Top Items:
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:
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Robert Costa / The Corner on National Review Online:
‘They Just Want This Over’ — By: Robert Costa — Sitting in an airport, on his way home to Michigan, Rep. Bart Stupak, a pro-life Democrat, is chagrined. “They're ignoring me,” he says, in a phone interview with National Review Online. “That's their strategy now.
Discussion:
The Hill, AmSpecBlog, Hot Air, Power Line, CatholicVoteAction.org, MyDD and Riehl World View
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Two Major Developments. Or Not. — If you were following the news on Thursday, you probably heard about one if not both of these developments: — 1) The Senate Parliamentarian issued a ruling, effectively forcing the House to pass the Senate health care bill before the Senate could consider amendments to it.
Walter Alarkon / The Hill:
Gregg, Coburn and Crapo named to White House debt commission
Discussion:
The Politico
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
After WH postpones trip, Gibbs won't commit to new deadline
Discussion:
The Politico
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 …
Discussion:
The Note, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Think Progress, Commentary, The Daily Dish, Newsweek Blogs, New York Times, JOSHUAPUNDIT, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Lonely Conservative, The New Republic, Liberal Values, Donklephant, Moonbattery, The Politico, Another Black Conservative, AmSpecBlog, Scared Monkeys, Pundit & Pundette, GOP Leader Blog, Democratic Strategist, Michelle Malkin, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Strata-Sphere, msnbc.com, Wake up America, WSJ.com, neo-neocon, Townhall.com and Left Coast Rebel
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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.
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 …
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.
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Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
Three cheers for Howell Raines (but he didn't go far enough)
Discussion:
Eschaton
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:
Ben Smith's Blog, Firedoglake, No More Mister Nice Blog, alicublog, AmSpecBlog and LewRockwell.com Blog
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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.
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.
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Commentary, TPMCafe, The Corner on National …, Daily Kos, The New Republic, Sister Toldjah and The Moderate Voice
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 …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Mediaite, Politics Daily, Taylor Marsh, Gawker, Washington Post and The Page
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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:
Salon, Think Progress, Catholic League, ATTACKERMAN, Washington Monthly and Media Matters for America
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Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:
Outraged by Glenn Beck's Salvo, Christians Fire Back
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Raw Story, The Caucus, Mediaite, Think Progress, Newsweek Blogs, CNET News and Politics Daily
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.
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Monthly, The Politico, The Caucus, Matthew Yglesias, CNN, AmSpecBlog, The Foundry, A plain blog about politics, Townhall.com, RedState, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Washington Independent, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Confederate Yankee, Cato @ Liberty, Student Lending Analytics Blog, The Reality-Based Community and Washington Post
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.
Associated Press:
Kevin Garn: I Nude Hot-Tubbed with Minor — Republican State House Majority Leader Kevin Garn Admits Paying Woman, Who was 15 at the Time, $150,000 to Keep Silent — (AP) Utah's House majority leader said late Thursday he paid a woman $150,000 to keep silent about going nude “hot-tubbing” …
Discussion:
DISSENTING JUSTICE
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Michelle Oddis / Human Events:
Inhofe Wants Spending Freeze, Opposes Earmark Ban — All 178 House Republicans agreed Wednesday to implement a yearlong ban on all congressional earmarks in spending bills. — “Federal spending is out of control and the American people know it. Earmarks have become emblematic of everything …
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The Democrats' scam becomes more transparent — A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about what seemed to be a glaring (and quite typical) scam perpetrated by Congressional Democrats: all year long, they insisted that the White House and a majority of Democratic Senators vigorously supported a public option …
Discussion:
The Plum Line, The Huffington Post, Open Left, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Corrente and Outside The Beltway
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.
Chris Frates / The Politico:
Van Hollen memo lays out time line and messaging — The office of Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who is the assistant to Speaker Pelosi, sent a memo to Democratic staffers today telling them to clear members' schedule for next weekend, saying a vote could come as early as Friday or Saturday …
The Atlantic Online:
Birther Non-Denial Denials from Republican Senate Candidates — Et tu, Rob Portman? Ye of sensibility and rectitude? Ye of maturity and political resolve? Despite inquires from the Cincinnati Enquirer and Plain Dealer, Portman's campaign won't directly answer the question of whether …
Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Democratic candidates distance themselves from healthcare reform — Hardly any Democrat running for Congress seems to want to talk about healthcare. — Of the 26 leading Democratic House candidates contacted by The Hill, only one would commit to voting for the Senate healthcare bill if and when it comes to the House floor.
Discussion:
Commentary
James C. McKinley Jr / New York Times:
Texas Conservatives Win Vote on Textbook Standards — AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday voted to approve a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the role …
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