Top Items:
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 …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Economix, CNSNews, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Center for American Progress, TaxVox, Associated Press, The Reid Report, ThinkProgress, The Big Picture, New York Times, Suburban Guerrilla, Ezra Klein, Yglesias, Democracy in America and PERRspectives
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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, The Huffington Post, TPMDC, Breitbart.tv, Cubachi, James Pethokoukis, Online NewsHour, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Questions and Observations, Zandar Versus The Stupid, National Review, Clusterstock, The Hill, The Politico, The Hill, Dennis the Peasant and Liberty Pundits Blog
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:
Comments from Left Field, Stop The ACLU, TaxVox, Mother Jones, TPMDC, Althouse, The Hill, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Guardian, Roll Call, Marbury, Prairie Weather, Greg Mankiw's Blog, The Atlantic Online, TigerHawk, Economix, Liberal Values, PostPartisan, RedState, Zandar Versus The Stupid, National Review, Betsy's Page, Commentary, The New Republic, msnbc.com, Real Time Economics, Pajamas Media and Classical Values
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
LOOKING FOR PLAN B.... The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' Bob Greenstein, who has as much liberal credibility on budget and tax issues as anyone, doesn't seem to like the “disturbing negative” provisions of the tax policy deal struck by the White House and congressional Republicans.
Discussion:
New York Times, PostPartisan, Balloon Juice and Mother Jones
The Hill:
Democrats to draw line at estate tax after Obama's deal with Republicans
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and George's Bottom Line
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Americans Support Two Major Elements of Tax Compromise
Discussion:
TPMDC, The Page and The Daily Caller
New York Times:
Biden and G.O.P. Leader Helped Hammer Out Bipartisan Tax Accord
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Note, The Hill, Suburban Guerrilla, The Politico and Towleroad News #gay
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Jim DeMint: I'll vote to filibuster the tax cuts deal
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Washington Times, The Politico, The Sundries Shack, Washington Wire, South Capitol Street and The Plum Line
Harold Meyerson / Washington Post:
The paucity of hope - and other victims of Obama's tax-cut deal
Discussion:
Daily Kos and New Deal 2.0
Associated Press:
Obama Lashes Out At ‘Hostage-Taking’ Republicans, Sanctimonious Democrats
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, msnbc.com and The Hill
cbpp.org:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Discussion:
economy.com, TPMCafe and The New Republic
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Centrist Dem senator supports repealing 'Don't ask, don't tell' — A key centrist Democratic senator said Wednesday that he now favors repealing the military's ban on openly gay service members. — Sen. Mark Pyor (Ark.) explained that he was convinced by the results of the Pentagon's 10-month study …
Discussion:
The Note
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U.S. Senator Mark Pryor:
Statement by Senator Mark Pryor on Repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy — On many previous occasions, I have said that I would oppose repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell until I had heard from our servicemen and women regarding this policy. I have now carefully reviewed all of the findings …
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend, AMERICAblog News and AMERICAblog Gay
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:
ThinkProgress, The Hill, The Foundry, Scared Monkeys, National Review, Clusterstock, The Daily Beast and Top of the Ticket
Igor Volsky / Wonk Room:
Pryor Announces Support For Repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog Gay and Joe. My. God.
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal bill could hit Senate floor Wednesday
Discussion:
Advocate and Towleroad News #gay
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:
The Moderate Voice, Ben Smith's Blog, Prairie Weather, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Hit & Run
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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 …
Michelle Malkin:
Senate DREAM Act cloture vote today, 4pm Eastern — Now is the time to melt those phone lines and make yourselves heard on the multi-billion-dollar DREAM Act illegal alien student bailout. — The Senate is scheduled to take a cloture vote on the DREAM Act at 4pm Eastern today. — More info here.
Discussion:
NumbersUSA, National Review and South Capitol Street
RELATED:
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
Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
D-Day for DREAM Act: Immigration Bill Poised for House, Senate Votes
Discussion:
Wonk Room
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Emmer to concede governor's race — Emmer will make a “major announcement” about the recount at 10:30 a.m., at his Delano home. A GOP source with knowledge of Emmer's plans said he would concede the election. — Republican Tom Emmer is expected to concede the Minnesota governor's race …
Discussion:
TPMDC and The Caucus
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TwinCities.com:
Emmer to concede election to Dayton
Discussion:
South Capitol Street and Public Policy Polling
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Dayton poised to win the recount
Discussion:
Ballot Box, Towleroad News #gay and Shot in the Dark
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:
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obama administers a stern scolding to lefty critics
Discussion:
The Fix, Zandar Versus The Stupid, FiveThirtyEight, South Capitol Street, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Raw Story
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, Boing Boing, Connecting.the.Dots, Threat Level, South Capitol Street, Guardian, Raw Story and Mediaite
RELATED:
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:
Ezra Klein, Firedoglake and TBogg
RELATED:
Noah Millman / The American Scene:
Status Quo Bias and the Tax Deal
Discussion:
The Daily Dish and National Review
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
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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, American Power and Crooks and Liars
Brian Stelter / New York Times:
At CNN, Talk Show Tensions — In one sweeping move, the 8 p.m. political talk show “Parker Spitzer” could have turned around CNN's flailing prime-time ratings, publicly rehabilitated the fallen New York governor Eliot Spitzer, and turned his co-host Kathleen Parker into a television star.
Discussion:
Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Newsday:
1st C.D.: Altschuler concedes (Update) — Here is the Altschuler campaign's just-released statement: — Randy Altschuler, Republican/Conservative candidate, this morning conceded the hard-fought race for New York's 1st Congressional District seat. With approximately 977 absentee ballots left …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's … and msnbc.com
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:
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