memeorandum: White House adjusts strategy on Republicans (Peter Nicholas/Los Angeles Times)

8:25 PM ET, February 21, 2010

Top Items:

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

McConnell: ‘Not clear’ if GOP can block partisan tactic on healthcare — It's “not clear” whether enough Democrats will defect on a majority-vote procedure on health legislation to stop it, the Senate's top Republican said Sunday. — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Plum Line, Jules Crittenden, Gateway Pundit, Neptunus Lex, Commentary and The Politico

Newsweek:

How the GOP Sees It — What Republicans would do if given carte blanche to run the country. … SUBSCRIBE — Such is the lament of the party out of power in Washington. Republicans on Capitol Hill say they have many good ideas and want to join with President Obama and the Democrats to alleviate the country's problems.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Erika Lovley / Politico Live's Blog:
McConnell: Democrats are ‘arrogant’

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Note

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
REID EYES MAJORITY RULE FOR HEALTH CARE.... There's been plenty …

Discussion: News Articles and The New Republic

Erika Lovley / Politico Live's Blog: GOP not purposely slowing Congress

Peter Nicholas / Los Angeles Times:

White House adjusts strategy on Republicans — The Obama administration aims to put members of the GOP on the spot, forcing them to compromise on issues or be portrayed as obstructionists. — Reporting from Washington - As voters lose patience with political gridlock …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Say Anything and Commentary

Washington Post:

Republicans ‘ready to participate’ in Obama's health care summit — The Senate's top Republican promised Sunday morning that he and his members will attend President Obama's health care summit on Thursday “ready to participate” but said the Democrats are being “arrogant” by refusing to scrap their legislation and start over.

Discussion: Fox News, About.com US Liberal Politics, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Riehl World View and The Page

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
With his health-care summit, Obama could make partisanship worse

Discussion: TalkLeft, Prairie Weather and Daily Kos

The Note:

Schwarzenegger: Tea Party ‘Not Going To Go Anywhere’ — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was dismissive of the Tea Party movement in a “This Week” exclusive interview with Terry Moran. “The Tea Party is not going to go anywhere,” Schwarzenegger told Moran.

Discussion: Mediaite, Left Coast Rebel, Another Black Conservative, Pundit & Pundette and Weasel Zippers

Michelle Levi / CBS News:
Powell: “No Regrets” About Backing Obama

Discussion: Big Government and And So it Goes in Shreveport

Jared Allen / The Hill:
Schwarzenegger: GOP stimulus attacks, then praise of projects hypocritical

Discussion: The Note

Nick Meo / Telegraph:

Jews leave Swedish city after sharp rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes — Sweden's reputation as a tolerant, liberal nation is being threatened by a steep rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes in the city of Malmo. — When she first arrived in Sweden after her rescue from a Nazi concentration camp …

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Weasel Zippers

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

The Fat Lady Has Sung — A small news item from Tracy, Calif., caught my eye last week. Local station CBS 13 reported: “Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 911 for a medical emergency. But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year …

Discussion: Althouse, QandO, Cafe Hayek and The Agonist

msnbc.com:

Feb. 21: Petraeus, Pawlenty, roundtable — MR. DAVID GREGORY: This Sunday, facing down the threats to America across the globe. A top Taliban leader is captured in Pakistan amid a large allied push against insurgents in Afghanistan. How will it impact the war?

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Matthew Yglesias and PoliBlog

Jake Sherman / The Politico:

Toyota: Dems ‘not industry friendly’ — Internal Toyota documents derided the Obama administration and Democratic Congress as “activist” and “not industry friendly,” a revelation that comes days before the giant automaker's top executives testify on Capitol Hill amid a giant recall.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative

The Huffington Post:

Petraeus Takes On Cheneyism — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Gen. David Petraeus, the military hero of the Republican (and even non-Republican) masses and the current leader of U.S. Central Command, cast himself as decidedly outside the Dick Cheney school of counter-terrorism thought on Sunday.

Discussion: The Washington Independent, SpeakEasy and Washington Monthly

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

At CPAC, Glenn Beck scolds the Republican Party — After three days of liberal bashing, 10,000 right-wing activists attending the Conservative Political Action Conference used their final night in town to give a sharp rebuke to . . . the Republicans? — First came the results …

Discussion: American Power, Hit & Run, Sadly, No! and The Corner on National …

Heather / Crooks and Liars:

Beck: Stop Teaching My Children Everyone Gets a Trophy, What is This, the Nobel Prize? — Part of Glenn Beck's rambling speech at CPAC where he spent the better part of his forty minutes throwing red meat to the crowd, trashing progressives as the root of all evil, revising history …

Discussion: SpeakEasy, The Moderate Voice and Hullabaloo

Alex Knepper / race42008.com:

My Fight With Ryan Sorba, the Kid Who Denounced GOProud — This kid is deep in the closet, people. — My colleague Nate Gunderson caught me as I was nearly out the door. I was walking back from the bloggers' lounge with a friend in the Virginia newspaper business, and Nate tapped …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, American Power, NewsReal Blog and FrumForum

Jacob Heilbrunn / Los Angeles Times:

The GOP's ‘tea party’ dance — Will the movement sink or save the conservatives? — In September 1960, several dozen young conservative intellectuals descended on National Review editor William F. Buckley Jr.'s estate in Sharon, Conn., to draft a manifesto.

Discussion: The Washington Note and TPMCafe

Art Beast / The Daily Beast:
Quit Redefining Conservatism

Discussion: protein wisdom

Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:

Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs — BUENA PARK, Calif. — Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.