memeorandum: Obama, GOP leaders to work on map for days ahead (Washington Post)

9:25 AM ET, November 30, 2010

Top Items:

Where we and Democrats can work together — When congressional leaders of both parties meet at the White House today, all of us will have an opportunity to show the American people that we got the message of the elections earlier this month. — Republicans heard the voters loud and clear.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Fix, The Hill, The Page, Hotline On Call, USA Today, National Review and The Hill

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Tax fight pits Bush vs. Obama — The looming Senate debate on taxes sets up a showdown between George W. Bush and President Obama on tax policy — and the former president could come out the winner. — The Senate is expected to hold dueling votes on extending the cuts before they expire on Dec. 31 …

Discussion: USA Today and Prairie Weather

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Amid Deficit Fears, Obama Freezes Pay — WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday announced a two-year pay freeze for civilian federal workers as he sought to address concerns over high annual deficits and appealed to Republicans to find a common approach to restoring the nation's economic and fiscal health.

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

Everyone Hates Obama's Pay Freeze Plan... Except Republicans — The early reviews of President Obama's plan to freeze federal worker pay are in — and it gets a resounding “F” from just about everybody outside of GOP leadership. — Michael Linden, a budget expert at the liberal Center …

Discussion: Don Surber, The New Republic, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Questions and Observations, American Spectator, Mother Jones, Newsweek, Yglesias, Ezra Klein, Wonk Room, The Monkey Cage and Daily Kos

The Politico:
GOP pushed pay freeze months ago

Discussion: Betsy's Page and The Hill

Ezra Klein:
Wonkbook: Dem compromise would extend 90% of Bush tax cuts …

Discussion: The Politico, Green and TPMDC

The Politico:
President Obama and GOP leaders finally to meet

Discussion: Guardian

Washington Post:
Obama proposes two-year pay freeze for federal workers

Discussion: Bark Bark Woof Woof, The Politico and Federal Eye

Roll Call: Road Map: Still No Agenda for Lame Duck

CNN: Obama, lawmakers meet with big to-do list

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Serious Questions about the Obama Administration's Incompetence in the Wikileaks Fiasco — We all applaud the successful thwarting of the Christmas-Tree Bomber and hope our government continues to do all it can to keep us safe. However, the latest round of publications …

Discussion: CBS News, Outside the Beltway, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, sisu, The Moderate Voice, The Right Scoop, Riehl World View, Salon, Liberty Pundits Blog, The Page, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Cubachi and Politics Daily

blogs.forbes.com:

Andy Greenberg — When will WikiLeaks return to its older model of more frequent leaks of smaller amounts of material? — If you look at the average number of documents we're releasing, we're vastly exceeding what we did last year. These are huge datasets. So it's actually very efficient for us to do that.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Mother Jones, Gawker and Hullabaloo

Reuters:

WikiLeaks plans to release a U.S. bank's documents — (Reuters) - The founder of whistle-blower website WikiLeaks plans to release tens of thousands of internal documents from a major U.S. bank early next year, Forbes Magazine reported on Monday. — Julian Assange declined in an interview …

Washington Post:

WikiLeaks founder could be charged under Espionage Act — Federal authorities are investigating whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange violated criminal laws in the group's release of government documents, including possible charges under the Espionage Act, sources familiar with the inquiry said Monday.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Betsy's Page, Federal Eye, The Other McCain, FrumForum and New Atlanticist

Andy Greenberg / The Firewall:

An Interview With WikiLeaks' Julian Assange — Admire him or revile him, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange is the prophet of a coming age of involuntary transparency, the leader of an organization devoted to divulging the world's secrets using technology unimagined a generation ago.

Discussion: Washington Post, Hit & Run, The Moderate Voice, Raw Story, msnbc.com, News: News blog, Doug Ross, Newshoggers.com and American Power

Patrick O'Connor / Washington Wire:
Palin: Latest WikiLeak Is Obama's Fault

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller and FrumForum

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Sarah Palin blasts Obama administration for WikiLeaks ‘fiasco’

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Note and Wonkette

DEBKAFile:

Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert — World Exclusive from DEBKAfile's intelligence sources: — Prof. Majid Shahriari, who died when his car was attacked in North Tehran Monday, Nov. 29, headed the team Iran established for combating the Stuxnet virus rampaging through its nuclear and military networks.

Discussion: Washington Post, PostPartisan, Patterico's Pontifications, Pajamas Media, National Review, Maggie's Farm and POWIP

Laura Rozen / The Politico:
Iran a focal point of documents

Discussion: The New Republic, Salon and FrumForum

Daily Mail:
Iranian nuclear scientist killed and another wounded in separate bomb attacks

Discussion: Hot Air and Daled Amos

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Netflix Partner Says Comcast ‘Toll’ Threatens Online Video Delivery — Level 3 Communications, a central partner in the Netflix online movie service, accused Comcast on Monday of charging a new fee that puts Internet video companies at a competitive disadvantage.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Seeing the Forest and Gizmodo, more at Mediagazer »

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

A Witness Lies, the Court Shrugs and Veterans Are Outraged — Elven J. Swisher wore a replica of a Purple Heart on the witness stand when he testified that the defendant had tried to hire him to kill three federal officials. — Asked about the medal, Mr. Swisher pulled a document …

Jack Shafer / Slate:

The leaked cables make it impossible for Hillary Clinton to continue as secretary of state. … Like This Story Follow Slate's Press Box … - How Post-9/11 Information Sharing Has Made Leaking Government Secrets Easier- What Happened to All That Republican In-Fighting the Tea Party Was Supposed To Cause?

Discussion: Politics Daily, Washington Post, A Chequer-Board of Nights … and The Huffington Post

Scott Neuman / NPR:
Clinton: WikiLeaks ‘Tear At Fabric’ Of Government

Discussion: NBC Connecticut, Politics Daily, DAWN.COM, Los Angeles Times and Mondoweiss

Ben Birnbaum / Washington Times:
Ahmadinejad: U.S. orchestrated WikiLeaks release

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and FrumForum

Joe Scarborough / The Politico:

GOP should take on Palin — Republicans have a problem. The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public what they all complain about in private.

Discussion: CNN, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Moderate Voice and Writes Like She Talks

Simon Tisdall / Guardian:

China ‘ready to abandon North Korea’ — Leaked dispatches show Beijing is frustrated with military actions of ‘spoiled child’ and increasingly favours reunified Korea — China has signalled its readiness to accept Korean reunification and is privately distancing itself from the North Korean regime …

Discussion: YID With LID, FP Passport, New York Times, Hot Air, Daniel W. Drezner, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Washington Post

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
North Korea Keeps World Guessing

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor, American Power, FP Passport, Guardian, The Lede, This Just In, CNN and Washington Post

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

In Which I Become a Conservative — Ross Douthat, an Atlantic alumnus, contends in the NY Times that the recent controversy over “enhanced” TSA procedures illustrates the dominance of partisan reflex in today's politics. Liberals complained about excessive state power when Bush and Cheney were in charge …

Discussion: Winds of Change.NET, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Eunomia, New York Times, The Daily Dish, Brilliant at Breakfast and Salon

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Vitamin D - Just Hype? — The NY Times covers some pushback against the latest “it” vitamin, but I don't buy it: — Extra Vitamin D and Calcium Aren't Needed, Report Says — By GINA KOLATA — The very high levels of vitamin D that are often recommended by doctors and testing laboratories …

Discussion: New York Times

Penny Starr / CNSNews:

Smithsonian Christmas-Season Exhibit Features Ant-Covered Jesus, Naked Brothers Kissing, Genitalia, and Ellen DeGeneres Grabbing Her Breasts — WARNING: This story contains graphic photographs of items on display in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, alicublog, Weasel Zippers and Daily Pundit

J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:

With Kirk's swearing-in, GOP formally claims Obama's old seat — Senate Republicans on Monday formally claimed President Obama's former Senate seat with the swearing-in of Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). — As is customary, Kirk was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden twice — once on the Senate floor …