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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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
A Historic Achievement — I don't think the arguments mounted by Pat Caddell and Douglas Schoen that Democrats will face political disaster if they pass health reform hold water. Or, rather, I think they disingenuously fail to consider the alternative. If reform passes …
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.
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 …
Discussion:
The Swamp, The Foundry, CNN, Washington Monthly, QandO, Riehl World View, The Plum Line and Open Congress
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Robert Pear / New York Times:
Democrats Struggle to Finish Health Bill
Discussion:
Political Punch, Roll Call, Bloomberg, The Caucus, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Wonk Room, Associated Press, WSJ.com, Washington Post, Cheap Talk, The Politico, New York Times and The Note
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Pelosi: Public option will not be in health bill despite liberal efforts
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
The Huffington Post:
Dick Durbin: I'll Whip ‘Aggressively’ For A Public Plan If Pelosi Includes It
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, The Plum Line, Open Left, Daily Kos, Washington Post, TPMDC and The Huffington Post
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Are Democrats Really Scrapping Abortion Negotiations With Stupak?
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The New Republic, The Huffington Post, Associated Press, Washington Monthly, Wonk Room and Open Left
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.
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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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 …
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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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Michael Leahy / Washington Post:
A frustrated caucus keeps complaints quiet — A year ago, members of the Congressional Black Caucus openly wept at Barack Obama's inauguration. Slowly, that euphoria has given way to frustration that his administration has not done more for black America.
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Sheryl Stolberg / The Caucus:
Timing of Obama Indonesia Trip Questioned
Discussion:
Associated Press, Washington Monthly, The Confluence, Betsy's Page, Wonk Room and The Page
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 …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Ben Smith's Blog, alicublog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Gateway Pundit, LewRockwell.com Blog, Instapundit and AmSpecBlog
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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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.
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Washington Examiner:
Yeas & Nays reporter booted from Sean Penn event — A Yeas & Nays reporter was publicly berated and threatened to be escorted out by police on Thursday night when the reporter asked actor Sean Penn a controversial question about his humanitarian work in Haiti.
Jessica Ravitz / CNN:
Coffee Party brewing — Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) — In one chair sits a rural retiree, his financial security shot in the slump, a humble Southerner who's never thought much about politics. In another seat is a born Northerner, an inner-city native, a relative of a civil rights giant.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Beck vs Social Justice — I'm surprised there hasn't been more attention paid lately to Glenn Beck's attacks on the idea of social justice: … If this is meant seriously—and Beck's sounded the theme in three consecutive shows so I think it is—this seems to me like when McCarthy decided to go after the Army.
Discussion:
Think Progress, ATTACKERMAN, The Caucus, Washington Monthly and Media Matters for America
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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Renae Merle / Washington Post:
New round of foreclosures threatens housing market — The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new wave of foreclosures that could hit just as the real estate market has begun to stabilize.
NY Daily News:
GOP pushes probe of disgraced upstate pol Eric Massa, charges Nancy Pelosi ignored tip — The scandal around disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Massa rocked Capitol Hill again Thursday as Republicans forced ethics officials to take another look at sordid charges of sexual harassment - and how they were handled.
Discussion:
Firedoglake
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