Top Items:
Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Gibbs to Leave as White House Press Secretary — Updated Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary and close confidante to President Obama, said Wednesday that he will step down and become an outside political adviser to the president and his re-election campaign.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, The Note, The Politico, Political Punch, USA Today, Pam's House Blend, Mediaite, TPMDC, Sister Toldjah, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Fox Nation, Swampland, The Impolitic, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Hotline On Call, AOL News, The Fix, Ballot Box, Wonkette, RedState, CANNONFIRE, Emptywheel, Left Coast Rebel, The Daily Caller, Weigel, BLACKFIVE, New York Magazine, AmSpecBlog, Atlas Shrugs, Gawker and Towleroad News #gay, more at Mediagazer »
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Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Howard Dean endorses Daley for chief of staff, rips White House — Former DNC chairman and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said Wednesday that William Daley would be a “huge plus” for the Obama administration if he is tapped to be the president's new chief of staff.
Discussion:
The Politico, Weasel Zippers and TPMDC
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Robert Gibbs will leave job as White House press secretary
Discussion:
blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Nation, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, TPMDC and The Politico
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press:
Administration reverses on end-of-life counseling
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog and National Review
The Politico:
19 Democrats vote against Nancy Pelosi — Nearly 20 Democrats abandoned their party's pick for speaker of the House, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a sign of their concerns about supporting the unpopular former speaker and of the difficulty she will have in marshaling her forces …
Discussion:
The Hill, The Note, CNN, Michelle Malkin, Big Government, Wake up America and Weasel Zippers
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Ezra Klein:
A very smart speech by Speaker Boehner — If you spent the afternoon watching C-SPAN, as I did, you heard applause. A lot of it. Over and over again. And when John Boehner took the podium to be sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives, it swelled back up, and stayed there.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
Danny Yadron / Washington Wire:
19 Democrats Oppose Pelosi's Bid for Speaker
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay
Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Boehner Takes Gavel in House With Pledge to Bring Change
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Megan Carpentier / TPMDC:
Pelosi Faces 19 Defectors In Symbolic Speaker Vote
Discussion:
Jeff Mapes on Politics
Robert Pear / New York Times:
U.S. Alters Rule on Paying for End-of-Life Planning — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, reversing course, will revise a Medicare regulation to delete references to end-of-life planning as part of the annual physical examinations covered under the new health care law, administration officials said Tuesday.
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New York Times:
Pomp, and Little Circumstance — A theatrical production of unusual pomposity will open on Wednesday when Republicans assume control of the House for the 112th Congress. A rule will be passed requiring that every bill cite its basis in the Constitution. A bill will be introduced to repeal the health care law.
Discussion:
Power Line, Yahoo! News, NewsBusters.org blogs, Cold Fury, The Politico, YID With LID, Weasel Zippers, The Reid Report, Right Wing News, Hot Air and Don Surber
Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:
Wily old Dems take on whippersnapper Republicans
Discussion:
Betsy's Page
John R. Parkinson / ABCNEWS:
EXCLUSIVE: President Michele Bachmann? — Sources: Tea Party Favorite Is Mulling a Presidential Bid in 2012 — Forget the fervent chatter speculating that Tea Party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann is considering launching a campaign to challenge Sen. Amy Klobuchar for the Minnesota U.S. Senate seat …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, TPMDC, Politics Daily, SpyTalk, Right Pundits, The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Plum Line, Salon, Conservatives4Palin, Comments from Left Field, New York Magazine, Washington Monthly, Towleroad News #gay, ThinkProgress, neo-neocon, Wonkette, Indecision Forever, Outside the Beltway, GOP 12, National Review and Joe. My. God.
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Kasie Hunt / The Politico:
Michele Bachmann mum on presidential run
Discussion:
The Note and The Daily Caller
Michael Warren / Weekly Standard:
Howard Dean on Tea Party: ‘Last Gasp of the 55-Year-Old Generation’ — Speaking to reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning, former Vermont governor and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean shared his thoughts on the Tea Party.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Nice Deb, Weasel Zippers and Fox Nation
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Sean Higgins / Investor's Business Daily:
Hoyer: Tea Party People Come From Unhappy Families — On the eve of his demotion by voters from House Majority Leader to House Minority Whip, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Hoyer offered this insight into the psychology of the Tea Party movement: … So, there you have it.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Right Pundits and National Review
CNN:
Tea Party leaders not swayed by Lugar meeting — Washington (CNN) - Hoping to head off a primary challenge from the right, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, sat down with Tea Party leaders last month but did little to persuade them of his conservative credentials.
Discussion:
Ballot Box and National Review
Political Correction RSS:
GOP Budget Chairman Paul Ryan: “I Can't Tell You The Answer” To Specific Spending Cuts — 3 hours and 30 minutes ago — Matt Finkelstein — This morning on NBC, incoming House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) discussed the spending cuts that Republicans plan to enact in the new Congress.
Discussion:
The New Republic, Daily Kos and Eschaton
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO BREAK KEY PROMISE ON DAY 1. …
Discussion:
CNN, PERRspectives, The Daily Caller and Salon
Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Republicans Lower Goal for Cuts to Budget
Discussion:
CNN, Hot Air, Washington Post, The Politico, Wall Street Journal, ThinkProgress, The Hill, Reuters, Rasmussen Reports, George's Bottom Line, Hit & Run, Ross Douthat, The Daily Caller, Bankrupting America, The Hill, The New Republic, The Other McCain, Flopping Aces, AOL News, New York Magazine, The Daily Dish, No More Mister Nice Blog, Fausta's Blog, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Outside the Beltway, Patterico's Pontifications and TPMDC
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
House Republicans back away from pledge to cut $100 billion from budget
Discussion:
Firedoglake, CNNMoney.com, National Review and Yglesias
Ezra Klein:
Repealing health-care reform would cost hundreds of billions of dollars — and Eric Cantor knows it — House Republicans are in a pickle: One of their new rules says that new legislation must be paid for. But the health-care bill reduces the federal deficit by more than $100 billion over the next 10 years.
Henri Paget / ninemsn:
KFC employee screams insults at customer — A worker at a KFC restaurant in Sydney has been suspended after he was filmed screaming vicious insults and threatening to attack a customer. — The violent outburst happened at a Halal-friendly KFC in Punchbowl on December 26 …
Discussion:
Andrew Bolt, The Jawa Report and Tim Blair
Warren P. Strobel / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
WikiLeaks: ‘Voluptuous’ nurse cable costs diplomat his job — WASHINGTON — In what appears to be the first diplomatic casualty from the latest WikiLeaks revelations, the U.S. ambassador to Libya has returned to Washington and is likely to leave his post, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Discussion:
The Politico, AOL News, New York Magazine and Guardian
Philly.com:
Man found in landfill tied to arson attempt — Source: John P. Wheeler 3d planted incendiary devices at a neighbor's home in Del. days before his disappearance. — Police in Delaware have discovered evidence that a former Pentagon aide may have been involved in an attempted arson days before his murder …
Discussion:
The Politico, delawareonline, TPMMuckraker, Mediaite, Gawker and Talking Points Memo
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Democratic Party ID Drops in 2010, Tying 22-Year Low — Democrats still outnumber Republicans, while independent identification increases — PRINCETON, NJ — In 2010, 31% of Americans identified as Democrats, down five percentage points from just two years ago and tied …
Discussion:
Politics Daily and Right Turn
Aftenposten:
S E C R E T TEL AVIV 002447 — NEA/IPA INR/TNC TREASURY FOR GLASER, D. — E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2018 TAGS: PREL, KPAL, KTFN, EFIN, IS SUBJECT: CASHLESS IN GAZA? — REF: A. 10/22/08 AGOR-BURNETT HOLMSTROM ET. AL. E-MAIL B. TEL AVIV 2144 C. TEL AVIV 2291 D. TEL AVIV 1742 E. TEL …
Discussion:
The Lede, Informed Comment, Obsidian Wings, Open Left and msnbc.com
Paul Krugman:
Fiscal Shock — I see that the Washington Post editorial board is shocked, shocked to discover that the incoming Republicans aren't serious about deficit reduction. Who could have suspected? — I was going to be snarky all the way here, but actually let's be serious …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post and Suburban Guerrilla
Sarah Kliff / The Politico:
Obama administration reorganizes health bureaucracy — The Obama administration will reorganize and expand its infrastructure for health reform implementation, POLITICO has learned. — The Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, a new division created shortly after the passage …
USA Today:
‘Earmarks’ to nowhere: States losing billions — WASHINGTON — Almost 13 years ago, Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., directed $375,000 in federal funding “to improve State Road 31” in Columbus, Ind., a city at the edge of his district. — The McIntosh “earmark” seemed routine at the time …
Discussion:
Americans for Prosperity, The Politico, Bankrupting America and msnbc.com
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Post-Midterm Approval Ratings Don't Predict Re-Election Chances — Barack Obama got some good news to start his new year: his Gallup approval rating ticked up to 50 percent yesterday, against 42 percent disapproval. That's the first time it has been at the 50 percent threshold since early June.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Prairie Weather, The Fix and Gallup
David Harsanyi / Denver Post:
The Constitution is dead. Long live the Constitution. — Every patriotic fiber of my body tells me that reading the Constitution aloud at the commencement of congressional sessions is a good idea. Heck, a pop quiz might even be in order. It is vital that members of Congress fully immerse themselves …
Discussion:
Cold Fury
Myglesias / Yglesias:
Biting the Bullet on Majority Rule — Ruth Marcus says filibuster reformers should watch what we wish for: … This is the most frequent objection I hear to Senator Udall's proposal, but I don't think it makes sense. The 113th Senate will change the rules to adopt a majority voting procedure …
Discussion:
Washington Post and Right Turn
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