Top Items:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP will paralyze Senate floor with reading of 1,924-page spending bill — Republicans will paralyze the Senate floor for 50 hours by forcing clerks to read every single paragraph of the 1,924-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. — Senate clerks are expected to read the massive bill …
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The Note:
Big Boost for Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal: Brown Backs Senate Bill — ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: — Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown today voiced his support for a stand-alone repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, bringing the bill one vote over the 60-vote threshold …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
OBNOXIOUS DELAYS FOR THE SAKE OF OBNOXIOUS DELAYS.... The irony is, those who've been whining the loudest about the poor politicians who have to work in mid-December are the same ones dragging out the process, preventing members from going home. — Yesterday, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) …
Discussion:
Pat Dollard, Balloon Juice and The Caucus
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
GOP looks to box in Obama on $1.1 trillion government spending bill
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Reuters, The Powers That Be and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
Do The Math — In a minor miracle considering last week's defeat …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Reid wages vigorous defense of earmarks in $1.1 trillion omnibus
Discussion:
CNN
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
How Harry Reid can make time for DADT repeal
Discussion:
Wonk Room, Daily Kos and AMERICAblog Gay
Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Scott Brown And Lisa Murkowski Back Standalone DADT Repeal Bill
Discussion:
Salon, Talking Points Memo, Gawker, Booman Tribune, The Note and The Hill
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Sen. DeMint: 'We're trying to run out the clock' on omnibus
Discussion:
The Reaction, Foreign Policy, FrumForum, The Politico and Outside the Beltway
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Battle of the Acronyms — The key background issue …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and TPMDC
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
COUNTING VOTES (AND IGNORING GOHMERT).... [Update: Revised head count here.]
Discussion:
Political Correction RSS, Washington Post and AMERICAblog Gay
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
BROWN BACKS DADT REPEAL.... There's no longer any question …
Discussion:
TPMDC and Indecision Forever
Russell Berman / The Hill:
House tax vote could be delayed — A final House vote on President Obama's tax proposal could be delayed after Democratic leaders were forced to pull a procedural measure off the House floor Thursday. — The House was set to vote on the rule governing debate on the broad tax bill …
Discussion:
The Politico, Swampland, Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, The Other McCain, Weasel Zippers, The Page, Open Congress, Shopfloor and Daily Kos
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Fhardingj / CNN:
BREAKING: House Democratic leaders pull the tax bill from the House floor
Discussion:
Firedoglake, USA Today, Sky Dancing, msnbc.com and Nice Deb
Patrick O'Connor / Washington Wire:
House Democrats Must Delay Tax Bill
Discussion:
Say Anything and Pajamas Media
Frank Dikötter / New York Times:
Mao's Great Leap to Famine — HONG KONG — The worst catastrophe in China's history, and one of the worst anywhere, was the Great Famine of 1958 to 1962, and to this day the ruling Communist Party has not fully acknowledged the degree to which it was a direct result of the forcible herding …
Discussion:
Questions and Observations, The Peking Duck, Fausta's Blog and Althouse
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Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit:
AND YET APOLOGISTS IN AMERICA WERE COMPARING HIM TO THE EARLY CHRISTIANS: Mao's Great Leap To Famine: “The worst catastrophe in China's history, and one of the worst anywhere, was the Great Famine of 1958 to 1962, and to this day the ruling Communist Party has not fully acknowledged the degree …
Discussion:
Questions and Observations, Moe Lane and Cold Fury
George F. Will / Washington Post:
Could there be a Tet Offensive in Afghanistan? — Once when the French statesman Duc de Richelieu (1766-1822) was planning a military campaign, an officer placed a finger on a map, saying: “We shall cross the river at this point.” Richelieu replied: “Excellent, sir, but your finger is not a bridge.”
Discussion:
Guardian, The Nation and Vox Popoli
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Los Angeles Times:
Winning in Afghanistan — The buildup of U.S. forces …
Discussion:
New York Times, Registan.net and Commentary
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Obama Cites Afghan Gains as Report Says Exit Is on Track
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Atlantic Online, Politics Daily, FP Passport, Wonk Room and Wonkette
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks — WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion in his early contacts …
Discussion:
American Prospect, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Firedoglake, CNET News, The League of Ordinary …, Sky Dancing, Crooks and Liars, AOL News, hrw.org, The Politico, zunguzungu, National Review, Balkinization, Ben Smith's Blog, Raw Story, Politics Daily, The Caucus, Gothamist, Yglesias, Threat Level, Online NewsHour, American Power, newsfeed.time.com, The Lede, Lawfare, Wonkette, Gawker, AMERICAblog News, Liberty Pundits Blog, Boing Boing, Suburban Guerrilla, The Other McCain, Balloon Juice, The Page and Salon, more at Techmeme »
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Blue Texan / Firedoglake:
Clueless Time Editor: Julian Assange Will Be a “Footnote” in Five Years
Discussion:
Geekosystem and Eschaton, more at Mediagazer »
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Getting to Assange through Manning
Discussion:
Guardian, news.firedoglake.com, Raw Story and AOL News
Matt Lewis / Politics Daily:
John Boehner's Crying: Is He Drinking Too Much? … Incoming House Speaker John Boehner's recent interview on “60 Minutes” with Lesley Stahl, where he once again cried publicly, has created a minor controversy among pundits, with observers trying to figure out the cause of his unusual behavior.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh
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Gail Collins / New York Times:
The Crying Game — We've had to adjust to so many strange developments lately. I'm sure we'll get used to having a speaker of the House who weeps a lot. — That would be John Boehner, the new guy. — “He is known to cry,” the outgoing speaker, Nancy Pelosi, told Deborah Solomon in The Times Magazine.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, The Business Insider, Opinionator, Brilliant at Breakfast, Daily Kos, The Atlantic Wire and Shakesville
John Cook / Gawker:
The Daily Beast Has Stopped Editing Meghan McCain — Meghan McCain is the illiterate daughter of a ruined man, which makes her “column” for the Daily Beast something of a challenge for her editors. But by the looks of today's offering, they've given up. — Were you wondering what McCain thinks …
Discussion:
The Daily Beast and Mock, Paper, Scissors
Ezra Klein:
Orszag and Citigroup — James Fallows gently chides me and my paper for not writing more on Peter Orszag's decision to take an executive position with Citigroup. He's probably right to do so, though my silence was in part motivated by terror at having to try and add anything to this brilliant post …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Ben Smith's Blog, Yglesias, Grasping Reality … and Clusterstock
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Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:
Where Freedom Goes to Die: The Center for Science in the Public Interest — I find it deeply disturbing that such a lawsuit was even contemplated in my country, even if it is likely to be thrown out on appeal: … One shudders to consider that when Patrick Henry stood up in St. John's Church and declared …
Discussion:
NY Daily News, Cato @ Liberty, JammieWearingFool and Outside the Beltway
First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: As bad as it gets? — New NBC/WSJ poll: If this is as bad as it gets for Obama, he's in good shape for 2012... If not, watch out... What's benefiting the president right now: a strong base and the fact the public finds him likeable... Palin's poor poll position …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Outside the Beltway and The New Republic
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day — “We are in session, if necessary, up to January 5th. That is the clock our Republican colleagues need to run out. It's a long clock.” — Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), on the lame duck session.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The New Republic and The Plum Line
Michael Graham / Boston Herald:
Liberals cut down to size — Enough! — You can have your own politics, my liberal friends, you aren't entitled to your own facts. And your claims about the Obama/GOP tax deal are pure, fact-free fantasy. — Yesterday morning I endured watching a fertilizer-filled conversation on Fox 25 …
Discussion:
Sense of Events, Cold Fury and Cafe Hayek
Ross Douthat:
The Strange Case for Mitt Romney — David Frum, puzzling over the inconsistencies in Mitt Romney's recent op-ed attacking the tax deal: … I hear similar things from Romney supporters (or people trying to convince themselves to be Romney supporters) with remarkable frequency.
Discussion:
Eunomia, The Daily Dish, The New Republic and Commentary
Jennifer Haberkorn / The Politico:
Health judge fears ‘broccoli’ mandate — PENSACOLA, Fla. — In a federal courtroom Thursday, Judge Roger Vinson questioned how far Congress's authority would go if it can legally require nearly all Americans to purchase health insurance. — Could they “mandate everybody has to buy a certain amount of broccoli?”
Discussion:
Swampland
William J. Broad / New York Times:
U.S. Rethinks Strategy for the Unthinkable — Suppose the unthinkable happened, and terrorists struck New York or another big city with an atom bomb. What should people there do? The government has a surprising new message: Do not flee. Get inside any stable building and don't come out till officials say it's safe.
Discussion:
Instapundit, Ric's Rulez, AOL News, Gothamist, Parker Spitzer, Gizmodo, Pajamas Media and Unfogged
Fox News:
Fox News Poll: Just 29 Percent of Voters Think Obama Will Win Re-Election — Barack Obama's second year as president is ending on a low note in the eyes of American voters, according to a Fox News poll released Thursday. — The president continues to suffer from upside-down job ratings …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit
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