Top Items:
The Note:
Dem Senator: Negotiating with Republicans “Almost” like Negotiating with “Terrorists” — ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: Did Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) just compare Republicans to terrorists? — Well, not really. But he did compare negotiating with Republicans to negotiating with terrorists.
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, theblogprof, The Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, PoliPundit.com, CNN, WyBlog and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Collins says 'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal must wait for tax cuts — Democrats hoping to move forward with legislation other than tax cuts shouldn't look to centrist Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to break the logjam. — Collins said again on Friday that, while she would vote with Democrats …
Discussion:
The Caucus, Box Turtle Bulletin, The Reality-Based Community and Balloon Juice
U.S. Senator Susan Collins:
SENATOR COLLINS' STATEMENT ON 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL' — Following the conclusion of today's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, Senator Susan Collins released this statement: — “Like our closest allies, the United States' Armed Forces …
Discussion:
scottbrown.senate.gov, Wonk Room, Hot Air, Firedoglake, The Hill and Outside the Beltway
Brad Reed / Crooks and Liars:
Dear Democrats, please, please, please don't eff this up
Dear Democrats, please, please, please don't eff this up
Discussion:
JOSHUAPUNDIT, Washington Post and Squawk Box
The Huffington Post:
Harkin: If Obama Caves On Taxes, He Better Pray For Palin In 2012
Harkin: If Obama Caves On Taxes, He Better Pray For Palin In 2012
Discussion:
Roll Call, Sky Dancing, Daily Kos, USA Today, Guardian, Washington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, PERRspectives, The Hill, Washington Monthly, Ezra Klein, GOP 12 and FrumForum
Adam Sorensen / The Page:
Donkey Doozy — The Democratic Party spirals unidirectionally.
Donkey Doozy — The Democratic Party spirals unidirectionally.
Discussion:
Don Surber, Hot Air, Commentary and CBS News
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Dem senator compares negotiating with GOP to talks with terrorists
Dem senator compares negotiating with GOP to talks with terrorists
Discussion:
Cubachi, The Politico, Liberty Pundits Blog, Hot Air and ThinkProgress
Chusa / ConservativeHome's Survey blog:
The top ten pundits among Republican activists — 1,152 Republican activists, as identified by YouGov America and polled by ConservativeHome.com, have chosen their favorite pundits. — These pundits, more than any other, will be the talking heads who will influence the choice of the GOP's nominee for 2012.
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Salon, The Enterprise Blog, Lean Left and The Daily Dish
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Scott Brown comes out in favor of DADT repeal — This is potentially important. The statement just out from Senator Scott Brown's office: … A few quick points on this. First, it shows beyond doubt — as I thought would happen — that Robert Gates's handling of this whole affair …
RELATED:
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Scott Brown backs 'don't ask' repeal measure
Scott Brown backs 'don't ask' repeal measure
Discussion:
Prop 8 Trial Tracker and Runnin' Scared
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Can we please have some nuance? — It's being widely reported right …
Can we please have some nuance? — It's being widely reported right …
Discussion:
Gawker and Washington Monthly
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
After Catfood Commission Fails to Meet Mandate, Dem Senators Rally for Austerity — Fourteen Democratic Senators have asked Harry Reid for action on reining in the budget deficit, on the same day that the Catfood Commission failed to reach the threshold to deliver an official report.
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Hill and The Atlantic Online
RELATED:
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
CBO: Dream Act would cut 1.4 billion dollars off the federal deficit.
CBO: Dream Act would cut 1.4 billion dollars off the federal deficit.
Discussion:
America's Voice Blog and Balloon Juice
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Hardball — From First Read: … Maybe a reluctance to play hardball is the issue here. But there are at least two other things involved. The first is simply that Republicans believe their own PR more than Democrats do. When Republicans get hysterical about something, it's genuine.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, msnbc.com and A plain blog about politics
RELATED:
Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:
What's So Hard About Hardball?
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Ron Paul stands up for Julian Assange — Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is taking a stand as one of Julian Assange's few defenders in Washington, arguing that the WikiLeaks founder should get the same protections as the media. — Attorney General Eric Holder said this week that the Justice Department …
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog and Ben Smith's Blog
RELATED:
David Kravets / Threat Level:
Viacom Says YouTube Ruling Will ‘Completely Destroy’ Copyright — Viacom appealed Friday its unsuccessful $1 billion copyright lawsuit against Google's YouTube in a case testing the depths of copyright-infringement protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
Praveen Swami / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
The sight of women's breasts won't deter Islamists - they're obsessed with sex — Denmark's government is being called upon to employ a lethal new weapon in the fight against Islamist extremism: bare breasts. — No, I'm not making this up - and also deny outrageous suggestions that I'm looking …
Discussion:
iOwnTheWorld.com and The Gateway Pundit
J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
Durbin: DREAM Act will come to the Senate floor next week — Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Friday predicted a Senate vote on the DREAM Act will be held next week. — “Sen. Reid is going to call it,” Durbin told The Hill shortly after the chamber adjourned at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and White House.gov Blog Feed
Martha C. White / Slate:
What's in those free-trade agreements—and do they really boost exports? — On its face, trade policy may seem like pretty stodgy stuff, but don't be fooled. Since this administration hopes to reduce the deficit and increase employment by growing our exports, the policies that shape that flow of goods and services play a key role.
Discussion:
Grasping Reality … and Yglesias
RELATED:
Mitt Romney / Boston Globe:
Stop START — Nuclear treaty limits America's options for missile defense
Stop START — Nuclear treaty limits America's options for missile defense
Discussion:
Eunomia, The Angle, The Politico, GOP 12, Fox News, The Foundry, Balloon Juice and Congress Blog
Mark Joyella / Mediaite:
Karl Rove Slams Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee Over Bush-Bashing Comments — On Laura Ingraham's radio show, Karl Rove defended the Bushes against a series of comments, including Sarah Palin's reference to the Bushes as “blue-bloods” and Mike Huckabee saying the Bushes “weren't for me.”
RELATED:
Peter Baker / The Caucus:
President Obama Lands in Afghanistan for Unannounced Visit — Updated President Obama made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Friday as he sought to smooth over a troubled relationship with President Hamid Karzai and take stock of a nine-year-old American-led war that he hopes to begin winding down next summer.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Douglas Holtz-Eakin / National Review:
The November Employment Report: A Wake-up Call — Awful. That's the best one can say about the November employment report. The headline — that unemployment jumped to 9.8 percent — is not really the bad news. If and when the economy does catch fire, droves of discouraged workers …
Discussion:
Power Line, Mother Jones and Outside the Beltway
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Groupon Annual Revenues Actually $2 Billion — According to sources close to the situation, Groupon's actual run rate for this year is clocking in at $2 billion in revenue, rather than the widely quoted $500 million. — Who knew hawking spas treatments and stripper pole lessons could be so lucrative?
Discussion:
VentureBeat, GigaOM, TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb, more at Techmeme »
Fhardingj / CNN:
Palin book signing a tightly controlled operation — Columbia, South Carolina (CNN) - Members of the media and book-toting Sarah Palin supporters were asked to follow a surprisingly strict set of guidelines Friday as the former Alaska governor appeared in South Carolina on the final stop …
Discussion:
GOP 12
Mary Clare Jalonick / hosted2.ap.org:
Hold the brownies! Bill could limit bake sales … WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't touch my brownies! — A child nutrition bill on its way to President Barack Obama — and championed by the first lady — gives the government power to limit school bake sales and other fundraisers that health advocates …
Discussion:
Right Wing News, Weasel Zippers, Doug Ross and Joanne Jacobs
Adam Ozimek / Modeled Behavior:
The mortgage interest deduction: winners and losers — The debate on tax reform is starting to heat up with various proposals being debated, and many policies are being considered for the chopping block. One of them is the mortgage interest deduction (MID).
Discussion:
Mother Jones
Niraj Warikoo / Detroit Free Press:
Defiant Helen Thomas defends remarks that led to exit — Striking a defiant tone, journalist Helen Thomas, 90, said today she absolutely stands by her controversial comments about Israel made earlier this year that led to her resignation. But she stoked additional controversy with new remarks …
Discussion:
Hot Air, YID With LID, The Daily Caller, Moe Lane, theblogprof, The New Republic, FrumForum and NewsBusters.org blogs
Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin:
UN Climate Summit Leader Prays to Mayan Moon Goddess — Watch out, Al Gore, your moonbat congregation is starting to direct their prayers elsewhere: … It just makes sense: When you're pushing a myth, there's no more appropriate entity to pray to than a mythical goddess. Why be inconsistent?
Discussion:
Oliver Willis
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Obama Using Unemployed as an Excuse to Get What He Wanted All Along — It's been clear for some time that President Obama made the political calculation that he does not want any of the Bush tax cuts to expire. He doesn't have to be the guy in 2012 running for President on having “raised taxes during a time of recession.”
Discussion:
Sky Dancing, Rortybomb, The Confluence, New York Times and The Atlantic Online
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Montana Republican Numbers — On the Montana poll that we released a couple weeks ago we also had some numbers on who Republicans in the state wanted as their candidates for President and Senate in 2012 and we just never got around to releasing them. So here goes:
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Conservatives4Palin.com
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Obama issues first pardons of presidency, four in cocaine cases — President Obama issued the first pardons of his presidency, excusing the convicts of crimes, many of which were drug-related. — Obama made nine pardons, four of which were in cases related to cocaine convictions.
Discussion:
The Politico
Dan Horn / Cincinnati.com:
Driehaus sues anti-abortion group — U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus sued an anti-abortion group Friday for making statements that he says misled voters about his stance on abortion. — Driehaus said the Susan B. Anthony List lied about him in public statements and then sued him for trying to stop …
Discussion:
Ballot Box
Ian Traynor / Guardian:
WikiLeaks cables claim first scalp as German minister's aide is sacked — Helmut Metzner admitted acting as a mole for the US embassy during negotiations to form a government — The WikiLeaks revelations have claimed their first political scalp in Europe with the sacking …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Firedoglake and Antiwar.com