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The GOP's Payroll Tax Fiasco — How did Republicans manage to lose the tax issue to Obama? — GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected.
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ABCNEWS:
Capitol Stand-off: Republicans Caving? — My prediction: House Republicans will soon - probably within 24 hours - cave in and accept the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut passed last week by the Senate. — I base this on conversations with House Republicans who know they are losing …
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National Review, The Hill, Booman Tribune and Hot Air
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Speaker Cuts Off C-SPAN Cameras When Dems Attempt To Bring Vote On Payroll Tax Cut — During a quick pro-forma session of the House this morning, Republicans rebuffed a Democratic attempt to force an up-or-down vote on the Senate-passed payroll tax holiday extension, which Republicans have thus far refused to allow.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Literally walking away from a fight — It was rather remarkable this morning to watch the proceedings on the House floor. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) wanted to try again to bring up the Senate's bipartisan payroll-tax-break compromise, and instead of debating, Republicans literally walked away from the fight.
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Firedoglake, Washington Post and The Maddow Blog
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Romney Refuses To Take Position On Payroll Tax Holiday — In two TV interviews today, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney refused to take a stance on the biggest issue in Washington today: the extension of the payroll tax holiday. A huge bipartisan majority in the Senate passed …
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CBS News and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
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Gingrich to House GOP: Give In on Payroll Tax — DES MOINES, Iowa - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who famously lost budget battles to President Bill Clinton amid two government shutdowns, had some advice to House Republicans at loggerheads with another Democratic president: Give in.
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ThinkProgress, National Review and The Huffington Post
Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
House Republicans stiff attempt from Democrats to call up Senate payroll bill — House Republicans blocked a Democratic attempt Wednesday to call up the Senate payroll tax bill by quickly gaveling the day's pro forma session to a close. — Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) presided over the brief session …
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Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, Wake up America and Hullabaloo
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TPMDC — Watch GOPer Literally Walk Out On Dem Attempt To Push Payroll Tax Cut
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The Daily Dish and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Mj Lee / Reuters:
WSJ: GOP a ‘circular firing squad’
WSJ: GOP a ‘circular firing squad’
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The Caucus, Rush Limbaugh, Washington Post, Washington Monthly and The Reaction
Manu Rajuand John Bresnahan / The Politico:
McConnell leaves Boehner on limb
McConnell leaves Boehner on limb
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CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, FrumForum, Daily Kos, The Hill and The Hill
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Newt Gingrich to gay Iowan: Vote for Obama — Gingrich and his wife Callista at tonight's event in Oskaloosa. Oskaloosa, Ia. - Newt Gingrich told a gay man and longtime resident of Oskaloosa here today that he should vote for President Obama. — “I asked him if he's elected, how does he plan to engage gay Americans.
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TPM2012 — Newt's Campaign Comes Down To Earth As Iowan Calls Him 'F …
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The Humble Libertarian, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Balloon Juice, CNN, The Caucus, New York Magazine, Wonkette, Talking Points Memo and The Raw Story
Faiz Shakir / ThinkProgress:
Newt Gingrich Tells Gay Iowan To Vote For Obama
Newt Gingrich Tells Gay Iowan To Vote For Obama
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Fox News, Guardian, Feministing and Prairie Weather
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
The point at which Mitt Romney loses his mind — Mitt Romney unveiled a brand-new stump speech in New Hampshire last night, reading a carefully-crafted, poll-tested text from two teleprompters. Confident that his Republican primarily rivals simply won't (or can't) catch him …
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The Daily Dish, The Caucus and Balloon Juice
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Alexander Burns / The Politico:
You, sir, are no Teddy Roosevelt — In a speech to be delivered in Bedford, N.H., this evening, Mitt Romney will push back explicitly on Barack Obama's recent invocation of Teddy Roosevelt in a speech the president used to frame the 2012 campaign in terms of “fairness.” Here's what Romney will say:
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ISU/Gazette/KCRG Poll: Ron Paul new frontrunner — CEDAR RAPIDS — Just two weeks before Iowa's first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses there's a new leader, but the race remains “remarkably fluid,” according to a new Iowa State University/Gazette/KCRG poll of likely Republican caucusgoers.
Discussion:
The Politico, Ballot Box, CNN and GOP 12
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Ron Paul / Washington Post:
Ron Paul becoming serious contender in Republican presidential race
Ron Paul becoming serious contender in Republican presidential race
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Ron Paul 2012 Presidential …
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Paul now top pick in new ISU/Gazette/KCRG Poll, but voters still uncertain
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CNN, New York Times, NMPolitics.net and msnbc.com
James Lynch / KCRG-TV:
Vote 2012: Ron Paul Takes Lead in KCRG/Gazette/ISU Poll
Vote 2012: Ron Paul Takes Lead in KCRG/Gazette/ISU Poll
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The Other McCain, American Spectator, Unlikely Voter, Wake up America and Ricochet Conversations Feed
Benjamin Kang Lim / Reuters:
Exclusive: North Korea's military to share power with Kim's heir — (Reuters) - North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week's death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said.
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New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Associated Press, Gothamist, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress and neo-neocon
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Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org:
Whoopi Goldberg: Communism Is ‘a Great Concept’ That ‘Makes Perfect Sense’ on Paper
Whoopi Goldberg: Communism Is ‘a Great Concept’ That ‘Makes Perfect Sense’ on Paper
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Doug Ross and Big Hollywood
Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Obama's Hawaii Christmas dilemma — President Obama faces a most difficult decision with the payroll tax extension up in the air, and it isn't whether to compromise with Republicans. — The toughest call for the president this holiday season could be whether to join his family for Christmas in Hawaii or stay in lonely Washington.
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Hawaii Reporter, Pundit & Pundette and Outside the Beltway
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Explaining Obama's Approval Rating Bounce
Explaining Obama's Approval Rating Bounce
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The Reaction, Philly.com and Outside the Beltway
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The Most Important Graphs of 2011 — What is it about graphs and economics? In a discipline where facts are murky and certainty is elusive, graphs offer a bright light of information and a small confidence that the world can be summed up between two axes.
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Business Insider and Real Time Economics
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Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle — Analyst: ‘This might be the most government-supported car since the Trabant’ — Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it - a total of $3 billion altogether …
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Hit & Run, Weasel Zippers, Michelle Malkin and Hot Air
John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
The 50 Best Political Quotes For 2011 (Third Annual) — 50) Get the hell off the Beach in Asbury Park and get out. You're done. It's 4:30 PM. You've maximized your tan. Get off the beach. Get in you cars and get out of those areas. — Chris Christie 49) NPR is a very elitist …
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Betsy's Page and YID With LID
McSweeney's:
Newt Gingrich's Letter to Virginia, Regarding the Existence of Santa Claus and Claims That He Said Otherwise by John Flowers — Dear Virginia: — I'm not going to talk about what I have previously said on the topic of Santa Claus. The record is perfectly clear: Yes, Virginia, I am in favor of a Santa Claus.
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TBogg
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I knew Christopher Hitchens better than you — Every writer who had a drink with Hitch has now told his story. But even Rushdie and Amis didn't know him like this — Christopher Hitchens and I were friends for 40 years, plus another five when we were enemies.
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ThinkProgress
Paul Glastris / Washington Monthly:
Obama's Rising Poll Numbers: The Dog-That-Didn't-Bark Factor — As Steve noted yesterday there are plenty of reasons why, going into the Christmas break, Barack Obama is looking surprisingly strong politically. The economy is slowly improving. The troops are out of Iraq.
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Iraqi Leader Threatens to Abandon Power-Sharing — BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq threatened on Wednesday to abandon an American-backed power sharing government created a year ago, throwing the country's fragile democracy into further turmoil just days after the departure of American troops.
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