memeorandum: Obama doubles down on health-care reform (Ezra Klein)

12:20 PM ET, February 26, 2010

Top Items:

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: Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Prairie Weather, Blue Virginia, Guardian and The Corner on National …

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: Roll Call, Washington Monthly, Jules Crittenden, The Other McCain, TPMDC, Dennis the Peasant, The Reaction, QandO, Balkinization, Left Coast Rebel 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: theblogprof, Weekly Standard, CBS News, DaTechguy's Blog, Commentary, RedState, FrumForum, Republican.Senate.Gov, Economy Watch, The Other McCain, PostPartisan, delawareonline, The Corner on National …, NO QUARTER and Instapundit

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU.... The stated goal of the White House summit on health care was to have a conversation. President Obama wanted to talk with lawmakers from both parties about areas of agreement and disagreement. He may have even held out some hope that Republicans would show more flexibility …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, White House.gov Blog Feed, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, TPMDC and PostPartisan

Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:

At summit, Republicans prove they aren't putting America's health first — I'm not sure what else was accomplished at Thursday's Blair House summit, but surely one result is that we learned what Republican “leaders” really think about health care and health insurance.

Discussion: New York Times, The Washington Independent, USA Today, The Politico, The Moderate Voice and Ezra Klein

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Winners and losers from the health care summit

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

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

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

John Dickerson / Slate:
Obama and Republicans seemed reasonable. That's bad news for Democrats.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, The Politico, Outside The Beltway, Washington Post, Althouse, The Plum Line and New York Times

Darleen Click / protein wisdom:
Full speed off the cliff

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and theblogprof

Ezra Klein:
Obama doubles down on health-care reform

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Note, New York Times, Bloomberg, Washington Times, The Politico, Washington Post, TigerHawk, Swampland and Lynn Sweet

Associated Press:
FACT CHECK: Dueling polls and dubious stats

Discussion: Slate Magazine, AmSpecBlog, The Page, JammieWearingFool, Ezra Klein and Washington Wire

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: D.C. Now, Firedoglake, The Fix, The Washington Independent, Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit, Top of the Ticket, Jules Crittenden, Clusterstock, Advocate, New York Magazine, Gawker, The Lonely Conservative, Indecision Forever, TPMMuckraker, City Room and Wonkette

Danny Hakim / City Room:

Paterson to Drop Out of Race for Governor — Gov. David A. Paterson is set to announce that he will not seek election in the wake of reports that he and the State Police intervened in a domestic-assault case against a senior aide, according to a person told about the plans.

Discussion: Politics Daily, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, SpeakEasy, The Hill, Above the Law, Associated Press, Mediaite, MyDD, The Washington Independent, Newsweek Blogs, Main Justice and AOL News Collection

NY Daily News:

Editorial: For everyone's sake, please go, Gov. Paterson — Like most New Yorkers, the Daily News greeted David Paterson's ascension to the governorship with best wishes and fervent hope for success in endeavors suddenly assumed. Today, just shy of two years later, we urge Paterson to step down immediately.

Discussion: Hotline On Call, The Moderate Voice, Ben Smith's Blog, New York Times and New York Magazine

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: Taegan Goddard's …, Vanity Fair, New York Observer, Gothamist, The Confluence, AMERICAblog News, The Lonely Conservative and Real Clear Politics

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico: Paterson drops campaign for governor

Elizabeth Benjamin / NY Daily News:
The Daily Politics

Discussion: TPM LiveWire and PoliBlog

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

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

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.”

Discussion: Swampland, Top of the Ticket, The Moderate Voice, TPMDC, RedState and Wonk Room

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, Washington Monthly, AOL News Collection, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The Politico

Joseph Curl / Washington Times:

At summit, Obama mostly hears Obama — President Obama pledged to “listen” at the outset of his much-ballyhooed bipartisan health care summit on Thursday. Turns out he meant he'd be listening to his own voice. — By the end of the televised event, Mr. Obama had spoken for 119 minutes …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Time, Swampland, Political Wrinkles, Weasel Zippers and HotAirPundit

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Top Dem chairman signals House will act first on healthcare

Discussion: TPMDC

Reuters:
Jim Bunning Repeatedly Blocks Unemployment Benefits Extension …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Clusterstock, Suburban Guerrilla and Eschaton

Olivia / Citizentube:
YouTube Interviews: Pelosi, Boehner, Reid answer your health care questions

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, CNN and NewTeeVee

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 …

Discussion: Think Progress, Mediaite, Swampland, The New Republic and The Note

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
McCain on Dems' Health Care Bill: Americans Don't Want ‘Unsavory Deals’

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, The Foundry, The Note, George's Bottom Line and CNN

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:

MSNBC Talker: Let's Rip Out Cheney's Heart — SAY HI TO MIKE — With Deranged Cheney Rant, Ed Moves Into Malloy Territory — *** CAUGHT-ON-TAPE EXCLUSIVE *** — *** NEWSBUSTERS REACTS *** — With his cable talk show preempted for Olympics coverage this week …

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, The Corner on National …, Weasel Zippers, Gateway Pundit and NewsBusters.org

Andy Barr / The Politico: Schultz: Rip out Cheney's heart

Peter Baker / The Caucus:
Obama Gives Cheney a Call

Discussion: The Politico and Politics Daily

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, Ben Smith's Blog and Left Coast Rebel

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Rangel ethics violations charged — Longtime Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York said he was “saving the best for last” when he finally was called on to speak near the end of President Barack Obama's daylong bipartisan healthcare summit yesterday. — But a long day was not over for the Democrat …

Discussion: The Politico, D.C. Now and Hot Air

Larry Margasak / Associated Press:
Ethics Panel Finds Rangel Broke Rules

Discussion: The Politico, ABCNEWS and The Hill

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: At-Largely, 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

Eric Dash / New York Times:

On Wall Street, a Romance With Curling — Wall Street trading is often described as a blood sport. But inside the great investment houses, the sport of the moment is, of all things, curling — that oddball of the Olympics that is sort of like shuffleboard on ice.

Discussion: Michael Calderone's Blog, Vanity Fair, Clusterstock and Gawker