Top Items:
Norm Ornstein / NationalJournal.com:
Buck Stops With Obama on Rocky Rollout of Health Care Plan — The HealthCare.gov debacle has been thoroughly dissected so far by America's best health journalists and policy analysts. To be sure, every major rollout of a new or changed social policy, including Medicare itself, is rough and takes weeks or months to resolve.
Discussion:
Washington Wire and First Read
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Todd S. Purdum / Politico:
Trash-talking the president — No matter how many times you've been there, the White House is a pretty awesome place, conferring on every president what “The West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin once called “the single greatest home-court advantage in the modern world.”
Discussion:
Power Line, Weasel Zippers and National Review
Josh Lederman / Associated Press:
Frustrated Dems lament damage from website bugs
Frustrated Dems lament damage from website bugs
Discussion:
CNN, his vorpal sword, The Hill, Yahoo! News, Talking Points Memo and American Power
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
White House may ‘align’ Obamacare signup dates
White House may ‘align’ Obamacare signup dates
Discussion:
The Hill, Office of the West … and CNN
Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama to push House on immigration reform
Mario Trujillo / The Hill:
Two House Dems call for firings over healthcare rollout
Two House Dems call for firings over healthcare rollout
Discussion:
Connecting.the.Dots, Hot Air, CNN and Reuters
Rebecca Shabad / The Hill:
ObamaCare website contractors blame Obama administration — Principal contractors hired to build the ObamaCare website HealthCare.gov are hitting back at the Obama administration for the site's overwhelming technical problems. — The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) …
Discussion:
The Mahablog and Hot Air
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Sandhya Somashekhar / Washington Post:
Americans will have an extra six weeks to buy health coverage before facing penalty — The Obama administration said Wednesday night that it will give Americans who buy health insurance through new online marketplaces an extra six weeks to obtain coverage before they risk a penalty.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, americanthinker.com and Daily Kos
Washington Post:
Here's how the White House just tweaked Obamacare — The Obama administration confirmed to The Washington Post a little bit ago that it is indeed tweaking the way the individual mandate works as to not penalize anyone who purchases coverage during this first open enrollment period.
Discussion:
Wonkblog, National Review, Right Wing News, The Week, PoliticusUSA, Liberaland and Weasel Zippers
Robert Pear / New York Times:
Contractors Assign Blame, but Admit No Faults of Their Own, in Health Site
Contractors Assign Blame, but Admit No Faults of Their Own, in Health Site
Discussion:
First Read
Jen Wieczner / MarketWatch:
Obamacare mandate may be delayed
Obamacare mandate may be delayed
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The Week, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, National Review, Moe Lane, VodkaPundit and msnbc.com
Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Ted Cruz's Wife Confirms He's Covered Under Her Blue-Chip Health Plan — The wife of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who led a vocal effort to defund the Affordable Care Act, confirmed in a New York Times interview published Wednesday that the senator receives health care coverage through her blue-chip employer insurance plan.
Discussion:
Liberaland
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Ashley Parker / New York Times:
A Wife Committed to Cruz's Ideals, but a Study in Contrasts to Him — WASHINGTON — At first glance, Senator Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi Nelson Cruz, seems to be just the sort of person the Tea Party supporters who celebrate her husband's anti-establishment positions love to hate.
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette and Washington Post
New York Times:
Republicans, Sensing Weakness in Health Law Rollout, Switch Tactics — WASHINGTON — Emboldened by the intense public criticism surrounding the rollout of the online insurance exchange, Republicans in Congress are refocusing their efforts from denying funds for the health care law to investigating it.
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Little Green Footballs, Politico, Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo
Megan McArdle / Bloomberg:
Why Obamacare Is Like Three Mile Island — I've been blogging a lot over the past week or so about the risk of an insurance market “death spiral” — where young people stay away, so the only people buying insurance are old and sick, causing the cost of insurance to rise over time and pushing ever …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, National Review, AEIdeas and PostPartisan
Beth Reinhard / NationalJournal.com:
Inside the Messy but Moneyed Republican Plan to Neutralize the Tea Party — The business-friendly GOP establishment is putting its cash to work in skirmishes across the country that might reshape the 2014 elections. — It took a tea party insurrection that disabled the federal government …
Discussion:
ABC News, Taegan Goddard's … and First Read
Politico:
GOP reconsiders Obamacare tactics — Some Republicans say a unified focus on spending levels could prove to be the strongest ground on which to fight. Democrats loathe sequester-level spending — their 2014 budget totaled $1.058 trillion. If all Republicans demand a clean government funding bill …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Taegan Goddard's …
John G. Taft / New York Times:
The Cry of the True Republican — I AM a genetic Republican. — Five generations of Tafts have served our nation as unwaveringly stalwart Republicans, from Alphonso Taft, who served as attorney general in the late 19th century, through William Howard Taft, who not only was the only person …
Discussion:
The Week, NewsBusters, The Star-Ledger Editorial Page, Crooked Timber and Hit & Run
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Andrew Sullivan / The Dish:
The Decline And Fall Of Christianism
The Decline And Fall Of Christianism
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune and ProfessorBainbridge.com
New York Times:
Health Care Law Fails to Lower Prices for Rural Areas — As technical failures bedevil the rollout of President Obama's health care law, evidence is emerging that one of the program's loftiest goals — to encourage competition among insurers in an effort to keep costs low — is falling short for many rural Americans.
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler and Althouse
RELATED:
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Millions of Americans Are Losing Their Health Plans Because of Obamacare
Millions of Americans Are Losing Their Health Plans Because of Obamacare
Discussion:
americanthinker.com, Infowars, Center for American Progress, “The Lid”, Hot Air and Guardian
EndPlay / WIVB-TV:
Hillary Clinton speaks at UB, is heckled … AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) - Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke to a large crowd at the University at Buffalo Wednesday night, as part of the university's Distinguished Speaker Series.
Discussion:
Politico, Talking Points Memo, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite and RealClearPolitics Video Log
Jeane MacIntosh / New York Post:
Obama wants Marines to wear ‘girly’ hats — A change to the Marine Corps' uniform hats could take the hard-nosed Leathernecks from the Halls of Montezuma to the shops of Christopher Street. — Thanks to a plan by President Obama to create a “unisex” look for the Corps …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, No More Mister Nice Blog and National Review
Laura Barron-Lopez / E2-Wire:
GOP bill would prevent national park closures in next shutdown — Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) has introduced legislation that would prevent national park closures during any future government shutdown. — The bill, titled the “Provide Access and Retain Continuity Act” (PARC) …
Discussion:
Congressman Chris Stewart
David Nather / Reuters:
Obamacare hearings: Oversight or heckling? — There's congressional oversight that answers everyone's most urgent questions - and then there's just heckling from the partisan peanut gallery. — Over the next few weeks, Republicans are going to have to decide which path they're …
Discussion:
CNN and First Read
Daniel Henninger / Wall Street Journal:
Henninger: Obama's Credibility Is Melting — Here and abroad, Obama's partners are concluding they cannot trust him.
Washington Post:
Secret memos reveal explicit nature of U.S., Pakistan agreement on drones — Despite repeatedly denouncing the CIA's drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan's government have for years secretly endorsed the program and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts …
Discussion:
emptywheel, New York Times, Hot Air and The Raw Story