memeorandum: After Canadian gold, cigars and champagne (Associated Press)

2:15 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: TalkLeft, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Jules Crittenden, Prairie Weather, Washington Post, Blue Virginia, Guardian and The Corner on National …

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 …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Other McCain, theblogprof and Hot Air

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: CBS News, DaTechguy's Blog, theblogprof, Commentary, FrumForum, Another Black Conservative, The Other McCain, Republican.Senate.Gov and PostPartisan

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: The Moderate Voice, Ezra Klein, Roll Call, The Fix, TPMDC, Dennis the Peasant, Corrente, QandO, Balkinization, Washington Monthly, Left Coast Rebel, Hullabaloo and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

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: Boston Globe, NewsBusters.org and The Corner on National …

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU.... The stated goal of the White House summit …

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

Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
At summit, Republicans prove they aren't putting America's health first

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

The Atlantic Online:
Thoughts on the Health Care Summit

Discussion: JustOneMinute

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

Discussion: Associated Press, The Atlantic Online, Outside The Beltway, Taylor Marsh, Washington Post, The Politico, Newshoggers.com, The Plum Line, Althouse and CentristNet

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: Taylor Marsh, TPMDC, Swampland, The Lonely Conservative, Top of the Ticket, The Moderate Voice, Indecision Forever and RedState

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: Firedoglake, Citizentube, TPMDC, CNN, The Plum Line and AmSpecBlog

Bill Frist / Wall Street Journal:

A Historic and Dangerous Senate Mistake — Using ‘reconciliation’ to ram through health reform would only deepen partisan passions. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has announced that while Democrats have a number of options to complete health-care legislation, he may use the budget reconciliation process to do so.

Discussion: Think Progress, Matthew Yglesias, The Politico, The Hill, New York Times, Associated Press and New York Times

The Caucus:
Bunning Blocks Jobless Aid in Senate

Discussion: Firedoglake, Think Progress, Wonk Room, Democracy in America, Washington Monthly, AOL News Collection, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Wonkette

Joseph Curl / Washington Times:
At summit, Obama mostly hears Obama

Discussion: Times of London, Townhall.com, Time, Swampland and Political Wrinkles

Reuters:
Jim Bunning Repeatedly Blocks Unemployment Benefits Extension …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, TalkLeft and Clusterstock

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

Discussion: The Politico, Vanity Fair, The Note, Shakesville, The Reaction and The Raw Story

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: Firedoglake, D.C. Now, The Washington Independent, Right Pundits, Michelle Malkin, FiveThirtyEight, Gateway Pundit, Don Surber, Jules Crittenden, Top of the Ticket, Clusterstock, TPM LiveWire, Advocate, New York Magazine, Gawker and PoliBlog

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, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, Ben Smith's Blog, Gothamist and New York Magazine

Danny Hakim / City Room:
Paterson to Drop Out of Race for Governor

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Fix, Politics Daily, The Note, The Hill, Guardian, SpeakEasy, Above the Law, Associated Press, Mediaite, The Lonely Conservative, The Washington Independent and MyDD

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
Paterson Gets Some Sobering Advice on His Political Future

Discussion: NY Daily News, Gothamist, The Confluence, RHRealityCheck.org, Vanity Fair, New York Observer, AMERICAblog News, The Lonely Conservative and Real Clear Politics

New York Times:
Paterson to Drop Out of Governor Race

Discussion: The Nation, The Save Jersey Blog, The Daily Beast, Wonkette and Newsweek Blogs

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, Swampland, Mediaite and The New Republic

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
McCain Warns Dems on Health Care

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

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: Associated Press, ABCNEWS, The Corner on National …, TPMDC and TPMMuckraker

Jared Allen / The Hill:
Pelosi sticks with Rangel, notes ethics panel ‘did not take action’

Discussion: The Page and Commentary

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 …, Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers and NewsBusters.org

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

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 …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, ReadWriteWeb and JoeTrippi.com

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: CNN, The Nose On Your Face, Hot Air, Another Black Conservative and No Sheeples Here

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

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: Clusterstock, Michael Calderone's Blog and Vanity Fair

Eric Zimmermann / The Hill:

Obama names labor leader to fiscal commission — President Obama announced today his appointees to a recently created bipartisan fiscal commission, including prominent labor leader and Democratic activist Andy Stern. — Stern, chairman of the Service Employees International Union …

Discussion: TPM LiveWire, Hot Air, The Jawa Report and Gateway Pundit

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

Gregg: Reconciliation Is The Rule Of The Senate (VIDEO) — Republicans are doing everything they can to convince the media and the public that using the budget reconciliation process to finish health care amounts to the “nuclear option”—a term that came to fame when Republicans tried to change …

Discussion: Ezra Klein and Washington Monthly

Associated Press:

After Canadian gold, cigars and champagne — VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The women of the Canadian hockey team politely accepted their gold medals and waved to an adoring crowd. And then the real celebration began. — More than half an hour after they beat the United States 2-0 on Thursday …

Discussion: Power Line and The Corner on National …

Tunku Varadarajan / The Daily Beast:

What Was Obama Thinking? — Blogs and Stories — He was a testy clock-Nazi, the GOP was surprisingly well-briefed—and the outcome was never in doubt. Why don't the Dems just ram health care through and spare us the spectacle? — Six and a half hours, two meals, a tub of ice cream …

Discussion: Power Line, Newsweek Blogs and Weekly Standard