memeorandum: Who really gets hurt when GOP's Bunning blocks this bill? (McClatchy Washington Bureau)

1:55 PM ET, March 2, 2010

Top Items:

Hotheaded Emanuel may be White House voice of reason — Rahm Emanuel is officially a Washington caricature. He's the town's resident leviathan, a bullying, bruising White House chief of staff who is a prime target for the failings of the Obama administration.

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Health care by Easter? — With AP suggesting that nine “no” Democrats in the House could switch to “yes,” Inside Health Policy has a timeline: — According to [a] Democratic memo, the timeline may be: Step one: The House passes the Senate's health reform bill by March 19.

Discussion: Firedoglake, TPMDC, Open Left and Taegan Goddard's …

New York Times:
Obama to Highlight Cost in New Health Bill Push

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Michelle Malkin, JustOneMinute, The Hill, The Politico, Washington Post, Connecting.the.Dots, The Huffington Post, Prescriptions, Dennis the Peasant and Agence France Presse

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Memo Outlines Possible Easter Recess Timeline

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, The Greenroom and National Review

David M. Drucker / Roll Call:
GOP Girding for Battle Over Reconciliation

Discussion: Wonk Room, Wall Street Journal, Wake up America and SENATUS

Erica Werner / Associated Press:
Obama looks to undecided Dems for health backing

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Times, Slate, CBS News, Washington Monthly, The Page, Right Pundits and New York Magazine

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Kent Conrad Rips Media: Yes, We Can Do Reform Via Reconciliation

Discussion: TalkLeft and Daily Kos

Emily Pierce / Roll Call:

Collins Tries to Stop Bunning Filibuster — Senate Republicans sought Tuesday to insulate themselves from the damage caused by Sen. Jim Bunning's (R-Ky.) filibuster of a bill that would extend unemployment and health benefits and highway programs. — Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) …

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, Hot Air, The Washington Independent, The Politico, TPMDC, Erick's blog and AMERICAblog News

The Huffington Post:

GOP Sen. Kyl: Unemployment Benefits Make People Not Want To Get A Job — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — A debate on the Senate floor Monday over unemployment compensation crystallized, at least for a moment, the divide between the two parties in Washington. — Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Swampland, Don Surber, PoliBlog, Economist's View, Raw Story, DISSENTING JUSTICE and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Manu Raju / The Politico:

Bunning's fiscal hardball jams GOP — Fresh off last week's high-profile White House summit, Republicans were eager to continue the health care debate they think they've been winning for months. — Then came Jim Bunning. — The Kentucky GOP senator's unilateral decision to block …

Discussion: CNN, The Note, Bloomberg and Washington Post

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Who really gets hurt when GOP's Bunning blocks this bill? — WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation furloughed nearly 2,000 employees without pay Monday as the government began to feel the impact of Republican Sen. Jim Bunning's one-man blockage of legislation that would keep a host of federal programs operating.

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Collins joins Dems in urging Bunning to drop benefits objection

Discussion: The Swamp, Michelle Malkin, The Politico and Wonk Room

Dennis Romero / LA Daily:

CORRECTED: Mickey Kaus Takes Out Papers For U.S. Senate Run — Pioneering political blogger Mickey Kaus took out papers [filed] to run for U.S. Senate in California, he told LA Weekly. The Venice resident said he'll run this year against Barbara Boxer for her seat.

Discussion: Firedoglake, New York Times, Pollster.com All Content, Moe Lane, Betsy's Page, Outside The Beltway, The Other McCain, The Impolitic, Israel Matzav, Alas, a blog and Wilshire & Washington

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Feel the Kausmentum — With the valuable Glenn Reynolds and Jonah Goldberg endorsements in hand, Mickey Kaus' bid for a Democratic Party primary win is looking more solid than ever. — That said, I'm going to go counter-counterintuitive here and say that if some weird process put Mickey Kaus …

Discussion: Winds of Change.NET and The Corner on National …

Mickey Kaus / Kausfiles:

Kf Caught in the Act — The rollout didn't go as my team of highly paid media consultants* had planned— L.A. Weekly got it way before it was supposed to. Heads will roll around here. But I did go down to the local registrar's office Monday and take out nomination papers to run in the primary for U.S. Senator against Barbara Boxer.

Kevin Roderick / LA Observed:
Kaus clarifies his candidate status

Discussion: Townhall.com

Harold Ford Jr / New York Times:

Why I'm Not Running for the Senate — WHEN it was reported two months ago that I was thinking seriously about running for the United States Senate from New York, Democratic Party insiders started their own campaign to bully me out of the race — just as they had done with Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Steve Israel and others.

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, The Atlantic Online, Top of the Ticket, Vanity Fair, Michael Calderone's Blog, The Eye, Washington Monthly, USA Today, OpenSecrets.org, Indecision Forever, Commentary, TPM LiveWire, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Daily Politics

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Ford bolts; Zuckerman rises — Harold Ford gave many reasons for his decision not to launch a primary challenge against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, but he didn't mention a decisive one: The emergence of a richer, stronger center-right challenger whom many of Ford's potential supporters …

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Caucus, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Top of the Ticket, The Washington Independent and CNN

Michael Barbaro / City Room:
Ford Decides Not to Run

Discussion: TPMDC, TPM LiveWire, The Reaction, AOL News Collection, The Confluence, Campaign Diaries, Open Left, Gawker and Politics Daily

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Coffee Party Parasites — The New York Times and Washington Post are promoting a group called the “Coffee Party” organized by filmmaker Annabel Park. — The Coffee Party is a political parasite which presents itself as something it is not. As reported in the NY Times [see update below] …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Jawa Report, American Power and Pajamas Media

Kate Zernike / New York Times:

Coffee Party, With a Taste for Civic Participation, Is Added to the Political Menu — Fed up with government gridlock, but put off by the flavor of the Tea Party, people in cities across the country are offering an alternative: the Coffee Party. — Growing through a Facebook page …

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo, Hot Air, Left Coast Rebel, Commentary, The Lonely Conservative, New York Magazine, Another Black Conservative and The Moderate Voice

Founding Blogger / Founding Bloggers:

The Best DA Money Can Buy? ACORN DA Lets ACORN Off The Hook (UPDATED) — Today it was announced that ACORN will not face prosecution in Brooklyn. … Should anyone be surprised? The Brooklyn DA is a member of the ACORN/Working Families Party. That means he signed their pledge, and worked for their endorsement.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and The Greenroom

Scott Shifrel / NY Daily News:
B'klyn ACORN cleared over giving illegal advice on how to hide money …

Discussion: pandagon.net, At-Largely, Liberal Values and The BRAD BLOG

Orrin Hatch / Washington Post:

Reconciliation on health care would be an assault to the democratic process — America's Founders gave us a system of governance designed to limit government power and maximize liberty. The legislative branch is different from the executive, and the Senate is different from the House.

Discussion: Bark Bark Woof Woof, Washington Monthly, SpeakEasy, Capital Gains and Games blogs, Wonk Room and TPMDC

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Orrin Hatch Rewrites History Of His Own Voting Record On Reconciliation

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Eschaton and NRSC

Sasha Issenberg / Boston Globe:

D.C. journalist provided 'writer's advice' — A prominent Washington journalist and former Globe reporter is among the many advisers and political experts who helped Mitt Romney write “No Apology,” according to the book's acknowledgments. — “Nina Easton, the noted journalist and commentator …

Discussion: Michael Calderone's Blog

Sasha Issenberg / Boston Globe:
In book, Romney styles himself wonk, not warrior

Discussion: Mitt Romney's Free … and Taylor Marsh

Scott Collins / Los Angeles Times:

Roger Ebert takes to Twitter to give tea party followers a thumb's down — The film reviewer is aiming barbs at Sarah Palin and other conservatives. — Who's the biggest scourge of the tea party movement these days? It might be film critic Roger Ebert, who lately has been tossing brickbats …

Discussion: Althouse and JammieWearingFool

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Postal Service expected to announce ‘significant changes’ — The U.S. Postal Service will release projections Tuesday that confirm for the first time the suspicion that mail volume will never return to pre-recession levels. In response, the agency is pushing anew for a dramatic reshaping …

Discussion: USA Today, AOL News Collection, Politics Daily and Don Surber

William Wan / Washington Post:

Same-sex marriage leads Catholic Charities to adjust benefits — Employees at Catholic Charities were told Monday that the social services organization is changing its health coverage to avoid offering benefits to same-sex partners of its workers — the latest fallout from a bitter debate …

Discussion: Associated Press, SpeakEasy, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Pam's House Blend and AMERICAblog Gay

Jesse Lee / White House.gov Blog Feed:

President Obama Follows Up on Thursday's Bipartisan Meeting on Health Reform — Last Thursday the President hosted a unique, open conversation with leaders from both parties in Congress to hear everyone's ideas about how to finally put American families and small businesses in control of their health care.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Cheney group questions loyalty of Justice lawyers — Liz Cheney's group Keep America Safe, which has led the resurgent Republican attacks on President Obama's national security policies, is releasing a video this morning that questions the loyalties of Justice Department lawyers who advocated …

Discussion: Think Progress, Main Justice and The Washington Independent