memeorandum: Hope Springs Eternal (Newsweek)

9:35 AM ET, October 26, 2009

Top Items:

Dan Pfeiffer / White House.gov Blog Feed:

The Public Option: Rumor Check — A rumor is making the rounds that the White House and Senator Reid are pursuing different strategies on the public option. Those rumors are absolutely false. — In his September 9th address to Congress, President Obama made clear that he supports …

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Politico, Open Left, Raw Story, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, Political Punch, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Page, AMERICAblog News, Jack & Jill Politics, DownWithTyranny! and The Hill

Newsweek:

Obama's pointless bipartisanship. — From the magazine issue dated Nov 2, 2009 — “There she is, the Party of One!” cried Sen. Barbara Mikulski when she saw Sen. Olympia Snowe outside the Senate chamber last week. Mikulski, in a wheel-chair because of a broken ankle, rolled closer to the object of her praise.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Wall Street Journal:

Senate on Verge of Health Bill — Measure With Stiffer Penalties on Employers and Public Plan Could Come This Week — WASHINGTON — Top Senate Democrats are close to finalizing their health bill and could unveil a measure as soon as early this week that would include stiffer penalties …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, Washington Post, The Politico, USA Today, Washington Times, NPR Blogs, Ben Smith's Blog and Associated Press

CNN:
Aide: Reid likely to include public option in Senate health care bill

Discussion: Washington Monthly and ABCNEWS

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Senate Dems to Obama: Um, a Little Help Here?

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Roll Call, Reno and Its Discontents, Taylor Marsh, Talking Points Memo, Another Black Conservative and TalkLeft

Chris Frates / The Politico: Chamber could back Cadillac tax …

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WHITE HOUSE ‘COMPLETELY SUPPORTS’ REID'S EFFORTS. …

Discussion: Think Progress, The Mahablog and The Politico

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Dems push for benefits to start by 2010

Discussion: The Note

Joseph Berger / New York Times:
Democrats Are Optimistic That Public Option Will Be Approved

Discussion: CNN, Reuters, Politics Daily and The Moderate Voice

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group — Compared with 2008, more Americans “conservative” in general, and on issues — PRINCETON, NJ — Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, USS Neverdock, The Political Carnival and Gateway Pundit

Washington Post:

U.S. tested 2 Afghan scenarios in war game — Obama and advisers evaluating exercise that used different troop levels — The Pentagon's top military officer oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Guardian, ATTACKERMAN, The Washington Independent and Associated Press

Stephen Labaton / New York Times:

U.S. Considers Reining In ‘Too Big to Fail’ Institutions — WASHINGTON — Congress and the Obama administration are about to take up one of the most fundamental issues stemming from the near collapse of the financial system last year — how to deal with institutions that are so big …

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Hill, The Caucus and The Page

Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:

Samuelson on the fake debate on the public health plan — In the health-care debate, the “public plan” is all things to all people. For supporters, it would discipline greedy private insurers and make health-care coverage affordable. For detractors, it's a way station on the path …

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Fred Hiatt / Washington Post:

Hiatt on the public option — Talk cloaks political inaction — The “public option” is dangerous not for what it might do but for what it allows the politicians not to do. — From the start, the Obama administration has said that health-care reform has to make health care both more accessible and less costly .

Discussion: Commentary and Obsidian Wings

Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily:

Newt Gingrich Says He May Run for President in 2012 — Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and perennial big thinker in the Republican party, said this morning that he will likely run for president in 2012 if he and his wife, Callista, assess the field of candidates in 2011 and feel “a requirement as citizens that we run.”

Discussion: The Reaction, No More Mister Nice Blog, Another Black Conservative, The Moderate Voice, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Whiskey Fire and And So it Goes in Shreveport

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

After Reform Passes — So, how well will health reform work after it passes? — There's a part of me that can't believe I'm asking that question. After all, serious health reform has long seemed like an impossible dream. And it could yet go all wrong.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

John O'Connor / The State:

EXCLUSIVE: How Sanford unplugged — Second-term focus was not on SC, records show — Gov. Mark Sanford typically packed more than a dozen events into his daily schedule when he took office in 2003 - sometimes jumping from meetings about tort reform, cutting state income taxes …

Discussion: The Fix

Judy L. Thomas / Kansas City Star:

Online auction to raise funds in Scott Roeder case — An Army of God manual. A prison cookbook compiled by a woman doing time for abortion clinic bombings and arsons. An autographed bullhorn. — These are among the items that abortion foes plan to auction on eBay and other Web sites …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

GottaLaff / The Political Carnival:
$$ for Dr. Tiller's assassin- For sale: Abortion clinic-bomber's prison cookbook

Discussion: Jesus' General

New York Post:

Andy warns Rudy: Psst! I'm running — Andrew Cuomo has secretly notified Rudy Giuliani that he will run for governor next year, The Post has learned. — The confidential message, conveyed through intermediaries, was delivered to Giuliani recently and is expected to play a central role …

Discussion: New York Magazine and The Hill

Michael Grabell / ProPublica:

Stimulus Contracts Go to Companies Under Criminal Investigation — A version of this story was co-published with USA Today. — The Department of Defense awarded nearly $30 million in stimulus contracts to six companies while they were under federal criminal investigation on suspicion of defrauding the government.

Discussion: USA Today

Ian Urbina / New York Times:

Recession Drives Surge in Youth Runaways — MEDFORD, Ore. — Dressed in soaked green pajamas, Betty Snyder, 14, huddled under a cold drizzle at the city park as several older boys decided what to do with her. — Betty said she had run away from home a week earlier after a violent argument with her mother.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Andrew North / BBC:

Afghan protest over ‘burnt Koran’ — There have been protests in the Afghan capital, Kabul, over allegations that foreign troops in the country burnt a copy of the Koran. — Hundreds of Kabul University students led the latest protest, burning an effigy of US President Barack Obama.