) — RIGHT ON— On Sunday the left went bonkers after they discovered that the TelePrompter-less former Governor Sarah Palin wrote notes on the palm of her left hand for her speech to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville.
Discussion:
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CBS News:
Palin Hand Crib Notes Attract Scrutiny — Posted by David S Morgan Former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's appearance before the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville Saturday night gave plenty of red meat to the attendees, such as calling President Obama …
Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Mocks Sarah Palin By Writing ‘Cheat Sheet’ On Her Hand
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Mocks Sarah Palin By Writing ‘Cheat Sheet’ On Her Hand
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
America Is Not Yet Lost — We've always known that America's reign as the world's greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic. — What we're getting instead is less a tragedy than a deadly farce.
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
White House moves to make the filibuster a campaign issue — Over the past week, President Obama and his senior aides have repeatedly cited Republicans' filibuster threats as the primary reason for the lack of progress on big ticket legislative items, an early sign that Democrats will seek …
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
White House press corps feels bypassed by Obama in favor of TV shows, YouTube — Six months ago, network executives were complaining that the White House was costing them tens of millions of dollars by pressing them to carry presidential news conferences in prime time.
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog, Top of the Ticket, Mediaite, NewsBusters.org and Glenn Thrush's Blog
Marist Poll:
2/8: Obama Approval Rating Below 50% ... Disapproval Among Majority of Independents — Fewer registered voters nationwide — 44% — currently approve of President Barack Obama's job performance than disapprove — 47%. When Marist last asked about the president's approval rating in December …
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Hill, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Ruby Slippers, The Strata-Sphere and National Review Online
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Peter Baker / New York Times:
Obama Challenges Terrorism Critics — WASHINGTON — The White House pushed back Sunday against Republican criticism of its approach to terrorism, calling it “not anchored in reality” as a national security debate that was largely muted in recent years roared back to center stage with an angry intensity.
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
If Marc Thiessen Doesn't Want to be Compared to the Spanish …
If Marc Thiessen Doesn't Want to be Compared to the Spanish …
Discussion:
Eschaton
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
A US Soldier Waterboards His Own Child — The British Daily Mail - a populist right-wing paper - reports: … Horrifying. No doubt Marc Thiessen will object that since she wasn't strapped to an actual board and only dunked three or four times, rather than 183, and her father wasn't in the CIA …
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Media Matters / Media Matters for America:
CNN contributor Erick Erickson: “Ugly feminists return to their kitchens” after Tebow Super Bowl ad — From Erick Erickson's Twitter feed: — EXPAND ALL EXPAND 1ST LEVEL COLLAPSE ALL
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
In a Message to Democrats, Wall St. Sends Cash to G.O.P. — WASHINGTON — If the Democratic Party has a stronghold on Wall Street, it is JPMorgan Chase. — Its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is a friend of President Obama's from Chicago, a frequent White House guest and a big Democratic donor.
Rasmussen Reports:
75% Are Angry At Government's Current Policies — Voters are madder than ever at the current policies of the federal government. — A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 75% of likely voters now say they are at least somewhat angry at the government's current policies …
gqrr.com:
Strong Campaign Finance Reform: Good Policy, Good Politics — Common Cause, Change Congress and the Public Campaign Action Fund — Research Categories … Executive Summary — February 8, 2010. Washington, DC. Ratings for everyone in Washington are low and voters are deeply pessimistic …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Paterson to talk to Times — Governor David Paterson will sit down for an interview with The New York Times tomorrow, a person familiar with the plan tells me, as his state chatters about an as-yet unpublished retrospective of his difficult year in office. — Paterson's style of running …
Discussion:
New York Post, New York Magazine, Gawker, Runnin' Scared, Gothamist, Michael Calderone's Blog and The Page
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Can Democrats dissuade Dan Coats from running? — In the six days since former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats (R) made clear he was preparing to challenge Sen. Evan Bayh (D) in the fall, national Democrats have unleashed an all-out assault aimed at making Coats reconsider his candidacy.
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AmSpecBlog
Jess Bravin / Wall Street Journal:
Potential Court Picks Divide Democrats — WASHINGTON—Democrats gearing up for a possible Supreme Court vacancy are divided over whether President Barack Obama should appoint a prominent liberal voice while their party still commands a large Senate majority, or go with someone less likely to stoke Republican opposition.