memeorandum: Democrats' defection from Pelosi is historic (The Fix)

4:30 PM ET, January 6, 2011

Top Items:

Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:

CBO's Preliminary Analysis of H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act — The House of Representatives is planning to consider a bill (H.R. 2) to repeal the major health care legislation enacted last March—that is, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) …

Jake Sherman / The Politico:

GOP bends its own new House rules — Just hours after taking control of the House, Republicans passed a sweeping set of rules promising transparency and reform. — But the new majority is already showing these promises aren't exactly set in stone. — After calling for bills to go through …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNN, The Note, The Huffington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Oliver Willis and Washington Monthly

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

BREAKING: CBO Paints Grim Picture of Repeal — A few days ago I asked whether the Republicans would wait for a Congressional Budget Office score before voting on their proposal to repeal health care reform. To their credit, they have. And the news from the CBO is exactly what you would have thought …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Daily Dish and Ezra Klein

Sarah Kliff / The Politico:
CBO: Health law repeal adds $230 billion to deficit

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Taegan Goddard's … and New York Magazine

The Note:
Speaker Boehner Dismisses CBO's Report Health Care Repeal Increases Deficit

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Post and AmSpecBlog

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Democrats Plan Attack on Republican Repeal Effort

Discussion: The Plum Line, Washington Post, Pajamas Media, Taegan Goddard's …, The Politico and National Review

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:

‘Birther’ arrested during Constitution reading — A woman was arrested in the House gallery Thursday after interrupting a reading of the Constitution by yelling out her belief that President Barack Obama is not a natural born citizen of the United States. — When Frank Rep. Pallone …

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Weasel Zippers, Emptywheel, USA Today, Althouse, Phronesisaical, The Right Scoop and Towleroad News #gay

Ryan J. Reilly / TPMMuckraker:

Birther Interrupts House Reading Of Constitution, Yells ‘Help Us Jesus’ (VIDEO) — An apparent member of the birther movement seated in the gallery of the House of Representatives on Thursday interrupted a reading of the Constitution. The woman yelled out “Except Obama, except Obama …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Magazine, Joe. My. God., Slate, Little Green Footballs and Indecision Forever

ABCNEWS:

Constitution Reading on House Floor Mired by Yelling, Objections — Members of the House of Representatives today read the Constitution on the floor of the House chamber, marking a first for Congress. While lawmakers read the amended version to skirt the original's controversial passages …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Chris Moody / The Daily Caller:
Original U.S. Constitution will not be read in entirety on House floor

Discussion: TPMDC, Balkinization, Daily Kos, Top of the Ticket, No More Mister Nice Blog, Patterico's Pontifications, Weigel and Washington Post

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
The 'people's House' takes up ‘We the People’ with symbolic floor reading

Discussion: The Politico, CNN, The Note, The Sundries Shack, Bob Goodlatte, Hot Air, The Caucus, The Daily Dish, Cato @ Liberty, New York Magazine, Yglesias, Gawker, Runnin' Scared, Wonkette and Vanity Fair

Adam Serwer / The Plum Line:
Huck Finning the Constitution

Discussion: Ezra Klein, New York Times, The Maddow Blog, Commentary, Colorlines and Scholars and Rogues

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

The problem with William Daley as new chief of staff — So it now appears to be official: Obama has chosen William Daley as his new chief of staff. — There's been a lot written about how this pick is sure to anger the liberal base, because the optics of appointing a banker as chief …

Discussion: New York Times, TalkLeft, The Caucus, The Huffington Post, Ben Smith's Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Dish, Washington Post, PostPartisan, AOL News, driftglass and The Page

Ezra Klein:

The mystery of Bill Daley — Imagine I told you that one of the candidates President Obama is considering for chief of staff opposed the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, opposed doing health-care reform and led the Chamber of Commerce's effort to loosen the post-Enron regulations …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, The New Republic, Gawker, AOL News, Hullabaloo, The Reid Report, The Daily Dish, Political Punch and Swampland

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
In '88, Daley deplored ‘black party’

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post:
Daley: Double Rahm

Discussion: PostPartisan

First Read / msnbc.com:
First thoughts: Now what?

Discussion: Associated Press, NewsBusters.org blogs and Open Left

ABCNEWS:
Obama Picks Bill Daley as Chief of Staff

Discussion: CNN

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:
Gibbs Talks Daley

Discussion: The Fix and The Daily Beast

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
Daley Is Obama's New Chief

Discussion: Fortune, Prairie Weather, NationalJournal.com and Taylor Marsh

Mark Memmott / NPR:

Review Of Juan Williams' Firing Done; NPR News Exec Resigns — NPR just released two statements — one on the completion of an independent review of the dismissal of news analyst Juan Williams and another on the resignation of Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss:

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, NewsBusters.org blogs, Weasel Zippers, Fox Nation, AOL News, Poynter, National Review and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

wbaltv.com:

Source: Explosions Reported At 2 State Buildings — Fire Crews, Hazmat Sent To MDOT, Jeffrey Building — HANOVER, Md. — Officials are investigating explosions at the Maryland Department of Transportation's headquarters in Hanover and a state government building in Annapolis that have injured a few people.

Discussion: The Jawa Report and The Gateway Pundit

Post Now:
Smoking packages close Arundel offices

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, AOL News and The Other McCain

WTOP.com:
Packages give off smoke, odor at Md. buildings

Discussion: CNN and iOwnTheWorld.com

The Fix:

Democrats' defection from Pelosi is historic — How divided are Democrats' right now? — With 19 Democrats withholding support from Nancy Pelosi for House speaker on Wednesday, it represented the largest defection from a party's speaker nominee in nearly a century.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake, Politics Daily, The Hill, Ballot Box, NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, The Sundries Shack, Des Moines Register, Washington Post, The Note, Taylor Marsh, Indecision Forever, The Politico, Commentary, Right Turn and Gallup

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

Gates surprises lawmakers with plan to cut $78 billion from defense budget — Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday told Congress the administration is seeking $78 billion in cuts to the Defense budget over the next five years on top of $100 billion in efficiencies.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Craig Whitlock / Washington Post:
Pentagon to cut spending by $78 billion, reduce troop strength

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Helen Thomas / FCNP:

Privatizing Social Security Again? — This year, 2011, marks the beginning of baby boomers receiving Social Security checks and they should be alerted of past perennial Republican attempts to partially privatize the program. — Heaven forbid that plans prevail to invest a certain amount …

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite and Media Decoder

FCNP:
Veteran Journalist Thomas Resumes Column Today in News-Press

Discussion: Politics Daily, Gawker and The Daily Caller

CNN:

Retracted autism study an ‘elaborate fraud,’ British journal finds — Editor's note: Watch Anderson Cooper's interview with the author of the discredited study, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, on “AC360°” at 10 p.m. ET tonight. — (CNN) — A now-retracted British study that linked autism …

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, The Informer, Mediaite, Cubachi, Boing Boing, Althouse, Runnin' Scared, Pundit & Pundette, New York Magazine, Hot Air, iOwnTheWorld.com, Joanne Jacobs, TPM LiveWire, Shakesville, AOL News and Hit & Run

Brian Deer / BMJ:
How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Associated Press, The Volokh Conspiracy, Mother Jones, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Phronesisaical, Balloon Juice, The Incidental Economist, Gawker and PointOfLaw Forum

James Warren / The Atlantic Online:

No Pity for Robert Gibbs and His ‘Modest’ Salary — Perhaps it was the long flight back from Hawaii. But President Obama's first full day back on the job suggested a slight case of tone deafness. — In bidding a sort-of farewell to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, he noted the …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Proof Positive, Outside the Beltway and Weasel Zippers

Sarah Ellison / Vanity Fair:

The Man Who Spilled the Secrets — The collaboration between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the Web's notorious information anarchist, and some of the world's most respected news organizations began at The Guardian, a nearly 200-year-old British paper. What followed was a clash of civilizations …

Discussion: Guardian, Slate, Harry's Place, Felix Salmon, New York Magazine, Threat Level, Media Decoder, Raw Story, Crooked Timber, The Atlantic Online, The Nation, Boing Boing and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Todd Wright / NBC Miami:

Florida Professor Arrested for Having a “Suspicious” Bagel on a Plane — Passengers claimed man had suspicious package in the overhead compartment — A Florida professor was arrested and removed from a plane Monday after his fellow passengers alerted crew members they thought he had a suspicious package in the overhead compartment.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite, Commentary and Discourse.net

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

McCain says he'll make 'Don't ask' repeal work — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday he would work to help implement the repeal of the military's “Don't ask, don't tell” policy, despite his opposition to that legislation. — McCain signaled he had made peace with the lame-duck bill …

Discussion: The Politico, Pam's House Blend, TPMMuckraker, Wonkette, GayPatriot and Towleroad News #gay

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

U.S. teenager tortured in Kuwait and barred re-entry into the U.S. — Gulet Mohamed is an 18-year-old American citizen whose family is Somalian. His parents moved with him to the U.S. when he was 2 or 3 years old, and he has lived in the U.S. ever since. In March, 2009, he went to study Arabic …

Discussion: New York Times and Emptywheel

Nicholas Graham / The Huffington Post:

O'Reilly: God Causes The Tides, Not The Moon (VIDEO) — What's Your Reaction: … David Silverman, president of the American Atheist Group, went on The O'Reilly Factor last night to defend the billboard ads his group has put up around the country calling religion a scam.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Benedict Carey / New York Times:

Journal's Paper on ESP Expected to Prompt Outrage — One of psychology's most respected journals has agreed to publish a paper presenting what its author describes as strong evidence for extrasensory perception, the ability to sense future events. — The decision may delight believers …

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, Gawker, The Agonist and Hullabaloo

Victor Davis Hanson / Real Clear Politics:

The New Sophists — In classical Athens, public life became dominated by clever and smart-sounding sophists. These mellifluous “really wise guys” made money and gained influence by their rhetorical boasts to “prove” the most amazing “thinkery” that belied common sense.

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Power Line

Aaron Deslatte / Orlando Sentinel:

Crist plans to join Morgan and Morgan on Friday — TALLAHASSEE — Former Gov. Charlie Crist will make the courtship official Friday and join the trial law powerhouse Morgan & Morgan firm. — The governor has had a standing offer to join the law firm for some time.

Discussion: The Hill