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 …
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 …
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 Plum Line, The Fix, The Hill, Washington Post, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, 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 Politico, The Washington Independent, USA Today, 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:
TPMDC, Swampland, Taylor Marsh, Top of the Ticket, The Lonely Conservative, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, RedState, Grim's Hall and Indecision Forever
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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 …
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.
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:
D.C. Now, Another Black Conservative, The Washington Independent, AOL News Collection, Gateway Pundit, Firedoglake, Top of the Ticket, Jules Crittenden, Don Surber, Right Pundits, FiveThirtyEight, TPM LiveWire, Clusterstock, Michelle Malkin, Advocate, Gawker, New York Magazine and AMERICAblog News
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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, Gothamist, New York Magazine and Ben Smith's Blog
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:
CNN, Think Progress, The Note, Swampland, Mediaite, White House.gov Blog Feed and The New Republic
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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 …
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,” …
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 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 would be a grave crime against democracy. — But reconciliation is part of the Senate rules.
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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
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.
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 …
The Atlantic Online:
Thoughts on the Health Care Summit — So, the health care summit. What do we think? — Well, like the rest of the press, I think it was a phenomenal waste of time, if you thought we were maybe going to make some kind of policy progress. What did we learn from the summit?
Discussion:
JustOneMinute
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 …
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.
Dan Zak / Washington Post:
Coffee Party activists say their civic brew's a tastier choice than Tea Party's — Furious at the tempest over the Tea Party — the scattershot citizen uprising against big government and wild spending — Annabel Park did what any American does when she feels her voice has been drowned out …
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.