memeorandum: Midterm Election Challenges for Both Parties (People-Press.org)

12:45 PM ET, February 12, 2010

Top Items:

Reid's about-face stuns Dems, W.H. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid led colleagues and the White House to believe he supported a bipartisan jobs bill — only to scuttle the plan as soon as it was released Thursday over concerns it could be used to batter Democratic incumbents, according to Senate sources.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Post, Hot Air, Left Coast Rebel, New York Times, Wake up America, Prairie Weather, CNN and Open Congress

The Politico:

Family feud: Pelosi at odds with Obama — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's increasingly public disagreements with President Barack Obama are a reflection of something deeper: the seething resentment some Democrats feel over what they see as cavalier treatment from a wounded White House.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Christian Science Monitor, Wake up America, The Moderate Voice and AMERICAblog News

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

So Much For That! Bipartisan Jobs Agreement Falls Apart Almost Instantly — Bipartisan agreement on jobs lasted all of a few hours. This afternoon, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus announced he'd reached accord with ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian, The Confluence, Firedoglake and Dennis the Peasant

New York Times:
Deal on Jobs Shows Limits of Push for Bipartisanship

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, New York Times, Firedoglake, Democracy in America, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Washington Wire, Prairie Weather, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The Note

Jennifer Haberkorn / Washington Times:
Reid puts his bill before bipartisanship

Discussion: Politics Daily, Michelle Malkin, Washington Post and Moonbattery

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Sen. Reid kills Baucus bill, narrows focus of jobs legislation after complaints

The Politico:

Why the MSM loves Palin — Fox News has been making a serious charge about mainstream political reporters: They hate Sarah Palin. — This is not just wrong, it's absurd. The reality is exactly the opposite: We love Palin. — And if Palin does not exactly love us …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Newshoggers.com, Taylor Marsh, The Hill, Mediaite, GOP 12, The Huffington Post and msnbc.com

Jamison Foser / Media Matters for America:

Politico : We're part of the Palin problem ... ... and we're going to continue to be part of the problem. — Politico's Jim VandeHei and Jonathan Martin write that the media cover Sarah Palin too much, and take her too seriously as an important political figure:

Discussion: American Power

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
House GOP document: We won showdown with President Obama

Discussion: The Corner on National …

The Politico:

Patrick Kennedy to retire — Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the son of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, will announce on Friday that he is retiring, according to Democratic insiders. — Kennedy, 42, was first elected to the House in 1994. His departure will leave Congress without …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Riehl World View, DC Agenda, Michelle Malkin, Scared Monkeys, Gateway Pundit, No Sheeples Here, Hot Air, Wake up America, The Other McCain, Ben Smith's Blog, CNN, Gawker, Another Black Conservative, The Moderate Voice, DaTechguy's Blog, Confederate Yankee and The Democratic Daily

Washington Post:

3 House retirements spur debate on whether Republicans are losing momentum — A trio of House Republican retirement announcements over the past 10 days have sparked a debate between the leaders of the two major parties over whether the GOP is losing momentum in its quest to score major gains at the ballot box this fall.

Discussion: PoliBlog, Scared Monkeys and MiamiHerald.com

Chris Cillizza / The Fix: House retirements pile up

Matt Viser / Boston Globe:
Rep. Kennedy to bow out, spelling end to family era

Discussion: Think Progress, The Faster Times, USA Today and The Caucus

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Patrick Kennedy won't run for re-election

Discussion: The Note, Pam's House Blend and Top of the Ticket

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
A Kennedy Departs Congress, Ending an Era

Discussion: Hotline On Call, The Speakers Lobby, Fausta's Blog and The Page

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Obama in nominee showdown — The Senate confirmed a huge group of administration nominees on Thursday, following a tense exchange between President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). — At a White House meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders on Tuesday …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, The Hill, Commentary, Osborne Ink, The Daily Caller, TPMDC and Think Progress

Ezra Klein:

A deal on nominations that even a Republican could love — The administration scored a big victory last night, or at least it thinks it did. After President Obama finally threatened to make recess appointments if Senate Republicans didn't let some of its nominees through the confirmation process …

Discussion: TalkLeft and TPMDC

New York Times:
Senate Confirms 2 Dozen Obama Nominees

Discussion: Politics Daily and Washington Monthly

Ed O'Keefe / Federal Eye:
Senate confirms 27 nominees after Obama threatens recess appointments

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, DownWithTyranny! and The Reality-Based Community

The White House:
Statement by the President on Senate Confirmations

Discussion: Open Left, The Caucus, Emptywheel and MyDD

New York Times:

Poll Finds Edge for Obama Over G.O.P. Among the Public — WASHINGTON — At a time of deepening political disaffection and intensified distress about the economy, President Obama enjoys an edge over Republicans in the battle for public support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Baseline Scenario, CNN, TPMCafe, The Caucus, Bloomberg, Washington Post, The Monkey Cage, The Nation, BuzzFlash.org, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Swamp, The Page, American Power and New York Magazine

People-Press.org:

Midterm Election Challenges for Both Parties — Obama's Ratings Are Flat, Wall Street's Are Abysmal — Nine months ahead of the midterm elections, voters have conflicted attitudes about both political parties. Opinions of the Republican Party have improved significantly …

Discussion: Washington Wire

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Anti-incumbent heat: 2006, 1994 deja vu

Discussion: D.C. Now

Washington Post:

Obama will help select location of Khalid Sheik Mohammed terrorism trial — President Obama is planning to insert himself into the debate about where to try the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, three administration officials said Thursday, signaling a recognition …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Josh Gerstein's Blog, The Swamp, Another Black Conservative, Commentary, Emptywheel, New York Magazine, The Hill, The Washington Independent, Ezra Klein, Main Justice, The Corner on National …, The Page, And So it Goes in Shreveport and The Plum Line

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Republicans and Medicare — “Don't cut Medicare. The reform bills passed by the House and Senate cut Medicare by approximately $500 billion. This is wrong.” So declared Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, in a recent op-ed article written with John Goodman, the president of the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel, Capital Gains and Games blogs, NOW! Blog and Prairie Weather

Michael B. Mukasey / Washington Post:

Where the U.S. went wrong on the Christmas Day bomber — It seems to me unlikely that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will be known to future generations of lawyers for generating any groundbreaking legal principle or issue. But when it comes to illuminating our public discourse about the …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Corner on National …, Commentary and The Strata-Sphere

Scott / Power Line:
In the case of Eric Holder

Discussion: National Journal Online and The Corner on National …

Zachary Roth / TPMMuckraker:

‘Warning: Tea Party In Danger’: Leader Slams Palin As 'Wolf In Sheep's Clothing' — A prominent Tea Party leader from Texas is warning that the movement “is becoming nothing more than a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party,” and slamming Sarah Palin as representing “a growing insider's attack to the heart of the Tea Party.”

Discussion: Indecision Forever and The Daily Caller

Economist:
Scenes from a counter-revolution

Discussion: Moonbattery, American Power, TigerHawk and Barcepundit

Wall Street Journal:

Bill Clinton Leaves Hospital — Former President, 63 Years Old, Receives Two Stents in Coronary Artery After Chest Pains — Former President Bill Clinton speaks during an interview in New York on Sept. 17, 2009. — Former President Bill Clinton was recovering at his Chappaqua, N.Y., home Friday after undergoing a heart procedure.

Discussion: Think Progress and The Page

Emily Friedman / ABCNEWS:
Former President Bill Clinton Rushed to N.Y. Hospital

Des Moines Register:

Appeals court: Nude dancing still considered art — Hamburg, Ia. — Nude dancing is still an art form in Iowa, at least at a strip club in the tiny town of Hamburg. — The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday dismissed the state's request for a review of the issue.

Discussion: Caffeinated Thoughts

Shane Vander Hart / Caffeinated Thoughts:
One Judge Says Minors Can Strip Since It's “Art”

Discussion: The Other McCain and NewsReal Blog

Sam Dillon / New York Times:

Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall — VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).

Discussion: The Huffington Post and News Cut

David Kirkpatrick / The Caucus:

Health Reform in Limbo, Top Drug Lobbyist Quits — Billy Tauzin, the former Louisiana congressman, is resigning as president of the drug industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America amid internal disputes over its pact with the White House to trade political support …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Swampland, TalkLeft, Prairie Weather, The Politico, Dennis the Peasant, RHRealityCheck.org and New York Times

Lauren Weinstein / Lauren Weinstein's Blog:

Who Owns Your PC? New Anti-Piracy Windows 7 Update “Phones Home” to Microsoft Every 90 Days — Greetings. Sometimes a seemingly small software update can usher in a whole new world. When Microsoft shortly pushes out a Windows 7 update with the reportedly innocuous title …

Discussion: Engadget and CANNONFIRE