memeorandum: Now That the Election's Safely Over, Liberal Journalists Promise to Maybe Ask Obama a Sternly Worded Question or Two (Matt Welch/Hit & Run)

5:30 PM ET, December 3, 2012

Top Items:

Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:

Republican Doomsday Plan: Cave on Taxes, Vote ‘Present’ — Republicans are seriously considering a Doomsday Plan if fiscal cliff talks collapse entirely. It's quite simple: House Republicans would allow a vote on extending the Bush middle class tax cuts (the bill passed in August by the Senate) …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, New York Magazine, Applesauce, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, “The Lid”, Talking Points Memo and Taylor Marsh

Russell Berman / The Hill:

House GOP makes a $2.2 trillion debt counteroffer to Obama on cliff — House Republican leaders have made a counteroffer to President Obama in the fiscal cliff negotiations, proposing to cut $2.2 trillion with a combination of spending cuts, entitlement reforms and $800 billion in new tax revenue.

Discussion: “The Lid”, Washington Examiner and Vodkapundit

Andrew Malcolm / Investor's Business Daily:

As Americans face a fiscal cliff, the Obamas make do with 54 Christmas trees — Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images (2011) — Amazing how a reelection can reshape an incumbent's thinking about many things. Now safely ensconced in the White House for 49 more months, the Obamas have decorated …

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Ed Driscoll, Wonkette, Weasel Zippers, Patterico's Pontifications and Althouse

David Corn / Mother Jones:

John Boehner's Hostage Crisis — As the fiscal cliff looms, the House speaker finds himself once again at the mercy of the tea partiers within his ranks. — In the past week or two, there's been crowing on the left about anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist's slipping influence, as a small …

Discussion: Power Line and Shakesville

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Criticized as Weak in Past Talks, Obama Takes Harder Line — WASHINGTON — Amid demands from Republicans that President Obama propose detailed new spending cuts to avert the year-end fiscal crisis, his answer boils down to this: you first. — Mr. Obama, scarred by failed negotiations …

Discussion: Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, The Hill, The Week, AMERICAblog, Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh, Washington Examiner, Wall Street Journal, msnbc.com and ABCNEWS

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

White House willing to go over fiscal cliff if absolutely necessary — David Corn has a piece up this morning arguing that John Boehner is hampered in the fiscal cliff talks by his right flank — the House Tea Partyers who oppose compromise with the White House at any cost, just as they did during the 2011 showdowns.

Discussion: The Week, Connecting.the.Dots, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

GOP Leaders May Be Pondering Surrender On Taxes — Republicans are working to quiet rumblings that, if all else fails, they may give in on the high income Bush tax cuts. But a newly reported “doomsday plan” to do just that may be the GOP's best way out of a bad situation: give a little …

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Do Democrats actually want to go over the fiscal cliff?

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Washington Post, Vox Verax, The BLT, Post Politics and Campaign for America's …

Politico:
Fiscal cliff: House GOP sends Obama counteroffer

Discussion: AEIdeas

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Republican “Doomsday Plan” Allows Tax Increase, Uses Debt Limit For Future Leverage

Discussion: ABCNEWS

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Why sane bargaining looks strange

Discussion: New York Times, The Week, msnbc.com, The Daily Dish and The Fix

John W. Schoen / Economy Watch:
Facing the fiscal cliff: American taxpayers have had it easy for decades

Discussion: msnbc.com and The Agonist

Peter H. Stone / The Huffington Post:

Sheldon Adelson Spent Far More On Campaign Than Previously Known … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, John Boehner, Mitt Romney, Campaign Finance, Elections 2012, Newt Gingrich, Video, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Las Vegas Sands, Sheldon Adelson, Fcpa, Mitt Romney 2012, Sands Casino …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Mother Jones, Post Politics, Washington Monthly, The Raw Story and Balloon Juice

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:

2016 contenders court mega-donors — A week after Election Day, three Republican governors mentioned as 2016 presidential candidates — Bobby Jindal, John Kasich and Bob McDonnell — each stopped by the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino to meet privately with its owner Sheldon Adelson …

Discussion: CNN, msnbc.com, Roland Martin Reports, The Week, The Agonist and GOP 12

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Obama offers congrats to Kate, William — President Obama has congratulated Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge Katherine over the news that they are having a baby. — White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president and first lady Michelle Obama were extending …

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, CNN and msnbc.com

BBC: Prince William and Kate expecting a baby

Mark Duell / Daily Mail:
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ‘delighted’ as they announce they are expecting their first baby

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Big Budget Mumble — In the ongoing battle of the budget, President Obama has done something very cruel. Declaring that this time he won't negotiate with himself, he has refused to lay out a proposal reflecting what he thinks Republicans want. Instead, he has demanded that Republicans themselves say, explicitly, what they want.

Discussion: Washington Post, Paul Krugman, New York Magazine, xpostfactoid, the daily howler, Discourse.net, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather and American Spectator

Kyle Balluck / The Hill:
Republicans ready to forget Romney and embrace Rep. Ryan on Medicare

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hit & Run and Daily Kos

Fox Sports:

In KC, it's no time for a game — KANSAS CITY, MO. — Football is embarrassingly tone deaf. — Jovan Belcher, a starting linebacker for the Chiefs, murdered the mother of his child shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday. He hopped in his car, drove to the Kansas City Chiefs practice facility …

Roland Martin Reports:
LISTEN: Roland Martin Talks With Jason Whitlock About His Column About Jovan Belcher's Murder-Suicide

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Daily Caller, Ed Driscoll, Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Allison Samuels / The Daily Beast:

Michelle Obama's Next Move — What's next for our incredibly popular first lady? Samuel L. Jackson and other super-fans weigh in. — Chatting with a group backstage on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in October, Michelle Obama made it clear that she wasn't thinking about what she might do in the future.

Discussion: Associated Press, Weekly Standard, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and National Review

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Congress Retains Low Honesty Rating — Nurses have highest honesty rating; car salespeople, lowest — PRINCETON, NJ — As Congress remains involved in protracted negotiations over the pending “fiscal cliff” that could disrupt the nation's economy if not addressed by Jan. 1 …

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, CNN, ABCNEWS, BuzzFeed, The Hill, msnbc.com, Poynter and Post Politics

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Santorum launches column for ‘birther’ website — Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has taken a job as a columnist for World Net Daily, a conservative website best known for articles advancing “birther” conspiracy theories about President Obama.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', The Raw Story, Post Politics, The Agonist and Mother Jones

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Again, no gay marriage orders (FINAL UPDATE) — The Supreme Court on Monday released additional orders from its Friday Conference, but the list did not show any action on the ten cases dealing with the same-sex marriage issue. UPDATED: The Court later Monday morning posted on its electronic docket …

Discussion: Advocate and Outside the Beltway

Christine Haughney / Media Decoder:

New York Times Seeks Buyouts From 30 in Newsroom — Aiming to cut costs in an increasingly troubled advertising environment, The New York Times announced on Monday morning that it would offer buyout packages to newsroom employees. While the primary goal of the buyout program is to trim managers …

Discussion: The Week, JIMROMENESKO.COM, Business Insider, driftglass, Capital New York, Poynter, Roger Ailes and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Homeless Man Is Grateful for Officer's Gift of Boots. But He Again Is Barefoot. — After Officer Lawrence DePrimo knelt beside a barefoot man on a bitterly cold November night in Times Square, giving him a pair of boots, a photo of his random act of good will quickly took on a life of its own …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, msnbc.com, BuzzFeed, Outside the Beltway, Runnin' Scared, New York Magazine, Gawker and iOwnTheWorld.com

Jeremy Herb / The Hill:

Petition: Obama should build Death Star — Forget the White House beer recipe — what the American people really want is a Death Star. — Well, 495 of them anyway. — A petition on the White House's “We the People” website calls for the United States to find funding and begin construction on a Star Wars-style Death Star by 2016.

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Politico, Outside the Beltway and The PJ Tatler

BuzzFeed:

How Bobby Jindal Got His Mojo Back In 2012 — The Louisiana governor is back as a contender for the presidency four years from now. His secret weapon: Rick Perry. — Image by Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images — The last year has been a bad one for many Republicans, but 2012 was exceptionally kind to Bobby Jindal.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and No More Mister Nice Blog

Matthew Boyle / BREITBART.COM:

WHY I'M ENLISTING IN ANDREW BREITBART'S WAR — I'm enlisting to fight in Andrew Breitbart's war. — The political class in Washington has degraded America. Republicans and Democrats blame each other, and nothing gets done. The media exacerbates the problem, fans the flames …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, FishbowlDC and TBogg