memeorandum: Red Hot Catholic Love - At Twelve Years' Old (Andrew Sullivan/The Daily Dish)

4:25 PM ET, February 23, 2010

Top Items:

Dan Pfeiffer / White House.gov Blog Feed:

Will the Republicans Post Their Health Plan... and When? — The President believes strongly that Thursday's bipartisan meeting on health insurance reform will be most productive if both sides come to the table with a unified plan to start discussion - and if the public has the opportunity …

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Stupak: ‘Unacceptable’ — This statement from Bart Stupak is conciliatory in tone, but not in substance, and it isn't going to make things easy in the House: — I was pleased to see that President Obama's health care proposal did not include several of the sweetheart deals provided to select states in the Senate bill.

Discussion: Firedoglake, TalkLeft, CNN and CentristNet

kff.org:

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — February 2010 — The February Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds the public still split on health care reform legislation, with 43 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed. However, the poll also finds that majorities of Americans of all political leanings …

Discussion: The New Republic, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Behind the Numbers, Washington Post and Politics Daily

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Robert Gibbs: Public Option Via Reconciliation Can't Pass Congress — Hmm. At the press briefing just now, Robert Gibbs made the White House's most expansive comments yet about the push for a reconciliation vote on the public option — and, to put it mildly, supporters won't find them encouraging.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ezra Klein, SpeakEasy, CentristNet, The Page, TPM LiveWire and Daily Kos

Ezra Klein:

A failure of White House leadership — One other point on the public option: This has been a complete and utter failure of White House leadership. They need to give this effort their support, or they need to kill it by publicly stating their opposition. But they can't simply wait …

Ezra Klein:

Jay Rockefeller's inconvenient honesty on the public option — Sen. Jay Rockefeller did something very strange last night: He was honest. He said, publicly, that he does not support adding the public option to the reconciliation bill. And he's going to pay for it today.

Discussion: The Hill, TPMDC, Mother Jones, New Mexico Independent, Swampland and Working In These Times

Wall Street Journal:

ObamaCare at Ramming Speed — The White House shows it has no interest in compromise. — A mere three days before President Obama's supposedly bipartisan health-care summit, the White House yesterday released a new blueprint that Democrats say they will ram through Congress with or without Republican support.

Discussion: Moonbattery, Betsy's Page and JustOneMinute

The Huffington Post:

Gibbs: The Public Plan Doesn't Have The Votes — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — The White House made it official on Tuesday: the president doesn't think the votes are there to get a public option passed through reconciliation and consequently won't make a push to include or pass the provision.

Discussion: TPMDC, TalkLeft, AMERICAblog News and Taylor Marsh

Mike Allen / The Politico:
GOP plans dozens or hundreds of health-care amendments …

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor, CNN, CBS News, Washington Post, msnbc.com, Hot Air, The Note and Taegan Goddard's …

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
Cantor: WH Health Care Bill a ‘Non-Starter’

Discussion: Say Anything, The Hill, The Save Jersey Blog, The Other McCain, MinnPost, Gateway Pundit and Jules Crittenden

Rachel Slajda / TPMDC:
Boehner: Obama's Health Care Proposal Is Too Short

Discussion: Think Progress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Open Congress, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake and Shakesville

The Huffington Post:
Rockefeller Not Inclined To Support Reconciliation For The Public Plan

Discussion: The Hill, Crooks and Liars, TPMDC, New York Times, Matthew Yglesias, Open Left, Think Progress, Washington Monthly, TalkLeft, Don Surber, Daily Kos, Firedoglake and Wake up America

Harry Joe / Margin of Error:
Republican Blizzard on the Generic Ballot

Discussion: The New Republic, The Monkey Cage, Matthew Yglesias, Democracy in America, Wake up America and The Daily Dish

David Brooks / New York Times:
Into the Mire — Barack Obama came to Washington with the …

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, Ezra Klein, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Ross Douthat, Political Punch, Prairie Weather and Washington Times

Room for Debate:
Can Obama Bypass Republicans on Health?

Discussion: New York Times, A plain blog about politics, The New Republic, Taylor Marsh, New Mexico Independent, DownWithTyranny!, Dean's World and Rumproast

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

Harry Reid Says GOP Should “Stop Crying” About Reconciliation — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Tuesday that Republicans “should stop crying” about the possible use of the parliamentary procedure known as budget reconciliation to pass a health care reform bill.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Page and Hot Air

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Reid: GOP should ‘stop crying’ about majority-vote move on healthcare — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Republicans to “stop crying” about the potential use of a legislative tactic to finish healthcare legislation with a majority vote. — Reid lashed out at the minority Republicans …

Discussion: The Politico and American Conservative …

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
In Passage of Jobs Measure, a Glimpse of Bipartisanship

Discussion: The Politico, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Boston Globe, Bloomberg, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Hill, Shakesville and FiveThirtyEight

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Where Scott Brown Is Coming From — In just 48 hours, Scott Brown would be sworn in as the newest member of the United States Senate, stepping into the shoes (and office suite) of Edward M. Kennedy and the world of woe on Capitol Hill. But as he zipped down a Massachusetts highway …

Discussion: The Swamp, The Page, Commentary and The Washington Independent

CBS News:
Scott Brown's Jobs Vote Spurs Angry Online Backlash

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel, Washington Post and Michelle Malkin

Adam C. Smith / St. Petersburg Times:

As Crist poll numbers slide, staffers leave campaign — Speaking after a White House meeting with governors on Monday, Charlie Crist said he supported stimulus spending. — In the latest sign of turbulence for Charlie Crist's wounded U.S. Senate bid, key staffers are starting to leave the campaign.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Politico, Hotline On Call and Townhall.com

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org:
MSNBC Regular Donny Deutsch Slams Marco Rubio With Racially Charged …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin

J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:

Senate sitting on 290 bills already passed by House; tension mounts — Exasperated House Democratic leaders have compiled a list showing that they have passed 290 bills that have stalled in the Senate. — The list is the latest sign that Democrats in the lower chamber are frustrated with their Senate counterparts.

Discussion: Say Anything

Michael Barbaro / City Room:

Ford Polls New Yorkers on Himself and Gillibrand — Former Representative Harold E. Ford Jr. of Tennessee has dug into his own pocket to pay for a detailed poll, conducted over the last few days, intended to test the viability of a Senate run in New York, according to people briefed on the matter.

Discussion: The Corner on National …, Taegan Goddard's …, Ben Smith's Blog and The Page

The Conference Board:

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® Declines Sharply — The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had increased in January, declined sharply in February. The Index now stands at 46.0 (1985=100), down from 56.5 in January. The Present Situation Index decreased to 19.4 from 25.2.

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel, Clusterstock, Financial Times, Associated Press, Reuters and FT Alphaville

RushLimbaugh.com:

What I Would've Said at CPAC — BEGIN TRANSCRIPT — RUSH: No, Snerdley. Look, I'm going to get to it. I got an e-mail just in time ago, “Would you stop being mean to Snerdley?” Hey, e-mailer! Snerdley should stop interrupting me. He's not the host. I am.

Discussion: Washington Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Vox Popoli, The Washington Independent, Think Progress, Hit & Run and The Corner on National …

Charlie Martin / Pajamas Media:

Climategate Meets the Law: Senator Inhofe to Ask for DOJ Investigation (Pajamas Media/PJTV Exclusive) — Inhofe intends to ask for a probe of the embattled climate scientists for possible criminal acts. And he thinks Gore should be recalled to explain his prior congressional testimony.

Discussion: Townhall.com, U.S. Senate Committee …, Hot Air, Say Anything, HillBuzz, The Strata-Sphere, NewsBusters.org, GayPatriot, Don Surber and Shot in the Dark

Richard Teitelbaum / Bloomberg:

Secret AIG Document Shows Goldman Sachs Minted Most Toxic CDOs — Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — When a congressional panel convened a hearing on the government rescue of American International Group Inc. in January, the public scolding of Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner got the most attention.

Discussion: Clusterstock, naked capitalism, The Atlantic Business Channel, Real Time Economics, The Big Picture and DealBook

Jenna Wortham / New York Times:

Apple Bans Some Apps for Sex-Tinged Content — Apple has started banning many applications for its iPhone that feature sexually suggestive material, including photos of women in bikinis and lingerie, a move that came as an abrupt surprise to developers who had been profiting from such programs.

Discussion: Digits, TechCrunch and New York Magazine

New York Times:

A Big Mistake — Megan McArdle blogs at Asymmetrical Information on The Atlantic magazine Web site. — If the Democrats use budget reconciliation to bypass the Republicans, they will be making a big mistake. — Reconciliation is not meant to handle these sorts of problems …

Discussion: HillBuzz and Dr. Melissa Clouthier

Jeanne Cummings / The Politico:

Steele's spending spree angers donors — Republican National Chairman Michael Steele is spending twice as much as his recent predecessors on private planes and paying more for limousines, catering and flowers - expenses that are infuriating the party's major donors who say Republicans need every penny …

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Monthly, CNN, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The Caucus, Ben Smith's Blog and The Daily Caller

CNN:

Traficant will launch independent congressional bid — (CNN) - Former Democratic Rep. James Traficant, who in September was released from a federal prison after serving seven years on a bribery and racketeering conviction, told CNN Tuesday he will launch an independent bid to return to Congress.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Glenn Thrush's Blog, Taegan Goddard's … and National Review Online

New York Times:

Pakistani Reports Capture of a Taliban Leader — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — In another blow to the Taliban senior leadership, Pakistani authorities have captured Mullah Abdul Kabir, a member of the group's inner circle and a leading military commander against American forces in eastern Afghanistan …

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Awl, Jon Taplin's Blog, snooperreport.com and Swampland

Fox News:

1 Dead in Shooting at Luke Air Force Base — A shooting and fatal car crash on Luke Air Force Base in Litchfield, Ariz., have left one person dead and another injured, KSAZ Phoenix reported. — At 11 p.m. Monday night two individuals ran the main base entrance gate with their car …

Discussion: Mudville Gazette, The Jawa Report and Gateway Pundit

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:

French Ad Shocks, but Will It Stop Young Smokers? — PARIS — A new French anti-smoking ad aimed at the young that plays off a pornographic stereotype has gotten more attention than even its creators intended, with critics suggesting that it offends common decency and creates a false analogy between oral sex and smoking.

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Red Hot Catholic Love - At Twelve Years' Old — The Dish was recently taken aback by a document emailed to us showing that the age of sexual consent in Vatican City was - wait for it - twelve years old. We didn't believe it. So we tried to nail down the precise facts.