Top Items:
The Politico:
GOP senators fight over failure — Long-simmering tensions within the Republican Party spilled into public view Wednesday as the pragmatic and conservative wings of the GOP blamed each other in blunt terms for the party's failure to capture the Senate. — With tea party-backed candidates …
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Manu Raju / The Politico:
Mitch McConnell doubles down vs. President Obama — An emboldened Sen. Mitch McConnell on Thursday will declare that President Barack Obama must be defeated in 2012 because Republicans “can't plan” on the White House to listen to voters and cooperate on some of his party's top political priorities.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, CNN, Outside the Beltway, SpeakEasy and TPMMuckraker
J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
Senate Dems warn GOP not to block legislation — The top three Senate Democrats said the onus was on the newly strengthened GOP conference to cooperate on legislation next year. — Republicans picked up six Senate seats Tuesday night, not enough to take control of the chamber …
Patrick O'Connor / Washington Wire:
McConnell: No Mood for Compromise — An emboldened Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell isn't in the mood to compromise following the party's historic gains in the House. — The Kentucky Republican is expected to tell a conservative audience later today that the White House can either …
Discussion:
Moe Lane
Wall Street Journal:
The Boehner Evolution — House Republicans and the challenge of divided government. — John Boehner is no Newt Gingrich, which suits the current public mood. Americans have had their fill of triumphalism and revolution in a House Speaker. But Barack Obama is also no Bill Clinton …
Discussion:
Betsy's Page and Booman Tribune
Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:
The First War of the Next Congress: The Debt Ceiling — The day after a historic Republican victory, President Obama and soon-to-be House Majority Leader John Boehner both expressed an interest in bipartisan solutions to America's economic woes. But in a conversation with Mike Franc …
Discussion:
TPMDC
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
McConnell: GOP's ‘only’ option is to defeat Obama in 2012
McConnell: GOP's ‘only’ option is to defeat Obama in 2012
Discussion:
The Politico
Jeremy P. Jacobs / Hotline On Call:
Starting Lineup: McConnell's Moment
Starting Lineup: McConnell's Moment
Discussion:
Firedoglake, PubliCola, Daily Kos and msnbc.com
Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
Reid is ‘begging’ for Republican input; criticizes GOP and the media
Reid is ‘begging’ for Republican input; criticizes GOP and the media
Discussion:
The Politico, Raw Story and The Hill
First Read / msnbc.com:
Just 32% of Tea Party candidates win — A Don't Tred On Me flag flies above protesters at a rally in April in Macon, MO. — From NBC's Alexandra Moe — For all the talk of the Tea Party's strength - and there will certainly be a significant number of their candidates in Congress …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, The Sundries Shack, Marginal Revolution, Questions and Observations, Balloon Juice, Left Coast Rebel, The Confluence, Taegan Goddard's …, Outside the Beltway, The Mahablog, The Hill, TPMDC, Mediaite, The Maddow Blog, NO QUARTER, TalkLeft, PERRspectives, The Caucus, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, CNN and New York Times
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Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:
The Tea Party Takes On Washington
James Delingpole / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
Tea Party: now for the Presidency
Tea Party: now for the Presidency
Discussion:
CBS News and Samizdata.net
Ben S. Bernanke / Washington Post:
What the Fed did and why: supporting the recovery and sustaining price stability — Two years have passed since the worst financial crisis since the 1930s dealt a body blow to the world economy. Working with policymakers at home and abroad, the Federal Reserve responded with strong …
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J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
You think '10 was tough? Check out '12 — For the first time in two cycles, Democrats will have more seats up for grabs than the Republicans, and the party could see its shrunken majority erased altogether. — Several of the senators up for reelection came in on the 2006 Democratic wave …
Discussion:
Hot Air and Gateway Pundit
The Politico:
John Boehner's boys: the new power club — John Boehner has no plans — or capacity — to rule the House like Nancy Pelosi did. It's neither his style to centralize power in the speaker's office like she did nor his strength to win his way through brute force or fear.
Discussion:
New York Times, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Guardian and Outside the Beltway
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Ray Sanchez / ABCNEWS:
Exclusive: Speaker Nancy Pelosi Says She Has ‘No Regrets’
Exclusive: Speaker Nancy Pelosi Says She Has ‘No Regrets’
Discussion:
Yglesias, The Politico, Online NewsHour, The Foundry, TPMDC, The Sundries Shack, Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys, IMAO, Politics Daily and Weasel Zippers
Russell Berman / The Hill:
Golf and banter won't suffice for Boehner, Obama relationship
Golf and banter won't suffice for Boehner, Obama relationship
Discussion:
The Note, Time and First Draft
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Sarah Palin takes victory lap — Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin is out with a new video Thursday touting the victories of her chosen candidates — and brushing aside the many who fell to defeat on Tuesday. — “Across the country, everyday Americans are standing up and they're speaking out …
Discussion:
CNN, New York Magazine and The Awl
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Corky Siemaszko / NY Daily News:
‘Sorry, mom!’ …
‘Sorry, mom!’ …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Mediaite, Raw Story and PopEater
BradNoley / CBS News:
Palin Emerges with Even More Clout
Palin Emerges with Even More Clout
Discussion:
JOSHUAPUNDIT, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Caucus, Don Surber, Pajamas Media, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Beltway Confidential and GOP 12
New York Times:
Democrats Outrun by a 2-Year G.O.P. Comeback Plan — The PowerPoint slides presented to House Republicans in January 2009 seemed incongruously optimistic at a time when the very word “hope” belonged to the newly ascendant Democrats and their incoming president, Barack Obama.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Washington Monthly, Gawker, Outside the Beltway, Mother Jones, Wall Street Journal and Prairie Weather
Shira Toeplitz / The Politico:
Washington, Alaska races not over — One of the lingering, unresolved Senate races was taken off the board late Wednesday afternoon, when Sen. Michael Bennet was declared the winner in his agonizingly close Colorado matchup with tea party Republican Ken Buck.
Discussion:
CNN
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Pulling a Clinton? — John Harris, the noted Clinton biographer, considers the notion of a 1994 repeat: — [T[he widespread speculation that what Obama needs to do now is simply “pull a Clinton”—replicating Bill Clinton's comeback after being trounced by Newt Gingrich in 1994 …
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R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post:
In new memoir, Bush makes clear he approved use of waterboarding — Human rights experts have long pressed the administration of former president George W. Bush for details of who bore ultimate responsibility for approving the simulated drownings of CIA detainees, a practice …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Emptywheel, Raw Story and TPMMuckraker
CNN:
Poll: GOP candidates top Obama in hypothetical 2012 race — Washington (CNN) — His party got its clock cleaned in Tuesday's midterm elections, but President Barack Obama still remains competitive in some hypothetical 2012 presidential election matchups, especially against Sarah Palin, a new poll shows.
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, AmSpecBlog, Mediaite and Latest Open Salon Blog
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Erin McPike / Real Clear Politics:
FOX News Debuts 12 in '12 Series; Romney Declines Interview
FOX News Debuts 12 in '12 Series; Romney Declines Interview
Discussion:
Mediaite, Raw Story, Conservatives4Palin.com and WANE-TV
NDTV.com:
34 warships sent from US for Obama visit — New Delhi: The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama lands in Mumbai on Saturday. — Communications set-up, nuclear button, a fleet of limousines …
Discussion:
Telegraph, Weasel Zippers, The Jawa Report, theblogprof, JammieWearingFool, Don Surber and Pundit & Pundette
A. G. Sulzberger / New York Times:
Ouster of Iowa Judges Sends Signal to Bench — DES MOINES — An unprecedented vote to remove three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were part of the unanimous decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the state was celebrated by conservatives as a popular rebuke of judicial overreach …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, The Snitch, Law Blog, GayPatriot and Election Law
George F. Will / Washington Post:
A recoil against liberalism — Unwilling to delay until tomorrow mistakes that could be made immediately, Democrats used 2010 to begin losing 2012. Trying to preemptively drain the election of its dangerous (to Democrats) meaning, all autumn Democrats described the electorate as suffering a brain cramp …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Achenblog, Daily Kos, Betsy's Page, The Glittering Eye and No Left Turns
Alex Pareene / Salon:
The sad tale of the Democrats who hated the unemployed — Last summer, we met the Democrats who hated the unemployed — the 16 House votes from the majority party against an emergency extension of unemployment benefits. They were: — John Adler, D-N.J. — Brian Baird, D-Wash.
Discussion:
Chicago Sun Times, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Hullabaloo and The Mahablog
Mark Weiner / Syracuse Post-Standard:
Ann Marie Buerkle surges into lead over Dan Maffei in NY-25 congressional race — Syracuse, NY — Republican Ann Marie Buerkle surged ahead of U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei by 659 votes this afternoon in the 25th Congressional District race after Wayne County reported its unofficial results.
Discussion:
Ballot Box