Top Items:
David Rogers / The Politico:
Democrats concede budget fight to Republicans — Senate Democrats abruptly abandoned an omnibus budget bill for the coming year, pushing major spending decisions into the next Congress and giving Republicans immense new leverage to confront President Barack Obama priorities.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, National Review, Fox News, The Nation, Right Turn, JustOneMinute, Washington Post, Scared Monkeys, Taylor Marsh, The Reaction, GayPatriot, The Hill, The Page, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Gateway Pundit, FrumForum, Riehl World View, CNN, Nice Deb, Pat Dollard, Doug Ross, Balloon Juice, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, iOwnTheWorld.com and Outside the Beltway
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David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Congress Sends $801 Billion Tax Cut Bill to Obama — WASHINGTON — Congress at midnight Thursday approved an $801 billion package of tax cuts and $57 billion for extended unemployment insurance. The vote sealed the first major deal between President Obama and Congressional Republicans …
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
$1.1 trillion spending bill collapses as GOP senators yank support — Senate Democrats have given up on their plan to pass a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill in the face of unified Republican opposition. — The bill's collapse will take with it more than 6,000 earmarks …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Right Wing News and JOSHUAPUNDIT
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Dems are earmark junkies but GOP goes straight — Press coverage of the budget frenzy on Capitol Hill has suggested that pork-barrel earmark spending is still a bipartisan problem, that after months of self-righteous rhetoric about fiscal discipline, Republicans and Democrats remain equal-opportunity earmarkers.
Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Bid to Repeal 'Don't Ask' Law Draws Support in Senate — WASHINGTON — Embattled and left for near dead last week, the effort to allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military gained significant momentum on Thursday with three more Republican Senators agreeing to vote to end the “don't ask, don't tell” policy.
Discussion:
AMERICAblog Gay and Oliver Willis
Igor Volsky / Wonk Room:
Reid Files Cloture On Don't Ask, Don't Tell And DREAM, Schedules …
Reid Files Cloture On Don't Ask, Don't Tell And DREAM, Schedules …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Boston Globe, Poliglot, Towleroad News #gay, Good As You and The Hill
Washington Post:
Congress passes extension of Bush-era tax cuts
Congress passes extension of Bush-era tax cuts
Discussion:
Gothamist, Blue Virginia, Right Turn and New York Times
Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
DADT Moves In The Senate: Reid To File Cloture Tonight, Vote On Saturday
DADT Moves In The Senate: Reid To File Cloture Tonight, Vote On Saturday
Discussion:
Gawker, Washington Wire, The Politico and FrumForum
The Politico:
Democrats keep 'don't ask' on wish list
Democrats keep 'don't ask' on wish list
Discussion:
AMERICAblog Gay, Box Turtle Bulletin, Wonk Room and The Plum Line
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Senators might make it home for holidays
Bloomberg:
Congress Passes $858 Billion Tax-Cut Extension, Sends to Obama for Signing
Congress Passes $858 Billion Tax-Cut Extension, Sends to Obama for Signing
Discussion:
Shot in the Dark
The Hill:
Sen. Wyden to have surgery for prostate cancer, will miss votes
Sen. Wyden to have surgery for prostate cancer, will miss votes
Discussion:
The Plum Line, The Note, AMERICAblog Gay and FrumForum
Andrew Stiles / National Review:
BREAKING: Reid Caves on Omnibus
BREAKING: Reid Caves on Omnibus
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel and Transterrestrial Musings
Vicki Needham / The Hill:
Reid pulls back from yearlong omnibus, aims for short-term funding resolution
Reid pulls back from yearlong omnibus, aims for short-term funding resolution
Discussion:
The Foundry, Right Turn and Poliglot
John Aravosis / AMERICAblog Gay:
Reid files for cloture on DADT tonight (wonky but important)
Reid files for cloture on DADT tonight (wonky but important)
Discussion:
Good As You and Pam's House Blend
Washington Post:
Post-ABC poll: Sarah Palin lags Obama in theoretical 2012 presidential election — Sarah Palin has played a prominent role in defining Republican Party politics this year but still faces sizable obstacles if she decides to run for president in 2012, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Discussion:
The Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Outside the Beltway and PostPartisan
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Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
Exclusive: Sarah Palin on 2012 Plans, Double Standards for Women — Palin Says Thinking About Presidential Run Is a ‘Prayerful Consideration’ — Sarah Palin is surveying the lay of the land to consider whether to make a presidential run in 2012, she told “Good Morning America” …
Discussion:
Politics Daily
Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
Sarah Palin: Tax Cut Deal is ‘Lousy,’ New Congress Should Take up Issue — In Exclusive Interview With ABC's Robin Roberts, Palin Discusses Economy, New Book — In an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts, Sarah Palin said she doesn't support the “lousy” …
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The new comeback kid — If Barack Obama wins reelection in 2012, as is now more likely than not, historians will mark his comeback as beginning on Dec. 6, the day of the Great Tax Cut Deal of 2010. — Obama had a bad November. Self-confessedly shellacked in the midterm election …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Don Surber, Betsy's Page, Firedoglake and Taylor Marsh
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PolitiFact:
PolitiFact's Lie of the Year: ‘A government takeover of health care’ — In the spring of 2009, a Republican strategist settled on a brilliant and powerful attack line for President Barack Obama's ambitious plan to overhaul America's health insurance system.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Parker Spitzer, The Blotter and Prairie Weather
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Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:
Government Arguing That Health Insurance Premiums Are Really Taxes? — The arguments on the health care mandate in Florida went forward today, with the government trying to clarify how the mandate is a tax, (though not in a way that would mean Barack Obama lied about raising taxes on people …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Bloomberg and Online NewsHour
Aljean Harmetz / New York Times:
Blake Edwards, Prolific Comedy Director, Dies at 88 — Blake Edwards, a writer and director who became a Hollywood master of screwball farces and rude comedies like “Victor/Victoria” and the “Pink Panther” movies, died Wednesday night in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 88. — Enlarge This Image
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, Don Surber, Gothamist, AOL News, First Draft and Gawker
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Bloomberg:
Visa, MasterCard Plunge as Fed Issues Rules to Cut Debit Fees — Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. plunged more than 10 percent in New York trading after the Federal Reserve Board proposed rules that could slash debit-card interchange fees by 90 percent. — The new rules, posted today by the Fed …
Discussion:
Board of Governors …, Sky Dancing, Firedoglake, The Atlantic Online and Clusterstock
Kimberly Schwandt / Fox News:
Hollywood's Growing Chorus of Obama Criticism — Hollywood's adoration for President Obama has never really been all that shocking, but what may be surprising is how famous singers and actors are increasingly saying they aren't so happy with the commander-in-chief.
Discussion:
Questions and Observations
Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Olbermann Refuses To Correct Treatment Of Assange Rape Allegations On Twitter - Update — Update: Keith Olbermann has announced that he is suspending his Twitter account “until this frenzy is stopped.” — Update 2: This is serious. He has even taken down his profile picture.
Discussion:
Kate Harding, The Daily Caller, NewsBusters.org blogs, Salon, BlogPost, The Huffington Post, Hot Air, American Power, Tiger Beatdown, FrumForum, Shakesville, Gawker and AOL News
John / Power Line:
100,000,000 — Some time tonight, this site will receive its 100 millionth visit since October 2008. It seems like an opportune moment for reflection. — We have told this story many times, but here it goes again: by 2002, Scott and I had been writing newspaper op-eds, magazine articles and research papers together for a decade.
Tom Shales / Washington Post:
With a star-studded guest list, ‘Larry King Live’ signs off for the last time — Lurching awkwardly between classy gestures and underwhelming torpor, “Larry King Live” breathed its last on CNN Thursday night, even if its star and founding father kept reminding viewers that though his program was ending …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's … and The Page
David Brooks / New York Times:
Bigger Is Easier — President Obama faces an enormously difficult challenge over the next few weeks. — On the one hand, this moment is ripe for fundamental change. There is a pervasive sense that the nation is at a Sputnik moment when it either rises to face the international competition or it does not.
Discussion:
Hit & Run and Modeled Behavior
William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
It Also Was Called The Soviet Union — I traveled extensively throughout the Soviet Union during the early 1980s, both with groups and on my own approved itineraries. I also lived in Moscow, and had a chance to slip out of the ring road with Soviet friends into the countryside …
Discussion:
JOSHUAPUNDIT, Left Coast Rebel and Pajamas Media
Bob Egelko / San Francisco Chronicle:
NOW goes after Hooters for catering to kids — (12-16) 17:51 PST SAN FRANCISCO — The National Organization for Women filed complaints against local Hooters restaurants Thursday, but not for exploiting its scantily clad waitresses by subjecting them to leering and groping customers.
Discussion:
The Confluence, Weasel Zippers and Doug Ross