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1:40 PM ET, December 15, 2009

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 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Lieberman Gets Ex-Party to Shift on Health Plan  —  WASHINGTON — Just the thought of Joseph I. Lieberman makes some Democrats want to spit nails these days.  But Mr. Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, is not the least troubled by his status as Capitol Hill's master infuriator …
RELATED:
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Why Democrats push health care, even if it kills them  —  To some observers, the Democrats' race to pass national health care seems irrational — even suicidal.  Don't party leaders understand how much the public opposes the bills currently on the table?  Don't they know that voters are likely …
Ezra Klein:
Is the Senate health-care reform bill still worth passing?  —  “Insurance companies win,” Markos Moulitsas tweeted last night.  “Time to kill this monstrosity coming out of the Senate.”  —  This was, for progressives, a frustrating vote.  But the flip side of it being morally unconscionable …
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
What Public Option Supporters Won  —  The public option is dead this morning.  And this time, it isn't coming back to life.  The Senate isn't going to include any version of the idea in its bill.  And while the House can still demand a public option in conference, nobody I know expects the House to prevail.
Discussion: TalkLeft and Swampland
The Politico:
Obama: ‘Last chance’ for reform  —  In a provocative argument designed to rescue his foundering health care plan, President Barack Obama will warn Senate Democrats in a White House meeting Tuesday that this is the “last chance” to pass comprehensive reform.  —  Obama will contend that if it fails …
Ezra Klein:
The death of the public option  —  The public option died tonight.  So, it seems, did its eager successor, the Medicare buy-in.  Harry Reid buried the ideas at a somber meeting of the Senate Democratic Caucus.  “Could it have been better?” asked Sen. Jay Rockefeller.  “Yeah.
Ta-Nehisi Coates:
On Lieberman's Chairmanship  —  Megan says the Dems in the Senate …
Discussion: The Daily Dish
Paul Starr / American Prospect:   Deal or Die on Health Care
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Lieberman: Emerging Senate health bill ‘an historic achievement’
Discussion: The Politico
Dominic Lawson / Times of London:
Inconvenient truth for Al Gore as his North Pole sums don't add up  —  Hannah Devlin, Ben Webster, Philippe Naughton in Copenhagen  —  There are many kinds of truth.  Al Gore was poleaxed by an inconvenient one yesterday.  —  The former US Vice-President, who became an unlikely figurehead …
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Gore Derangement Syndrome  —  Al Gore, speaking at Copenhagen, cited the work of Dr Wieslav Maslowki to the effect that “there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.”
The Note:
Liberals Target Rahm Emanuel in New TV Ad  —  ABC News' David Chalian Reports:  —  In addition to targeting key moderate and liberal Democrats, liberal activists now have White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in their sights.  —  The new anti-Emanuel campaign comes on the heels …
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Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Rahm To Reid: Give Lieberman What He Wants
Ezra Klein:
What should Rahm have done?  —  Matt Yglesias thinks reports …
Discussion: TalkLeft
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Ben Nelson Still Hedging on Health Reform
Discussion: Wonk Room and Washington Post
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Herseth Sandlin's Standing  —  The Democratic brand in South Dakota is not very strong right now, and that has Stephanie Herseth Sandlin looking at her toughest fight for reelection since 2004 next year despite the fact that she herself is pretty popular.  —  52% of voters in the state disapprove …
Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:
Putting Obama on Hold, in a Hint of Who's Boss  —  President Obama didn't exactly look thrilled as he stared at the Polycom speakerphone in front of him.  “Well, I appreciate you guys calling in,” he began the meeting at the White House with Wall Street's top brass on Monday.
Gerry Tuoti / The Taunton Gazette News RSS:
Taunton second-grader suspended over drawing of Jesus  —  A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.  —  The father said he got …
David Brooks / New York Times:
Obama's Christian Realism  —  If you were graduating from Princeton in the first part of the 20th century, you probably heard the university president, John Hibben, deliver one of his commencement addresses.  Hibben's running theme, which was common at that time, was that each person is part angel, part devil.
Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
Eugene Robinson on Sarah Palin's flip-flop on climate change  —  Sarah Palin is such a cold-eyed skeptic about the Copenhagen summit on climate change that it's no surprise she would call on President Obama not to attend.  After all, Obama might join other leaders in acknowledging that warming is a “global challenge.”
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Why Progressives Are Bats**t Crazy to Oppose the Senate Bill  —  Pick your subheadline:  —  a) It's time to stop being polite and start getting real.  —  b) Here's hoping a picture is worth 1,000 words.  —  Any questions?  —  OK, I imagine that there will be a few.  Here's how I came up with these numbers.
Igor / Think Progress:
Franken: Republicans 'haven't read the bill and are not very familiar with it.'  —  This afternoon, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) openly challenged Sen. John Thune (R-SD)'s claim that the Senate health care bill does not offer benefits until 2014.  “We are entitled to our own opinions; we are not entitled to our own facts,” Franken asserted.
RELATED:
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Franken feuds with GOP's No. 4
Washington Post:
House Democrats lose fourth member to retirement  —  Caucus privately expresses concern about implications  —  House Democrats got a jolt Monday when a fourth lawmaker in a matter of weeks announced his retirement, leaving party officials and strategists fearful that they represent …
John Tierney / New York Times:
Trusting Nature as the Climate Referee  —  Imagine there's no Copenhagen.  —  Imagine a planet in which global warming was averted without the periodic need for thousands of people to fly around the world to promise to stop burning fossil fuels.  Imagine no international conferences wrangling over the details of climate policy.
Quinnipiac University:
Paterson Approval Up, But Dems Back Cuomo Almost 3-1, Quinnipiac University New York State Poll Finds; Thompson Tops Gillibrand In Dem Senate Primary  —  New York Gov. David Paterson continues his climb out of the basement, as voters disapprove 49 - 40 percent of the job he is doing …
Catalina Camia / USA Today:
Poll: Obama approval rating positive, but just barely  —  There's a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll out today and Washington bureau chief Susan Page has the latest on President Obama's numbers:  —  When he was inaugurated in January, Obama scored a job rating of 64% approve-25% disapprove …
Dalton Conley / American Prospect:
Don't Blame the Billionaires  —  Who cares about the excesses of the rich?  It's the fate of the poor that matters.  —  When I was growing up, my mother used to sing me the old adage, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” before hastening to add, “And it's all Ronald Reagan's fault.”
Anthony Watts / Watts Up With That?:
DOE sends a “litigation hold notice” regarding CRU to employees - asking to “preserve documents”  —  It appears bigger things are brewing related to CRU's Climategate.  —  WUWT commenter J.C. writes in comments:  —  I work at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina.
Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Conservatives grab for tea party cash  —  “It's time for the tea party movement to start flexing its muscle in the electoral process,” Odom said in announcing the launch of Liberty First, which he said collected $11,500 in its first week of fundraising, and has accepted pledges for another $98,000.
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
U.S. Said to Pick Illinois Prison to House Detainees  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is expected to announce on Tuesday that it has selected a prison in northwestern Illinois to house terrorism suspects now being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in a major step toward shutting down that military detention facility.
New York Times:
Poll Reveals Trauma of Joblessness in U.S.  —  More than half of the nation's unemployed workers have borrowed money from friends or relatives since losing their jobs.  An equal number have cut back on doctor visits or medical treatments because they are out of work.  —  Almost half have suffered from depression or anxiety.
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama's ‘sexy’ insulation talk: New jobs  —  President Barack Obama went to Home Depot today.  —  “Seeing how Christmas is right around the corner, and we're at Home Depot, I figured I might knock out some of my shopping,” the president said at the icon of the big-box stores in Northern Virginia.
Discussion: Newsweek Blogs and D.C. Now
 
 
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 More Items: 
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Immigration bill backers try again despite jobless rate
Discussion: Townhall.com and Michelle Malkin
Tim Lynch / Cato @ Liberty:
Bill of Rights Day  —  Since today is Bill of Rights Day …
Discussion: TalkLeft and Cato Institute
Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
Schwarzenegger: Congress Must Rethink Health Care Overhaul
Dina Cappiello / Associated Press:
Poll: Action on climate will heat up economy, jobs
 Earlier Items: 
Marist Poll:
12/15: Favorable First Lady  —  Overall, registered voters nationally …
Discussion: Politics Daily
Steve Clow / L.A. NOW:
Marijuana legalization initiative headed for 2010 ballot, organizers say
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Life As Part Of Sully's Brain, Ctd
Anne Applebaum / Washington Post:
Anne Applebaum on devaluing humanity and hope in Copenhagen
Susan Stabley / bizjournals:
Report: John Edwards bought Charlotte home for former mistress Rielle Hunter
CNN:
Millions of White House e-mails recovered