memeorandum: Underemployed Report Spending 36% Less Than Employed (Jenny Marlar/Gallup)

2:40 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, CNN, TalkLeft, Townhall.com, CentristNet and Lawyers, Guns and Money

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, Behind the Numbers, Taegan Goddard's …, Washington Post and Politics Daily

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: JustOneMinute, Moonbattery, Betsy's Page, The Politico and Neptunus Lex

Mike Allen / The Politico:

GOP plans dozens or hundreds of health-care amendments — Big RNC donors hit Steele for planes, Ritz, limos — Airport body scanners to finally begin rolling out in March — “Morning Joe”: Ron Paul (7:35 a.m.), Steve Hildebrand (8:40 a.m.), Frank Bruni (8:50 a.m.) ... Sarah Palin will appear …

Discussion: CNN, Christian Science Monitor, 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: Washington Monthly, The Hill, Gateway Pundit, The Save Jersey Blog, The Other McCain, MinnPost, Jules Crittenden and GOP.gov Blog

The Huffington Post:

Rockefeller Not Inclined To Support Reconciliation For The Public Plan — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) threw a wrench into Democratic efforts to get a public option passed through reconciliation, saying that he thought the maneuver was overly partisan and that he was inclined to oppose it.

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

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 …

Discussion: Eschaton

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: TPMDC, The New Republic, Swampland and New Mexico Independent

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

In Passage of Jobs Measure, a Glimpse of Bipartisanship — WASHINGTON — Five Republican senators broke ranks with their party on Monday to advance a $15 billion job-creation measure put forward by Democrats, a rare bipartisan breakthrough after months in which Republicans had held together …

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

Ben Geman / The Hill:
Kerry: Reid wants a climate bill ‘soon’

Discussion: Politics Daily

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Merkley: Reid will move public option with majority-vote tactic if there's support

Discussion: CNN

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, Commentary, The Washington Independent and The Page

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, Townhall.com and race42008.com

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 and AMERICAblog News

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

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

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:

Mark Levin Questions Glenn Beck's Behavior And Strategy — ‘STOP DIVIDING US’ — Levin Challenges Beck To Behave Like An Adult — *** GLENN BECK EMBRACES LIBERAL PALS, BELIEVES IN GLOBAL WARMING *** — *** NEW: INTRODUCING THE CANNOLIS *** — Is Mark Levin the only major figure …

Discussion: The Politico, skippy the bush kangaroo, Newsweek Blogs, American Conservative …, Rumproast, The Other McCain, Wonkette, The Lonely Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Another Black Conservative and Riehl World View

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: Taegan Goddard's …, Ben Smith's Blog and The Page

Communications / OpenSecrets.org:

Midterm Elections Will Cost at Least $3.7 Billion, Center for Responsive Politics Estimates — A more than 30 percent increase above 2006 levels on spending predicted; Supreme Court's recent decision could mean even more money — WASHINGTON — With Democrats battling to keep control …

Discussion: Washington Wire and The Hill

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: TechCrunch and New York Magazine

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, Financial Times, Clusterstock, Associated Press, Reuters, FT Alphaville and CentristNet

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2010: Florida Governor — Florida Governor: McCollum 48%, Sink 35% — The race for Florida's next governor remains unchanged, with Republican state Attorney General Bill McCollum holding onto a double-digit lead. — The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey finds …

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Buzz, Real Clear Politics and Washington Monthly

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:

Explaining My Health Care Polyannaism — For more than a month now, I've taken a stubbornly optimistic line on the fate of health care reform — I've given it slightly better than even odds of passing all along. You've probably noticed that most political reporters have a very different take.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, A plain blog about politics, Commentary, Newsweek Blogs and The Corner on National …

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 and Taegan Goddard's …

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: The Jawa Report, Mudville Gazette and Gateway Pundit

Lee Ferran / ABCNEWS:

Bristol Palin Makes Acting Debut as Teen Mom — Palin's Daughter to Appear in ABC Family's ‘Secret Life of the American Teenager’ — Bristol Palin, arguably the most famous teen mother in America, will make her acting debut playing herself on ABC Family's “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” the network announced today.

Discussion: CBS News, Z on TV, palingates and ArtsBeat

Harry Joe / Margin of Error:

Republican Blizzard on the Generic Ballot — It would take a major turn of events for the Democrats to hold onto the House of Representatives. There I said it. Why the confidence on Republicans gaining 40 seats and getting to the 218 seats needed to control the House?

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

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, snooperreport.com, The Awl, Jon Taplin's Blog and At-Largely

The Note:

‘Top Line’ — Bipartisan Rumblings? Senators Press for Tax Code Overhaul — ABC News' Rick Klein reports: Glimmers out of last night's jobs vote notwithstanding, this is hardly a golden era for bipartisan efforts, much less ones as broadly focused as a tax overhaul.

Discussion: The Politico, The Hill and Wall Street Journal

CNN:

Hospitalized Cheney ‘feeling good,’ source says — Washington (CNN) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney was “feeling good” a day after being hospitalized with chest pains, a source who spoke to Cheney said Tuesday. — The source said Cheney watched some Olympics coverage …

Discussion: Indecision Forever

Mark Schmitt / American Prospect:

Bayh vs. Bai. — There's a certain kind of essay that can be infuriating even when its main argument is correct. One such was retiring Sen. Evan Bayh's op-ed in The New York Times this weekend. Congress is broken. Needs filibuster reform. Public financing of campaigns.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Newsweek Blogs and Mother Jones

Jennifer Fermino / New York Post:

In-Justice! Furor over O's ‘Gitmo’ appointees — The Justice Department's disclosure that nine of President Obama's appointees had either represented or advocated for Guantanamo detainees has touched off a firestorm of criticism. — The surprising admission came three months after Republican …

Discussion: TigerHawk, The Jawa Report and JammieWearingFool