Top Items:
Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:
VIDEO: House Republicans Explain Why They Won't Give Up Their Own Government-Sponsored Health Care — With the Republican legislative agenda increasingly focused on repealing health care reform, many observers are beginning to question whether GOPers in Congress will personally abide …
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, Left Coast Rebel, phillyBurbs.com, Wonk Room, AmSpecBlog and Joe. My. God.
RELATED:
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
The Worst Case — How health care reform really could get repealed …
The Worst Case — How health care reform really could get repealed …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, The Mahablog, Ezra Klein and Washington Monthly
Suzy Khimm / Mother Jones:
Health Reform by the Numbers
Health Reform by the Numbers
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Ezra Klein and The New Republic
Lbentzterp / CNN:
McCain: Hopes Obama considers Lieberman for defense secretary — Washington (CNN) - Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, tells CNN he believes his good friend Joe Lieberman would make a good defense secretary for President Obama, calling him “one of the most informed members of the Senate on national security issues and homeland security issues.”
Discussion:
The Politico, The Hill, Firedoglake and Hartford Courant
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Clinton says she won't commit to serving second term at State — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she hasn't committed to serving a second term in the Obama administration and is looking forward to an eventual return to private life. — “That's not something …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, CNN, The Politico, FrumForum and Shakesville
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
Why Did Lieberman Off Himself? — The retirement of Joe Lieberman is the culmination of a series of domestic repercussions of the Iraq war. The war estranged Lieberman from his party base, which gave rise to a liberal primary challenge in 2006. National Democrats supported Lieberman …
Discussion:
Eunomia and The Daily Dish
Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Lieberman announces retirement, says it's ‘time to turn the page’ — Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) told supporters Wednesday he will not seek reelection in 2012, officially shutting the door on a Senate career that has spanned more than two decades. — Flanked by his wife and three children …
Discussion:
The Politico
RELATED:
Ezra Klein:
Joe Lieberman: Democratic hero?
Joe Lieberman: Democratic hero?
Discussion:
TalkLeft, The Plum Line, Weigel, Right Turn, Firedoglake, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Prairie Weather
First Read / msnbc.com:
First thoughts: Stating the obvious
First thoughts: Stating the obvious
Discussion:
AOL News, New York Times, Politics Daily, Associated Press, National Review and Pundit Press
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — Before banning ‘crosshairs,’ CNN used it to refer to Palin, Bachmann — CNN's John King is attracting a lot of notice — and some ridicule — in the blogosphere for his on-air apology after a guest used the word “crosshairs” during a report on Chicago politics Tuesday.
Discussion:
The Powers That Be, theblogprof, NewsBusters.org blogs, Moe Lane and National Review
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Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:
Video Captured ‘Calculated’ Gunman in Tucson — TUCSON — The chief investigator for the sheriff's department here has for the first time publicly described the brief and gory video clip from a store security camera that shows a gunman not only shooting Representative Gabrielle Giffords …
Janie Har / Oregonian:
U.S. Rep. David Wu loses staffers, political team amid complaints of public behavior — Since the November election, U.S. Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., has lost at least six staffers plus the leadership of a veteran campaign team that guided him to a seventh term amid complaints about his public behavior.
Discussion:
The Hill, Taegan Goddard's … and JammieWearingFool
Marissa Calhoun / CNN:
CNN Poll: Palin unfavorable rating at all time high — Washington (CNN) - A new national poll indicates that 56 percent of all Americans have an unfavorable view of Sarah Palin, an all-time high for the former Alaska governor. That 56 percent unfavorable figure is up seven points …
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Jerome R. Corsi / WorldNetDaily:
Hawaii governor can't find Obama birth certificate — Suggests controversy could hurt president's re-election chances — Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie suggested in an interview published today that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Barack Obama may not exist within …
Discussion:
Moonbattery, Classical Values and Vox Popoli
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Ron Charles / Washington Post:
Ron Charles reviews ‘O: A Presidential Novel’ — By Anonymous. — Simon & Schuster. 353 pp. $25.99 — Like the people who end up running for president, this anonymous novel about Barack Obama's reelection campaign isn't as good as you hoped or as bad as you feared.
Discussion:
New York Post and National Review
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
O: A guessing game
O: A guessing game
Discussion:
New York Magazine and No More Mister Nice Blog
Tim Mak / FrumForum:
Steele: “I Know How Caesar Felt” — This past weekend, RNC Chairman Michael Steele lost his bid for reelection. Sitting down with FrumForum as he ponders his next move, perhaps the thing that gets the garrulous Steele most quiet is a mention of his successor, Wisconsin State Republican Chair Reince Priebus.
Discussion:
Ballot Box, USA Today, CNN, Weasel Zippers and TPMDC
Philip Klein / AmSpecBlog:
Sheila Jackson Lee Says Repealing ObamaCare Violates Constitution — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, said on Tuesday afternoon that repealing the national health care law would violate the Constitution. — Arguing that the Commerce Clause provides the constitutional basis for ObamaCare …
RELATED:
Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:
Parenting by Gays More Common in the South, Census Shows — JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Being gay in this Southern city was once a lonely existence. Most people kept their sexuality to themselves, and they were reminded of the dangers of being openly gay when a gay church was bombed in the 1980s.
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, RedState, Feministing and Holy Bullies …
Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Gabrielle Giffords to be released from hospital on Friday — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be released from a Tucson, Ariz., hospital Friday just under two weeks after she suffered a gunshot wound to her head. — Giffords is set to be moved from the University Medical Center to Houston's Institute …
Discussion:
TPMDC and Outside the Beltway
National Enquirer:
WHY OBAMA IS SCARY SKINNY — The real reason behind PRESIDENT OBAMA's shocking weight loss - he's secretly battling stomach parasites, say sources. — The pencil-thin president caught the parasites on a trip last year to Hawaii, where he and his family also vacationed over Christmas, according to top political insiders.
Discussion:
Moonbattery, Althouse and Gawker
Jay Reeves / Associated Press:
New Ala. gov: Just Christians are his family — BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters, shocking some critics who questioned Tuesday whether he can be fair to non-Christians.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Comments from Left Field, Lance Mannion, Booman Tribune and New York Magazine
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
In Wreckage of Lost Jobs, Lost Power — Alone among the world's economic powers, the United States is suffering through a deep jobs slump that can't be explained by the rest of the economy's performance. — The gross domestic product here — the total value of all goods and services …
Discussion:
Yglesias, The Huffington Post, Felix Salmon, Prairie Weather and Economix
Sam Youngman / Ballot Box:
The new Clintonian Obama is playing offense, and building momentum — Three months after an electoral “shellacking” that threatened to derail his agenda and his reelection, Obama is on a roll. — President Obama — the centrist, Clintonian version — is rolling.
Discussion:
The Politico, CNN, TalkLeft and Prairie Weather
Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
Pickering, Hills, Sullivan, Beinart, Dobbins, More Ask Obama Administration to Support UN Resolution Condemning Illegal Israeli Settlements — A letter from an array of concerned policy commentators and practitioners, academics, and former government officials about the resolution pending …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and FrumForum
Shobhana Chandra / Bloomberg:
Housing Starts in U.S. Decreased in December to One-Year Low — Builders began work on fewer homes than projected in December, a sign the industry that triggered the recession continued to struggle more than a year into the U.S. economic recovery. — Housing starts fell 4.3 percent …
Discussion:
Hot Air
Inside Higher Ed:
Stars Shine on Christian Researcher — The University of Kentucky has settled a religious discrimination lawsuit with C. Martin Gaskell, a former University of Nebraska astronomer whom Kentucky declined to hire as director of its Lexington-based observatory.
Discussion:
Gawker, Religion Dispatches and Instapundit
Peter Baker / New York Times:
The White House Looks for Work — Three days before Christmas, President Obama gathered his economic team in the West Wing's Roosevelt Room to review themes for his State of the Union address. The edge-of-the-cliff crisis he inherited had passed, but with more than 14 million Americans still out of work …
Discussion:
Opinionator and TalkLeft
The Politico:
Muslim groups nervous about King hearings — American Muslim leaders, who have struggled to present a clear public voice or organize politically in the decade since Sept. 11, are increasingly apprehensive about the direction Rep. Pete King will take when he convenes hearings next month on the threat posed by radical Islam in America.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Atlas Shrugs, The Moderate Voice, Don Surber and FrumForum
The Fix:
Five members to watch on health care repeal — The House is set to vote today on a repeal of the Democrats' health care law, and we've got a good idea how it's going to turn out. — The bill is widely expected to pass in the GOP-controlled House on a largely party-line vote …
Discussion:
USA Today, Roll Call and Charleston Gazette
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Ron Paul for Senate? — The top two choices of Texas Republicans to be their Senate nominee next year are David Dewhurst...and Ron Paul. The duo is basically tied with 23% saying Dewhurst would be their top pick as the GOP candidate and 21% picking Paul. — Maybe a couple years ago …
Discussion:
National Review
Brian / Right Wing Watch:
Religious Right Leader: Episcopal Church No Longer Christian Because It Supports Gay-Rights — Michael Youssef, the head of Leading the Way Ministries and a vocal critic of Islam, today argued that the Episcopal Church is no longer Christian and “not Jesus' church” as a result of the church's policies regarding gay-rights.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs and Pam's House Blend
Colin Fernandez / Daily Mail:
'Wear the hijab or I'll kill you, cousin told girl': Muslim tells of terrifying phone threats — A man threatened to kill his cousin and harm her family after she decided to stop wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf, a court has heard. — Mohamed Al-Hakim, 29, allegedly phoned Alya Al-Safar …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch and The Jawa Report