Top Items:
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
Boehner Calls Off Plan B Vote — Boehner issued the following statement as an emergency meeting of the House Republican Conference was ending:
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Crooks and Liars
RELATED:
Politico:
GOP calls emergency meeting to save ‘Plan B’ — In a setback for Speaker John Boehner, House Republicans have pulled their fiscal cliff bill known as “Plan B,” because they didn't have enough votes for it to pass. The bill would have raised taxes on people making more than $1 million a year.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Plum Line, Quartz, CNN, Weasel Zippers, The National Memo, Hot Air, ABCNEWS, Crooks and Liars and Mother Jones
Erick Erickson / RedState:
URGENT: Last few hours to stop the Boehner Tax Hike — Later today, the House of Representatives will vote on a major tax increase. This disastrous idea is being pushed by Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor and will do nothing other than put Republicans …
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Hot Air
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Boehner Tax Plan in House Is Pulled, Lacking Votes — WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders abruptly pulled their fallback tax bill from the floor Thursday night, conceding that they did not have the votes to pass it. — “The House did not take up the tax measure today …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and The Big Picture
ABCNEWS:
House GOP Puts off Vote on ‘Plan B’ — Confronted with a revolt among the rank and file, House Republicans abruptly scrapped a vote Thursday night on legislation allowing tax rates to rise for households earning $1 million and up, complicating attempts to avoid a year-end “fiscal cliff” …
Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Will Boehner's speakership survive until Plan C?
Discussion:
Econbrowser and Business Insider
Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Harry Reid: ‘We Are Not Going to Do Anything’
Discussion:
Right Turn, Examiner, Weasel Zippers, Booman Tribune, CNN, The Gateway Pundit and Freedom's Lighthouse
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
AFL-CIO to White House: Time to rescind your offer to Boehner
Discussion:
Daily Kos and Hullabaloo
Washington Post:
Boehner abandons plan to avoid ‘fiscal cliff’
Discussion:
Power Line, The Fix, Right Turn, The Plum Line, Rumproast, Wonkblog and Post Politics
Fox News:
House puts off vote on ‘Plan B’ tax bill, path to avert fiscal crisis uncertain
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative, The PJ Tatler, Riehl World News and Michelle Malkin
Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:
House Republicans Cut Food Stamps, Obamacare, And Wall Street Oversight In Ill-Fated ‘Plan B’
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, The Hill and Daily Kos
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Obama in focus, yet all over the map
Discussion:
First Read, The Moderate Voice, Belmont Club, No More Mister Nice Blog, Betsy's Page and American Spectator
CNN:
House set to vote on Boehner's Plan B
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Michelle Malkin, Freedom's Lighthouse, Twitchy, The Raw Story, The Democratic Daily, The Reaction and Politico
Larry Alan Burns / Los Angeles Times:
A conservative case for an assault weapons ban — If we can't draw a sensible line on guns, we may as well call the American experiment in democracy a failure. — An assault weapon similar to the type used in the Newtown, Conn. shooting. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images / December 18, 2012)
Discussion:
Hot Air and Talking Points Memo
RELATED:
Lauren Effron / ABCNEWS:
Bloomberg Blasts NRA: ‘Connecticut Is Because of Some of Their Actions’ — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today placed partial blame on the National Rifle Association for the Connecticut elementary school massacre in which 20 children and six adults were gunned down last week.
Discussion:
CNN, ABCNEWS, The Hill, Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Connecting.the.Dots
Kevin Sullivan / Washington Post:
In Newtown, Nancy Lanza a subject of sympathy for some, anger for others
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Daily Kos and Shakesville
Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
Chuck Hagel Once Opposed Nominee Because He Was “Openly Aggressively Gay” — The man who would be secretary of defense also supported the ban on open military service for gays and lesbians. — Image by Ali Jarekji / Reuters — WASHINGTON — Former Sen. Chuck Hagel …
Discussion:
New York Times, Mediaite, Politico, Daily Kos, Post Politics, Weekly Standard, Capital J | JTA, National Review, Washington Post and Moe Lane
RELATED:
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
LGBT Rights Groups Call Hagel's Comments About Gay Nominee “Unacceptable”
Discussion:
Algemeiner.com, Towleroad News #gay and National Review
Katy Steinmetz / TIME:
The Cost of Romney's Government-Assisted Transition: $8.9 Million — One of the less scintillating milestones of the 2012 election was marked by the General Services Administration, when Mitt Romney became the first candidate to take advantage of the Presidential Transition Act of 2010.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, PostPartisan, Politico and The Hill
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Newt Gingrich On Mitt Romney: ‘I Would Have Probably Done Better’ Against Obama … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, Gingrich 2012, Newt Gingrich, Video, Mitt Romney 2012, Mitt Romney Gay Marriage, Newt Gingrich Gay Marriage, Newt Gingrich Immigration Reform, Newt Gingrich Mitt Romney, Rnc Review, Romney Media, Politics News
Discussion:
Truthdig, Guardian, Advocate, AMERICAblog, The Raw Story, BuzzFeed, Firedoglake, Right Wing Watch, GOP 12 and Towleroad News #gay
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George F. Will / Washington Post:
Mountain out of a molehill — The poet Carl Sandburg supposedly …
Discussion:
Daily Kos and The Atlantic Online
Lois Romano / Politico:
The disappearing independent — As Republicans sift through …
Discussion:
americanthinker.com
Peter Hamby / CNN:
FIRST ON CNN: Mark Sanford plans to run for Congress — Richmond, Virginia (CNN) - Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is launching a political comeback that may begin within days. — Sanford is planning to run for the Congressional seat he held almost a decade ago …
Discussion:
The Fix
RELATED:
Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Report: Ex-S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford to launch congressional bid
Discussion:
Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and The Gateway Pundit
CNN:
Jake Tapper joins CNN as Anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent — Tapper to Anchor New Weekday Program Beginning in 2013 — Accomplished Washington journalist Jake Tapper, who has served the last four years as ABC's senior White House correspondent and is a best-selling author …
RELATED:
David Ford / ABCNEWS:
ABC News Announces New Correspondent Assignments in Washington D.C. Bureau
Discussion:
Mediaite, Business Insider and Politico
Carl Bernstein / Guardian:
Why the US media ignored Murdoch's brazen bid to hijack the presidency | Carl Bernstein — Did the Washington Post and others underplay the story through fear of the News Corp chairman, or simply tin-eared judgment? — So now we have it: what appears to be hard, irrefutable evidence …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog and Politico, more at Mediagazer »
Michelangelo Signorile / The Huffington Post:
Barney Frank On Westboro Baptist Church, Prostitution And ‘Bigot’ Antonin Scalia … FOLLOW: — Barney Frank, Civil Rights, Prop 8, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Marriage, Antonin Scalia, Barney Frank Antonin Scalia, Congressman Barney Frank, Gay Politics, Proposition 8, Barney Frank Retirement …
Discussion:
The Raw Story and Weasel Zippers
David Edwards / The Raw Story:
Mosque arsonist tells court: ‘I only know what I hear on Fox News’ — An Indiana man convicted of setting fire to a mosque in Ohio told a judge on Wednesday that he committed the crimes because Fox News and conservative talk radio had convinced him that “most Muslims are terrorists.”
Discussion:
Sentinel-Tribune, Toledo Blade, News Corpse, Daily Kos, Little Green Footballs, Gawker and NewsHounds blog
David Wagner / The Atlantic Wire:
The 50 Worst Columns of 2012 — “Punditry is fundamentally useless,” Nate Silver recently declared. Now we don't think every hack with an inch count and an opinion is all that bad. But while sifting through opinion fodder every morning to find the day's five best columns …
Discussion:
The Agonist
Brian Thompson / nbcnewyork.com:
Cory Booker Will Run for U.S. Senate in 2014: Sources — Newark Mayor Cory Booker will not challenge New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in next year's gubernatorial race and will instead run for U.S. Senate in 2014, political sources familiar with his decision tell NBC 4 New York.
RELATED:
Star-Ledger Guest / NJ Voices Guest blog:
Cory Booker: I'll explore U.S. Senate run
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, msnbc.com, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos, About.com US Politics, New York Times, Moe Lane, CNN and Politico
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