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Payback may be coming for congressman's ‘disloyalty’ — U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan's open defiance of Speaker John Boehner's efforts to solve the debt-ceiling crisis could cost the Urbana Republican his safe seat in next year's election. — Two Republican sources deeply involved in configuring …
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The Politico, Hotline On Call, Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway, RedState, Don Surber, Ballot Box, The Hill, ThinkProgress, The Right Scoop, Booman Tribune and AmSpecBlog
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Congressional Freshmen - For Such A Time As This — Out here in proverbial politico flyover country, we little folk are watching the debt ceiling debate with great interest and concern. Today I re-read the open letter I wrote to Republican Freshman Members of Congress in November 2010 …
Discussion:
National Review, Politics, The Daily Caller, The Camp Of The Saints, Taylor Marsh and The Note

Republicans' Debt Ceiling Charade Is Downright Dangerous — Let us not put too fine a point on it: Thursday's House vote on Speaker John Boehner's debt ceiling proposal is a joke. If it passes the House, Harry Reid has said it is dead on arrival in the Senate.
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Mother Jones


Dems suggest compromise on debt — Democrats are aiming for a debt-limit compromise similar to the House Republican plan, with at least one major difference: The second vote on raising the debt ceiling would not depend on Congress passing a broader deficit-reduction package.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Right Scoop, RedState, The Hill, Booman Tribune, Wake up America and Bearing Drift

What the final deal is likely to look like — Traders watch prices in the Ten-Year Treasury Note options pit. (Scott Olson - Getty Images) The big question today is whether Boehner's bill passes in the House. But the answer — which is probably, though not certainly, “yes” — doesn't matter that much.
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The New Republic, Outside the Beltway, TalkLeft and A plain blog about politics

Palin's Well-Timed Reminder to Freshmen — Sarah Palin has impeccable timing. — The former Republican vice presidential nominee took to her Facebook page Thursday afternoon to warn freshman Republicans in the House that they just might face primary opposition if they cave in to demands by their party to raise the debt ceiling.


Debt ceiling vote postponed by Boehner, who will try again Friday — Speaker John Boehner postponed the planned House vote on a debt-limit increase late Thursday night, casting new doubt on Congress' ability to avert a default and further exposing a deep philosophical divide in the Republican Conference.
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Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars, PERRspectives, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Bearing Drift, Washington Post, The Hill, Outside the Beltway, Politics, Ben Smith's Blog, PolitickerNY, The Gavel, The Note, CNN, Indecision Forever, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Page, Daily Kos, Pajamas Media and The Camp Of The Saints

Boehner's New Plan Doesn't Cut Spending — House Speaker John Boehner has revised his budget plan in response to an unfavorable analysis by the CBO. The CBO has examined Boehner's new plan and finds that it would cut spending by $917 billion over 10 years. Of the total, only $761 billion would be cuts to programs.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, The Daily Dish, FreedomWorks blogs, americanthinker.com and Hot Air

Conservatives angry over Pell Grant funding in Boehner debt bill — House conservatives who have stalled legislation to raise the national debt limit are angry that it includes $17 billion in supplemental spending for Pell Grants, which some compare to welfare.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress

Bachmann: Debt impasse is not an emergency — Washington (CNN) - Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann again brushed off warnings from leaders in both parties that the country would face disastrous economic consequences if the government fails to raise the debt ceiling by next Tuesday.
Discussion:
The Note, The Politico, The Talking Dog, USA Today, GOP 12, Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway


ThinkProgress Vote Count: 23 House Republicans Publicly Oppose Boehner Plan — Tonight at around 6 p.m., the House of Representatives will vote on the Boehner plan, which would create another debt ceiling crisis in less than six months and likely lead to a downgrade in U.S. credit.
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TPMDC, Washington Post, AMERICAblog News, Washington Monthly, Hotline On Call, Daily Kos and The Caucus

GOP postpones debt vote
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NationalJournal.com, The Other McCain, The Daily Caller and The Lonely Conservative

Five Reasons the House GOP Is to Blame
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Blogcritics and The Heritage Foundation


Nancy Pelosi: Kiss your Medicare goodbye
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Gretawire, Weekly Standard, USA Today, Weasel Zippers, Babalú Blog, The Lonely Conservative, The Reid Report and The Daily Hurricane

GOP to tweak Boehner debt bill as leaders wrestle to secure more votes
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NationalJournal.com, Hot Air, Ballot Box, Firedoglake, Political Punch and AmSpecBlog

New White House talking point: House GOP plan will ruin your Christmas
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RealClearPolitics Video Log, Michelle Malkin, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool

House Republicans Unprepared For Senate Rejection Of Boehner Debt Limit Plan
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Washington Post, The Atlantic Wire, CNN, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog News and Hot Air, more at Mediagazer »

Cantor to Reid: Pass House bill or default is your responsibility
Discussion:
TPMDC and Washington Monthly


New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In Global Warming Alarmism — NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing.
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Obama Loses Ground in 2012 Reelection Bid — In GOP, Romney Leads, Attentive Like Perry, Bachmann Most Visible — OVERVIEW — The sizeable lead Barack Obama held over a generic Republican opponent in polls conducted earlier this year has vanished as his support among independent voters has fallen off.
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Firedoglake, Scared Monkeys, CNN, The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Hotline On Call, Taegan Goddard's …, Pajamas Media and HotAirPundit
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Rand Paul: 'I'd rather be a hobbit than a troll'
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Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Salt Lake Tribune, Ben Smith's Blog, Wonkette, Weasel Zippers, Raw Replay and The Caucus

Perry Is Top GOP Pick in South, Romney in West
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Top of the Ticket, The Daily Caller, The Washington Independent, GOP 12, Washington Post and The Blotter

Texas Gov. Rick Perry: “Obviously gay marriage is not fine with me...” — Last week in Aspen, Colorado, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas addressed New York's new same-sex marriage law by saying “That's New York, and that's their business, and that's fine with me...”
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NOM Blog, The Note, ThinkProgress, Equality Matters, Politics, No More Mister Nice Blog, GOP 12, Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay
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Rick Perry Flip Flops On Gay Marriage, Backs Federal Ban
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Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Crooks and Liars, Truth Wins Out, NOM Blog, Dependable Renegade and GOP 12

Why Do Half of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax? — You may have heard the claim that about half of Americans pay no federal income tax. That's a true fact. My Tax Policy Center colleagues estimate, for example, that 46% of households either will pay no federal income tax in 2011 …
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The Incidental Economist, Democracy in America, Hullabaloo, Mother Jones, The Daily Dish and TaxVox


Official: Soldier said he wanted to attack Fort Hood troops — Killeen, Texas (CNN) — An AWOL Muslim American Army private arrested near Fort Hood has told investigators that he wanted to attack fellow soldiers at the military base, the police chief in Killeen, Texas, said Thursday.
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Israpundit, Top of the Ticket and Mother Jones
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EXCLUSIVE: AWOL Soldier Arrested Over Concerns of Possible Second Attack On Fort Hood
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New York Times, The Raw Story, ABCNEWS, KRHD-LP, KCEN-TV, Hot Air, The Lede, Atlas Shrugs, Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media, Michelle Malkin, iOwnTheWorld.com, Don Surber, Raw Replay, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Gateway Pundit, JammieWearingFool, Jihad Watch, The Jawa Report, The Daily Caller, AmSpecBlog, www.kfyi.com, Pirate's Cove, Tim Blair, Maggie's Notebook, Datechguy's Blog and americanthinker.com


3 ways Obama could bypass Congress — Editor's note: Jack M. Balkin is Knight Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School. His latest book is “Constitutional Redemption: Political Faith in an Unjust World” (Harvard University Press 2011). — New Haven, Connecticut (CNN) — Very soon, Congress will raise the debt ceiling.
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The Impolitic, The New Republic, The Moderate Voice and Taylor Marsh
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The Platinum Coin Option
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Grasping Reality … and rubber hose

NRSC blasts ‘lewd, violent, anti-Christian’ Dan Savage — With the Massachusetts Democratic Party attacking Senator Scott Brown for refusing to film a video for the “It Gets Better Project,” which offers moral support to gay teens, the National Republican Senatorial Committee came …
Discussion:
Box Turtle Bulletin, AMERICAblog Gay, ThinkProgress, Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay
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LGBT Leaders Slam Sen. Brown For Refusing To Participate In ‘It Gets Better’ Video
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The Huffington Post and Towleroad News #gay


Bachmann Defends Using Federal Loans She Denounced: 'It's Almost Impossible To Buy A Home' Without Them — GOP presidential contender Michele Bachmann (R) has been in hot water in recent weeks for personally taking advantage of hundreds of thousands of dollars in government aid while denouncing the very programs she benefited from.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland


Rep. Joe Walsh Defends Not Paying $117,000 In Child Support: ‘This Is Where Real America Is’ — Last night the Chicago Sun-Times broke the story that Tea Party freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), who has spent months lecturing President Obama and Democrats on fiscal responsibility …