memeorandum: The Strange Case for Mitt Romney (Ross Douthat)

5:10 PM ET, December 16, 2010

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 …

Discussion: The Note, Michelle Malkin, Cubachi, Stop The ACLU, Pundit & Pundette, Weasel Zippers, The Powers That Be, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Outside the Beltway, Don Surber and Washington Monthly

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: The Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Wonk Room, The Hill, Balloon Juice, No More Mister Nice Blog, TPMDC, USA Today, Little Green Footballs, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, iOwnTheWorld.com, AMERICAblog Gay, Advocate, Outside the Beltway and FrumForum

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

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: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
OBNOXIOUS DELAYS FOR THE SAKE OF OBNOXIOUS DELAYS.... The irony is …

Discussion: Pat Dollard, Balloon Juice and The Caucus

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

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

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Battle of the Acronyms — The key background issue …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and TPMDC

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, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, The Other McCain, Weasel Zippers, The Page, Open Congress, Shopfloor and Daily Kos

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, USA Today, Sky Dancing, msnbc.com and Nice Deb

Jake Sherman / The Politico:
Tax deal hits speed bump in House

Discussion: RedState

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

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, Mudville Gazette, Moe Lane and Cold Fury

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: Firedoglake, Reuters, The Powers That Be and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Reid wages vigorous defense of earmarks in $1.1 trillion omnibus

Discussion: CNN

Washington Post:
Senate overwhelmingly approves tax-cut deal

Discussion: The Hill, Big Think, The Politico, Federal Eye, Wall Street Journal, FrumForum and New York Times

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 …

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

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

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
Obama says U.S. is ‘on track’ to achieve goals in Afghanistan

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Huffington Post, Online NewsHour, Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, AOL News, Taylor Marsh, Connecting.the.Dots, FrumForum, AMERICAblog News and Los Angeles Times

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:

Warning: ‘Greater Exposure’ To Fox News Will Lead To ‘Increased Misinformation’ On Policy Issues — Last week, World Public Opinion (WPO) released a poll exploring political information in a post-Citizens United national election and found that 90 percent of voters “said that in the 2010 election …

Discussion: Booman Tribune and AlterNet

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, The Atlantic Online, Ben Smith's Blog, Grasping Reality … and Clusterstock

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

David Weigel / Weigel:

Freshman Democrats Want Filibuster Reform in January — Before heading into a caucus meeting, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) briefed reporters today on ideas for introducing a “constitutional option” to reform the Senate in the next session of Congress.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, The Agonist and The Huffington Post