memeorandum: Snowe's lonely GOP heresy on health reform (Michael Gerson/Washington Post)

3:55 PM ET, October 21, 2009

Top Items:

Obama strategy: Marginalize critics — This is the first of a two-part look at the marginalization of the GOP. Tomorrow: GOP officials fear that the party's image is being defined increasingly by boisterous conservative commentators. — President Obama is working systematically …

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Dems spell GOP ‘S-P-A-M’ — Republican critics pilloried the White House for making it too easy to request e-mail updates about health reform, but it turns out the GOP could have spam problems of its own. — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) sent a tweet this morning from her @michelebachmann account saying …

Discussion: Minnesota Independent

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Alexander to Obama: No ‘enemies list’ — Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) accused the White House on Wednesday of “street-brawling” with opponents, and said the West Wing's strategy of freezing out opponents amounts to a latter-day “enemies list,” a reference to an infamous practice of President Richard Nixon.

Discussion: The Swamp, Gawker and Expose Obama

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Fate of White House Counsel Is in Doubt After Bruising Fights

Discussion: marbury

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:
Alexander to Obama: Don't Create An Enemies List

Discussion: TPM LiveWire

Keith Koffler / Roll Call:
Alexander to White House: Don't Create ‘Enemies List’

Discussion: The Note, Washington Monthly, Media Matters for America and Raw Story

Red Square / thepeoplescube.com:

Obama's War on Fox News Becomes a Quagmire — THE WHITE HOUSE - Despite the President's promise of a swift and decisive victory, Obama's War on Fox News has developed all signs of an unwinnable quagmire, making the White House even more isolated in its unilateral attempts to crush the growing media insurgency.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, QandO, JammieWearingFool and American Power

Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:

Jake Tapper can't figure out how Fox News is different from ABC News? — At Tuesday's White House briefing Tapper seemed completely baffled, and quite insulted, by the White House's claim that Fox News is not a real news organization. Tapper demanded WH spokesman Robert Gibbs back up the claim [emphasis added]:

Discussion: The Sideshow, Gawker, Kausfiles, The Impolitic, Democracy in America, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post and Liberal Values

Peter Wehner / Commentary:
It's the Media Intimidation, Stupid

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Corner on National …, NewsBusters.org and The Moderate Voice

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:

House Dems want Medicare for everyone — Say hello to “Medicare Part E” — as in, “Medicare for Everyone.” — House Democrats are looking at re-branding the public health insurance option as Medicare, an established government healthcare program that is better known than the public option.

Discussion: Liberal Values, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Business Channel, TalkLeft, The Politico, Politics Daily, Obsidian Wings, The Washington Independent, Weasel Zippers, The Mahablog, Taylor Marsh, MyDD, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Congress Matters and Fausta's Blog

The Huffington Post:
Public Option Within Eight Votes Of House Passage, Says Rep. Grijalva

Discussion: CNN, Open Left, Daily Kos, Glenn Thrush's Blog, TPMDC and HorsesAss.Org

USA Today:

Watchdog excoriates execution of TARP — A Treasury Department watchdog is warning that a key $700 billion bailout program has damaged the government's credibility, won't earn taxpayers all their money back and has done little to change a culture of recklessness on Wall Street.

Discussion: QandO, WILLisms.com, RedState and Say Anything

Stephen Labaton / New York Times:

U.S. to Order Steep Pay Cuts at Firms That Got Most Aid — WASHINGTON — Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in federal bailouts, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash …

Discussion: Felix Salmon and Clusterstock

Louis Uchitelle / New York Times:

Volcker Fails to Sell a Bank Strategy — Listen to a top economist in the Obama administration describe Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who endorsed Mr. Obama early in his election campaign and who stood by his side during the financial crisis.

Discussion: The Baseline Scenario, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Business Channel, CBS News, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, AmSpecBlog, DailyFinance, The Confluence, Dealscape, Felix Salmon, Prairie Weather, naked capitalism, Clusterstock, James Pethokoukis, The Big Picture, NPR Blogs and Newshoggers.com

Jennifer Ryan / Bloomberg:
King Suggests Splitting Up Largest Banks to Stem Risk

Discussion: The Big Picture

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Reid tells colleagues AMA led him astray, as ‘doc fix’ nears collapse — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has told colleagues that he was given bad information by the American Medical Association (AMA), which will result in a significant setback to Democrats' healthcare reform strategy.

Discussion: RedState

Washington Wire:
Senators Express Discomfort With Health Overhaul

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
Snowe's lonely GOP heresy on health reform

Discussion: Politics Daily, Ezra Klein, Weekly Standard and Commentary

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

NY-23: Scozzafava Photo-Op Goes Horribly Wrong — Michael Patrick Leahy, the Tea Party activist who has been going after NY-23 GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava with hammer and tongs, produces this photo of the candidate stumping today outside of one of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman's offices.

Discussion: Scorecard's Blog, AmSpecBlog and TPMDC

Steven Rattner / Fortune:

Why we had to get rid of GM's CEO — The man who led the auto bailout tells about his shock at the state of the carmaker's finances and management. … Everyone knew Detroit's reputation for insular, slow-moving cultures. Even by that low standard, I was shocked by the stunningly poor management …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Clusterstock, marbury and The Hill

The Politico:

Clinton helps Deeds — sort of — It's doubtful that any of the few hundred people who turned up for Democrat Creigh Deeds at a Northern Virginia campaign office needed a reminder that their candidate is trailing badly in his race for governor. — They got one anyway …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Washington Post, The Fix, The Swamp, Richmond Times-Dispatch, George's Bottom Line and The Note

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
McDonnell pulling away

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Real Clear Politics, Commentary and TPMDC

Daniel W. Drezner:

The convenient obsession with the dollar — Over at Politico, Eamon Javers notes an odd trend in the Drudge Report: … Drudge isn't the only one obsessed about the dollar. Last week, James Pethokoukis blogged the following for Reuters: … OK, let's be as plain as possible about this …

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel and MoJo Blog Posts

Eamon Javers / The Politico:
Zeroing in on the dollar's decline

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog

Caroline Binham / Bloomberg:

Goldman Sachs's Griffiths Says Inequality Helps All — Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) — A Goldman Sachs International adviser defended compensation in the finance industry as his company plans a near-record year for pay, saying the spending will help boost the economy.

Discussion: Think Progress, The Moderate Voice and Gawker

Felix Salmon:
How Paulson gave Goldman the Lehman heads-up

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Raw Story, MoJo Blog Posts, Marginal Revolution and MoJo Sections

Wall Street Journal:

The GOP's New York Fiasco — Republicans try to lose a House seat. — Printer — Friendly — Republicans are telling themselves that a political wave is building that could carry them to big election gains next year. Judging by their performance so far in a special election in New York …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Left Coast Rebel, The Fix, The Other McCain, Commentary, AmSpecBlog, American Spectator and Erick's blog

Zaid Jilani / Think Progress:

Franken Schools Right-Wing Analyst On Medical Bankruptcies In Countries With Universal Care: 'It's Zero' — Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “Medical Debt: Can Bankruptcy Reform Facilitate a Fresh Start.” The hearing examined medical bankruptcies in America …

Discussion: Providence Journal, Minnesota Independent and The Political Carnival

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:

San Francisco Alters When Police Must Report Immigrants — SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco board of supervisors voted Tuesday to overturn a city policy that has been at the center of a national debate over offering illegal immigrants sanctuary. — The policy, ordered by Mayor Gavin Newsom …

Discussion: The Washington Independent, ImmigrationProf Blog, 24Ahead and Immigration Chronicles

Philip Boroff / Bloomberg:

Carnegie Hall Stagehand Moving Props Makes $530,044 — Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) — After you practice for years and get to Carnegie Hall, it's almost better to move music stands than actually play the piano. — Depending on wattage, a star pianist can receive $20,000 a night at the 118-year-old hall …

Discussion: Culture Monster, Clusterstock, Fausta's Blog, Lean Left, The Corner on National …, Gothamist, ArtsBeat and MoJo Blog Posts

Ezra Klein:

Will lower health-care costs mean higher wages? — As we went over yesterday, the theory of the excise tax is that employers will buy less costly health-care plans and put the money they save into wages. Most of you had one question in response to that, which was well expressed …

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Atlantic Business Channel, Emptywheel and Real Time Economics

Moe Tkacik / New York Magazine:

The Financial-Crisis Lit Cheat Sheet — This week marks the official publication of the longest, most comprehensive, and highest-priced ($32.95!) work of Crisis Lit yet, New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin's epic Too Big to Fail, which clocks in at a whopping 539 pages (minus the index).

Discussion: Clusterstock, The Awl and Dealbreaker

James O'Keefe / Big Government:

BREAKING** ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in Philadelphia, PA Part I — *UPDATE Below* — Alinsky Rule #1: “Power isn't only what you have, it's what the enemy thinks you have.” — [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Hot Air and Wizbang

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Emanuel at the Epicenter: Then and Now — WASHINGTON — When Heath Shuler, the former Washington Redskins quarterback, was thinking about running for Congress in 2006, he found he had a new best friend. Every time the phone rang, it seemed, it was Rahm Emanuel or someone Mr. Emanuel had told to call.

Discussion: Firedoglake and Ben Smith's Blog