Top Items:
Paul Ryan / Washington Post:
Rep. Paul Ryan on what real health reform should look like — Today, the House Budget Committee is to mark up a “reconciliation” vehicle, initiating the greatest expansion in government and entitlement spending in a generation through a partisan process to push “health-care reform” across the finish line.
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
House Democrats release bill for Budget markup Monday — House Democrats on Sunday night set into motion what they hope will be the final steps on healthcare reform. — The House Budget Committee on Sunday evening released text that will serve as the base legislation for the changes the House will seek to the Senate bill this week.
Philip Klein / AmSpecBlog:
The Health Care “Shell” Game Begins — Shortly before midnight on Sunday, Democrats released a 2,309 page health care bill that will start the process of reconciliation — but don't let that fool you, it's not the actual reconciliation bill with all the changes you've been reading about.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, The Politico, Wonk Room, iOwnTheWorld.com, RedState, Wake up America, Betsy's Page and The Strata-Sphere
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Democratic leaders say health bill will pass — Democratic leaders scrambled Sunday to pull together enough support in the House for a make-or-break decision on health-care reform later this week, expressing optimism that a package will soon be signed into law by President Obama despite a lack of firm votes for passage.
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
Move on student loans could win healthcare votes, House Dems say
Move on student loans could win healthcare votes, House Dems say
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Lisa Depaulo / GQ Magazine: GQ:
Hello, America, My Name Is Rielle Hunter — We've heard from former senator John Edwards, we've heard from his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Saint Elizabeth, and we've heard (bleh) from Andrew Young, the former Edwards aide and faux father. But through it all—the affair and the cancer-stricken spouse …
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Reliable Source:
Rielle Hunter speaks for the first time in GQ interview about John and Elizabeth Edwards, Andrew Young, and the big-money donors — Rielle Hunter at her home in Charlotte, N.C. (Photo by Mark Seliger / Courtesy of GQ) — For more than two years after Rielle Hunter emerged at the center …
Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Millions Spent to Sway Democrats on Health Care — WASHINGTON — The yearlong legislative fight over health care is drawing to a frenzied close as a multimillion-dollar wave of advertising that rivals the ferocity of a presidential campaign takes aim at about 40 House Democrats whose votes …
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Ben Feller / Associated Press:
Obama heads to Ohio looking for health care votes
Obama heads to Ohio looking for health care votes
Discussion:
CBS4, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, The Note, Seattle Times, Washington Post, Hot Air and Time
Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Homestretch scramble for votes
Wall Street Journal:
Gitmo's Indefensible Lawyers — Legal counsel to some of the detainees went far beyond vigorous representation of their clients. Doesn't the public have a right to know? — On the evening of Jan. 26, 2006, military guards at Guantanamo Bay made an alarming discovery during a routine cell check.
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Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:
What will the Supreme Court be like without its liberal leader? — Supreme Court Justices are remembered for their opinions, but they are revealed by their questions. For many years, Sandra Day O'Connor chose to open the questioning in most cases, and thus show the lawyers—and her colleagues …
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New York Times:
Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants — KABUL, Afghanistan — Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants …
Art Beast / The Daily Beast:
Democrats, Forever Changed — Hungry Beast Giving Beast Women in the World — Blogs and Stories — By pressing ahead on health care, President Obama is ending a decades-long internal debate within his party—and the Democratic Party will never be the same.
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Barak Ravid / Haaretz:
Israel envoy: U.S. ties at their worst in 35 years — Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has told the country's diplomats there that U.S.-Israeli relations face their worst crisis in 35 years, despite attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office to project a sense of “business as usual.”
Discussion:
CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, Time, Commentary, The Huffington Post, The Washington Independent and New York Times
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Taking On China — Tensions are rising over Chinese economic policy, and rightly so: China's policy of keeping its currency, the renminbi, undervalued has become a significant drag on global economic recovery. Something must be done. — To give you a sense of the problem …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
The Beck Factor at Fox: Staffers say comments taint their work — In just over a year, Glenn Beck's blinding burst of stardom has often seemed to overshadow the rest of Fox News. — And that may not be a good thing for the top-rated cable news channel, as many of its staffers are acutely aware.
Fred Hiatt / Washington Post:
Obama's happiness deficit — Here's a theory about why President Obama is having a tough political time right now: He doesn't seem all that happy being president. — I know, it's the world's hardest job, and between war and the world economy collapsing, he didn't have the first year he might have wished for.
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
New Health Care Whip Count: 191 Yes, 203 No — You can see the last whip count here. Changes since Friday: — • House leaders have a firm target date for a vote, and have begun to whip the bill. But for the first time today, James Clyburn admitted that he doesn't have the votes at the moment …
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Some Cautious Optimism on Health Care Whip Count
Some Cautious Optimism on Health Care Whip Count
Discussion:
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