memeorandum: Democrats call Issa's Obamacare road show a ‘destructive’ political act (Dana Davidsen/CNN)

3:45 PM ET, November 22, 2013

Top Items:

The Democrats' naked power grab — “Congress is broken,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday before holding a party-line vote that disposed of rules that have guided and protected the chamber since 1789. — If Congress wasn't broken before, it certainly is now.

John Dickerson / Slate:

The Old Senate Was Already Dead — Passing filibuster reform just made it official. — If West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd were still in the Senate, it would be fascinating to see which side of the recent filibuster debate he would take. Byrd was a defender of Senate traditions …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, Booman Tribune and The Plum Line

New York Times:

Democracy Returns to the Senate — For five years, Senate Republicans have refused to allow confirmation votes on dozens of perfectly qualified candidates nominated by President Obama for government positions. They tried to nullify entire federal agencies by denying them leaders.

Mother Jones:

3 Charts Explain Why Democrats Went Nuclear on the Filibuster — No one has completely clean hands when it comes to filibusters in the Senate. Democrats have used them and Republicans have used them. But hoo boy, Republicans sure have used them more. That's why Democrats went nuclear on Thursday.

Discussion: Liberaland

John Fund / National Review:
Reid's Law — It may sound like congressional “inside baseball …

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Senate's filibuster rule change should help Obama achieve key second-term priorities

Discussion: Wonkblog, PostPartisan, Democracy in America, The Plum Line, The Daily Caller, The BLT, NBCNews, Booman Tribune and New York Times

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Norm Ornstein: Republicans Forced Reid's Hand On The Nuclear Option

Discussion: Stan Collender's Capital Gains …, Slate, The Week, Mother Jones, Washington Center …, Wonkblog, Balloon Juice, The Plum Line, ABC News, The Verge, American Prospect, The Other McCain and The Impolitic

Patterico's Pontifications:
Hysterical Hypocrisy on Filibusters from the New York Times

Discussion: National Review, Power Line, Hot Air and New York Times

Brian Beutler / Salon:
Reid goes nuclear — now bring on the liberal activist judges!

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Week, Liberaland, The Plum Line, Wonkblog, The Daily Beast, PostPartisan, The Dish and The Atlantic Online

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

‘FLASH PRESIDENT DEAD’: How News Of The JFK Assassination Broke In Real Time — To watch the coverage of the Kennedy assassination 50 years later is to see just how raw and unformed so many parts of the news media that we now take for granted were, and to marvel at the ways in which our technology …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice and Poynter

Reuters:

On 50th anniversary of JFK death, Dallas holds first memorial — (Reuters) - Dallas will observe the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination with its first official memorial on Friday, as the rest of the nation pauses to remember the event that changed history.

Discussion: his vorpal sword, The Gateway Pundit, The Week and Patterico's Pontifications

Merriman Smith / UPI:
Eyewitness account of John F. Kennedy assassination

Discussion: The Dish

Adam Clymer / New York Times:
‘Kennedy Has Been Shot’: Memories From Nov. 22, 1963

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay

CNN:
CNN Poll: JFK tops presidential rankings for last 50 years

Discussion: NBCNews, Los Angeles Times, The Democratic Daily and Talking Points Memo

Lauren McGaughy / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Mary Landrieu approval ratings drop, Bobby Jindal's rise in latest polling data — U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's approval rating dropped and Gov. Bobby Jindal's rose over the last six months, according to polling data released Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013 from Southern Media & Opinion Research.

Discussion: National Review and Mock Paper Scissors

Emily Schultheis / Politico:
Bill Cassidy staffer tweets Mary Landrieu-Mussolini picture

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and PoliticusUSA

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:
Rep. Cassidy's Campaign Manager Tweets Photo Of ‘MussoLandrieu’

Discussion: FIRST DRAFT

Fox News:

Round 2 of ObamaCare enrollment to be delayed until after 2014 midterms — The Obama administration plans to delay the start of next year's ObamaCare enrollment period, a move pitched as a way to give consumers and insurance companies more time to study their options …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Spectator, Wonkblog, Fox News Insider, Scared Monkeys and The Gateway Pundit

Susan Levine / Politico:
HHS to delay 2015 Obamacare enrollment by a month

Discussion: Hot Air and National Review

Scott Walker / Wall Street Journal:

How to Win the Obama-Walker Voters — If conservative principles are the problem, then why are so many Republicans in office who campaigned on them? — In the wake of the 2012 elections, Republicans are being warned once again that they need to compromise their principles to win at the ballot box.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Right Turn, New York Times and First Read

Charles Babington / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Wisconsin's Gov. Walker hopes to split Chris Christie, tea partyers, in GOP presidential hunt

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Expanding Social Security — For many years there has been one overwhelming rule for people who wanted to be considered serious inside the Beltway. It was this: You must declare your willingness to cut Social Security in the name of “entitlement reform.” It wasn't really about the numbers …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Liberaland, Business Insider, susiemadrak.com and Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire

kff.org:

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: November 2013 — The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds the public's views souring on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in November, with about half having an unfavorable view of the law and a third having a favorable view, a gap that was seen only once before …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hot Air, Post Politics, The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

Timothy Egan / New York Times:

The South's New Lost Cause — Before he was immortalized for saving the union, freeing the slaves and giving the best political speech in American history, Abraham Lincoln was just an unpopular new president handed a colossal crisis. Elected with 39.7 percent of the vote, Lincoln told a big lie in his inaugural address of 1861.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

Dual Attacks Take On Voting Restriction Efforts In Arizona, Kansas — Well, that didn't take long. — Just weeks after Kansas and Arizona made clear their intentions to move ahead with two-tier voting systems, legal efforts are being mounted to fight those plans.

Discussion: ACLU and Feeds

Martha T. Moore / Associated Press:
ACLU sues Kansas over voter registration requirements

Discussion: Feeds

ThinkProgress:

Levitating Train Between DC And NYC Would Leave The Rest Of America Behind — Many Americans have long nursed a pipe dream of one day riding a super-high-speed train just like the engineering marvels that have cropped up in Japan, China, and Europe. With a newly publicized offer from Japan …

Discussion: Slate and Eschaton

Brianna Keilar / CNN:

Key part of HeathCare.gov passed test, but Anonymous Shopper shelved anyway — Washington (CNN) — When the troubled federal health care website came online, the key “Anonymous Shopper” function was nowhere to be found — even though it passed a key test almost two weeks before HealthCare.gov launched.

Discussion: Hit & Run, National Review, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers

Dana Davidsen / CNN:

Democrats call Issa's Obamacare road show a ‘destructive’ political act — (CNN) - The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday accused the panel's chairman of engaging in a “destructive political exercise” by launching a series of hearings on the road meant …

Discussion: Politico