Top Items:
The Politico:
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.”
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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 …
The Politico:
Dems call for Rangel's gavel — After months of holding ranks, Democrats are finally turning on House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) in the wake of an ethics committee finding that he violated House rules by accepting a Caribbean junket. — Early Friday, Rep. Paul Hodes …
Discussion:
CNN, Don Surber, Associated Press, ABCNEWS, TPMMuckraker, The Corner on National …, TPMDC and USA Today
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Greenwald, Weiner Talk Health Care on Morning Joe: No Reason Not to Vote on Public Option — I still don't think the Senate/White House bill is going anywhere, either with or without a public option, for reasons I've outlined before — though some seem to be hell-bent on forcing House Democrats to throw themselves on its funeral pyre.
Discussion:
Economix
Reuters:
Jim Bunning Repeatedly Blocks Unemployment Benefits Extension, Tells Dem ‘Tough S**t’ — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky, is single-handedly blocking Senate action needed to prevent an estimated 1.2 million American workers from prematurely losing their unemployment benefits next month.
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:
Wall Street Journal, Ezra Klein, Roll Call, Washington Post, Suburban Guerrilla, Los Angeles Times, Jules Crittenden, TalkLeft, Blue Virginia, Prairie Weather, The Atlantic Online, GOP.gov Blog, Dennis the Peasant, The Other McCain, The Corner on National …, The Plum Line and The Raw Story
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Professor Obama schools lawmakers on health-care reform — Republicans had been hesitant to accept President Obama's invitation to participate in Thursday's White House health-care summit. Their hesitance turned out to be justified. — An equal number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers …
Discussion:
Time, Boston Globe, The Corner on National …, About.com US Liberal Politics and NewsBusters.org
Darleen Click / protein wisdom:
Full speed off the cliff — A roundup of reactions of Obama's Kabuki Theatre yesterday here. — Not that any minds were changed. Obama kept trying to strike a pose for the cameras as Serious Contemplator — stroking his chin, pursing lips, scribbling notes, picking his nose …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU.... The stated goal of the White House summit …
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU.... The stated goal of the White House summit …
Discussion:
TPMDC, The Fix, Washington Post, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CBS News, PostPartisan, Shakesville, Balkinization and The Moderate Voice
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
At summit, Republicans prove they aren't putting America's health first
At summit, Republicans prove they aren't putting America's health first
Discussion:
New York Times, The Washington Independent, The Politico, USA Today, The Moderate Voice and Ezra Klein
Lynn Sweet / Chicago Sun Times:
White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to step down — WASHINGTON—White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers told me Friday she will step down next month, after presiding over 330 events in the White House in 14 months. — Rogers is departing after achieving a major goal …
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Kenneth Lovett / NY Daily News:
Gov. David Paterson pulls plug on election bid, but will not resign: insider — Embattled Gov. Paterson has pulled the plug on his election bid, a source close to the governor said Friday. — Paterson will announce the decision later Friday. — Paterson has been under fire for having contacted …
Discussion:
The Washington Independent, Gateway Pundit, Top of the Ticket, Another Black Conservative, AOL News Collection, Jules Crittenden, Right Pundits, FiveThirtyEight, Don Surber, Firedoglake, Clusterstock, Advocate, Wonkette, TPM LiveWire, Gawker, Michelle Malkin, New York Magazine, AMERICAblog News and PoliBlog
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Ezra Klein:
Judd Gregg: 'If you've got 51 votes, you win' — “The point is this,” Sen. Judd Gregg says in this 2005 defense of the Republicans' use of the budget reconciliation process. “If you've got 51 votes, you win.” — The idea “that it is outside the rules to proceed within the rules,” Gregg laughs, “is a very unique view on the rules.”
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Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Gregg: Reconciliation Is The Rule Of The Senate (VIDEO)
Gregg: Reconciliation Is The Rule Of The Senate (VIDEO)
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Teddy Partridge / Firedoglake:
Judd Gregg Loved Reconciliation, Defended It on Senate Floor in 2005
Judd Gregg Loved Reconciliation, Defended It on Senate Floor in 2005
Discussion:
Blue Virginia
Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
McCain Warns Dems on Health Care — 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, but passing a Senate bill with 51 votes …
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Jared Allen / The Hill:
Democratic leaders scramble to find support for Senate job-creation bill
Democratic leaders scramble to find support for Senate job-creation bill
Discussion:
The Politico
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Bush endorses Cheney role — For the first time, former President George W. Bush has said publicly that he approves of former Vice President Dick Cheney's high-profile role in defending the past administration's national security policies. — “I'm glad Cheney is out there,” …
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Tuathadedannan / Associated Press:
Unemployment Extension Fails in Senate — GOP Sen. Jim Bunning Blocks Action over Concerns About Swelling Deficit — (AP) The Senate failed late Thursday to extend programs for laid-off workers, jeopardizing unemployment benefits scheduled to expire over the weekend.
Discussion:
Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!
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Mike Stark / StarkReports.com:
Bipartisanship is dead — At yesterday's health care discussion, Louise Slaughter told a moving story. — An elderly woman needed dentures but couldn't afford them. Her sister had dentures. When she passed, the surviving sister “inherited” the dentures and used them as her own.
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Walid Zafar / Media Matters Action Network:
Rep. Trent Franks: Blacks Better Off Under Slavery
Rep. Trent Franks: Blacks Better Off Under Slavery
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook:
Facebook Patents The News Feed (Updated) — On Tuesday, Facebook was awarded a major patent for “Dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network”. This is a huge deal for a number of reasons, most significantly that it grants Facebook the opportunity to pursue …
Erica Ogg / CNET News:
Al Gore a lightning rod at Apple shareholder meeting — CUPERTINO, Calif.—The presence of one of the world's pre-eminent environmentalists at Apple's shareholder meeting Thursday was the subject of much of the morning's pointed discussion. — As expected, Apple's attitude on environmental …
National Journal Online:
Senate Ratings — HOW SENATORS SCORED ON LIBERAL-CONSERVATIVE SCALES IN THREE ISSUE CATEGORIES AND OVERALL. … In the following list, senators are assigned separate scores for their roll-call votes on key economic, social and foreign-policy issues during 2009.