Top Items:

Obama and GOP reach deal on two-year extension of Bush tax cuts for all incomes — President Obama and congressional Republicans have reached a tentative deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for all income levels and are presenting the proposal to congressional Democrats Monday afternoon, The Daily Caller has learned.
Discussion:
TPMDC, Firedoglake, The Hill, The Fix, The Hill, AmSpecBlog, Hot Air, Moe Lane, AMERICAblog News and Talking Points Memo
RELATED:

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.
Discussion:
Fox News, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos, PERRspectives, Sky Dancing, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, The Caucus, POWIP, Guardian, Democracy in America, The Nation, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Left in the West, The Atlantic Online, AMERICAblog News, nancynall.com, Firedoglake, Prairie Weather, Brilliant at Breakfast, Outside the Beltway, Booman Tribune, James Pethokoukis, FiveThirtyEight and Economix

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


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 …


White House Proposes Payroll-Tax Holiday — WASHINGTON—Aides to President Barack Obama are proposing a one-year reduction in the payroll tax as part of negotiations with Congress on a broader package to stave off income-tax increases due to take effect next year.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Don Surber and New York Magazine

Bachmann: GOP could scuttle tax deal tied to extending jobless aid — A House Tea Party leader said Monday that GOP lawmakers might vote down an extension of tax cuts if it's tied to an extension in unemployment aid. — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the chairwoman of the House Tea Party Caucus …
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid, Outside the Beltway and CNN


Who graduates, who votes and who's unemployed — in one graph — It seems a little crazy that tax cuts for the nation's very richest residents are commanding more political energy and consensus than unemployment insurance. Among other things, the tax cuts aren't popular. Unemployment insurance is.
Discussion:
The New Republic

Tax Cuts: The Real End Game Is In The House
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and Reuters

Retiring Sen. George Voinovich to oppose any extension of Bush-era tax cuts

Just How Big of a Dive is Obama Taking on Tax Cuts?
Discussion:
Yglesias and AmSpecBlog

President Obama's Outline of Possible Yet Not Quite Done Deal …
Discussion:
The Caucus, National Review and AmSpecBlog

Why aren't the Democrats using reconciliation to pass the tax cuts?
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online

Obama's Tax-Cut Retreat, Through Two Lenses
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog and Daily Kos

Tax Cuts Update: Despite Schumer's Threat, There's Little Appetite …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Guardian, Taylor Marsh, The Atlantic Online, Blog For Arizona and AMERICAblog News


Source: White House presents proposed tax deal to Democratic leaders
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Daily Kos and South Capitol Street

First Thoughts: Done deal?
Discussion:
New York Times, The Politico, The Note, Daily Kos, The Nation, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Politics Daily

TRENDING: Elizabeth Edwards stops cancer treatment, releases statement — (CNN) - Elizabeth Edwards is surrounded by family and friends in her North Carolina home after being informed by her doctors that further cancer treatment would be unproductive. — “Elizabeth has been advised …
RELATED:

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 Politics Daily

Elizabeth Edwards's Cancer Spreads
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, TPMDC, Gawker and New York Magazine

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%.
RELATED:


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

Sarah Palin Passes On RNC — ABC News' John Berman and Mary Bruce report: — Sarah Palin isn't running...for one job at least. She doesn't appear to be a candidate to Chair the Republican National Committee. — The activist group Tea Party Nation, planned on sending a letter to Palin pleading for her to run.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, TPMDC, Ballot Box, Guardian, Weigel, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers, CNN, conservatives4palin.com, National Review and GOP 12
RELATED:


Tea party group wants Palin for RNC
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Atlantic Online, CNN, Left Coast Rebel, The Note, Cubachi, Little Green Footballs, Indecision Forever, The Hill, TPMDC and FrumForum

HOUSE RULE
Discussion:
The Hill, Wonkette, Prairie Weather, USA Today and New York Magazine

Assange to be questioned by UK police — • New extradition warrant issued over alleged sexual assaults — • Assange appeals for supporters to put up surety and bail — Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is expected to appear in a UK court tomorrow after his lawyers …
RELATED:


Julian Assange, Information Anarchist
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Salon, Cato @ Liberty and LewRockwell.com Blog, more at Mediagazer »

Julian Assange's Swiss bank account closed
Discussion:
BBC, Press Association, CNN, TwitLonger, The Nation, Online NewsHour, News: News blog and Hit & Run, more at Mediagazer »


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, Raw Story, Indecision Forever, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway and Taegan Goddard's …

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, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Althouse
RELATED:


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


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


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:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, iOwnTheWorld.com and DownWithTyranny!


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:
Right Turn, The Note, Hotline On Call, South Capitol Street, Arkansas Blog, Ben Smith's Blog, Right Wing Watch and GOP 12
RELATED:

Missouri Republican Numbers
Discussion:
conservatives4palin.com, Hot Air and GOP 12


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:
blogs.telegraph.co.uk, NPR, theblogprof, Pirate's Cove, AmSpecBlog, Tim Blair and Telegraph


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:
Reuters, New York Times, Guardian, RedState, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, Wake up America, The Gateway Pundit, New York Magazine, Shakesville, Patterico's Pontifications, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Angle, ThinkProgress, Commentary, Harry's Place, Biased BBC, FrumForum and The Page, more at Techmeme »

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, Booman Tribune, South Capitol Street and TPMDC


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:
The Hill, New York Times, The Politico, Taegan Goddard's …, Maggie's Farm and Political Insider