Top Items:
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Swindle of the year — Barack Obama won the great tax-cut showdown of 2010 - and House Democrats don't have a clue that he did. In the deal struck this week, the president negotiated the biggest stimulus in American history, larger than his $814 billion 2009 stimulus package.
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Obama's Hostage Deal — I've spent the past couple of days trying to make my peace with the Obama-McConnell tax-cut deal. President Obama did, after all, extract more concessions than most of us expected. — Yet I remain deeply uneasy — not because I'm one of those “purists” …
Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Obama Weighs a Broad Tax Overhaul — WASHINGTON — President Obama is considering whether to push early next year for an overhaul of the income tax code to lower rates and raise revenues in what would be his first major effort to begin addressing the long-term growth of the national debt.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico, Bloomberg, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, Reuters, Guardian, The Moderate Voice, NPR, National Review, Commentary, The New Republic, South Capitol Street, The Daily Beast, Hot Air, Law Blog, Ezra Klein, The Hill, Power Line, Hullabaloo, Online NewsHour, The Hill, Sky Dancing, TPMDC, JustOneMinute and Washington Post
Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
Chuck Schumer vs. President Obama — It wasn't on the White House's official schedule, but on Nov. 22 Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) quietly slipped into the Oval Office on a self-appointed mission to steel Barack Obama for the tax cut fight. — Schumer, the newly anointed message guru …
Discussion:
Don Surber, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, The New Republic, Ben Smith's Blog, RedState and The Foundry
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The Politico:
The dirtiest word in politics: Has Barack Obama been caught triangulating?
The dirtiest word in politics: Has Barack Obama been caught triangulating?
Discussion:
Salon, Washington Wire and Politics Daily
David Brooks / New York Times:
Obama's Very Good Week — Over the past week we've seen …
Obama's Very Good Week — Over the past week we've seen …
Discussion:
Open Left, Booman Tribune and Sister Toldjah
Jonathan Bernstein / A plain blog about politics:
Catch of the Day — Mori Dinauer: … Perfect.
Catch of the Day — Mori Dinauer: … Perfect.
Discussion:
American Prospect and South Capitol Street
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
How the White House will sell angry House Dems on tax cut deal
How the White House will sell angry House Dems on tax cut deal
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, TPMDC, The Reid Report and Ben Smith's Blog
ABCNEWS:
Assange Lawyers Prepare for U.S. Spying Indictment — Attorney Says American Indictment Related to Espionage Act Imminent for Wikileaks Founder — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the man behind the publication of more than a 250,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables …
Discussion:
The Nation, Guardian, TechCrunch, TPM LiveWire, The Enterprise Blog, TalkLeft, Foreign Policy, Clusterstock, Raw Story, News: News blog, Mediaite, Boing Boing and The Agonist
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Naomi Wolf / The Huffington Post:
Espionage Act: How the Government Can Engage in Serious Aggression …
Espionage Act: How the Government Can Engage in Serious Aggression …
Discussion:
Underground
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The media's authoritarianism and WikiLeaks
The media's authoritarianism and WikiLeaks
Discussion:
Close Read, Cato @ Liberty, Open Left, Gawker, Emptywheel, Tablet Magazine and South Capitol Street, more at Mediagazer »
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
‘Filibernie’: Sanders blasts tax deal for five hours and counting — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is railing against President Obama's tax-cut package in a lengthy floor speech. — Sanders, one of the Senate's leading liberals, is protesting Obama's deal with Republicans …
Discussion:
The Note, TPMDC, The Confluence and Sky Dancing
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David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Sanders' Long Senate Floor Speech Brings Attention to Details of Tax Cut Deal — Se. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (photo: origamidon) — Bernie Sanders has been speaking for almost four hours on the Senate floor, in what some are describing as a filibuster. — It's not a filibuster.
Discussion:
NPR, USA Today and Crooks and Liars
Shira Toeplitz / The Politico:
Bernie Sanders filibuster stalls Senate
Bernie Sanders filibuster stalls Senate
Discussion:
The Nation and The Note
National Review:
Levi's Story — A study on “When Marriage Disappears: The Retreat from Marriage in Middle America” was published Monday by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Levi Johnston and the marriage decline — National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez has a long interview today on a new report headed, “The Retreat from Marriage in Middle America.” — The author, W. Bradford Wilcox, found a growing gap between the marriages of the affluent and well-educated …
Cubachi:
Richard Wolffe mocks Palin and C.S. Lewis as just “a children's author” — I don't know if I should expect any better from ignoramuses from MSNBC, but this is supposedly a “respectable news organization” with shallow and arrogant individuals who only live to ridicule and belittle without thinking.
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Liberty Pundits Blog and iOwnTheWorld.com
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Byron York / Washington Examiner:
BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — Obama honors Nobel winner with statement about himself — There was an extraordinary scene at the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Friday morning. The prize went to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was barred by the Chinese government from attending the ceremony.
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New York Times:
The Senate Stands for Injustice — On one of the most shameful days in the modern history of the Senate, the Republican minority on Thursday prevented a vote to allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly in the military of the United States. They chose to filibuster a vital defense bill …
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
MAKING THE RANK-AND-FILE LOOK REASONABLE BY COMPARISON.... Jay Bookman notes a couple of interesting poll results this week, measuring Republican voters' attitudes on some key issues. — Gallup, for example, found that almost half of the country's GOP voters support repealing the existing “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy.
Discussion:
Dennis the Peasant
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Introducing “The Cannabis Closet” — Longtime Dishheads will remember that rather extraordinary reader email thread that had to do with secret middle-class, mainstream marijuana use - for medical and non-medical reasons. The thread “The Cannabis Closet” began with one reader email in March 2009 …
Discussion:
Dennis the Peasant and South Capitol Street
Richard Vedder / Innovations:
The Great College-Degree Scam — With the help of a small army of researchers and associates (most importantly, Chris Matgouranis, Jonathan Robe, and Chris Denhart) and starting with help from Douglas Himes of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Center for College Affordability and Productivity …
Discussion:
Maggie's Farm, Instapundit, EconLog and Hit & Run
Bloomberg:
Americans in Poll Want Deficit Cut With Entitlements Secured — Americans want Congress to bring down a federal budget deficit that many believe is “dangerously out of control,” only under two conditions: minimize the pain and make the rich pay. — The public wants Congress to keep …
Discussion:
theblogprof, AMERICAblog News, The Note, Capital Gains and Games blogs and Paul Krugman
Jim Newton / New Yorker:
IKE'S SPEECH — Afew months ago, Grant Moos was closing his boathouse, near Hackensack, Minnesota, as he does every summer, tying up loose ends, sweeping up debris. This year, though, his sister Kathy insisted that it was finally time to do something about six cardboard boxes that for decades …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
DADT Repeal: Heads They Win; Tails We Lose — If it fails in the Senate - despite solid public support, endorsement from the Joint Chiefs, backing from the Defense Secretary, a big majority in the House and a 57 - 40 vote in the Senate - what does this say about gays having a fair chance in the legislative process?
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
Dems show signs of abandoning Obama elsewhere after frustration with tax deal — Incensed over President Obama's tax compromise, House Democratic leaders are showing signs of abandoning the administration and going their own way on critical issues such as national security.
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, The Politico, Michelle Malkin, Wake up America and Roll Call
Sen. Joseph Lieberman / GovTrack.us:
A bill to provide for the repeal of the Department of Defense policy concerning homosexuality in... Overview … The text of this legislation is not yet available on GovTrack. It may not have been made available by the Government Printing Office yet. — Introduced — Referred to Committee
Discussion:
TPMDC, Wonk Room, Prop 8 Trial Tracker and Joe. My. God.
WRTV-TV:
Daniels Backs Off Moratorium On Social Issue Legislation — Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage Expected To Be Raised Next Year — INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mitch Daniels has backed down on his request for a moratorium on social issues in the upcoming legislative session.
Discussion:
GOP 12, Ben Smith's Blog, Outside the Beltway and National Review
Justin Lahart / Wall Street Journal:
Companies Cling to Cash — Coffers Swell to 51-year high as Cautious Firms Put Off Investing in Growth — Corporate America's cash pile has hit its highest level in half a century. — Rather than pouring their money into building plants or hiring workers, nonfinancial companies in the U.S …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Parker Spitzer and The Impolitic
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Dismantling The safety Net, One Program At A Time — Peter Orszag really has it in for the social security program. We already know that he's selling the ridiculous idea that if the Democrats agree to cut social security they will be rewarded for doing it.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Reality-Based Community, AMERICAblog News and Eschaton
Kid Dynamite / Kid Dynamite's World:
JP Morgan and the Massive Silver Short - The Greatest Story Ever Told — Pssst - hey - did you guys hear the news? JP Morgan is short 4 quadrillion tons of aluminum. If everyone in America went out and bought just 2 cans of chicken noodle soup, we could bankrupt JP Morgan, cure hunger, and destroy the flu at the same time!
Discussion:
Mish's Global Economic …