Top Items:
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Obama Goes Medieval on the Left — Damn. I skipped Obama's press conference today, but I guess that was a big mistake. If my Twitter feed is anything to go by, progressive heads were exploding all over the intertubes. Here is Philip Klein's summary:
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, AmSpecBlog and Commentary
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Ezra Klein:
How the White House cut its deal and lost its base — If you look at the numbers alone, the tax cut deal looks to have robbed Republicans blind. The GOP got around $95 billion in tax cuts for wealthy Americans and $30 billion in estate tax cuts. Democrats got $120 billion in payroll-tax cuts …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The New Republic, Guardian, Outside the Beltway, Mother Jones, TPMDC, Prairie Weather, The Hill, Greg Mankiw's Blog, Marbury, TigerHawk, Liberal Values, Commentary, PostPartisan, Zandar Versus The Stupid, RedState, National Review, msnbc.com, Betsy's Page and Pajamas Media
Hugh Hewitt / Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog:
DeMint To Oppose “the Deal” — Senator JimDeMint just announced on my program that he will oppose the deal as well as a vote for cloture on the deal. He is reluctant to criticize GOP Senate leadership, but believes the deal at a minimum has to be paid for, and that we need “a permanent economy” …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, TPMDC, James Pethokoukis, The Daily Caller, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Politico, Breitbart.tv, Clusterstock, The Hill and The Hill
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
For Obama, Tax Deal Is a Back-Door Stimulus Plan — A year ago, President Obama and the Democrats made the mistake of assuming that an economic recovery was under way. This week's deal to extend the Bush tax cuts shows that the White House's top priority is avoiding the same mistake again …
The Politico:
Harry Reid tries to add online poker to tax bill — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to use the tax cut package President Barack Obama brokered with Republicans to legalize online poker, POLITICO has learned — a move that could further complicate the deal Obama announced Monday.
Discussion:
The Hill, ThinkProgress, The Hill, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Beast, Clusterstock, National Review and Top of the Ticket
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obama administers a stern scolding to lefty critics
Discussion:
The Fix, Zandar Versus The Stupid, FiveThirtyEight, South Capitol Street and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
The Huffington Post:
House Democrats Rip Obama's Tax Cut Deal
Discussion:
Guardian and Towleroad News #gay
New York Times:
Biden and G.O.P. Leader Helped Hammer Out Bipartisan Tax Accord
Discussion:
The Note, The Politico, Suburban Guerrilla and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*
Associated Press:
Obama Lashes Out At ‘Hostage-Taking’ Republicans, Sanctimonious Democrats
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, msnbc.com and The Hill
New York Times:
Obama Defends Tax Deal, but His Party Stays Hostile
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Note, Firedoglake, The Politico, Daily Kos, The Reid Report, The Talking Dog, Associated Press, The Plum Line, TPMDC, Politics Daily, The Quick and the Ed, CNN, A plain blog about politics, Green, Blogcritics, The Page, ECHIDNE of the snakes, The Atlantic Online, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and National Review
The Hill:
Democrats to draw line at estate tax after Obama's deal with Republicans
Discussion:
George's Bottom Line
The Hill:
Pelosi escalates criticism of tax-cut deal
Discussion:
Questions and Observations and National Review
Cubachi:
Michele Bachmann and DeMint: Not so fast on that agreement …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, The Right Scoop, Liberty Pundits Blog, The Hill, Minnesota Independent and Commentary
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Jim DeMint: I'll vote to filibuster the tax cuts deal
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Washington Times, The Politico, Washington Wire, The Sundries Shack and South Capitol Street
cbpp.org:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Discussion:
economy.com, The New Republic and Center for American Progress
Free exchange:
Did Barack Obama lose a political battle but win a war?
Discussion:
Economist's View, Real Time Economics and Grasping Reality …
Jennifer Bendery / Roll Call:
Tax Deal Opponents Shut Down White House Phones
Discussion:
Hot Air, TPMDC, The Hill, iOwnTheWorld.com, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, Viking Pundit, McClatchy Washington Bureau and Daily Kos
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
A Political Life Filled With Cruel Reversals — Elizabeth Edwards, who as the wife of former Senator John Edwards gave America an intimate look at a candidate's marriage by sharing his quest for the 2008 presidential nomination as she struggled with incurable cancer and, secretly …
Discussion:
American Power, South Capitol Street, NO QUARTER, Close Read, skippy the bush kangaroo, Raw Story, Towleroad News #gay and Eschaton
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Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
O'Donnell calls extending jobless benefits a ‘tragedy’ — Christine O'Donnell on Tuesday compared the “tragedy” of extending unemployment benefits to Pearl Harbor and the death of Elizabeth Edwards. — “Today marks a lot of tragedy,” O'Donnell, the Tea Party-backed GOP Senate candidate from Delaware …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather and Hit & Run
Raleigh News & Observer:
Cancer claims Elizabeth Edwards — Elizabeth Edwards, author of ‘Saving Graces’ , greets and autographs copies of her book for the community in 2006. — Elizabeth Anania Edwards, who became a national figure in her fight against cancer and as a partner in her husband John's political career, died today.
Discussion:
The Democratic Daily, CNN, Taylor Marsh, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Mediaite
Matt Bai / New York Times:
Murmurs of Primary Challenge to Obama — WASHINGTON — President Obama's compromise with Republicans on extending tax cuts for the wealthy, which his self-described progressive critics see as a profound betrayal, is bound to intensify a debate that has been bubbling up on liberal blogs …
Discussion:
Commentary, Balloon Juice, Crooks and Liars and American Power
Jack Shafer / Slate:
Julian Assange's Great Luck — Why his arrest and jailing in the United Kingdom is good news for him. — A U.K. magistrates' court denied Julian Assange bail and jailed him this morning over charges filed in Sweden that he had violated sex laws in that country last summer.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Connecting.the.Dots, Guardian, Threat Level, South Capitol Street, Ben Smith's Blog, Raw Story and Mediaite
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Obama's Deal to Extend High-Earner Tax Cuts Unpopular in Poll — Americans don't approve of keeping the breaks for upper-income taxpayers that are part of the deal President Barack Obama brokered with congressional Republicans, a Bloomberg National Poll shows.
Discussion:
Gallup, The Page and Los Angeles Times
Pejman Yousefzadeh / A Chequer-Board of Nights …:
In Which Thomas Friedman Insults the Chinese By Pretending That He Can Think Like Them — Let's go to the tape: … Where to begin? — First off, fight over “how and where an airport security officer can touch” Americans is one that goes to the very core of privacy concerns that have been part …
Discussion:
Hot Air
Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
New McCain, New DREAM. — John McCain has co-sponsored several previous versions of the DREAM Act, including the far more liberal 2003 version that didn't have an age cap. The much narrower legislation under consideration this year, which would offer a path to citizenship for immigrants …
Discussion:
AILA, The Huffington Post and Speakeasy
Laura Rozen / The Politico:
U.S. abandons effort to get new Israel settlement freeze — The United States has decided to abandon an effort to persuade Israel to issue a new temporary West Bank settlement moratorium in order for direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to resume, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Discussion:
Israel Matzav, War in Context and CNN
RELATED:
Mark Landler / New York Times:
U.S. Drops Bid to Sway Israel on Settlements
Discussion:
CNN, Wall Street Journal, Israel Matzav, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Ben Smith's Blog and The Daily Dish
Sam Youngman / Ballot Box:
President Obama's Sister Souljah week — President Obama's liberal critics are furious, vocal and useful to a White House trying to solve the riddle of reelection. — White House officials who last year viewed the “professional left” as an annoying bunch of ungrateful idealists living …
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
David Kocieniewski / New York Times:
Tax Package Will Aid Nearly All, Especially Highest Earners — The deal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years includes a bevy of additional credits and deductions that will reduce the burden on nearly all households. — But the tax benefits will flow most heavily to the highest earners …
Discussion:
Firedoglake
Carl Zimmer / Slate:
Scientists see fatal flaws in the NASA study of arsenic-based life. — On Thursday, Dec. 2, Rosie Redfield sat down to read a new paper called, “A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus.” Despite its innocuous title, the paper had great ambitions.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Gizmodo, Watts Up With That?, Gawker, Hot Air, LewRockwell.com Blog and Pharyngula
Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:
First, Admit You Have a Problem — Democrats are stuck on messages that ignore the larger problems they face. — Many Democrats seem to take solace in the idea that stubbornly high unemployment and the terrible economy are to blame for their midterm election losses.
Discussion:
Right Turn, The Daily Caller and Betsy's Page
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