memeorandum: Debt Ceiling Bluff Called By Harry Reid, Leaving Mitch McConnell To Filibuster Himself (Michael McAuliff/The Huffington Post)

8:35 AM ET, December 7, 2012

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Debt Ceiling Bluff Called By Harry Reid, Leaving Mitch McConnell To Filibuster Himself … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Debt Ceiling, Harry Reid , Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senate, Video, Barack Obama Debt Ceiling, Fiscal Cliff, Mitch Mcconnell Filibuster, Politics News

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, The Maddow Blog, The Political Carnival, The Democratic Daily, Booman Tribune, The Plum Line and Politico

New York Times:

At Boehner's Request, He and Obama Negotiate Alone — WASHINGTON — At House Speaker John A. Boehner's request, Senate leaders and Representative Nancy Pelosi have been excluded from talks to avert a fiscal crisis, leaving it to Mr. Boehner and President Obama alone to find a deal, Congressional aides say.

Discussion: Prairie Weather, National Review and Hot Air

Eric W. Dolan / The Raw Story:

Democrats watch in awe as McConnell filibusters himself — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced legislation to raise the debt ceiling on Thursday, apparently with the intent of showing that even Democrats would not support such a bill. — However, McConnell's plan backfired …

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', his vorpal sword, Firedoglake and Applesauce

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

McConnell Filibusters His Own Bill To Lift Debt Ceiling — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wanted to prove on Thursday that Democrats don't have the votes to weaken Congress' authority on the debt limit. Instead they called his bluff, and he ended up filibustering his own bill.

Discussion: Gawker, The Reality-Based Community, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Impolitic, Mediaite, The Plum Line, msnbc.com and Wonkette

Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn:

Good riddance, Mr. DeMint — Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is leaving the Senate to take over the Heritage Foundation. He will replace Ed Feulner as the conservative think tank's president. He expressed no qualms about leaving the Senate before his term is up, nor did he reflect on his legislative achievements, of which none come to mind.

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Wonkette, Riehl World News, The Week, Democracy in America, Weasel Zippers and The Daily Dish

Valerie Bauerlein / Washington Wire:
Mark Sanford Mulls Second Act in South Carolina

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Post Politics, Politico, Ballot Box and Daily Kos

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
DeMint, Tea Party Hero, Leaving Senate

Discussion: The Huffington Post, msnbc.com, FiveThirtyEight, Lawfare, Taking Note, The New Republic, Think Tanked, CNN and The Daily Caller

Daniel Henninger / Wall Street Journal:
Sen. Jim DeMint to Head Heritage Foundation

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Commentary Magazine, The New Republic, Rod 2.:Beta #gay #news …, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, Mother Jones, BuzzFeed, UrbanGrounds, The Atlantic Online, Roll Call, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The National Memo, Business Insider, NetRight Daily, Democracy in America, The Daily Caller, The Fix, Washington Wire, The Hill, New York Magazine, CBS News, Mediaite, Washington Post, Congressman Tim Scott, Post Politics, The Right Scoop, United States Senator …, msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, The Raw Story, Guardian, Liberty Unyielding, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hullabaloo, Little Green Footballs, Outside the Beltway, Advocate, The Heritage Foundation, Booman Tribune, Weasel Zippers, The Week, A plain blog about politics, Taylor Marsh, The Maddow Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, Hot Air, RedState, The PJ Tatler, American Prospect, Firedoglake, The Democratic Daily, Towleroad News #gay and Weekly Standard

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
Who Will Replace Jim DeMint?

Discussion: The Fix, The Week, Ballot Box, BuzzFeed and Weasel Zippers

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Pelosi jabs DeMint on his way out

Discussion: Mediaite

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:
11 Reasons You're Glad Jim DeMint Is Leaving The Senate

Discussion: Esquire, The National Memo, Crooks and Liars, The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, Roll Call and The Impolitic

The State:
Video from around the world

Discussion: The Hill, Mother Jones, Guardian, Political Capital, Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Politico:

Barack Obama, Mitt Romney both topped $1 billion in 2012 — Obama: $1.123 billion vs. Romney: $1.019 billion. — That's the final fundraising tally in the most expensive presidential election ever, according to reports filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission by the rival campaigns and party committees.

Discussion: The Week and Truthdig

Kevin Bohn / CNN:

Adelsons donate $33 million to GOP super PACs in closing days — Washington (CNN) - Nevada casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam contributed $33 million to two major Republican super PACs in the closing weeks of the 2012 campaign, according to campaign finance disclosure reports filed Thursday …

Discussion: Politico, Reuters, New York Magazine and Hullabaloo

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Romney campaign raised $85.9M in final weeks — The final days of Mitt Romney's campaign were a prosperous ones for the Republican presidential candidate, even if the funds raised didn't translate to success at the polls. — Romney raised $85.9 million in the period from October 18 to November 26, the campaign announced Thursday.

Discussion: CNN

Patrick Poole / The PJ Tatler:

Arizona Bomber Had Citizenship Rejected by Homeland Security for ‘Terrorism-Related Activity’ — Back on Sunday I broke the news here at PJ Media of the arrest of Abdullatif Aldosary in connection with the bombing of a Social Security Administration office in Casa Grande, Arizona, last Friday morning.

Discussion: Washington Times, The Jawa Report and Jihad Watch

Steve Stout / Tucson News Now:
Gosar questions how bomb suspect was allowed to live in AZ

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

Bush's White House Press Secretary Tells Female Victims Of Violence: ‘Make Better Decisions’ — Bush White House Press Secretary-turned-Fox News host Dana Perino asserted Wednesday night that women who are victims of violence should “make better decisions” to avoid being hurt.

Discussion: Truthdig

Josh Richman / Mercury News:

Bill Clinton: I don't know whether Hillary will run — CUPERTINO — Don't bother asking Bill Clinton if his wife is going to run for president in 2016. — “If I did know, I wouldn't tell you,” he said Wednesday evening, fielding the first of many questions from a packed audience …

Discussion: The Fix and Post Politics

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Bill Clinton: 'Don't get too disgusted' by ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations

Discussion: CNN, Towleroad News #gay and Politico

Kevin Bogardus / Ballot Box:

Unions target McCaskill, Warner in new round of ‘cliff’ ads — A coalition of unions is launching a new round of television ads on Friday pressuring centrist lawmakers to oppose entitlement cuts in a “fiscal cliff” deal. — The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees …

Discussion: CNN

Hamed Aleaziz / ThinkProgress:

Muslim-American Group To GOP: Stop Treating Us So Poorly — The Council On American-Islamic Relations placed an open letter yesterday in the conservative Washington Times newspaper imploring Republicans to move away from the Islamophobic stance that has taken hold of the party.

Discussion: CAIR and Mother Jones

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
A free-trade agreement with Europe?

Discussion: Firedoglake and Cato @ Liberty

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Obama Gets Post-Election Bounce — A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds more Americans say the nation is heading in the right direction now than at any time since the start of President Obama's first term. — Obama's approval rating stands at 57%, the highest since May 2011 …

Discussion: MiamiHerald.com

Jennifer Martinez / The Hill:

FCC to FAA: Allow ‘greater use’ of electronic devices during flights — The head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday pushed for wider in-flight use of electronic portable devices during airplane flights. — FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski called …

Discussion: Engadget, The Verge, NYT Bits and TechCrunch

WILX-TV:

UPDATED INFORMATION: Protesters Pepper Sprayed, Arrested At Capitol — At least four people were arrested inside the state Capitol, amidst noisy protests against expected Right to Work legislation. — Michigan State Police Inspector Gene Adamczyk said that protesters tried to rush …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Crooks and Liars

Jonah Spangenthal-Lee / SPD Blotter:

“Officers Shall Not Take Any Enforcement Action—Other Than to Issue a Verbal Warning—For a Violation of I-502.” — Tonight at midnight, Initiative 502 goes into effect, meaning it's no longer a violation of state law to use and possess certain quantities of marijuana in Washington.

Discussion: New York Times, NPR, Gawker, Althouse, msnbc.com, Twitchy, The Maddow Blog and CNN

Lawrence Lessig / The Atlantic Online:

Why a Democratic Tea Party Is the Best Hope for Fixing Corrupt Government — The solution must come from the grassroots — it can't be imposed from above by reform-minded members of Congress. — Reuters — At a talk at UCLA last month, I said that America's growing anti-corruption movement needs to think big, not puny.

Discussion: The Other McCain

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:

10 charts showing America's stunning entitlements explosion — AEI scholar Nick Eberstadt's latest book, A Nation of Takers, provides a sobering analysis of the entitlements explosion and its effect on the American economy and culture. — It's a reminder that without significant …

Discussion: Hot Air