Top Items:
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 …
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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 …
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
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
Do The Math — In a minor miracle considering last week's defeat, DADT repeal now appears to have the 60 votes needed for Senate passage. Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski and Olympia Snowe have all pledged their unconditional support, meaning three no votes have flipped from last week's tally.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
How Harry Reid can make time for DADT repeal — Now that Scott Brown and Olympia Snowe have come out for the stand-alone bill in the Senate to repeal don't ask don't tell, there's no longer any doubt as to whether there are the necessary 60 votes in the Senate to get this done.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Wonk Room, The Hill, Daily Kos and AMERICAblog Gay
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
GOP looks to box in Obama on $1.1 trillion government spending bill
Discussion:
The Powers That Be, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Washington Monthly
Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Scott Brown And Lisa Murkowski Back Standalone DADT Repeal Bill
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Salon, Gawker, The Note, Booman Tribune and The Hill
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
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Sen. DeMint: 'We're trying to run out the clock' on omnibus
Discussion:
The Reaction, Foreign Policy, FrumForum and The Politico
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, Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Swampland, The Other McCain, Weasel Zippers, The Page, Shopfloor and Daily Kos
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Patrick O'Connor / Washington Wire:
House Democrats Must Delay Tax Bill
Discussion:
Say Anything and Pajamas Media
Fhardingj / CNN:
BREAKING: House Democratic leaders pull the tax bill from the House floor
Discussion:
Firedoglake, msnbc.com, USA Today, Nice Deb and Sky Dancing
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:
Politics Daily, FP Passport, Wonk Room and Wonkette
ABCNEWS:
Poll: Assessment of Afghanistan War Sours
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, AOL News and Outside the Beltway
Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Obama: Afghan mission on target despite difficult days ahead
Discussion:
The Politico
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, Firedoglake, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, The Politico, The League of Ordinary …, Sky Dancing, Crooks and Liars, Ben Smith's Blog, Yglesias, zunguzungu, hrw.org, Balkinization, National Review, AOL News, Raw Story, The Caucus, Threat Level, Online NewsHour, newsfeed.time.com, American Power, The Lede, Lawfare, AMERICAblog News, Wonkette, Gawker, Liberty Pundits Blog, Boing Boing, Suburban Guerrilla, 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:
Confederate Yankee, Outside the Beltway, news.firedoglake.com and The Other McCain
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
RELATED:
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 …
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
RELATED:
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, The New Republic and The Daily Dish
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
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
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
Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Sarah Palin's mainstream media détente — After making attacks on what she memorably labeled “the lamestream media” one of her signature issues, Sarah Palin has started to experiment with a new strategy toward the press — engaging it. — The former Alaska governor …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Ben Smith's Blog, The Page, Conservatives4Palin.com and Ballot Box, more at Mediagazer »
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