Top Items:
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 …
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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 …
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 …
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 …
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.
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:
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
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 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, RedState and Raw Story
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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 …
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 Hill, New York Times, Associated Press and New York Times
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 …
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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
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 …
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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 …
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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 …, NewsBusters.org, Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers
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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 …
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.
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Prominent Harvard law professor joins Justice Department — Prominent Harvard law professor Laurence H. Tribe will join the Justice Department next week to lead an effort focused on increasing legal access for the poor, two federal sources said Thursday. — Tribe, 68, long viewed …
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.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …