Top Items:
Washington Post:
If Democrats ignore health-care polls, midterms will be costly — In “The March of Folly,” Barbara Tuchman asked, “Why do holders of high office so often act contrary to the way reason points and enlightened self-interest suggests?” Her assessment of self-deception …
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Robert Pear / New York Times:
Democrats Struggle to Finish Health Bill — WASHINGTON — House and Senate Democratic leaders struggled Thursday to stitch together pieces of a final health care bill as rank-and-file Democrats demanded more information about the contents of the bill and its cost.
Discussion:
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David M. Drucker / Roll Call:
Ruling Kills an Option for Moving Health Bill — The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress' original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday.
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Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
An option still on table? — Senate Republicans caused a major stir Thursday when they told reporters that the parliamentarian had informed them that the Senate bill needed to be signed into law before lawmakers took up a sidecar bill to fix it. — And Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad …
New York Times:
Report Details How Lehman Hid Its Woes as It Collapsed — By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN — It is the Wall Street equivalent of a coroner's report — a 2,200-page document that lays out, in new and startling detail, how Lehman Brothers used accounting sleight of hand …
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David Brooks / New York Times:
Op-Ed Columnist: What Obama Stands For — Who is Barack Obama? — If you ask a conservative Republican, you are likely to hear that Obama is a skilled politician who campaigned as a centrist but is governing as a big-government liberal. He plays by ruthless, Chicago politics rules.
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BBC:
Rove ‘proud’ of US waterboarding — A senior advisor to former US President George W Bush has defended tough interrogation techniques, saying their use helped prevent terrorist attacks. — In a BBC interview, Karl Rove, who was known as “Bush's brain”, said he “was proud we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists”.
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Reaction, JONATHAN TURLEY, Newshoggers.com, Jules Crittenden and Emptywheel
Howell Raines / Washington Post:
Why don't honest journalists take on Roger Ailes and Fox News? — One question has tugged at my professional conscience throughout the year-long congressional debate over health-care reform, and it has nothing to do with the public option, portability or medical malpractice.
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Obama Social Secretary Ran Into Sharp Elbows — WASHINGTON — Long before the State Dinner party crashers and the tension with her White House colleagues and the strain in her relationship with the first lady, Desirée Rogers began to understand she was in trouble when David Axelrod summoned …
Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
Obama delays trip for health push — President Barack Obama is delaying his trip to Indonesia and Australia by three days in hopes of finalizing a health care deal — and will scrap plans to take along first lady Michelle Obama and his two daughters, according to senior administration officials.
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Ben Smith / The Politico:
Tea parties stir evangelicals' fears — The rise of a new conservative grass roots fueled by a secular revulsion at government spending is stirring fears among leaders of the old conservative grass roots, the evangelical Christian right. — A reeling economy and the massive bank bailout …
Peter Nicholas / Los Angeles Times:
Senators give Obama a bipartisan plan on immigration — The president is encouraged, but healthcare politics could jeopardize the proposal. — Clarissa Martinez de Castro of the National Council of La Raza speaks to reporters outside the White House after meeting with President Obama to on immigration reform.
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Deseret News:
House Majority Leader Kevin Garn admits to incident with girl in past — SALT LAKE CITY — House Majority Leader Kevin Garn admitted as the Legislature adjourned Thursday night to a nude hot tubbing incident with a teenage girl 25 years ago. — In a tearful statement in a packed House chambers …
Associated Press:
Reid's Wife and Daughter Injured in Car Accident — WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife and daughter were hospitalized Thursday — the wife with a broken back and neck — after their minivan was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer truck on an interstate highway in suburban Virginia, authorities said.
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New York Times:
Top Obama Priorities Collide as Student Loan Legislation May Be Attached to Health Care — WASHINGTON — Democratic Congressional leaders struck a tentative agreement on Thursday that breathes new life into President Obama's proposed overhaul of federal student loan programs.
Hamil R. Harris / Washington Post:
Rev. Jeremiah Wright discusses Obama controversy, history of his church — President Obama's former pastor Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. on Wednesday compared the president to a son who was being treated unfairly and said it had been hard weathering the media storm after Obama became …
Dee Dee Myers / The Politico:
Memo to Obama: Get back in touch — Almost anyone who ever traveled with President Bill Clinton can tell a similar tale. At the end of a long day, Clinton would unwind by working the rope line. He would shake hands, clasp shoulders — and listen. When there were no stories left to hear …
Discussion:
Commentary
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Health Reform Myths — Health reform is back from the dead. Many Democrats have realized that their electoral prospects will be better if they can point to a real accomplishment. Polling on reform — which was never as negative as portrayed — shows signs of improving.
Ashley Mason / Washington Square News:
Former presidential hopeful speaks at NYU College Republicans event — candidate Mike Huckabee was asked to speak at an NYU College Republicans — meeting, he laughingly agreed: “Good, will both of them be there?” — Last night at the Kimmel Center Huckabee
Howie Carr / Boston Herald:
Finally, Patches and I can agree on something — Patches Kennedy utterly melts down on the House floor and says the national press corps is “despicable?” — Where was his sponsor? And is it perhaps time for the House of Representatives to install Breathalyzers in front of the podium?
Mike Faher / The Tribune Democrat, Johnstown, PA:
GOP chooses Burns for special election in 12th — LATROBE — Tim Burns, a Johnstown native making his first political run, will be the Republican candidate seeking to serve the remainder of the late John Murtha's unfinished term. — Burns, who now lives in the Washington County community of Eighty Four …
Lauren Mattia / GLAADBlog.org:
Johnny Weir Deemed “Not Family Friendly” Enough to Perform in Stars on Ice Tour — GLAAD has learned from a source that wishes to remain anonymous that sponsors of the Stars on Ice Tour, which include Smuckers and IMG Entertainment, have refused to allow 3-time US National Champion and 2 …
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