memeorandum: The ugly side of ultra-cheap money (Bill Gross/Financial Times)

10:30 AM ET, December 20, 2011

Top Items:

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

Gingrich, Romney Go to a Tie; More See Obama as Competitive — Newt Gingrich has relinquished sole front-runner status almost as quickly as he gained it, landing at a dead heat with Mitt Romney in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll. And as the GOP hopefuls battle it out, ratings of Barack Obama's prospects have warmed.

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed

Newt Gingrich / Washington Post:

2. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Obama is handling [ITEM]? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat? — NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opinion a. The economy 41 17 24 56 13 43 2 b.

Discussion: Mediaite, Ballot Box and Hot Air

Washington Post:

Obama's job-approval rating is highest since summer, Post-ABC poll finds — View Photo Gallery — President Obama's reelection campaign and the DNC together raised $70 million in the third quarter of 2011. Outside of fundraising, the president is ramping up support for his reelection …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hot Air, The Caucus and Outside the Beltway

Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Gingrich's Lead Over Romney Among Republicans Collapses

A.Killough / CNN:
Romney blasts Gingrich over judiciary ideas

Discussion: The Politico

Washington Post:
Poll: Gingrich, Romney in dead heat nationally

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, Fox News, ABCNEWS and Los Angeles Times

The Politico:

House GOP postpones payroll vote — House Republicans postponed a planned Monday night vote on the Senate-passed payroll tax cut bill, bowing to pressure from rank-and-file lawmakers to fight the battle in a fresh media cycle, avoid a dark-of-night vote and, perhaps most important …

Discussion: Wonkette, americanthinker.com, Bloomberg, Daily Kos and Michelle Malkin

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:
Two-Month Payroll Tax Holiday Passed By Senate, Pushed By President, Cannot Be Implemented Properly, Experts Say

Discussion: Erick's blog, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, National Review, Washington Times, Don Surber, Right Wing News, Weasel Zippers, Big Government, CNN, The Lonely Conservative, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Campaign 2012 and Swampland

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
House GOP to vote Tuesday on tax conference with Senate

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, The Politico, The Maddow Blog and ThinkProgress

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
DCCC unleashing Carville on House GOP

Discussion: CNN and Weasel Zippers

Marin Cogan / The Politico:
House GOP freshmen stand their ground

Discussion: Speaker, CNN and The Hill

Scott Wong / The Politico:
Brown blasts GOP on payroll tax cut

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air, Daily Kos, RedState and The Hill

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Tea Party lawmaker: Payroll-tax-cut fight our ‘Braveheart moment’

Discussion: The Politico, The New Republic, The Reaction, Gawker, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Daily Kos

Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPMDC — Standoff: A Guide To The Ongoing Fight Over The Payroll Tax Cut

Discussion: Angry Black Lady Chronicles, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly and Taylor Marsh

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

PolitiFact ought to be ashamed of itself — The fact-checking website PolitiFact has announced its “Lie of the Year” for 2011. It made a poor, credibility-killing choice. … This is simply indefensible. Claims that are factually true shouldn't be eligible for a Lie of the Year designation.

Discussion: US Politics

PolitiFact:

Lie of the Year 2011: ‘Republicans voted to end Medicare’ — Republicans muscled a budget through the House of Representatives in April that they said would take an important step toward reducing the federal deficit. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the plan kept Medicare intact …

Discussion: The Daily Pulp and JSOnline

Paul Krugman:

Politifact, R.I.P. — This is really awful. Politifact, which is supposed to police false claims in politics, has announced its Lie of the Year — and it's a statement that happens to be true, the claim that Republicans have voted to end Medicare. — Steve Benen in the link above explains it, but let me just repeat the basics.

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: The weeping North Koreans; Update: New leader may be more psycho than dad, says U.S. intel — Don't just sample the clip for 10 seconds. Watch to the end and drink in the full spectacle of grown men, prostrate, screaming in grief at the death of their subjugator.

Discussion: Sense of Events, National Review, Michael Totten and Patterico's Pontifications

New York Times:

In Kim's Death, an Extensive Intelligence Failure — Televisions at an electronics store in Seoul, South Korea, featured reports on Monday about the death of Kim Jong-il, the North Korean Leader. North Korea said Mr. Kim, 69, died on Saturday. More Photos »

Discussion: Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, FP Passport and Belmont Club

Wall Street Journal:
Portrait of New Leader Takes Shape

Discussion: Daniel W. Drezner and americanthinker.com

Brad Plumer / Washington Post:
Kim Jong Il's economic legacy, in one chart

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Hit & Run

Washington Examiner:

GOP unhappiness with field fuels buzz for Jeb Bush — There's no doubt some Republicans remain unhappy with the GOP presidential field. They wish other candidates — Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush — had entered a long time ago. But the Iowa caucuses are in two weeks.

Discussion: americanthinker.com and No More Mister Nice Blog

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:
Draft Jeb!

Discussion: American Power, American Spectator, americanthinker.com and The Moderate Voice

Terence P. Jeffrey / CNSNews:

U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Pays Homage to Obama—But Not Jesus — (CNSNews.com) - The 63-foot Sierra White Fir lighted at the U.S. Capitol Grounds on Dec. 6 as the official 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree includes a prominently displayed ornament paying homage to President Barack Obama …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Max Abelson / Bloomberg:

Bankers Seek to Debunk ‘Imbecile’ Attack on Top 1% — Jamie Dimon, the highest-paid chief executive officer among the heads of the six biggest U.S. banks, turned a question at an investors' conference in New York this month into an occasion to defend wealth.

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

POTUS Has Coffee with Progressive Media Stars — An all-star list of progressive and liberal media folks came to the White House today to chat with President Obama over coffee in the Roosevelt Room. — The group chatted with the president about economic messaging, his agenda for 2012 …

Discussion: UrbanGrounds, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers and Big Journalism

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

Secrecy defines Obama's drone war — Since September, at least 60 people have died in 14 reported CIA drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal regions. The Obama administration has named only one of the dead, hailing the elimination of Janbaz Zadran, a top official in the Haqqani insurgent network, as a counterterrorism victory.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Jonathan Martinand Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Will Ron Paul kill the caucuses? — SIOUX CITY, IOWA -The alarms are sounding in Iowa. — Conservatives and Republican elites in the state are divided over who to support for the GOP nomination, but they almost uniformly express concern over the prospect that Ron Paul and his army …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, msnbc.com, Iowa Caucuses, Campaign 2012, National Review, Bloomberg and Rush Limbaugh

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:

Gingrich's sale of mailing list unlawful, watchdog group charges — A watchdog group filed an elections complaint Monday against Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich over his lucrative mailing list, which the campaign has said it purchased from the candidate for $42,000.

Discussion: The Raw Story, ThinkProgress and The Daily Caller