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 …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Daily Dish, Hot Air and Outside the Beltway
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
COUNTING VOTES (AND IGNORING GOHMERT).... [Update: Revised head count here.] — The floor of the U.S. House offered quite a debate yesterday on repealing the “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, including some beautiful speeches from Democrats on the importance of respect and equality.
Discussion:
Political Correction RSS, Washington Post and AMERICAblog Gay
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
Do The Math — In a minor miracle considering last week's defeat …
Discussion:
TPMDC, The Note and Lawyers, Guns & Money
The Note:
Multi-Tasking: Senate to Debate START Treaty & Omnibus Spending Bill …
Discussion:
Political Punch and The Hill
The Huffington Post:
Hoyer: Senate Has Votes Needed To Repeal DADT [UPDATED]
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Advocate
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Biden scolds GOP on treaty: ‘Get out of the way’
Discussion:
The Hill, Foreign Policy, Firedoglake and FrumForum
NationalJournal.com:
DeMint Drops Bid to Delay Action on New START
Discussion:
National Review, Washington Post, Wonk Room, Weasel Zippers and democracyarsenal.org
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Lieberman: Repeal 'Don't ask' before ratifying arms treaty
Discussion:
CNN and iOwnTheWorld.com
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate plans weekend work to ratify START, pass spending bill
Discussion:
Power Line, The Politico and Right Wing News
Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
White House finds ‘fragile’ gains in Afghan war; appears cautious on July troop withdrawal — A White House review of President Obama's year-old Afghan war strategy concluded that it is “showing progress” against al-Qaeda and in Afghanistan and Pakistan but that “the challenge remains …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Taylor Marsh, Online NewsHour, AOL News and AMERICAblog News
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Duncan Gardham / Telegraph:
Drone kills white al-Qaeda pair in Pakistan mountains
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and FrumForum
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Afghan Report Sees July Troop Pullouts Despite Perils
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Wonkette, Wonk Room and FP Passport
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 …
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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.
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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:
Brilliant at Breakfast and Daily Kos
Victor Davis Hanson / National Review:
Two Californias — The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Sense of Events, Pajamas Media, Right Wing News and Cold Fury
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Obama tells lawmakers not passing tax deal could end presidency, Dem says — In urging lawmakers to vote for his tax deal, President Obama is using one of his go-to lines from the healthcare debate, according to a Democratic lawmaker. — Obama is telling members of Congress that failure …
Wall Street Journal:
Support for Obama's Move to the Center — Majority of Public Backs Obama's Bid to Reach Compromise With Republicans — President Barack Obama has public opinion and the Democratic grass roots with him as he searches for common ground with Republicans in the wake of his party's historic defeats …
Discussion:
The Note, Bloomberg, Weasel Zippers and The Caucus
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ABCNEWS:
Poll: Assessment of Afghanistan War Sours — ABC News/Washington Post Poll: Record Six in 10 Say it's ‘Not Worth Fighting’ — A record 60 percent of Americans say the war in Afghanistan has not been worth fighting, a grim assessment — and a politically hazardous one …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Hot Air
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Servicers Downgraded Credit Score of Man Who Asked for His Note — (Graphic via SEIU's WheresTheNote.com site) — Many homeowners have taken advantage of SEIU's Where's the Note website. It helps you generate letters to your bank to ask for evidence that they hold the mortgage note, or the IOU on the property.
Discussion:
CNBC and The Big Picture
Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Sarah Palin goes ‘lamestream’ — After making attacks on what she memorably labeled “the lamestream media” one of her signature issues, Sarah Palin has begun to experiment with a new strategy toward the press - engaging it. — The former Alaska governor has started cautiously cooperating …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, The Page, Conservatives4Palin.com, Taylor Marsh and Ballot Box
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
GOP looks to box in Obama on $1.1 trillion government spending bill — Republicans are trying to box President Obama in on congressional Democrats' $1.1 trillion spending bill by dredging up the president's past statements. — The GOP is pointing to the president's previous remarks …
Discussion:
The Powers That Be, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Washington Monthly
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:
Yglesias, Ben Smith's Blog, The Atlantic Online and Clusterstock
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:
Instapundit, Fausta's Blog and Althouse
Confederate Yankee:
God Help Me, I Agree with Greenwald — My feelings about U.S. Army PFC Bradley Manning are well documented by The Google, which has my blog entries Let's Try Bradley Manning for Treason and Brad Manning, I Hope They Hang You High being the #1 and #2 search results for a search on “Bradley Manning traitor.”
Discussion:
The Confluence, GayPatriot, Right Wing News and Don Surber
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, Gizmodo, Parker Spitzer, Pajamas Media and Unfogged
Rasmussen Reports:
Right Direction or Wrong Track — 23% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction — Just 23% of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, December 12.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Scared Monkeys and Pirate's Cove
Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Michael Moore's Comments on Julian Assange Rape Allegations Spark Outrage — Filmmaker Michael Moore is in hot water over comments he made during Tuesday night's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. In discussing rape allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Moore appeared to dismiss …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain, Theo Spark, The Awl, Pat Dollard, Feministe and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Alex Kowalski / Bloomberg:
Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Fell to 420,000 Last Week — The number of U.S. workers filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly declined last week, pointing to a labor market that is on the mend. — Applications for jobless insurance payments decreased by 3,000 to 420,000 …
Discussion:
The Page and Right Wing News
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