memeorandum: Sanders: Senate has the votes to pass public option via reconciliation (Jordan Fabian/The Hill)

10:30 AM ET, February 26, 2010

Top Items:

Bunning holds floor: ‘Tough s—t’ — Senate Democrats spent Thursday night hammering away at Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) for single-handedly holding up action in the upper chamber - but he blurted out a message to one of them on the Senate floor: “Tough s—t.”

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, RedState and Wonk Room

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Obama To GOP: It's Over — Obama listened politely for six hours, with occasional flashes of temper, but in the end, the message was clear: It's over. We're moving forward without Republicans. — Whether Obama and Dems will succeed in passing reform on their own is anything but assured, to put it mildly.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Roll Call, The Reaction, Balkinization, Washington Post, Left Coast Rebel, Dennis the Peasant, QandO, TPMDC and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

David Gergen on the summit: Republicans had their best day in years — Via Hengler, a succinct statement of Jay Nordlinger's point and of what I suspect will be the media consensus tomorrow. Not the only kind words he had for the GOP either: … I don't think they seriously expected …

Discussion: DaTechguy's Blog, CBS News, The Foundry, Commentary, FrumForum, Republican.Senate.Gov, PostPartisan, The Other McCain, The Corner on National …, delawareonline, NO QUARTER and Instapundit

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Top Dem chairman signals House will act first on healthcare — The House could act first to pass a healthcare bill within the next month, a top House chairman signaled Thursday. — Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and a close ally …

Discussion: CNN and TPMDC

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Winners and losers from the health care summit — After spending our day watching the high-stakes or, at the very least, high-profile health care summit at Blair House, we came up with a list of our winners and losers from the proceedings. — Those who we think soared and bored are below.

Discussion: Corrente, Another Black Conservative, The Confluence, The Moderate Voice, No Sheeples Here, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, Left Coast Rebel, And So it Goes in Shreveport and The Swamp

The Caucus:

Bunning Blocks Jobless Aid in Senate — Updated The Senate clash over the unemployment benefits ended just before midnight Thursday with Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky, refusing to lift his objection, meaning the jobless aid - for however short a time - will run out Sunday night unless a deal is reached Friday.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Think Progress and Washington Monthly

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Sanders: Senate has the votes to pass public option via reconciliation — The Senate has the 50 votes necessary to pass a public health insurance option using the budget reconciliation process, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday. — Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist” …

Discussion: The Politico, Shakesville, The Reaction, The Raw Story, Open Left and Weasel Zippers

John Dickerson / Slate:

Obama and Republicans seemed reasonable. That's bad news for Democrats. … - The Fantastically Freaky Art of George Condo- I Paid $75 for a Home Energy Assessment That Will Save Me $900 a Year- Can Animals Develop a Taste for Human Blood? - Help!

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Althouse, Taegan Goddard's …, The Plum Line, NOW! Blog and New York Times

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Spinning the health care summit

Discussion: The Fine Print and Washington Examiner

Matthew Continetti / Weekly Standard:
The Main Event: Ryan v. Obama

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Swampland, The Daily Dish and The Lonely Conservative

Washington Post:
At health-care summit, Obama tells Republicans he's eager to move ahead

Discussion: Boston Globe, Ezra Klein, Washington Monthly, The Politico, New York Times, The New Republic, Washington Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, PostPartisan, Commentary, Fox News, Betsy's Page, White House.gov Blog Feed, Swampland, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, AOL News Collection and CentristNet

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
No clear winner in seven-hour gabfest

Discussion: CentristNet and Ben Smith's Blog

Mike Allen / The Politico:

One last health-reform sprint: House, Senate race to an Easter deadline for ‘the big bill’ — Mitch ‘The Knife’ Daniels eyes '12 prez run — N.Y. tabs say Paterson must go — BREAKING — George W. Bush, whose book will be out Nov. 8, at this morning's closed-door Bush-Cheney alumni reunion breakfast …

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:

McCain on Dems' Health Care Bill: Americans Don't Want ‘Unsavory Deals’ — Former GOP Presidential Candidate Says Democrats Need to Start Over on Health Care — President Obama's health care summit was a good opportunity for Americans to consider the contentious issue …

Discussion: The Foundry, George's Bottom Line and Political Punch

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
There's No Magic Small Health Care Bill

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Ross Douthat and The Moderate Voice

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Afflicting the Afflicted — If we're lucky, Thursday's summit will turn out to have been the last act in the great health reform debate, the prologue to passage of an imperfect but nonetheless history-making bill. If so, the debate will have ended as it began: with Democrats offering moderate plans …

Discussion: Time, Wall Street Journal, Blue Virginia, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Washington Post and Prairie Weather

Associated Press:
FACT CHECK: Dueling polls and dubious stats

Discussion: CBS News, The Page, Washington Wire and Ezra Klein

The Politico:

Committee scolds defiant Rangel — The House ethics committee put another dent in the armor of embattled Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel Thursday, admonishing him for violating House gift rules by accepting corporate-funded trips to the Caribbean through an organization called the Carib News.

Discussion: The Note, The Swamp, Left Coast Rebel, Hot Air, Another Black Conservative, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Michelle Malkin and JammieWearingFool

CNN:
Rangel says he'll be formally admonished

Discussion: TPMMuckraker and THEROOT.COM

New York Times:
Panel Admonishes Rangel for Taking Trips as Gifts

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Gothamist, Politics Daily, New York Magazine, Commentary, The Page and Gateway Pundit

Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
House ethics committee scolds Rangel over trips to the Caribbean

Discussion: The Politico, Hot Air, Associated Press, Left Coast Rebel, Washington Post and MyDD

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:

Defeated congresswoman's car still in House parking lot — more than 3 years later — even though she's a registered lobbyist — Former Rep. Melissa Hart may have hit the road and gone back home to Pittsburgh in 2006 when she lost her bid for re-election, but it appears that a car …

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog, Left Coast Rebel and Taegan Goddard's …

Kim Zetter / Threat Level:

Military Monitored Planned Parenthood, Supremacists — The U.S. military monitored Planned Parenthood and a white supremacist group as part of the government's security preparations for the 2002 Olympics in Utah, according to new documents released by the Department of Defense.

Discussion: Raw Story and Boing Boing

Nate / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Pentagon Discloses Hundreds of Reports of Possibly Illegal Intelligence Activities

Discussion: Raw Story and Newshoggers.com

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:

Paterson Gets Some Sobering Advice on His Political Future — ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson said Thursday night that as he weighed his political future, he was seeking counsel from elected officials across the state. But the first few hours of that listening effort offered some sobering advice.

Discussion: NY Daily News, Gothamist, The Confluence, New York Observer, The Lonely Conservative, Real Clear Politics and AMERICAblog News

New York Times:
Paterson Weighs Race as Top Aide Quits in Protest

Discussion: NY Daily News, New York Magazine, msnbc.com, City Room, Mediaite, RHRealityCheck.org and Clusterstock

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:

Plan to Seek Use of U.S. Contracts as a Wage Lever — The Obama administration is planning to use the government's enormous buying power to prod private companies to improve wages and benefits for millions of workers, according to White House officials and several interest groups briefed on the plan.

Discussion: EconLog, Economist's View and Dennis the Peasant

Peter Baker / The Caucus:

Obama Gives Cheney a Call — President Obama called former Vice President Dick Cheney at home to wish him a speedy recovery from his latest heart attack, a rare truce in the fiery, arms-length debate the two have been having about national security over the last year.

Discussion: The Politico and Politics Daily

Kevin Bohn / CNN:
Bush, Cheney meet for first time since 2009 inauguration

Discussion: Washington Wire

Susan Crabtree / The Hill:

Intel bill pulled over controversial added interrogation provision — A controversial bill that would have levied criminal punishments on intelligence officers for harsh interrogations was pulled Thursday evening. — House Republicans charged Democrats with trying to sneak a provision …

Discussion: Think Progress and Political Wrinkles

Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:
While You Are Distracted by the Summit, Obama Democrats Are Targeting …

Discussion: The Politico, alicublog, Scared Monkeys, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Michelle Malkin, Power Line, Washington Examiner, Hot Air, Weekly Standard, ATTACKERMAN, YID With LID, The Jawa Report and The Lonely Conservative

Patrick Gavin / The Politico:

BIDEN: IT'S EASY BEING VP — There have been some tense moments during today's health care summit at the Blair House, but not for Vice President Joe Biden, it seems. — Just moments before the afternoon session got underway, C-SPAN's cameras picked up audio of Biden chatting casually with participants.

Discussion: Hot Air and Left Coast Rebel