Top Items:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Let's Not Make a Deal — Back in 2001, former President George W. Bush pulled a fast one. He wanted to enact an irresponsible tax cut, largely for the benefit of the wealthiest Americans. But there were Senate rules in place designed to prevent that kind of irresponsibility.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Bush Tax-Cut Deal With Jobless Aid Said to Be Near — WASHINGTON — White House officials and Congressional Republicans said Sunday they were closing in on a deal to temporarily continue the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels, while bitterly frustrated Democratic Congressional leaders …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, The Politico, Washington Post, The Plum Line, South Capitol Street, Online NewsHour, Michelle Malkin, AmSpecBlog, New Deal 2.0, Los Angeles Times, JustOneMinute, Free exchange, The Note, Economist's View, The Nation, Mother Jones, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Rortybomb, Comments from Left Field, Wonkette, Brilliant at Breakfast, Prairie Weather, Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, Hullabaloo, The Democratic Daily, New York Magazine, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Weekly Standard, Sky Dancing, FrumForum, AMERICAblog News, Indecision Forever, Riehl World View and Bloomberg
Ezra Klein:
The Bush tax cuts in one chart — It's time, I think, to repost this chart showing how much taxpayers at different income levels would get from the Democratic plan, which was to simply extend the cuts for income under $250,000, and the Republican plan, which was to extend the cuts for everyone:
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and Alas, a blog
First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Done deal? — White House and Senate GOPers close in on deal to temporarily extend all the Bush tax cuts in return for an extension on jobless benefits... How did we get here? Two explanations: 1) the votes aren't there for Democrats, and 2) the economy is worse off …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Politics Daily
The Huffington Post:
Tax Cuts: The Real End Game Is In The House
Tax Cuts: The Real End Game Is In The House
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and Reuters
David Leonhardt / Economix:
Obama's Tax-Cut Retreat, Through Two Lenses
Obama's Tax-Cut Retreat, Through Two Lenses
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Dish and FiveThirtyEight
Peter J. Boyer / New Yorker:
Discussion:
The Hill, USA Today, Prairie Weather, Wonkette and New York Magazine
RELATED:
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Tea party group wants Palin for RNC — Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips sent a letter to former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin asking her to run for chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. — “In order for the tea party, conservative movement to be successful …
Discussion:
CNN, Little Green Footballs, The Note, Indecision Forever, The Hill and FrumForum
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Boehner backs earmark foe Flake's bid to join Appropriations panel
Boehner backs earmark foe Flake's bid to join Appropriations panel
Discussion:
The Note, The Politico and Taegan Goddard's …
Karin Tanabe / The Politico:
ON ‘ALASKA,’ PALIN GOES HUNTING
Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Tea Party Nation Calls On Sarah Palin To Run For RNC Chair
Tea Party Nation Calls On Sarah Palin To Run For RNC Chair
Discussion:
USA Today, Zandar Versus The Stupid and GOP 12
Emily Goodin / Ballot Box:
Tea Party group asks Palin to run for RNC chairwoman
Tea Party group asks Palin to run for RNC chairwoman
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Kennedy Still Highest-Rated Modern President, Nixon Lowest — Jimmy Carter's retrospective approval rating and rank drop from 2006 — PRINCETON, NJ — Of the nine U.S. presidents who have served in the past 50 years, John F. Kennedy continues to earn the highest retrospective job approval rating from Americans, now 85%.
Discussion:
Ballot Box, Politics Daily, CNN, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, Taegan Goddard's …, New York Magazine and HotAirPundit
RELATED:
James Hohmann / The Politico:
Bush job approval rating higher than Obama's
Bush job approval rating higher than Obama's
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Rulings set on Wal-Mart, warming (final UPDATE, 11:58 a.m.) — The Supreme Court stepped into two major controversies on Monday, agreeing to sort out when a class-action lawsuit may be filed when employees are seeking back pay for alleged workplace discrimination, and to clarify whether companies claimed …
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid and The Volokh Conspiracy
RELATED:
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Wal-Mart Bias Case Appeal
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Wal-Mart Bias Case Appeal
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Magazine, ACS Blog, Don Surber, TalkLeft and ECHIDNE of the snakes
BBC:
List of facilities ‘vital to US security’ leaked — Ningbo port in south-eastern China, one of the facilities on the US list — A long list of key facilities around the world that the US describes as vital to its national security has been released by Wikileaks.
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Gov. Gary Johnson: I Smoked Marijuana from 2005 to 2008 — The former New Mexico governor and likely 2012 Republican presidential candidate talks to THE WEEKLY STANDARD. — Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor and a likely 2012 Republican presidential candidate …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Outside the Beltway and Hit & Run
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
IF TWO WEEKS ISN'T ENOUGH, MAKE IT THREE.... Based on the current schedule, the Senate Democratic leadership intends to wrap the lame-duck session on Dec. 17 — a week from Friday. Given this extremely tight calendar, and Republican delaying tactics, a whole lot of observers on both sides …
Discussion:
The Hill, TPMDC, AMERICAblog Gay and Eschaton
RELATED:
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Lieberman wants Senate to stay in session until it repeals 'Don't ask' policy
Lieberman wants Senate to stay in session until it repeals 'Don't ask' policy
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, The Politico, TPMDC, Firedoglake, Advocate, The Plum Line, Sky Dancing, New York Magazine, Towleroad News #gay and PostPartisan
Colby Hall / Mediaite:
Kathy Griffin Gets Booed By U.S. Troops After Calling Bristol Palin Fat — Comedian and self-proclaimed “D-lister” Kathy Griffin hosted VH1 Divas Salute the Troops which was taped for an audience of servicemen at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, California, and aired last night.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin and The Gateway Pundit
Karoli / Crooks and Liars:
Right wing declares war on the poor: Kate O'Beirne calls parents of school lunch recipients child abusers — I'm speechless. This little rant by Kate O'Beirne at a Republican strategy session is so evil, so incredibly cold-hearted, and so predictably right-wing that it makes me want to shove …
Discussion:
iOwnTheWorld.com and DownWithTyranny!
The Politico:
Mike Huckabee wants some respect — Dial down the deafening Sarah Palin buzz for just a moment: The most consequential decision in the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes could be whether Mike Huckabee decides to run again - and associates say the former Arkansas governor may well take the plunge.
Discussion:
The Note, Ben Smith's Blog, Arkansas Blog, Hotline On Call, South Capitol Street, Right Wing Watch and GOP 12
Reuters:
(Adds comments, details) — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Monday the Obama administration was considering using laws in addition to the U.S. Espionage Act to possibly prosecute the release of sensitive government information by WikiLeaks. — “That is certainly something …
Discussion:
TechCrunch
RELATED:
Mohamed Zaki / Reuters:
Egypt puzzled after string of Red Sea shark attacks — (Reuters) - Shark attacks on tourists in the Red Sea have triggered a flurry of speculation as to what could have caused them, with suggestions ranging from overfishing to an Israeli plot to harm Egyptian tourism.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
RELATED:
Firas Al-Atraqchi / The Huffington Post:
Red Sea Sharks Made in Israel?
Sam Jones / Guardian:
Julian Assange's Swiss bank account closed — WikiLeaks founder has account - used for donations - closed by PostFinance owing to ‘false information’ about residency — The international pressure on Julian Assange increased today after the banking arm of the Swiss post office announced …
Discussion:
BBC, Yahoo! News, Salon, Hit & Run and News: News blog, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
David Rose / Daily Mail:
What happened to the ‘warmest year on record’: The truth is global warming has halted — A year ago tomorrow, just before the opening of the UN Copenhagen world climate summit, the British Meteorological Office issued a confident prediction. The mean world temperature for 2010, it announced …
Discussion:
theblogprof, NPR, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, AmSpecBlog, Tim Blair and Telegraph
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Short goodnight expected for the DREAM Act during lame duck — The DREAM Act — a priority of Democrats in both Congress and the White House — faces a difficult future in the lame duck. — Even as Democrats in both chambers prepare to consider the measure this week …
Discussion:
Questions and Observations, Hot Air, America's Voice Blog, Wake up America, Wonk Room, Pirate's Cove, Moonbattery and The Hill
Newsweek:
What I've Learned — We can't keep politics out of school reform. Why I'm launching a national movement to transform education. — Former Washington, D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee says she's not done fighting. — After my boss, Washington, D.C., mayor Adrian Fenty, lost his primary in September, I was stunned.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, The New Republic, PostPartisan and studentsfirst.org
Eamon Javers / CNBC:
The Fed Has a $110 Billion Problem with New Benjamins — A significant production problem with new high-tech $100 bills has caused government printers to shut down production of the new notes and to quarantine more than one billion of the bills in huge vaults in Fort Worth, Texas and Washington, DC, CNBC has learned.
Discussion:
Corrente
Mark Halperin / Time:
What Obama Needs to Come Back: Nothing Short of Luck — The coalition that got Barack Obama elected President just two years ago has been shattered. Gaming out the trajectory of the next two years can be done any number of ways, but Obama's efforts to rebuild a politically robust alliance will be the most telling.