Top Items:
Ezra Klein:
An imperfect, but not-that-bad, deal on the tax cuts — The White House and the Republicans are pretty close to a final deal on the Bush tax cuts. Here are the specifics, though it's worth saying that as near as this is to completion, it's still not done, and so it could change:
Discussion:
Firedoglake, NPR, No More Mister Nice Blog, Economist's View, Felix Salmon, The Baseline Scenario, Taylor Marsh, The New Republic and Economix
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Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
Tax-cut deal reached between Obama, Republicans — President Obama and congressional Republicans agreed Monday to a tentative deal that would extend for two years all the Bush-era income tax breaks set to expire on Dec. 31, continue unemployment benefits for an additional 13 months …
Discussion:
Donklephant, Crooks and Liars, Little Green Footballs, Suburban Guerrilla, Weasel Zippers, TalkLeft, AMERICAblog News, FrumForum and alicublog
Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:
Obama Agrees To Extend All Bush Tax Cuts And Cut Estate Tax In Deal With Republicans — The White House just announced that it has settled on the details of the deal it's been cooking up with Congressional Republicans over the coming expiration of the Bush tax cuts.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Off the Charts Blog, The Daily Caller, South Capitol Street and DISSENTING JUSTICE
Jon Ward / The Daily Caller:
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:
Wall Street Journal, Political Punch, TPMDC, The TrogloPundit, The Hill, AmSpecBlog, Hot Air, The Hill, RedState, The Fix and National Review
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Tax Cut Deal Includes Monstrous Estate Tax, Dividend Concession — I don't think we should jump on this fully until we see a full solution. But enough of the usual suspects have signaled that a tax cut deal is imminent, with the same broad contours, that we should take a look at the particulars.
Discussion:
U.S. Congressman John …, Sky Dancing, Daily Kos, Questions and Observations, Balloon Juice, Left in the West and AmSpecBlog
Wall Street Journal:
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
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:
Top of the Ticket, Politics Daily, Connecting.the.Dots and Alas, a blog
Ezra Klein:
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:
Mother Jones and The New Republic
Andrew Samwick / Capital Gains and Games blogs:
If This Is Working Together, I'll Take Gridlock
Discussion:
ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Huffington Post and New York Times
Ezra Klein:
Why aren't the Democrats using reconciliation to pass the tax cuts?
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and The Impolitic
Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Retiring Sen. George Voinovich to oppose any extension of Bush-era tax cuts
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Bachmann: GOP could scuttle tax deal tied to extending jobless aid
Discussion:
Sky Dancing, Outside the Beltway, Zandar Versus The Stupid and CNN
New York Times:
Tax Deal Suggests New Path for Obama
Discussion:
Economix, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, New York Times, FiveThirtyEight, Guardian and The Sundries Shack
The Huffington Post:
Tax Cut Deal: White House, GOP Leaders Close To Agreement
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, Daily Kos and The Gateway Pundit
The Caucus:
Deal on Bush Tax Cuts Trims Payroll Levy
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Wall Street Journal, Economics Policies …, National Review, Philly.com, AMERICAblog News and Daily Kos
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Obama, Republicans near deal to extend tax cuts
Discussion:
Power Line, Balloon Juice, Eunomia, CNN, Economix, Online NewsHour, Wonk Room, msnbc.com and The Note
David Weigel / Weigel:
Just How Big of a Dive is Obama Taking on Tax Cuts?
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, AmSpecBlog, The New Republic and Yglesias
Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Obama, GOP strike deal to extend Bush-era tax cuts by two years
Discussion:
The Hill and The Nation
The Huffington Post:
Tax Cuts: The Real End Game Is In The House
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Guardian, Taylor Marsh, FrumForum and Outside the Beltway
Ed Henry / CNN:
Obama: We will protect key tax cuts
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, EconomistMom.com, South Capitol Street and Parker Spitzer
Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People.com:
Elizabeth Edwards's Cancer Spreads — Elizabeth Edwards's cancer fight has taken a turn for the worse, with the disease spreading to her liver and doctors recommending against additional treatment. — “Elizabeth has been advised by her doctors that further treatment of her cancer would be unproductive.
Discussion:
CBS News, Politics Daily, USA Today, TPMDC, About.com US Liberal Politics, Ben Smith's Blog, Gawker and New York Magazine
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Lbentzterp / CNN:
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 …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, American Power and The Page
Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
The WikiLeaks founder is an unscrupulous megalomaniac with a political agenda. — In my most recent book, I reprint some words from a British Embassy cable, sent from Baghdad to the Foreign Office in 1976. The subject is Iraq's new leader. His quiet coup d'etat is reassuringly described as …
Discussion:
Telegraph, Hot Air, Tim Blair, Daniel W. Drezner and Right Wing News
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Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:
Some news outlets stop calling WikiLeaks a ‘whistle-blower’
Discussion:
CNN, The Nation, Guardian, CNET News, Crikey, Online NewsHour, New York Times, Techdirt, News: News blog and South Capitol Street, more at Mediagazer »
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The lawless Wild West attacks WikiLeaks
Discussion:
Mother Jones, TwitLonger, Clay Shirky, CNET News, Guardian, BBC, Press Association, Raw Story, The Excavator, Concurring Opinions, Threat Level, Tom Watson and Hit & Run, more at Mediagazer »
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%.
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James Hohmann / The Politico:
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:
Hot Air, Pirate's Cove, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Power Line and FrumForum
Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:
TX GOP Official Opposes Jewish House Speaker: Christians ‘Are The People That Do The Best Jobs’ — Last month, several Tea Party activists formed a right-wing coalition to oust Rep. Joe Straus (R) as Texas House Speaker. They began circulating emails with anti-Semitic messages against Straus, who is Jewish.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite, South Capitol Street and Brilliant at Breakfast
Felix Salmon:
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 and Hullabaloo
Jill / Feministe:
Some thoughts on “sex by surprise” — There's a lot going around in bloglandia and on the interwebs about WikiLeaks honcho Julian Assange's sexual assault charge in Sweden; commentators are saying that Assange didn't really rape anyone, and these are trumped-up charges of “sex by surprise …
Discussion:
Poynter, The Other McCain, Focal Point, Crooks and Liars, Threat Level, Shakesville and Barefoot and Progressive
MiniTru / Media Matters for America:
CNN's Beck to first-ever Muslim congressman: “[W]hat I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies’ ” — EXPAND ALL EXPAND 1ST LEVEL COLLAPSE ALL
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, TPM LiveWire and Bold Faith Type
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The Note:
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:
CNN, Ballot Box, Weigel, Guardian, The Politico, TPMDC, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic Online, Cubachi, Weasel Zippers, Indecision Forever, National Review, FrumForum and GOP 12
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New York Times:
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Wal-Mart Appeal — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal in the biggest employment discrimination case in the nation's history, one claiming that Wal-Mart Stores had discriminated against hundreds of thousands of women in pay and promotion.
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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:
South Capitol Street, Raw Story, Indecision Forever, Hit & Run and Taegan Goddard's …
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