memeorandum: 2 women share 1st kiss at US Navy ship's return (Brock Vergakis/Associated Press)

6:15 PM ET, December 21, 2011

Top Items:

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.

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 …

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, National Review, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, The Hill, The New Republic, Business Insider and Booman Tribune

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

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.

Discussion: The Caucus, The Raw Story, NewsBusters.org, Prairie Weather, New York Times, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Political Mojo

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.

Discussion: The Maddow Blog and Washington Post

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

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 …

Discussion: CBS News and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Wire:

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.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, National Review and The Huffington Post

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Obama's Hawaii Christmas dilemma

Discussion: Hawaii Reporter, Pundit & Pundette and Outside the Beltway

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
House Republicans stiff attempt from Democrats to call up Senate payroll bill

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, Wake up America, Hullabaloo and DownWithTyranny!

Marin Cogan / The Politico:
House Republicans who bucked their party

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Mj Lee / Reuters:
WSJ: GOP a ‘circular firing squad’

Discussion: The Caucus, Washington Monthly, Rush Limbaugh, Los Angeles Times and The Reaction

Manu Rajuand John Bresnahan / The Politico:
McConnell leaves Boehner on limb

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, FrumForum, Daily Kos, The Hill and The Hill

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 …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Caucus and Balloon Juice

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:

Discussion: Mother Jones, American Prospect, Democracy in America and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Mitt Romney Goes Glenn Beck

Discussion: Daily Kos, Paul Krugman, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Reaction

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.

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, Gothamist, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, ThinkProgress and neo-neocon

Victor Morton / Washington Times:

Ex-President Carter sends condolences to Kim Jong-un — Former President Jimmy Carter has sent North Korea a message of condolence over the death of Kim Jong-il and wished “every success” to the man expected to take over as dictator, according to the communist country's state-run news agency.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and Business Insider

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org:
Whoopi Goldberg: Communism Is ‘a Great Concept’ That ‘Makes Perfect Sense’ on Paper

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, Cato @ Liberty, The Atlantic Online, Doug Ross and Big Hollywood

James Q. Lynch / Iowa Caucus 2012:

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: Ballot Box, news.iastate.edu, The Politico, CNN and GOP 12

Ron Paul / Washington Post:
Ron Paul becoming serious contender in Republican presidential race

Discussion: Ron Paul 2012 Presidential …

Robert Reich / The Huffington Post:
Why the Republican Crackup is Bad For America

Discussion: The Other McCain

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Romney Reverses Position on Iraq — You people don't care about Iraq any more, do you? Didn't think so. — In an interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd today, Mitt Romney asserts that “of course” invading Iraq was a bad idea now that we know Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and msnbc.com

CNN:
CNN Poll: Americans agree on bringing troops home from Iraq

Discussion: The Politico

Grist:

New EPA mercury rules are a bona fide Big Deal — Wednesday, at long last, the EPA unveiled its new rule covering mercury and other toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants. — Anyone who pays attention to green news will have spent the last two years hearing a torrent …

Discussion: Firedoglake, USA Today, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, White House.gov Blog and Greenversations

yosemite.epa.gov:
EPA Issues First National Standards for Mercury Pollution from Power Plants/ Historic 'mercury …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The 1600 Report, New York Times and Daily Kos

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

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.

Discussion: Business Insider and Real Time Economics

Kareem Fahim / New York Times:

Large-Scale Killings Reported in Syria on Eve of Arab League Observer Visit — CAIRO — Syrian rights activists and opposition groups said on Wednesday that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had killed more than 100 defecting soldiers, civilians and antigovernment activists over the last three days in northwestern Syria.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The White House, UN Dispatch and The Atlantic Online

Haaretz:
Assad losing control as 10,000 soldiers desert Syrian military

Discussion: Associated Press, Via Meadia, Guardian, Michael Totten and Washington Post

Betsy Rothstein / FishbowlDC:

Lawmaker Says Michelle Obama Has ‘Large Posterior’ — Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), known for his cantankerous ways and for not speaking to media unless it's his idea, was overheard at the Delta Crown lounge at Reagan National Airport today talking on his cellphone about an incident …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

iMFdirect:

2011 In Review: Four Hard Truths — What a difference a year makes ... We started 2011 in recovery mode, admittedly weak and unbalanced, but nevertheless there was hope. The issues appeared more tractable: how to deal with excessive housing debt in the United States …

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Business Insider, Brad DeLong and Guardian

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 …

Discussion: The Spectacle Blog, Betsy's Page and YID With LID

Jason Clayworth / Iowa Caucuses:

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.

The Politico:

POLITICO Influence: Endgame — K STREET NONPLUSSED OVER CONGRESSIONAL STALEMATE: House GOP leaders' move to appoint conferees and not pass a two-month extension has lobbyists of all stripes unsure of what an endgame looks like. Several downtowners predicted to PI over the past week …

Discussion: Eduwonk

Tom Gantert / Michigan Capitol Confidential:

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 …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, The Enterprise Blog and Michelle Malkin

Associated Press:

34 Congress Members Call For NYPD-CIA Probe — WASHINGTON (AP) — More than two dozen members of Congress are calling for investigation into the CIA's relationship with the New York Police Department. — The members of Congress want to know more about the CIA's collaboration …