memeorandum: Reid: GOP should ‘stop crying’ about majority-vote move on healthcare (Michael O'Brien/The Hill)

6:35 PM ET, February 23, 2010

Top Items:

Dan Pfeiffer / White House.gov Blog Feed:

Will the Republicans Post Their Health Plan... and When? — The President believes strongly that Thursday's bipartisan meeting on health insurance reform will be most productive if both sides come to the table with a unified plan to start discussion - and if the public has the opportunity …

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Stupak: ‘Unacceptable’ — This statement from Bart Stupak is conciliatory in tone, but not in substance, and it isn't going to make things easy in the House: — I was pleased to see that President Obama's health care proposal did not include several of the sweetheart deals provided to select states in the Senate bill.

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNN, TalkLeft and CentristNet

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Robert Gibbs: Public Option Via Reconciliation Can't Pass Congress — Hmm. At the press briefing just now, Robert Gibbs made the White House's most expansive comments yet about the push for a reconciliation vote on the public option — and, to put it mildly, supporters won't find them encouraging.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ezra Klein, TPM LiveWire, CentristNet, SpeakEasy, The Page and Daily Kos

kff.org:

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — February 2010 — The February Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds the public still split on health care reform legislation, with 43 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed. However, the poll also finds that majorities of Americans of all political leanings …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, The New Republic, Behind the Numbers, Daily Kos, Planet Washington, ProfessorBainbridge.com and Politics Daily

Ezra Klein:

A failure of White House leadership — One other point on the public option: This has been a complete and utter failure of White House leadership. They need to give this effort their support, or they need to kill it by publicly stating their opposition. But they can't simply wait …

Discussion: MyDD and Eschaton

Ezra Klein:

Jay Rockefeller's inconvenient honesty on the public option — Sen. Jay Rockefeller did something very strange last night: He was honest. He said, publicly, that he does not support adding the public option to the reconciliation bill. And he's going to pay for it today.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TPMDC, The New Republic, Matthew Yglesias, The Hill, Crooks and Liars, Swampland and Mother Jones

Wall Street Journal:

ObamaCare at Ramming Speed — The White House shows it has no interest in compromise. — A mere three days before President Obama's supposedly bipartisan health-care summit, the White House yesterday released a new blueprint that Democrats say they will ram through Congress with or without Republican support.

Discussion: Wonk Room, Riehl World View, Moonbattery, JustOneMinute and Betsy's Page

The Huffington Post:
Gibbs: The Public Plan Doesn't Have The Votes

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Politico, TPMDC, Raw Story, Hullabaloo, Open Left, TalkLeft, AMERICAblog News and Taylor Marsh

Rachel Slajda / TPMDC:
Boehner: Obama's Health Care Proposal Is Too Short

Discussion: Think Progress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Open Congress, Washington Monthly and Firedoglake

David Brooks / New York Times:
Into the Mire — Barack Obama came to Washington with the …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Commentary, Los Angeles Times, Ross Douthat, Ezra Klein, Political Punch and Prairie Weather

Ezra Klein:
Five reasons to worry about health-care reform

Discussion: The New Republic, Room for Debate, Prairie Weather and A plain blog about politics

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
Cantor: WH Health Care Bill a ‘Non-Starter’

Discussion: The Save Jersey Blog, The Hill, MinnPost, Gateway Pundit, Say Anything, Jules Crittenden and The Other McCain

Rachel Slajda / TPMDC:
Carper: ‘I Expect I Will’ …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Daily Kos

Harry Joe / Margin of Error:
Republican Blizzard on the Generic Ballot

Discussion: The Monkey Cage, The New Republic, Matthew Yglesias, Democracy in America and Wake up America

The Hill:
Gibbs: Public option won't pass

Discussion: CNN

Daniel Foster / The Corner on National Review Online:
The Democrats' Orwellian Talking Point — By: Daniel Foster

Discussion: The Note, Michelle Malkin, Wake up America, Commentary, The Swamp, GINA COBB and Fausta's Blog

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

Harry Reid Says GOP Should “Stop Crying” About Reconciliation — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Tuesday that Republicans “should stop crying” about the possible use of the parliamentary procedure known as budget reconciliation to pass a health care reform bill.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Page, Hot Air, Truthdig and Say Anything

J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:

Senate sitting on 290 bills already passed by House; tension mounts — Exasperated House Democratic leaders have compiled a list showing that they have passed 290 bills that have stalled in the Senate. — The list is the latest sign that Democrats in the lower chamber are frustrated with their Senate counterparts.

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNN, CBS News, Mother Jones, Say Anything and AMERICAblog News

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Reid: GOP should ‘stop crying’ about majority-vote move on healthcare — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Republicans to “stop crying” about the potential use of a legislative tactic to finish healthcare legislation with a majority vote. — Reid lashed out at the minority Republicans …

Discussion: The Politico, CNN and American Conservative …

Erica Werner / Associated Press:

Hoyer: Comprehensive health bill may be no go — WASHINGTON - Democratic congressional leaders confronted the reality Tuesday that they may not be able to pass the comprehensive health care overhaul sought by President Barack Obama. Republican leaders prepared to do everything in their power to make sure they can't.

Discussion: Hot Air, Dennis the Peasant, Bloomberg, Pundit & Pundette, NO QUARTER, Commentary, The Hill, Washington Post and msnbc.com

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Where Scott Brown Is Coming From — In just 48 hours, Scott Brown would be sworn in as the newest member of the United States Senate, stepping into the shoes (and office suite) of Edward M. Kennedy and the world of woe on Capitol Hill. But as he zipped down a Massachusetts highway …

Discussion: Marbury, HillBuzz, The Swamp, American Power, The Page, The Washington Independent and Commentary

CBS News:
Scott Brown's Jobs Vote Spurs Angry Online Backlash

Discussion: Washington Post, The Atlantic Business Channel and Michelle Malkin

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org:

MSNBC Regular Donny Deutsch Slams Marco Rubio With Racially Charged Attack: He's a ‘Coconut’ — MSNBC and CNBC contributor — and professed Charlie Crist admirer — Donny Deutsch used racially charged language on Monday night, smearing Republican senatorial candidate Marco Rubio as a “coconut.”

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Mediaite, JOSHUAPUNDIT, RedState, race42008.com and Say Anything

Adam C. Smith / St. Petersburg Times:
As Crist poll numbers slide, staffers leave campaign

Discussion: Hot Air, The Politico and Hotline On Call

Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:

Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output — Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus package, certain recipients of funds appropriated in ARRA (most grant and loan recipients …

Discussion: The Hill, Matthew Yglesias and The Page

Matthew Jaffe / Political Punch:
CBO Says Stimulus Added Up to 2.1 Million Jobs in Fourth Quarter of 2009

Discussion: Washington Monthly and New York Magazine

Matt Pressman / Vanity Fair:

Hate Sells: Why Liberal Magazines Are Suffering Under Obama — The George W. Bush years were good for more than just oilfield-services companies and waterboard manufacturers. They were also a boon for liberal political magazines, whose circulation soared on the wings of the Bush hatred that swept much of the country.

Discussion: Politics Daily

The Conference Board:

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® Declines Sharply — The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had increased in January, declined sharply in February. The Index now stands at 46.0 (1985=100), down from 56.5 in January. The Present Situation Index decreased to 19.4 from 25.2.

Discussion: Financial Times, The Atlantic Business Channel, Clusterstock, Associated Press and FT Alphaville

Michael Barbaro / City Room:

Ford Polls New Yorkers on Himself and Gillibrand — Former Representative Harold E. Ford Jr. of Tennessee has dug into his own pocket to pay for a detailed poll, conducted over the last few days, intended to test the viability of a Senate run in New York, according to people briefed on the matter.

Discussion: The Daily Politics, The Page and The Corner on National …

RushLimbaugh.com:

What I Would've Said at CPAC — BEGIN TRANSCRIPT — RUSH: No, Snerdley. Look, I'm going to get to it. I got an e-mail just in time ago, “Would you stop being mean to Snerdley?” Hey, e-mailer! Snerdley should stop interrupting me. He's not the host. I am.

Discussion: Washington Times, Vox Popoli, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Corner on National …, Think Progress, Hit & Run and The Washington Independent

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:

French Ad Shocks, but Will It Stop Young Smokers? — PARIS — A new French anti-smoking ad aimed at the young that plays off a pornographic stereotype has gotten more attention than even its creators intended, with critics suggesting that it offends common decency and creates a false analogy between oral sex and smoking.

Chris Stirewalt / Washington Examiner:

Mitch Daniels: CPAC was “a lot of rowdyism” — At this morning's Christian Science Monitor breakfast with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, the governor was careful to retain his status as an unwilling presidential candidate and steered clear of any hypotheticals about his political future.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Tara Brautigam / Canadian Press:

‘My heart, my choice,’ Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery — An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, Say Anything and race42008.com

Matea Gold / Company Town:

ABC News prepares major restructuring; as many as 300 jobs could be cut [updated] — ABC News is poised to make a major round of cuts that will reduce the size of the news division by as much as 20% and radically reorder the network's traditional approach to news gathering.

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Media Decoder, Mediaite, Silicon Alley Insider and New York Magazine

Jenna Wortham / New York Times:

Apple Bans Some Apps for Sex-Tinged Content — Apple has started banning many applications for its iPhone that feature sexually suggestive material, including photos of women in bikinis and lingerie, a move that came as an abrupt surprise to developers who had been profiting from such programs.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Digits and New York Magazine

Sonny Bunch / Weekly Standard:

Slate's Blacklist of Black Conservatives — Slate's The Root — the portion of the website where they cordon off their African-American content — has compiled a list of “Black folks we'd like to remove from black history.” Some of the choices are funny (Dennis Rodman) some are head-scratching …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Root and Pajamas Media

Bruce Carroll / Big Journalism:

The HomoCon Tipping Point: Why CPAC Was a Milestone Weekend for Gays — **Post UPDATED at bottom. — In the weeks leading up to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last week, there was a sidebar skirmish involving two of the CPAC sponsors.

Discussion: GayPatriot, AMERICAblog Gay and Mediaite