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.
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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 Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online and Alas, a blog
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 Note, The Politico, Washington Post, The Plum Line, Democracy in America, South Capitol Street, Los Angeles Times, AmSpecBlog, Rortybomb, New Deal 2.0, Online NewsHour, JustOneMinute, Michelle Malkin, Free exchange, The Nation, Economist's View, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Comments from Left Field, Wonkette, Mother Jones, Prairie Weather, Brilliant at Breakfast, Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Weekly Standard, The Democratic Daily, New York Magazine, Sky Dancing, Indecision Forever, Riehl World View, FrumForum, AMERICAblog News and Bloomberg
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Can the White House win in 2012 by losing on the Bush tax cuts now? — The compromise the White House is negotiating on the Bush tax cut is looking more and more like the White House's opening gambit in the 2012 campaign. — The White House has stopped negotiating for ideal …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Rortybomb, Swampland, The Note, Crooks and Liars and Yglesias
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
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Who graduates, who votes and who's unemployed — in one graph
Discussion:
The New Republic
David Weigel / Weigel:
Just How Big of a Dive is Obama Taking on Tax Cuts?
Just How Big of a Dive is Obama Taking on Tax Cuts?
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog and Yglesias
First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Done deal?
First Thoughts: Done deal?
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Politics Daily
Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Retiring Sen. George Voinovich to oppose any extension of Bush-era tax cuts
Retiring Sen. George Voinovich to oppose any extension of Bush-era tax cuts
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, PostPartisan, Hullabaloo and The Gateway Pundit
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 and The Daily Dish
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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, The Hill, Indecision Forever and FrumForum
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Discussion:
The Hill, USA Today, Prairie Weather, Wonkette and New York Magazine
The Note:
Sarah Palin Passes On RNC
Sarah Palin Passes On RNC
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Ballot Box, Weigel, CNN, Weasel Zippers, TPMDC and National Review
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
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, Weasel Zippers, CNN, Outside the Beltway, HotAirPundit and New York Magazine
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Bush job approval rating higher than Obama's — George W. Bush's job approval rating is 1 point higher than Barack Obama's. — George W. Bush's job approval rating as president has spiked to 47 percent, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. — That's one point higher …
Discussion:
Power Line, Weasel Zippers and FrumForum
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Spending cuts? From these guys? Republicans Poised to Make “Prince of Pork” Appropriations Chair — ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: — This week House Republicans will choose committee chairman for the incoming Congress, the leaders who, in large measure, will define the new Republican majority.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
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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 Politico
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:
The Volokh Conspiracy and Zandar Versus The Stupid
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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, Wall Street Journal, Kay Steiger, National Review, New York Magazine, ACS Blog, Don Surber, TalkLeft and ECHIDNE of the snakes
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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:
CNN, Outside the Beltway, Indecision Forever, Taegan Goddard's … and Hit & Run
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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
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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.
Discussion:
The Nation, New York Times, Wake up America, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, The Angle, New York Magazine, South Capitol Street, Shakesville, Patterico's Pontifications, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Commentary, Harry's Place, Biased BBC, FrumForum and The Page, more at Techmeme »
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, AMERICAblog Gay, TPMDC and Eschaton
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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!
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Julian Assange, Information Anarchist — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange hopes to hobble the U.S. government. — Whatever else WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has accomplished, he's ended the era of innocent optimism about the Web. As wiki innovator Larry Sanger put it in a message to WikiLeaks …
Discussion:
Salon, Yahoo! News, Cato @ Liberty, News: News blog and LewRockwell.com Blog, more at Mediagazer »
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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
WRAL-TV:
Elizabeth Edwards seriously ill — CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Elizabeth Edwards' cancer has spread, and her health has deteriorated, multiple sources told WRAL News Monday. — Edwards, 61, the wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, was briefly hospitalized recently …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Ben Smith's Blog
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Chart of the day: U.S. taxes — Stephen Culp has another striking chart today: — This chart should be ingrained in the mind of anybody who cares about fiscal policy. The main things to note: — Federal taxes are the lowest in 60 years, which gives you a pretty good idea …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Daily Dish and Hullabaloo
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:
Hot Air, Questions and Observations, America's Voice Blog, Pirate's Cove, Wake up America, Moonbattery, Wonk Room and The Hill
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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
Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Inhofe: ‘Why Do They Always Pick On The Christians?’ — Last week, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) announced that he would refuse to participate in Tulsa's “Holiday Parade of Lights” because the city had renamed the parade, replacing “Christmas” with “Holiday.” After taking part in the parade every year …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, News Hounds, TPMDC and South Capitol Street
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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:
Public Policy Polling, The Note, Hotline On Call, South Capitol Street, Arkansas Blog, Ben Smith's Blog, Right Wing Watch and GOP 12