memeorandum: Will Critical Race Theory Sink McAuliffe? (Mona Charen/The Bulwark)

11:05 AM ET, October 28, 2021

Top Items:

Biden crafts new spending package aimed at attracting all Democrats — The White House on Thursday unveiled a new $1.75 trillion package to overhaul the country's health-care, education, climate and tax laws, muscling through a slew of policy disagreements and internecine political feuds …

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, ABC News, NBC News, Washington Examiner, The Hill, HotAir, Reason, Insider, WWLP-TV, Crooks and Liars, Associated Press, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Skeptical Science, No Labels and Political Wire

Kate Sullivan / CNN:

Here's what's in the $1.75 trillion economic plan Biden will try to sell his party — (CNN)President Joe Biden on Thursday will make the case for a significantly scaled-back version of his massive economic plan to expand the social safety net hours before departing for his second major foreign trip as president.

Discussion: Insider

The White House:

President Biden Announces the Build Back Better Framework — Joe Biden believes that there's no greater economic engine in the world than the hard work and ingenuity of the American people. But for too long, the economy has worked great for those at the top, while working families continually get squeezed.

Discussion: Insider, USA Today and Missouri Independent

The White House:

Build Back Better Framework — The Build Back Better Act will create millions of good-paying jobs, enable more Americans to join and remain in the labor force, spur long-term growth, reduce price pressures and set the United States on course to meet its clean energy ambitions.

Discussion: UPI

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

The White House just announced a pretty good deal. But we're not there yet. — On a conference call with reporters Thursday morning, the White House announced the rough outlines of a framework on President Biden's Build Back Better agenda. — However, there were still so many unknowns …

Discussion: The Daily Beast and Deadline

Marc Rod / Jewish Insider:

Rep. Jim Clyburn sounds alarm about midterms amid Democratic Party divisions — 'I'm not too sure that Democrats have yet developed the will to win in 2022,' the third- ranking House Democrat warned — Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the third-highest ranking Democrat in the House …

Discussion: The Hill and IJR

Nicholas Wu / Politico:
Biden is coming to the Hill. Now what?

Discussion: CNBC, The Hill, CBS News, Iowa Capital Dispatch and New York Post

Washington Post:
Washington, we might have a reconciliation deal

Discussion: HotAir, The Daily Wire, RedState and NPR

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Biden launches rescue mission before Rome

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, HotAir, USA Today, Financial Times, Ace of Spades HQ, Bloomberg and Florida Politics

NBC News:
Biden expects to win full Democratic support for new proposal on sweeping spending package

Discussion: The Hill, The Guardian, Bloomberg and The Daily Beast

CNN:
Biden to detail core elements of $1.75 trillion economic and climate package in effort to jumpstart action on the Hill

Discussion: BuzzFeed News, Bloomberg, The Hill, Mercury News, Financial Times, The Daily Caller, National Review and Washington Times

Bloomberg:
Democrats Clash on Billionaire Tax as Neal Rejects Senate Plan

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, The Hill, Shore News Network, Insider, Chicago Sun-Times, ABC News, Reason and WINK NEWS

Axios:
The progressive promise — House progressives say they're willing to stop holding …

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Times, The Hill, Washington Examiner and Bloomberg

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Who is killing the billionaires' tax?

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, HotAir, Slate, Associated Press, Insider and New York Times

New York Times:
Hunting for Money, Democrats Rush to Rewrite Tax Code

Discussion: Bloomberg, HuffPost, Grist and Townhall

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Biden and Democrats will announce progress on a framework for their social policy and climate bill, but key details remain unresolved.

Discussion: HotAir

Politico:

Trump suggests he might drop a bomb on the Va. gov race. Then leaves. — Donald Trump's proclamation that he'd “soon” visit Virginia as the state's gubernatorial race comes to a close was so unexpected that few outside his inner orbit knew it was coming and the Republican candidate's own campaign was left searching for details.

Mona Charen / The Bulwark:

Will Critical Race Theory Sink McAuliffe? — Democrats need to tack to the middle on cultural issues. — There are two big reasons that Republican Glenn Youngkin shouldn't be within striking distance of Virginia's state house. The first is that Virginia has been trending Democratic over the past decade and a half.

Discussion: Townhall and HuffPost

David Siders / Politico:
Biden is getting dragged in the polls. That hasn't stopped Dems from sticking by him.

Discussion: Washington Post and Blue Virginia

Washington Post:

An army of poll watchers — many driven by GOP's ‘election integrity’ push — turns out across Virginia — Loudoun County General Registrar Judy Brown doesn't recall seeing many poll watchers during early voting last year — they usually turn up only on Election Day, primarily during presidential elections.

Stella Morabito / The Federalist: Virginia Democrats Claim ‘Free And Fair’ Election While Rigging It Again

Zach Montellaro / Politico:
Virginia counties shift election procedures to head off conspiracy theorists

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Nicole Winfield / Associated Press:

Vatican cancels live broadcast of Biden greeting pope — ROME (AP) — The Vatican on Thursday abruptly canceled the planned live broadcast of U.S. President Joe Biden meeting Pope Francis, the latest restriction to media coverage of the Holy See. — The Vatican press office provided …

Discussion: The Hill and WPTA21

Jeremy Barr / Washington Post:

Wall Street Journal publishes letter from Trump claiming ‘rigged’ election — The publication of the letter, citing baseless and debunked claims, was criticized for pushing the traditional boundaries of a letters-to-the-editor page — Twitter may be maintaining its ban on Donald Trump …

Discussion: HuffPost, CNN, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, Columbia Journalism Review, Alternet.org and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Donald J. Trump / Wall Street Journal:

President Trump Responds on Pennsylvania's 2020 Election — Donald Trump writes a letter to the editor. — In your editorial “The Election for Pennsylvania's High Court” (Oct. 25), you state the fact that a court wrongly said mail-in ballots could be counted after Election Day.

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Morning Shots, Second Nexus, Daily Kos, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Forbes, Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

Zachary Halaschak / Washington Examiner:

Economic growth slowed dramatically to 2% annual rate in third quarter — Gross domestic product grew at a 2% annual rate in the third quarter of 2021, the Bureau of Economic Analysis announced on Thursday morning. — The growth was slower than what forecasters expected and was well below …

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Free Beacon, New York Times and Associated Press

Sarah Chaney Cambon / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Economy Slowed in Third Quarter on Delta Surge, Supply Crunch

Discussion: HotAir, CNBC and Human Events

Wall Street Journal:

Four U.S. Intelligence Agencies Produced Extensive Reports on Afghanistan, but All Failed to Predict Kabul's Rapid Collapse — Summaries of intelligence reports show how agencies diverged over the strength of the Afghan government and military — WASHINGTON—Leading U.S. intelligence agencies failed …

Discussion: Forbes

Corky Siemaszko / NBC News:

Texas lawmaker says 850 books ranging from race to sexuality could cause ‘discomfort’ — Teachers union fires back: “What will Rep. Krause propose next? Burning books he and a handful of parents find objectionable?” — A Texas Republican lawmaker has drawn up a list of 850 books …

Discussion: LGBTQ Nation, Off the Kuff and Washington Post

Christian Schneider / The Bulwark:

The GOP Is the Theranos Party — “To try to do something which is inherently impossible is always a corrupting enterprise.” — If you listen to Elizabeth Holmes's attorney, the only thing the Theranos founder is guilty of, is being a dreamer. — “The villain the government just presented …

Doug Coxson / CambridgeToday.ca:

Books deemed ‘harmful to staff and students’ are being removed from region's public school libraries — WRDSB has developed a framework to identify and remove inappropriate or questionable texts — The Waterloo Region District School Board is undertaking a multi-year review …

Isabella Grullón Paz / New York Times:

Lawyer Who Won $9.5 Billion Settlement Against Chevron Reports to Prison — Steven Donziger, an environmental activist who won what is considered the largest ever lawsuit against an oil company, was found guilty of contempt of court in July. — Steven Donziger, the environmental …

C. Ryan Barber / Insider:

How a Trump official got ‘canceled’ for backing the president's election conspiracy theories — Jeffrey Clark faces inquiries into his work helping Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. — When the House subpoenaed him, Clark disappeared from the website of a conservative legal group.

Discussion: Politico and Alternet.org

Becket Adams / Washington Examiner:

Media to Chappelle and Sinema: Conform or else — If there's one thing the Left loves, it's deciding who is and isn't a real member of a historically marginalized group. … Comedian Dave Chappelle, for example, is out with another Netflix special that both praises and criticizes the transgender community.

Paul Sperry / RealClearInvestigations:

Clinton Campaign Spread Alfa Bank Ruse Throughout Obama Admin to Press Trump-Russia Probe — A Hillary Clinton campaign operation to plant a false rumor about Donald Trump setting up a “secret hotline” to Moscow through a Russian bank was much broader than known and involved multiple U.S. agencies …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:

Tucker Carlson Previews Batsh*t Special That Alleges Liberals Will Conduct ‘Patriot Purge’ and Suggests 1/6 Was a ‘False Flag’ — Tucker Carlson previewed a trailer on Wednesday for an upcoming three-part series for his Tucker Carlson Originals and it is absolutely wild.

Discussion: Insider, No More Mister Nice Blog, Joe.My.God. and Rolling Stone

Jonathan A. Greenblatt / Washington Post:

Antisemitism on the left is subtler than on the right. But it's getting worse. — The Sunrise Movement's statement last week showed its slow, steady rise among progressives. — The Sunrise Movement knows a lot about climate change. As the self-described “youth movement to stop climate change …

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Laina G. Stebbins / Michigan Advance:

As Kellogg strike stretches past 3 weeks, workers say they've noted lack of GOP lawmaker support — On a chilly October afternoon in Battle Creek, also known as the “cereal capital of the world,” a large crowd of union workers and supporters gathered Wednesday across from the Kellogg headquarters …