memeorandum: Perestroika Lost — PERESTROIKA, the series of political … (Mikhail Gorbachev/New York Times)

12:45 AM ET, March 15, 2010

Top Items:

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.

Discussion: American Spectator

Michelle Malkin:

Big Government Burrito: A taste of the 2,309-pg Demcare/Student Loan Reconciliation Bill; Update: A tortilla shell fake-out — If the TARP bank bailout was a “crap sandwich,” the Democrats' Student Loan Nationalization plan wrapped inside the latest version of the health care takeover is a Big Government Burrito.

Discussion: RedState, Maggie's Notebook, Doug Ross, Riehl World View and iOwnTheWorld.com

Walter Alarkon / The Hill:
Gibbs: By next Sunday, healthcare reform will be the ‘law of the land’

Discussion: The Plum Line, Michelle Malkin, Another Black Conservative, The Lonely Conservative, JammieWearingFool, Washington Monthly, Doug Ross and Riehl World View

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.

Discussion: The Corner on National …

Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:

Re: The Gitmo Bar & Krauthammer — By: Andy McCarthy — Jonah, there will be more evidence, and it is shocking. — Until then, I think you are misstating my argument — as is the excellent Paul Mirengoff, who also has a very thoughtful post at Powerline.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Metablog and Power Line

Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:
Is the Gitmo Bar Pro-Islamist? — By: Andy McCarthy

Discussion: NewsReal Blog, Power Line and Wall Street Journal

Kathleen Hennessey / Los Angeles Times:

Justice's wife launches ‘tea party’ group — The nonprofit run by Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is likely to test notions of political impartiality for the court. — Reporting from Washington — As Virginia Thomas tells it in her soft-spoken …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Taylor Marsh, iOwnTheWorld.com, New York Times, The Impolitic, Gawker, Mediaite, Another Black Conservative, The Corner on National …, The Political Carnival, Maggie's Notebook, AMERICAblog News, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Rising Hegemon

Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:
The Legacy Media's War on Conservatives — By: Andy McCarthy

Discussion: his vorpal sword, Hot Air, Left Coast Rebel, No More Mister Nice Blog, AmSpecBlog, The Lonely Conservative and Pajamas Media

Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:

Graham: ‘No Way In The World’ Is Massachusetts' Health Care Plan Similar To The Democratic Proposal — Giving this week's GOP address, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) bashed Democratic efforts to reform health care as a “bitter, destructive, and endless drive to completely transform America's healthcare system.”

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Grasping Reality … and The Hill

Bruce Drake / Politics Daily:
Democrats Still Short of Votes But Predict Health Bill Will Pass

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Susie Madrak / Crooks and Liars:
David Axelrod: When You Go Into The Details, People Support The Healthcare Bill

Discussion: Riehl World View and American Power

Bridget Johnson / The Hill:
Axelrod: Illlegal immigration won't be addressed in health bill

Discussion: The Swamp, Maggie's Notebook and CNN

Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:

Rove Falsely Claims Bush Administration Never Said Iraqi Oil Revenue Would Help Pay For War — In his new book and in recent media appearances promoting it, former top Bush aide Karl Rove has been revising the history of the Iraq war, particularly regarding the issue of Saddam Hussien's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Hill and Raw Story

Peter Baker / New York Times:
As Health Vote Awaits, Future of a Presidency Waits, Too

Discussion: Hot Air, Doug Ross, Gateway Pundit, Chicago Boyz, Another Black Conservative, JammieWearingFool and American Power

Howard Fineman / Newsweek:
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do — The press finally falls out of love with Obama.

Discussion: Big Journalism, NewsBusters.org and American Power

Michael Pollak / New York Times:

Peter Graves, ‘Mission: Impossible’ Star, Dies at 83 — Peter Graves, the cool spymaster of television's “Mission: Impossible” and the dignified host of the “Biography” series, who successfully spoofed his own gravitas in the “Airplane!” movie farces, died on Sunday. He was 83.

Discussion: EW.com

Janine Zacharia / Washington Post:

Israeli prime minister calls settlement dispute with U.S. regrettable, hurtful — JERUSALEM — The spat between the United States and Israel over planned construction in an East Jerusalem neighborhood dominated the Israeli cabinet meeting on Sunday as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continued …

Discussion: Laura Rozen's Blog, Commentary and Haaretz

Mark Perry / Foreign Policy:
The Petraeus briefing: Biden's embarrassment is not the whole story

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Daily Dish, American Power, BBC, The Moderate Voice, New York Times, Laura Rozen's Blog, ATTACKERMAN and Israel Matzav

Political Punch:

Axelrod: Israel Settlement Approval an ‘Affront’; ‘Insult’ — The President's top adviser David Axelrod told me that approval of new housing units by Israel in the Arab section of Jerusalem during Vice President Biden's trip there last week was an “affront” and an “insult”.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, New York Times, FP Passport, The Moderate Voice and The Page

Fox News:

American Linked to Terror Plot Brainwashed 6-Year-Old Son, Family Says — He was being turned into a baby bomber. — The 6-year-old son of a Colorado nursing student who ran off to Europe to join a terrorist murder cell was brainwashed into a hate-filled Islamic fundamentalist zombie …

Discussion: ThreatsWatch and Weasel Zippers

NY Daily News:

Pull the plug, Barack: It's a mistake to try to ram through health care reform — Health reform: Down the stretch it comes. President Obama has gone so far as to postpone an overseas trip in a last-ditch push to get a comprehensive reform bill to his desk. — He shouldn't waste his energy.

David Cole / Washington Post:

Thanks to Liz Cheney's ‘al-Qaeda Seven’ ad, Dick Cheney may finally go away — Liz Cheney is getting a bad rap. — It's true that the former vice president's daughter, perhaps hoping to supplant David Addington as “Cheney's Cheney,” evoked Sen. Joe McCarthy recently when she challenged …

Discussion: Power Line and ATTACKERMAN

Silla Brush / The Hill:

Senate Republicans urge more time on financial overhaul — Senate Banking Committee Republicans are unanimously pleading with panel Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) for more time to consider financial regulatory overhaul legislation. — All 10 Republicans on the panel argued in a letter …