memeorandum: A Double Shot of Misunderstanding (Paul Krugman)

4:15 PM ET, December 28, 2012

Top Items:

Jonathan Allen / Politico:

Why they want to go over the cliff — Washington's Democratic and Republican power brokers have sent the message to the nation that going over the fiscal cliff is a worst-case scenario. But they're not acting that way, not at all. — Instead, many of them have calculated that it's better …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, Washington Post, Guardian, Salon, AMERICAblog, The Week, Business Insider, Politicker, neo-neocon, Connecting.the.Dots, The Caucus and Taylor Marsh

New York Times:

Narrower Tax Deal Floated as Lawmakers Sit With Obama — WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders prepared for what was looming as a make-or-break White House meeting on the fiscal crisis Friday afternoon as top aides said they were exploring a scaled-back proposal that would prevent tax increases on household income of $400,000 or below.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Balloon Juice

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Optimism for ‘fiscal cliff’ agreement grows ahead of White House meeting — Senators are growing more optimistic of a deal to avoid part of the fiscal cliff as Senate Republican Mitch McConnell (Ky.) works with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and President Obama to craft a last-minute deal.

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Manu Raju / Politico:

Obama to demand up-or-down vote on fiscal cliff proposal — A last-minute deal at Friday's White House meeting to avert the fiscal cliff appears highly unlikely, according to senior officials on both sides, with President Barack Obama expected to renew his demands for a plan to raise taxes on families who earn more than $250,000.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Steven T. Dennis / Roll Call:
Pessimism Abounds as White House Calls Cliff Meeting

Discussion: The Other McCain

Chelsea Karnash / CBS Philly:

3 Officers Wounded After Suspect Opens Fire At Gloucester Township Police Station — CLEMENTON, NJ (CBS) — Police and rescue crews responded to the Gloucester County Municipal Building on Chews Landing Road this morning after shots were fired inside the Gloucester Township police station.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, The Raw Story, Gawker and The Hinterland Gazette

WPVI-TV:
3 officers injured, gunman dead after NJ police station shooting

Discussion: WFTS and ABCNEWS

Paul Krugman:

A Double Shot of Misunderstanding — One of the enduring fantasies of the pundit class - most dramatically demonstrated by the ludicrous Politico piece on What Insiders Know - is that all we need to fix our economic problems is to get the great and the good together and bypass those pesky elected officials.

Discussion: Politico, Mother Jones, Balloon Juice, Business Insider, The Week and Wonkblog, more at Mediagazer »

Dallas Morning News:

Exclusive: David Dewhurst campaign says aide stole at least $600,000 — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (front), receiving an endorsement during his U.S. Senate campaign from former rival Craig James, had hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from his state political accounts by an aide, his campaign says.

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Fix, Ballot Box and Post Politics

Sky News:

Gang-Rape In India: Teen Victim Kills Herself — Video: Women mourn the death of the teenager — A 17-year-old Indian girl who was allegedly gang-raped killed herself after police pressured her to drop the case and marry one of her attackers, police and a relative said on Thursday.

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, JONATHAN TURLEY and Gawker

Burgess Everett / Politico:

GOP senators propose $1 trillion debt ceiling deal — A pair of GOP senators, confident Congress will head off the tax hikes set to kick in within days, are already turning their attention to entitlements and the debt ceiling. — Tennessee Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander pitched …

Discussion: The National Memo

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

GOP and Feinstein join to fulfill Obama's demand for renewed warrantless eavesdropping | Glenn Greenwald — The California Democrat's disgusting rhetoric recalls the worst of Dick Cheney while advancing Obama's agenda — To this day, many people identify mid-2008 as the time they realized …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Wired, Firedoglake, Electronic Frontier Foundation, msnbc.com and The Daily Caller

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Senate approves bill to reauthorize foreign surveillance programs

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Maddow Blog and Hit & Run

Trevor Timm / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Why We Should All Care About Today's Senate Vote on the FISA Amendments Act, the Warrantless Domestic Spying Bill

Discussion: Cato Institute, Techdirt, Hit & Run, The Raw Story, The Atlantic Online, The Verge and TechCrunch

Gregory L. White / Wall Street Journal:

Putin Signs Ban on U.S. Adoptions — Children at an orphanage in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. A new law would ban Americans from adopting Russians. — MOSCOW—President Vladimir Putin signed a bill Friday banning U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children, raising tensions with Washington …

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, LifeNews.com, Power Line and New York Times

CNN:
Russia's Putin signs anti-U.S. adoption bill

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation and The Gateway Pundit

Jason Volentine / KASW-TV:

Sheriff Arpaio sending armed posse to protect schools — PHOENIX — Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday that he plans to deploy his armed volunteer posse to protect Valley schools from the kind of violence that happened in the Connecticut shooting tragedy.

Discussion: Mediaite and The National Memo

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

The logic of House GOP intransigence — The unruly House Republicans who emasculated Speaker John Boehner as the country flirts with fiscal havoc might've seemed like they were doing their best “Lord of the Flies” rendition. — But last week's mayhem had a certain logic — the logic of politicians wanting to keep their jobs.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Washington Examiner, CNN, Wake up America, Guardian and Daily Kos

Matt Schudel / Washington Post:

Retired Gen. Schwarzkopf dies at 78 — H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the four-star Army general who led allied forces to a stunningly quick and decisive victory over Saddam Hussein's Iraqi military in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and who became the most celebrated U.S. military hero of his generation, died Thursday in Tampa.

Discussion: neo-neocon, The Spectacle Blog, Gawker and Foreign Policy

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Commander in Gulf War, Dies at 78

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Week, americanthinker.com, Crooks and Liars, Twitchy and National Review

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Summoned Back to Work, Senators Chafe at Inaction — WASHINGTON — Senators bid hasty goodbyes to families, donned ties and pantsuits in lieu of sweat pants and Christmas sweaters and one by one returned to the Capitol on Thursday to begin the business of doing nothing in particular.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Monthly and ABCNEWS

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

High-Capacity Magazines Bill To Be Introduced By Democrats On First Day Of Congressional Session … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Gun Control, Video, Politics News, Assault Weapons, Assault Weapons Ban, Democrats Gun Control, Gun Control Bills, Gun Control Democrats, Gun Control Laws …

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Hot Air

Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:

112th Congress Set To Become Most Unproductive Since 1940s … REACT: — FOLLOW: — 112th Congress, Harry Reid , John Boehner, Republican Party, Congress Productivity, Olympia Snowe, Bipartisanship, Congress Unproductive, Fiscal Cliff, Unproductive Congress, Politics News

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Mediaite, The Reaction and Gawker

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Senate Republicans refuse to confirm Kerry until Hillary testifies about Benghazi — Isn't this pushing a jinx? If Senate Republicans insist on having Hillary Clinton testify before allowing John Kerry's confirmation to proceed, aren't they risking a torn ACL or turf toe for the outgoing Secretary of State?

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Pirate's Cove

Chicago Tribune:

Grim milestone: Austin shooting apparently 500th homicide in Chicago — Gave Bates smiled through tears as she swiped her hand across her phone, flipping through pictures of her cousin playing around and striking goofy poses. — “He was a lot of fun, very good at imitating people,” Bates said of Nathaniel T. Jackson, 40.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Shot in the Dark

CBS News:

Bush aide: “Please put the harps back in the closet” — The chief of staff to former Pres. George H.W. Bush, who is in intensive care at Houston's Methodist Hospital, told Bush family and friends in an email today that the former president “would ask me to tell you to please put the harps back in the closet …

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Post Politics, Mediaite and Politico