Top Items:
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Dickishness Of The GOP — What we've observed these past two years is a political party that knows nothing but scorched earth tactics, cannot begin to see any merits in the other party's arguments, refuses to compromise one inch on anything, and has sought from the very beginning to do nothing but destroy the Obama presidency.
Discussion:
Doug Ross, Daily Kos, The Reaction, Connecting.the.Dots, Riehl World View, Balloon Juice and Little Green Footballs
RELATED:
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
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.”
Wall Street Journal:
Tax Cuts Likely to Be Extended Temporarily — Republicans and Democrats Wednesday sat down to negotiate a compromise on extending Bush-era income tax cuts—an effort that could be the first step toward a deal this month that many strategists in both parties believe will temporarily extend current tax rates for all income levels.
Discussion:
ECHIDNE of the snakes
Ezra Klein:
Republicans give their definition of ‘bipartisanship’ — Here's the story of bipartisanship since the election. President Obama asked the House and Senate Republican leaders, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, to the White House on Nov. 18 to talk through a compromise on the Bush tax cuts and other pressing agenda items.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Caucus, Moe Lane and The Impolitic
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Kyl: Tax deal needs to get done by Monday to pass START in lame-duck
Kyl: Tax deal needs to get done by Monday to pass START in lame-duck
Discussion:
TPMDC, Foreign Policy, Wonk Room, ThinkProgress, Associated Press, Daily Kos and FrumForum
Jake Sherman / The Politico:
House Democrats set Thursday tax vote
House Democrats set Thursday tax vote
Discussion:
Fox News, The Huffington Post, CNN and Swampland
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
GOP readies rarely-used procedural attack on EPA aggression
GOP readies rarely-used procedural attack on EPA aggression
Discussion:
Sister Toldjah and The Politico
Ross Douthat:
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 …
RELATED:
Michel Rose / Reuters:
Wikileaks' Assange in UK, police know where: report — (Reuters) - Wikileaks website founder Julian Assange is in Britain and police know his whereabouts but have refrained so far from acting on an international warrant for his arrest, a British newspaper said on Thursday.
Discussion:
Hit & Run
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The moral standards of WikiLeaks critics
The moral standards of WikiLeaks critics
Discussion:
techPresident, Guardian, TPMDC, Swampland, zunguzungu and Left Coast Rebel
Robin Bravender / The Politico:
In memoriam: House climate panel — The House Democrats' prized global warming committee died quietly on Wednesday. — It was four years old. — Created in 2007 by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to draw attention to the causes and effects of climate change …
Discussion:
iOwnTheWorld.com, Washington Post, Watts Up With That?, Wonkette, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Whiskey Fire and Hit & Run
RELATED:
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
House GOP leadership cancels Pelosi's committee on global warming
House GOP leadership cancels Pelosi's committee on global warming
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, Moe Lane and Right Wing News
Jim Snyder / Bloomberg:
Pelosi Climate Panel Dies in Republican Sweep of House
Pelosi Climate Panel Dies in Republican Sweep of House
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin and The Gateway Pundit
Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
Boehner to create women's restroom adjacent to House floor — Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) intends to commandeer a swanky office space adjacent to the House floor and build a women's restroom for female lawmakers. — For years, men have had the luxury of using facilities located adjacent …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Politico, American Power and CNN Political Ticker
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Pentagon: We could have shut down Wikileaks but chose not to — I hope he's telling the truth. Because if our cyberwar unit is so weak that they can't hit a few servers in Sweden, then I, for one, welcome our new Chinese overlords. The key question: Was this decision driven chiefly by military or political concerns?
Discussion:
VentureBeat, The Daily Caller, Reuters and Gothamist, more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Ewen MacAskill / Guardian:
WikiLeaks website pulled by Amazon after US political pressure
WikiLeaks website pulled by Amazon after US political pressure
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Spiegel Online, Washington Post, RedState, The Firewall, Mediaite and Boing Boing
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
County Recorder in Massachusetts Goes After MERS — This is one of those mind-blowing days, one I don't feel like I have much of a grip on. But with all the despair with the federal government, the power structure that protects the banks at all costs, etc., it's worth looking at some potential good news for a change.
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid
RELATED:
John Carney / CNBC:
The MERS Wars Heat Up in Massachusetts
The Huffington Post:
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:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Guardian, The League of Ordinary …, The New Republic, Raw Story, The Plum Line, ABCNEWS and CNN
Ed Rollins / CNN:
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, Mediaite, JustOneMinute and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Scott Horton / Harper's:
The Madrid Cables — In Spain, the WikiLeaks disclosures have dominated the news for three days now. The reporting has been led by the level-headed El País, with its nationwide competitor, Público, lagging only a bit behind. Attention has focused on three separate matters …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish and Hullabaloo
RELATED:
David Corn / Mother Jones:
Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe
Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe
Discussion:
Philly.com and Raw Story
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Diplomats Noted Canadian Mistrust Toward U.S. — WASHINGTON — In early 2008, American diplomats stationed in Ottawa turned on their television sets and were aghast: there was an “onslaught” of Canadian shows depicting “nefarious American officials carrying out equally nefarious deeds in Canada …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, FrumForum and Balloon Juice
Judicial Watch:
Judicial Watch Obtains Documents from Obama Administration Detailing Actor Andy Griffith's “Misleading” Medicare Advertisements — Obama Administration Spent $3,184,000 in Taxpayer Dollars on Advertising Program Deemed “Misleading” by Non-Partisan FactCheck.org
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Right Wing News
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:
For immediate release — The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday posted detailed information on its public website about more than 21,000 individual credit and other transactions conducted to stabilize markets during the recent financial crisis, restore the flow of credit to American families and businesses …
RELATED:
Yves Smith / naked capitalism:
Matt Stoller: End This Fed
Matt Stoller: End This Fed
Discussion:
New Deal 2.0, Wall Street Journal, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Suburban Guerrilla and Firedoglake
Juliet Eilperin / Post Carbon:
Obama administration reimposes offshore oil drilling ban — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Wednesday afternoon that the Obama administration will not allow offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as part of the next five-year drilling plan …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, The Foundry, Weasel Zippers, The Huffington Post, Virginia Politics Blog, Pajamas Media and Moe Lane
Radley Balko / Hit & Run:
You Are No Longer Free To Move About the Country — Janet Napolitano said last month that we should expect to soon see tighter restrictions at bus, train, and marine transportation centers, too. Here's a report about TSA, Border Patrol, and local police setting up a checkpoint at a Greyhound station in Tampa.
Discussion:
Emptywheel
Jonathan Allen / The Politico:
Ellison, Grijalva to lead progressives — Reps. Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva were elected co-chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Wednesday night, according to liberal lawmakers. Rep. Donna Edwards finished third in the three-way race for two spots.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Political Correction RSS:
Rep. Pence: The Best Thing For The Unemployed Is Tax Cuts For Millionaires — 7 hours and 13 minutes ago — Matt Finkelstein — Unemployment benefits expired for millions of jobless Americans at midnight, marking the first time in four decades that Congress has failed to provide benefits with so many Americans out of work.
Discussion:
The Plum Line, DownWithTyranny!, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and Capital Gains and Games blogs
Wall Street Journal:
Google Set to Launch E-Book Venture — Google Inc. is in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture, Google Editions, a move that could shake up the way digital books are sold. — The long-delayed venture—Google executives had said they hoped to launch this summer …
Discussion:
GigaOM, Crooks and Liars, VentureBeat, Law Blog, TechCrunch and Media Decoder, more at Mediagazer »
Townhall.com:
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann Hillary Is Up to Her Old Tricks — The Wikileaks documents show that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has, as Voltaire said about the Bourbon kings of France, learned nothing and forgotten nothing. — Her request that American diplomats at foreign postings …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, The Confluence and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
RNC official admits to a “cashflow challenge” — In a memo sent to vendors Tuesday, the Republican National Committee's chief administrative officer acknowledged that the committee is facing a “cashflow challenge” and that many of those who provided political services to it during the 2010 election …
Discussion:
CNN, ThinkProgress, TPMDC, Mediaite and Gawker