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Collins Hands Reid A Final Offer On Don't Ask, Don't Tell — Here's what Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that she needs to support a full Senate debate on the defense authorization bill (the vehicle for Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal): 15 guaranteed votes on amendments …
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FiveThirtyEight, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Sky Dancing, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Daily Dish, National Review and Arkansas Blog
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Lisa Murkowski supports repeal of DADT — GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski has decided to support repeal of don't ask don't tell, her spokesman tells me, potentially adding another crucial GOP vote to the Yes column and putting 60 votes within reach. — “Her vote will depend on how free and open …
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The Reaction, Prop 8 Trial Tracker, Wonk Room, Raw Story, TPMDC and AMERICAblog Gay


Lieberman To Reid On DADT: Back Off, I Got This — Senate Democrats are on the precipice of getting a Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal past a key procedural hurdle tonight. But key negotiators have grown frustrated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his staff for upping the pressure at a fragile moment …

In blow to DADT repeal, talks with Senator Collins hit wall — Senior Senate Democratic aides are in a panic this morning about the prospects for repeal of don't ask don't tell, because talks with Senator Susan Collins over her procedural demands have hit a wall, with the Democratic leadership dismissing …


Jon Kyl: No time left for START
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Reid's office: Legalizing online poker still on lame-duck agenda
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Hot Air, Washington Wire, South Capitol Street and The Politico

White House says Democrats partly to blame for tax-cut deal with GOP
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The Politico, Daily Kos, CNN and Weasel Zippers

Susan Collins: Let's make a deal on don't ask, don't tell [Updated]
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AMERICAblog Gay, Wonk Room, Talking Points Memo and Towleroad News #gay

COLLINS POSITIONED TO KILL DADT REPEAL.... We talked earlier …
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TPMDC, Balloon Juice, NationalJournal.com and Daily Kos

Senate procedural vote on 'don't ask, don't tell' postponed
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RHRealityCheck.org and The Daily Dish

Exclusive: Sarah Palin Under Cyber-Attack from Wikileaks Supporters in 'Operation Payback'* — The website and personal credit card information of former Gov. Sarah Palin were cyber-attacked today by Wikileaks supporters, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate tells ABC News in an email.
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WikiLeaks and their supporters: We were for free speech, before we were against it — WikiLeaks was painted among many in the media, some libertarians, and the liberal establishment as the poor souls who are fighting against CIA and American intelligensia. — WikiLeaks claims …
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Liberty Pundits Blog, Washington Post and Raw Story

Hackers Attack Those Seen as WikiLeaks Enemies — LONDON — In a campaign that had some declaring the start of a “cyber war,” hundreds of Internet activists mounted retaliatory attacks on Wednesday on the Web sites of multinational companies and other organizations they deemed hostile …
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Guardian, The Lede, Clusterstock, Crikey, Raw Story, Online NewsHour, GigaOM, The Firewall, Gizmodo, Gawker and BBC, more at Techmeme »

U.S. Prosecutors Study WikiLeaks Prosecution
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Dominoes — There was something strange to me about the GOP reaction yesterday to the tax cut news. Or at least something unexpected. I hadn't made clear sense of it until I got this news late last night, but all day yesterday I couldn't shake the feeling that the whole didn't add up.
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TPMDC, Crooks and Liars and Guardian
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Americans Support Two Major Elements of Tax Compromise — Liberal vs. Moderate/Conservative Democrats disagree on extending tax cuts for all — PRINCETON, NJ — Two major elements included in the tax agreement reached Monday between President Barack Obama and Republican leaders in Congress meet with broad public support.
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White House: Failure to Pass Tax Cut Compromise Bill Would …
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Firedoglake

How Do You Compromise With Stalin? — Brian Beutler explains the Republicans' dilemma:
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JustOneMinute, A Chequer-Board of Nights …, Mother Jones, Eunomia, The New Republic, Clusterstock and Washington Monthly

Letter to President Obama On Extending Bush Tax Cuts
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The Nation, The Hill and Weasel Zippers

In Her Defense, I'm Sure the Moose Had it Coming — What's Your Reaction: — “Unless you've never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather chair or eaten meat, save your condemnation.” — You're right, Sarah, we'll all just go f**k ourselves now. — The snotty quote was posted by Sarah Palin on …
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Palin's Republican Problem — It's well documented that Sarah Palin has problems with Democrats and independents, but the first seven states where we've looked at the 2012 Presidential election make it clear that she has a Republican problem as well. — It's not that Republicans …
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conservatives4palin.com, The Daily Dish, South Capitol Street and National Review


Ridiculous: ADN asks whether Palin actually knows how to use a gun
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Liberty Pundits Blog

Pass the Caribou Stew
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NewsBusters.org, Right Turn, Confederate Yankee, Althouse and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Michael Bloomberg: I'm Not Running for President. Period. — New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg - who is often discussed as a potential third party candidate for the presidency in 2012 - told CBS News' Katie Couric Wednesday there is “nothing” that would compel him to enter the coming presidential race.
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On Economy, Bloomberg Says Washington Is Failing — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg unleashed a withering critique on Wednesday of how Congress and the White House have managed the economic recovery, saying Democrats and Republicans had abdicated responsibility in favor of partisan bickering …
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Hot Air, Althouse, Politics Daily and South Capitol Street

Bloomberg, in major speech, offers ‘a middle way’
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Firedoglake, Salon, South Capitol Street, msnbc.com and NYC.gov

N.Y. Mayor Bloomberg attacks Washington, stokes the center
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The Atlantic Online

House of Representatives narrowly approves Dream Act; Senate must now vote on immigration bill — In a last-ditch showdown on immigration relief for illegal migrants, the Democratically-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly approved the so-called Dream Act that would offer …
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Alan Colmes' Liberaland and No More Mister Nice Blog
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The DREAM Act: A watershed vote Latinos will not forget
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Yglesias, The Politico, Off the Kuff and Daily Kos


Mark Zandi on the tax cut deal — I called Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi this morning to see what he thought of the tax cut deal. When it comes to stimulus, Zandi's figures are probably the most influential in the country, and I've cited them several times before on this blog. So what does he think?
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Firedoglake

Answer Man: Luke Scott talks Nugent, hunting and Obama origin — stopped by baseball's winter meetings Tuesday and, after some harmless chatter about his team's offseason dealings, stated with conviction that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. — Oh, yes, he did.
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Top of the Ticket and iOwnTheWorld.com

The crux of the WikiLeaks debate — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — WNYC's Brian Lehrer has spent the last week hosting one WikiLeaks critic after the next on his program, and it seems rather clear that he, too, is a fairly emphatic critic of the group and its founder, Julian Assange.
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Scripting News, War in Context and Yahoo! News