Top Items:
Philip Klein / AmSpecBlog:
BREAKING: CBO Says Repealing ObamaCare Would Reduce Net Spending by $540 Billion — The Congressional Budget Office, in an email to Capitol Hill staffers obtained by the Spectator, has said that repealing the national health care law would reduce net spending by $540 billion in the ten year period from 2012 through 2021.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, Wake up America, Weasel Zippers, The New Editor and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
In U.S., 46% Favor, 40% Oppose Repealing Healthcare Law — Three-quarters of Republicans favor repeal; 64% of Democrats oppose it — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans do not strongly endorse the new Republican House majority's efforts to repeal the landmark healthcare legislation passed last year.
David Brooks / New York Times:
Buckle Up for Round 2 — The health care reform law was signed 10 months ago, and what's striking now is how vulnerable it looks. Several threats have emerged — some of them scarcely discussed before passage — that together or alone could seriously endanger the new system. These include:
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, The New Republic, Hit & Run, The Daily Dish, Right Turn, The Incidental Economist and Commentary
Ezra Klein:
When opposition to health-care reform stops being polite and starts getting scary — In the Wyoming state legislature, 10 congressmen and three senators have co-sponsored “The Health Care Choice and Protection Act.” The intent? To make it a felony to implement the health-care reform law …
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
‘Job-killing’ regulation? ‘Job-killing’ spending? Let's kill this GOP canard.
‘Job-killing’ regulation? ‘Job-killing’ spending? Let's kill this GOP canard.
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, Yglesias, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Wonk Room, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The Politico
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Harvard Economist Estimates Health Repeal Would Destroy Up To 400 …
Harvard Economist Estimates Health Repeal Would Destroy Up To 400 …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Bloomberg, The Plum Line, The Huffington Post and Daily Kos
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press:
House takes first step toward health care repeal
House takes first step toward health care repeal
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, The Politico, Pajamas Media and Weasel Zippers
Nick Gillespie / Hit & Run:
Memo to Speaker Boehner: If You Won a Congessional Majority Because You Pledged to Cut Spending and You Can't Think of a Single Program to Cut Now, Please Go Home — That Congress botched its first-ever public reading of the Constitution is worrisome, but less so than the fact they've spent …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Clusterstock, AMERICAblog News, The Other McCain and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
RELATED:
Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:
Weiner Mocks House GOP Oath Blunder: ‘We Violated The Constitution On Our Very First Day’ — Yesterday, Reps. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) failed to take the oath of office on the House floor along with the other 433 members of Congress which caused the GOP caucus to scurry …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Sunlight Foundation Blog and Salon
Josiah Ryan / The Hill:
Parts of the Constitution inadvertently skipped in ‘historic reading’ on floor
Parts of the Constitution inadvertently skipped in ‘historic reading’ on floor
Discussion:
New York Times, msnbc.com, Washington Post, Politics Daily, Washington Monthly, Theo Spark, Raw Story, TPMDC and The Nation
Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
House approves resolution fixing problem with missed swearing-in
House approves resolution fixing problem with missed swearing-in
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and ThinkProgress
New York Post:
Rudy gearing up for DC run — Confident that he'd have a chance to win, Rudy Giuliani is rounding up his top political advisers for a possible 2012 presidential run, sources tell Page Six. — Sources say the tough-talking former mayor “thinks the Republican race will be populated …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, National Review, CBS News, Runnin' Scared, FiveThirtyEight, Gothamist, Salon, The Politico, The Other McCain, AmSpecBlog, Commentary, Weigel, No More Mister Nice Blog, msnbc.com, Cubachi, Hot Air, GOP 12, Outside the Beltway, Indecision Forever, New York Magazine, Wonkette, Weasel Zippers, The Hill, Pajamas Media, The Moderate Voice, JammieWearingFool, TPMDC, FrumForum and Conservatives4Palin
RELATED:
Amelia Chasse / New Hampshire Journal:
Romney flexes muscle in first NH Primary poll while Palin and others lag behind
Romney flexes muscle in first NH Primary poll while Palin and others lag behind
Discussion:
Ballot Box, The Confluence, Conservatives4Palin, Weigel, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, GOP 12 and Hotline On Call
Neil King Jr / Washington Wire:
Another CPAC Dust-Up Over Gays
Another CPAC Dust-Up Over Gays
Discussion:
WorldNetDaily, Weigel, TPMDC, Little Green Footballs and Politics Daily
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama would easily win Nevada again...except against Romney
Obama would easily win Nevada again...except against Romney
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Primaries For Palin
Doug / RADAR:
EXCLUSIVE: Sonny Bono's Widow - Rep. Mary Bono - In Lurid Photo Scandal With Woman Investigated By FBI — Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack has been caught on camera in a lurid scandal where another woman is apparently licking her breast. — RadarOnline.com has exclusively obtained the photo …
Discussion:
Clusterstock, Gawker, Wonkette, DownWithTyranny!, Oliver Willis, Left Coast Rebel and Raw Story
blogs.telegraph.co.uk:
Obama mouthpiece Robert Gibbs was forced out by new henchman William Daley — I wondered yesterday whether Robert Gibbs jumped or was pushed and noted that President Barack Obama's words indicated that it was “not an entirely voluntary departure”. — It's being reported by John King …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and The Hill
RELATED:
Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn:
Crony capitalism — Big Labor and Big Business are teaming up to protect Big Government.
Crony capitalism — Big Labor and Big Business are teaming up to protect Big Government.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, Ezra Klein, Swampland and The Huffington Post
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Did Daley Force Gibbs Out?
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Levi's Vindication: The Self-Exposure Of Sarah Palin — As a long-standing Palin hysteric, I have to confess a mite less concern in 2011 than at any time since she has been farcically commanding the attention of the political class. Not much has changed essentially: Palin's favorable ratings remain roughly where they have been.
RELATED:
The White House:
Statement by the President on H.R. 6523 — Today I have signed into law H.R. 6523, the “Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011.” The Act authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, for military construction, and for national security-related energy programs.
Discussion:
ProPublica, Emptywheel, TPMMuckraker and Lawfare
RELATED:
Erika Gudmundson / U.S. Department of the Treasury:
Secretary Geithner Sends Debt Limit Letter to Congress
Secretary Geithner Sends Debt Limit Letter to Congress
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, On The Hill, Commentary, Economics Policies …, New Deal 2.0 and New York Times
David Dayen / news.firedoglake.com:
MA Supreme Court Deals Banks a Major Blow on Foreclosure Fraud, in the Ibanez Case — In a major ruling in the Massachusetts Supreme Court today, US Bank and Wells Fargo lost the “Ibanez case,” meaning that they don't have standing to foreclose due to improper mortgage assignment.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, FT Alphaville, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, Emptywheel, Clusterstock, Bloomberg and naked capitalism
John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes Of 2010 — 40) My fear is that the whole island (of Guam) will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize. 39) Imagine if somebody were to really sit down with Osama Bin Ladin and say, 'Listen man,what is it that you're so angry …
Discussion:
NewsReal Blog
Ronald Brownstein / NationalJournal.com:
White Flight — President Obama's path to a second term may rely on states shaped by the same social forces he embodies. — Right turn: Sen. Marco Rubio's supporters in Florida included many whites who voted for Obama in 2008. — By any standard, white voters' rejection of Democrats …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Plum Line, The Atlantic Online, Don Surber, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, JammieWearingFool and ECHIDNE of the snakes
Hamilton Nolan / Gawker:
Village Voice Caught in Jayson Blair-Style Fabrication Scandal (Updated) — Rob Sgobbo (pictured), a young writer for the New York Daily News, has had a freelance story he wrote yanked from the Village Voice's website. He apparently fabricated sources and lied about his reporting.
Discussion:
Gothamist, Mediaite and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »
William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Key Numbers In Unemployment Report Not So Good — Needless to say, administration supporters will be touting that the unemployment rate released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning dropped from 9.8% to 9.4%. Politically, this is good news for Obama, at least in the short run.
Discussion:
Felix Salmon, Calculated Risk, National Review, Clusterstock, JustOneMinute, Power Line and Moe Lane
RELATED:
Tyler Durden / zero hedge:
Labor Force Participation Rate Drops To Fresh 25 Year Low …
Labor Force Participation Rate Drops To Fresh 25 Year Low …
Discussion:
Don Surber, The Gateway Pundit, The Glittering Eye and Michelle Malkin
Andrea Leontiou / msnbc.com:
Egypt threatens to remove Central Park obelisk — Archaeologist concerned about damage to hieroglyphic text on Cleopatra's Needle — Below: — Since 1881, the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle has stood in New York's Central Park, but a letter from the secretary general …
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared and New York Magazine
Yasmine El-Rashidi / english.ahram.org.eg:
Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as “human shields” — Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as “shields” to Egypt's threatened Christian community — Egypt's majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Greg's Opinion
The Note:
Bachmann for President? 'I'm Going to Iowa - There's Your Answer' — ABC News' Rick Klein reports: Rep. Michele Bachmann confirmed to ABC News today that she's considering a run for president in 2012 — albeit with a non-traditional sense of her own timeline for making a decision.
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Right Scoop, ABCNEWS and Shot in the Dark
Todd Starnes / Fox News:
‘Mother,’ ‘Father’ Changing to ‘Parent One,’ ‘Parent Two’ on Passport Applications — Section of current passport application asking for “father” and “mother” information. — The words “mother” and “father” will be removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology, the State Department says.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report and JammieWearingFool