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, Bloomberg, The Politico, The Huffington Post, The Hill, Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, Investor's Business Daily, Open Congress, CentristNet, NewTeeVee, The Hill, Riehl World View, The Greenroom, New York Magazine, AmSpecBlog, Commentary, The Caucus, The Moderate Voice, Another Black Conservative, Clusterstock, QandO, Taylor Marsh, Raw Story, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Foundry, Left Coast Rebel, JustOneMinute and Pundit & Pundette
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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.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Business Channel, delawareonline, Boston Herald, Wall Street Journal, The Hill and Commentary
New York Times:
Preparing for Health Debate, and 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 at a House Republican retreat in Baltimore last month.
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, Pollster.com All Content, Swampland, TPMDC and The Swamp
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.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
At Health Care Session, Obama Stresses Areas of Agreement — WASHINGTON — President Obama opened his much anticipated health care forum on Thursday by calling on Democrats and Republicans to “focus not just on where we differ but focus on where we agree,” as Republicans called for the president to scrap his bill and start over.
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, Scared Monkeys, Political Punch, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, NOW! Blog, The Note and New York Times
The Politico:
What to watch for at the summit
What to watch for at the summit
Discussion:
CNN, Glenn Thrush's Blog, ABCNEWS, The Fix, Wall Street Journal, Time and Jules Crittenden
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, AOL News Collection, The Daily Beast, The Washington Independent and MyDD
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, The Atlantic Politics Channel and NewsBusters.org
Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: Expectations low on health summit
Poll: Expectations low on health summit
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Politics Daily, The Greenroom, Guardian, Washington Post, CentristNet, Marathon Pundit, The Hill, AmSpecBlog, Moonbattery, The Politico and Political Punch
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.
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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 …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, PostPartisan, Clusterstock, SpeakEasy, The Talking Dog, City Room, Ben Smith's Blog, Mediaite, Gothamist, Politics Daily, The Awl, YID With LID, The Daily Politics, TPMMuckraker, Gawker, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, The Page, The Lonely Conservative and Daily Kos
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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 …
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 …
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.
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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 …
Ezra Klein:
Did the Congressional Budget Office find that premiums costs will go down? — Lamar Alexander and Barack Obama just had a contentious exchange on this point, so it's worth settling the issue: Yes, the CBO found health-care reform would reduce premiums. The issue gets confused because it also found …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, NOW! Blog, The New Republic, Newsweek Blogs, Guardian, The Plum Line and Swampland
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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
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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 …
John Kass / Chicago Tribune:
Obama to deliver health care The Chicago Way — President Barack Obama will star in his very own televised entertainment spectacular on Thursday — let's call it Federal Health Care Kabuki Theater. — The Republicans wanted to dance. Now they'll have to step lightly.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Big Journalism, NO QUARTER, Weasel Zippers, Michelle Malkin and Pundit & Pundette
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.
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 …
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.