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Delaying Vote, Debt Panel Splits on Taxes and Spending — WASHINGTON — The chairmen of President Obama's debt-reduction commission have been unable to win support from any of the panel's elected officials for their proposed spending cuts and tax increases, underscoring the reluctance …
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ALL 42 SENATE REPUBLICANS ANNOUNCE HOSTAGE PLAN.... The AP had an item late last night, noting that Senate Republicans were circulating a letter, “quietly collecting signatures” on a plan to “block action on virtually all Democratic-backed legislation unrelated to tax cuts and government spending.”
Discussion:
Republican.Senate.Gov, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, Sister Toldjah and Balloon Juice


Fiscal Commission Final Report — Get your fresh catfood! — FDL has obtained a copy of the Catfood Commission final report in advance of its official 9:30 release. — It can be downloaded here: PDF — Their reigning spirit of self-importance comes through on the very first page: “The Moment of Truth.”
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, Crooks and Liars, Salon, Wake up America and Lawyers, Guns & Money


House May Block Food Safety Bill Over Senate Error — A food safety bill that has burned up precious days of the Senate's lame-duck session appears headed back to the chamber because Democrats violated a constitutional provision requiring that tax provisions originate in the House.


Senate GOP letter calls for blocking most bills — WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans intend to block action on virtually all Democratic-backed legislation unrelated to tax cuts and government spending in the current postelection session of Congress, officials said Tuesday …


DADT No More? Republicans Threaten To Block All Dem Initiatives — Just hours after Democrats and Republicans agreed to bargain on tax cuts, and fewer hours still after Defense Secretary Robert Gates implored Congress to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell this year, word leaked that Republicans …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Salon, Guardian, Swampland, MyDD, TPMMuckraker, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Talking Points Memo, Wonkette and Joe. My. God.

In Tax Cuts, the Options Run Short — Democrats have left themselves in a tough spot on the Bush tax cuts. After delaying the issue until after the election and then being trounced in that election, they find themselves with little leverage. — If they cannot come up with a plan …
Discussion:
Fox News, The Hill, The Politico, Gawker, Wake up America, Connecting.the.Dots, The Caucus, Prairie Weather, Unfogged, TalkLeft and The Hill


Commission's final deficit report preserves controversial spending cuts; panel to vote Friday on whether to endorse plan — The leaders of President Obama's fiscal commission released a final report Wednesday that is full of political dynamite, including sharp cuts in military spending …

Why The GOP Is Like Bear Bryant
Discussion:
TalkLeft and The Caucus

All About the Tax Cuts — Nothing will happen in Congress …
Discussion:
Washington Post, RedState, Prairie Weather, Hotline On Call and PostPartisan

Senate Republicans: No Legislation Until After Tax Cut Extension
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Mediaite, Colorado Independent and Gawker

Vast Majority Wants Some Aspect of Bush Tax Cuts Extended
Discussion:
Hotline On Call, The Plum Line, TPMDC, Washington Post, Politics Daily and CNN

GOP readies rarely-used procedural attack on EPA aggression
Discussion:
The Politico and Sister Toldjah

Senate GOPers: Take up tax cuts first
Discussion:
Economist's View, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Questions and Observations, Weasel Zippers and EconoSpeak

The moral standards of WikiLeaks critics — (updated below - Update II) — Time's Joe Klein writes this about the WikiLeaks disclosures: … Do you have that principle down? If “a single foreign national is rounded up and put in jail” because of the WikiLeaks disclosure — even a …
Discussion:
The Caucus, zunguzungu, The Huffington Post and Swampland
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The Ambitions of Julian Assange — Will Wilkinson makes the case for Julian Assange: … If it's the best we can hope for, then we're in even more trouble than I thought. The problem of the permanent state is a real one, but occasional mass data dumps like the one WikiLeaks just provided …
Discussion:
Marginal Revolution, Samizdata.net, Time, EconLog, Swampland, War in Context, National Review and The Moderate Voice, more at Mediagazer »

Call for WikiLeaks culprit to be executed
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Reuters, LOON, TPMMuckraker, The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Nation, Wake up America, News: News blog and YID With LID

The Strategy of WikiLeaks — Ezra Klein on the likely consequences of WikiLeaking:
Discussion:
TalkLeft, The Daily Dish and The Duck of Minerva

Gibbs: We're Not Scared Of Wikileaks — It's Only One Guy With One Website
Discussion:
Hot Air and Breitbart.tv


Co-host spittin' mad over Spitzer — Tweet — Eliot Spitzer's TV sidekick is so fed up with playing second fiddle to the hooker-loving ex-gov that she's threatening to walk, sources told The Post yesterday. — Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker actually stormed off the set of the …

Ted Strickland: Democrats Suffering From ‘Intellectual Elitism’ — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — Fresh off a narrow loss in his gubernatorial re-election campaign, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland on Wednesday offered some somber and sober-minded criticism for his own party and president.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Verum Serum, The New Republic, ABCNEWS and CNN

Missouri Senate Race Close — Claire McCaskill was involved in incredibly close races for Governor in 2004 and Senator in 2006 from Missouri and it looks like she's in for another one as she seeks reelection to the Senate in 2012. McCaskill leads Sarah Steelman by 1 point (45-44) …
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Taegan Goddard's …
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Steelman makes it official: Running for Senate in '12
Discussion:
Politics Daily, The Politico, TPMDC and Hotline On Call


Bowles-Simpson vs Current Law — Surely the strangest thing about the Bowles-Simpson debt reduction plan is that, relative to current law, it . . . increases the public debt load over the next ten years: — Obviously starting around 2020 or so Bowles-Simpson starts doing better than current law …
Discussion:
FT Alphaville, The Daily Dish and Grasping Reality …
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House climate panel to be axed — House Republicans will scrap the committee set up by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to investigate global warming, the panel's top Republican announced Wednesday. — Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) made official what many had already expected …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Post, Watts Up With That? and Hit & Run

Big Web — Amazon has terminated the account of Wikileaks and apparently the site has been down most of the day. Joe Lieberman has issued a statement on Amazon's decision. Amazon has not commented directly on what happened to Wikileaks account. But they appear to have told Lieberman …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, msnbc.com, Mediaite, Digits and Balloon Juice

Ensign says he no longer is target of Justice Department probe — Nevada's Republican Sen. John Ensign said he no longer is the target of an investigation by the Department of Justice related to an alleged coverup of an affair with the wife of a former top aide.
Discussion:
Ballot Box, TPMMuckraker and msnbc.com


Palin, I knew Reagan. You're no Reagan. — Editor's note: Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, is senior presidential fellow at the Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University. He is a principal with the Dilenschneider Group, a global public relations firm.
Discussion:
Hot Air

Inhofe refuses to participate in ‘holiday’ parade — WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Tuesday that he won't participate in Tulsa's Holiday Parade of Lights until organizers put “Christ” back in the event's title. — “Last year, the forces of political correctness removed the word 'Christmas …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Right Wing Watch, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ThinkProgress, Gawker, Weasel Zippers and TPMDC

30 Most Dynamic Cities in the World — What is the most dynamic city in the post-recession world? — The surprising answer is Istanbul, according to a new report that shows the developing world is leading the way out of the Great Recession. — Grading each metropolis by the growth …
Discussion:
Brookings Institute, The New Republic, alicublog and Prairie Weather

Partisan Trends — Partisan Trends: Republicans 36.0%, Democrats 34.7%, First GOP Lead Ever — In November, 36.0% of American Adults identified themselves as Republicans; 34.7% considered themselves Democrats, and 29.3% were not affiliated with either major party.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Commentary and Pajamas Media

From WikiChina — While secrets from WikiLeaks were splashed all over the American newspapers, I couldn't help but wonder: What if China had a WikiLeaker and we could see what its embassy in Washington was reporting about America? I suspect the cable would read like this:
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Betsy's Page, National Review, Guardian and China Digital Times