memeorandum: Grassley: Health repeal will die in Senate (Jordan Fabian/The Hill)

6:50 PM ET, November 11, 2010

Top Items:

White House Gives In On Bush Tax Cuts — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's top adviser suggested to The Huffington Post late Wednesday that the administration is ready to accept an across-the-board continuation of steep Bush-era tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest taxpayers.

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

The Morning Plum — UPDATE: White House denies giving in on Bush tax cuts: The White House is sharply denying the Huffington Post story I noted below claiming that David Axelrod signaled a willingness to accept a temporary extension of all the Bush tax cuts, claiming that their position remains unchanged.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Politico, Mother Jones, AmSpecBlog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, pandagon.net, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog News and Talking Points Memo

Fhardingj / CNN:
McConnell ‘willing to listen’ on temporary extension of Bush tax cuts

Discussion: The Page

George Stephanopoulos / George's Bottom Line:
Sen. Conrad: Extend All Tax Cuts; Time to Get ‘Serious’ About Deficit

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Politico, Daily Kos and Firedoglake

Katy O'Donnell / NationalJournal.com:
Axelrod Denies Obama Would Concede Tax Cuts

Discussion: CNN, The Confluence, Moe Lane, Politics Daily, msnbc.com, Firedoglake, New York Magazine, The Atlantic Online, No More Mister Nice Blog and HotAirPundit

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Is the Deficit Commission Serious? — I've been trying to figure out whether I have anything to say about the “chairman's mark” of the deficit commission report that was released today. In a sense, I don't. This is not a piece of legislation, after all. Or a proposed piece of legislation.

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Many deficit commission staffers paid by outside groups

Discussion: Firedoglake

Mike Lux / Open Left:
The details are worse — I wrote my initial post in such a hot rage …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars and The Politico

Karl Smith / Ezra Klein:
The soft paternalism of tough choices

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Plum Line and Washington Post

Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:

98 percent of write-in votes go to Murkowski — SPELL CHECK: Despite objections from Miller's team, most Murkowski votes are being accepted. — scockerham@adn.com — JUNEAU — Almost 98 percent of write-in ballots opened Wednesday went to Lisa Murkowski on the first day of a count meant to decide Alaska's U.S. Senate race.

Discussion: The Note, Hotline On Call, Associated Press, TPMDC, Washington Post, USA Today, Ballot Box, National Review, NPR Topics and FrumForum

Matt Bai / New York Times:
Alaska May Offer a View to Future Elections

Discussion: CNN, The Politico, A plain blog about politics, The Atlantic Online, Anchorage Daily News and Barcepundit

Alaska_Politics / Anchorage Daily News:
Should this ballot count? — Floyd Brown, the man responsible for the …

Discussion: Hot Air and The Maddow Blog

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Miller's Chances of Victory Dim as Alaska Senate Write-In Count Begins

Discussion: Weigel, Patterico's Pontifications, The Note, The Caucus and Firedoglake

Kyle Trygstad / Roll Call:
Murkowski Winning Nearly All Write-Ins

Discussion: Swing State Project and Anchorage Daily News

Ronald Grover / Bloomberg:

Bristol Palin Survives ‘Dancing’ Elimination Round With Help of Tea Party — Bristol Palin survived another elimination round on ABC's “Dancing With the Stars” as fans including Tea Party supporters mustered enough votes to overcome low scores from the talent show's judges.

Discussion: Don Surber, Outside the Beltway, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Indecision Forever, Taegan Goddard's … and New York Magazine

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:
Kentucky Republican Senator-elect Rand Paul is already making waves …

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, The Politico and USA Today

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: Time says Tea Party will cause hyperinflation

Stephen Gandel / The Curious Capitalist:
Will Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Cause Hyperinflation?

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Conservatives4Palin.com and Dennis the Peasant

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

2012 Contenders to Bet Against — I'm not quite sure whom I'd call the odds-on favorite to capture the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. But I have a pretty good idea of who I'd bet against. — The table below compiles a number of statistics related to prospective G.O.P. candidates in 2012.

Discussion: The Caucus, A plain blog about politics, The Daily Dish, Top of the Ticket, Associated Press, Booman Tribune, The Atlantic Online, Ross Douthat, Wonkette and Outside the Beltway

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Some good signs for Palin — PPP's newest batch of 2012 Republican primary polls conducted right before last week's election finds Mitt Romney ahead in the critical early state of Florida, Tim Pawlenty surprisingly weak in his home state of Minnesota, and Sarah Palin posting leads in Texas, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Maine.

Discussion: GOP 12, Hot Air, Derek Wallbank, Conservatives4Palin.com and Minnesota Independent

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Rep.-elect West says conservative talk radio host won't be his chief of staff — Rep.-elect Allen West (R-Fla.) announced Thursday that a controversial radio host would not serve as his chief of staff after all. — West said in a statement that Joyce Kaufman, the conservative radio talk show host …

Discussion: The Caucus, Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, The Politico, Weasel Zippers, TPMDC, The Maddow Blog and Guardian

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Chickens Home to Roost?

Discussion: WSVN-TV

Lesley Clark / Naked Politics:
Allen West's chief of staff resigns …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, TPMDC, Weigel, Guardian, Florida Independent and Wonkette

Sabato's Crystal Ball:

It's “Otb” Time: One-Term Barack — The wreckage of the Democratic Party is strewn just about everywhere. President Obama's carefully constructed 2008 Electoral College breakthrough is now just broken, a long-ago memory of what might have been a lasting shift in partisan alignment.

Discussion: Commentary, The Moderate Voice, WILLisms.com, Ben Smith's Blog and NPR Topics

Andy Barr / The Politico:

POLITICO, NBC News co-host first 2012 debate at Reagan Library — Former first lady Nancy Reagan announced plans Thursday to invite the leading Republican contenders to the first debate of the presidential primary season, to be held at her late husband's presidential library and co-hosted by POLITICO and NBC News.

Discussion: Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, TPMDC and FrumForum

Matt Lewis / Politics Daily:
Why the GOP Should Insist on New Debate Rules for 2012

Discussion: Michelle Malkin

Daily Mail:

Poppy-burning Muslim protesters mar Armistice Day commemorations as millions fall silent to remember war dead — Islamic protesters sparked fury today after they burned a model of a poppy and deliberately broke the silence at Armistice Day commemorations in central London.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Gates of Vienna, TigerHawk, Spectator and The Jawa Report

Jim Newell / Gawker:

Does This Google Veterans Day Logo Look Muslim to You? — Boy howdy, Google has done it now! The company's special Veterans Day logo this year, you see, features a mysterious crescent shape. And you know who loves crescent shapes? The Muslims. Yeah, some people are actually upset about this.

Discussion: TechCrunch, The Awl, Wonkette, Indecision Forever, New York Magazine and Balloon Juice

Jana Winter / Fox News:

Some Muslims Attending Capitol Hill Prayer Group Have Terror Ties, Probe Reveals — An Al Qaeda leader, the head of a designated terror organization and a confessed jihadist-in-training are among a “Who's Who” of controversial figures who have participated in weekly prayer sessions …

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Commentary

People-Press.org:

Mixed Reactions to Republican Midterm Win — Public Less Happy Than After 2006 and 1994 Elections — The public, voters and non-voters alike, has a subdued reaction to the Republican Party's midterm election victory. Four years ago, the response to the Democrats regaining full control …

Discussion: Ballot Box, CNN, Politics Daily, The Plum Line, The Page and Gallup

The Huffington Post:

Media Matters Pays $86,000 In Auction To Have Lunch With Murdoch — What's Your Reaction? — facebook Twitter stumble reddit del.ico.us — Amazing — Inspiring — Important — Weird — WASHINGTON — In one of the more clever moments of issue advocacy in recent memory …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Ben Smith's Blog, Media Decoder, Gawker and FrumForum

James Besser / The Jewish Week:

Glenn Beck's “monstrous” Soros accusations rile Holocaust survivors, Jewish groups — Fox news commentator Glenn Beck may have thought he had an easy target in the controversial financier George Soros - but he didn't reckon with Jews who care about Holocaust remembrance and don't take kindly …

Discussion: Raw Story, TPMCafe, YID With LID, Right Wing News, News Hounds and Media Matters for America

Ezra Klein:

How Joe Lieberman helped the Democrats lose the election — Since the election, there's been a lot of talk about what President Obama and the Democratic leadership could've done differently. I offered six ideas here. But there's been rather less discussion of what individual legislators could've done differently.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Economist's View

Myglesias / Yglesias:

Kaplan, Inc — The Washington Post company is most identified with its newspaper, the Washington Post. But in fact its biggest source of revenue is its Kaplan subsidiary. Kaplan, in turn, is primarily identified with test prep work. In fact, however, its low-performing for-profit university unit …

Discussion: Gawker, Grasping Reality … and Wonk Room

Associated Press:

MN's Pawlenty mounts challenge to Obama health law — ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is stepping up his attack on President Barack Obama's federal health care law with a court filing challenging its cost to states. — Pawlenty and Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri …

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Being a Tutsi — I just watched Glenn Beck's program “the Puppet Master” about the nefarious, money-changing, New World Order, self-hating Jew conspirator, George Soros. I don't think I could do it again. — I listened to an hour or so of Limbaugh and had to turn it off, when I heard this line …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Beltway Confidential, Dennis the Peasant, Media Matters for America and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Grassley: Health repeal will die in Senate — GOP Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa) admitted Wednesday that a full repeal of President Obama's healthcare law will die in the Senate. — Speaking to Iowa radio station KCIM, the current ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee conceded …

Discussion: The Politico and 1380 KCIM