Top Items:
Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Readies a Fallback Proposal — Scaled-Down Plan Would Expand Insurance to About Half as Many People as Pending Bill Envisions — President Barack Obama will use a bipartisan summit Thursday to push for sweeping health-care legislation, but if that fails to generate enough support …
Discussion:
Power Line, The Hill, The Huffington Post, Investor's Business Daily, Washington Monthly, AmSpecBlog, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, Hot Air, CentristNet, The Hill, Commentary, The Foundry, NewTeeVee, The Moderate Voice, Raw Story, Riehl World View, The Caucus, Clusterstock, The Politico, QandO, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Left Coast Rebel, JustOneMinute, Pundit & Pundette, Don Surber and AMERICAblog News
RELATED:
Ezra Klein:
There's no plan B for health-care reform — The Wall Street Journal has a splashy piece this evening on the White House's plan B for health-care reform: a fallback approach that would cover 15 million people, do less to reform the system and cut costs, and carry a lower price tag. Call it health-care lite.
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Americans Tilt Against Democrats' Plans if Summit Fails — Most doubt an agreement will result from Thursday's summit — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans are skeptical that lawmakers will agree on a new healthcare bill at Thursday's bipartisan healthcare summit in Washington …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Politics Daily, Swampland, TPMDC, Pollster.com All Content and The Swamp
New York Times:
Preparing in Great Detail for a Health Debate, and for Its TV Audience — WASHINGTON — In convening Thursday's bipartisan health session, President Obama is angling to recreate the kind of spontaneous, unscripted debate that gave him a decided advantage when he took questions on live television …
Washington Post:
Democrats looking beyond health-care summit to final talks within party — Congressional Democrats are already looking beyond the White House health-care summit, reckoning that Thursday's session will amount to little more than political theater and focusing instead on a final round …
Discussion:
Townhall.com, The Plum Line, The Hill, Scared Monkeys, Political Punch, Wall Street Journal, NOW! Blog, The Note, New York Times and Washington Times
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Will Dr. Obama go for Plan B-1, or Plan B-2? — Dems' post-summit message: POTUS was ‘thoughtful, comprehensive,’ Rs ‘insulted the summit’ — New NYT expose may finish Gov. Paterson — EXCLUSIVE — Speaker Pelosi's prepared remarks for the Blair House summit: “[I]naction and incrementalism are simply unacceptable.
Sarah Palin / Facebook:
More of the Same, Only More Expensive — The President has wrestled control of the health care debate away from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid by finally introducing his own plan. Unfortunately, the White House's proposal includes everything we found untenable about the old Senate bill - only this one is even more expensive!
The Politico:
What to watch for at the summit — It could be one of the biggest PR flops since Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's vault. — Or it could be a genuinely clarifying moment in the Obama presidency, six hours that could decide the outcome of the push for health care reform and, even failing that …
Discussion:
CNN, Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Fix, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, Jules Crittenden and Time
AOL News:
Opinion: Who's Listening to the American People?
Opinion: Who's Listening to the American People?
Discussion:
Washington Post, Michelle Malkin, AOL News Collection, TPMDC and The Lonely Conservative
Washington Post:
A viewer's guide to the health-care summit
A viewer's guide to the health-care summit
Discussion:
PostPartisan, Prairie Weather, The Page, Pajamas Media, The Atlantic Politics Channel and NewsBusters.org
Washington Post:
Obama may compromise on consumer agency to pass financial regulation
Obama may compromise on consumer agency to pass financial regulation
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Washington Independent, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, MyDD, American Prospect and The Page
Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: Expectations low on health summit
Poll: Expectations low on health summit
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Politics Daily, Guardian, CentristNet, Washington Post, Marathon Pundit, The Hill, AmSpecBlog, Moonbattery, Political Punch and The Politico
R. H. Potfry / The Nose On Your Face:
Photo Emerges Of Murderous Killer Whale At Tea Party Rally — Some quick investigate reporting by the folks at Daily Kos and Democratic Underground has unearthed a photo of Tilikum, the killer whale who yesterday killed a trainer at Sea World, at a Tea Party event in Omaha, Nebraska.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Questions of Influence in Abuse Case of Paterson Aide — Last fall, a woman went to court in the Bronx to testify that she had been violently assaulted by a top aide to Gov. David A. Paterson, and to seek a protective order against the man. — In the ensuing months, she returned to court twice …
RELATED:
MiamiHerald.com:
Marco Rubio charged personal bills on GOP card — Senate candidate Marco Rubio said he reimbursed the state GOP for expenses put on an American Express card given to him by his party. — BREINHARD@MIAMIHERALD.COM — U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio charged grocery bills …
Discussion:
CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, MiamiHerald.com, TPMDC, msnbc.com, USA Today, National Review Online, The Daily Caller, The Eye and Real Clear Politics
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Campaign Goes After Opponents of Gay Marriage — ALBANY — Angered by the defeat last year of a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry, a group of well-financed gay rights advocates has started a political action committee to take aim aggressively at state senators who have opposed same-sex marriage.
RELATED:
Daily Mail:
Up to 1,200 needless deaths, patients abused, staff bullied to meet targets... yet a secret inquiry into failing hospital says no one's to blame — Up to 1,200 patients died unnecessarily because of appalling care — Labour's obsession with targets and box ticking blamed for scandal
RELATED:
David Rose / Times of London:
Stafford Hospital caused ‘unimaginable suffering’
Stafford Hospital caused ‘unimaginable suffering’
Discussion:
Power Line
Frank Gaffney / Big Government:
Can This Possibly Be True? New Obama Missile Defense Logo Includes A Crescent — The Obama administration's determined effort to reduce America's missile defense capabilities initially seemed to be just standard Leftist fare — of a piece with the Democratic base's visceral hostility …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mudville Gazette, Loganswarning, Media Matters for America, The washington times Blogs, Right Pundits, Left Coast Rebel, Talking Points Memo, TBogg, Brendan Nyhan, CBS News, Fausta's Blog, Michelle Malkin, Raw Story, pandagon.net, Dr. Melissa Clouthier and Political Punch
Ben Frumin / TPM LiveWire:
Weiner: Every GOPer I Know Is A ‘Wholly-Owned Subsidiary Of The Insurance Industry’ (VIDEO) — A must-watch performance on the House floor today from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). — “You gotta love these Republicans,” Weiner said. “I mean, you guys have chutzpah.
RELATED:
Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blog:
Olbermann swings back at Mediaite (and Abrams) — Keith Olbermann called Mediaite “gullible” earlier this week for questioning if there's a lack of diversity on MSNBC and calling attention to a critical video from the Dallas Tea Party. And last night the “Countdown” host followed up by awarding …
Los Angeles Times:
Most ‘tea party’ followers are baby boomers reliving the '60s — A poll debunks assumptions about the movement, showing that it's largely middle-class, college-educated, white and male. — Oceans of ink, terabytes of blog space and an eternity of television time have been devoted …
Erik Wemple / City Desk:
Brauchli Confirms Print Death of “The Party” by Sally Quinn — After hours of frenzied calling and e-mailing and even a little Facebook messaging, City Desk has finally gotten someone in the know at the Washington Post to comment on the whole Sally Quinn situation. That would be the Executive Editor, Marcus Brauchli.
Fox News:
New Jobless Claims Jumped to 496,000 as Heavy Snow Caused Rise in Layoffs — The number of new claims for unemployment benefits jumped unexpectedly last week as heavy snows caused layoffs to rise.
New York Times:
Banks Bet Greece Defaults on Debt They Helped Hide — Bets by some of the same banks that helped Greece shroud its mounting debts may actually now be pushing the nation closer to the brink of financial ruin. — Echoing the kind of trades that nearly toppled the American International Group …
The Hill:
Sen. McCain 'doesn't understand' Sen. Reid's repeated attacks on him — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday he is confused about his relationship with Harry Reid (D-Nev.), noting that the majority leader has a habit of lambasting him one day and praising him the next.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Not in Vermont's Back Yard — Trouble at the nuclear renaissance: … This highlights why I think all this talk about nuclear loan guarantees from the Obama administration or new subsidies as part of a climate/energy bill is a bit misguided. The problems with nuclear power in the United States …
The Corner on National Review Online:
CBO Report Was Pre-Ordained to Show the Stimulus Succeeded — By: NRO Staff — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has produced a new report estimating that the $862 billion stimulus has thus far saved or created 1.5 million jobs. Yet the CBO's calculations are not based on actually observing the economy's recent performance.