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Obama's ratings tumble after health-care flaws — The flawed rollout of the Affordable Care Act has pushed President Obama to the lowest point of his presidency, with dwindling faith in his competence and in many of the personal attributes that have buoyed him in the past, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
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Obama approval rating drops - November 2013 Post-ABC poll — Poll Questions
Discussion:
The Fix, Weasel Zippers, National Republican …, Business Insider, Mediaite and National Review

A New G.O.P. Excuse for Doing Nothing — With unrestrained glee, Republicans are using the calamitous debut of the Affordable Care Act as their latest justification for undermining all of health care reform. But they're not stopping there. The Obama administration's fumbling is apparently …
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, The Plum Line and TheBlaze.com

Private consultants warned of risks before HealthCare.gov's Oct. 1 launch — The Obama administration brought in a private consulting team to independently assess how the federal online health-care enrollment system was developing, according to a newly disclosed document …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air


Obama's Gift to the Republicans
Discussion:
New York Times, Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots, Salon, Wonkblog, Corrente, Politico, The Reaction and Hullabaloo


Healthcare plan enrollment surges in some states after rocky rollout — Healthcare insurance enrollment increases in some states that run their own exchanges, boosting hopes of Obamacare backers. — Peter Lee, director of the Covered California health insurance exchange, discusses enrollment.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, ABC News, Wonkblog, Mediaite and Prairie Weather
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Rude Awakening for Federal Way Woman Who Got Shout-Out From President - Can't Afford Obamacare Policy After All — After Jessica Sanford Sends Fan Letter to Obama for Making Insurance Affordable, State Says She Must Pay Full Ticket — Jessica Sanford, the Federal Way woman who got a shout …
Discussion:
Conservative Intelligence …, BuzzFeed and Weasel Zippers

Woman cited by President as Obamacare success story frustrated by sign up process — Updated 1:20 a.m. ET, 11/19/2013 - This is updated from an earlier version, adding more details. — (CNN)- Washington state resident Jessica Sanford was bursting with pride when President Obama mentioned …
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Politico


Census ‘faked’ 2012 election jobs report — In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington. — The decline — from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — might not have been all it seemed.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Scared Monkeys, Mediaite, Hot Air, VodkaPundit, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, National Review, “The Lid” and Right Wing News


Obama's conference call on Obamacare goes about as well as HealthCare.gov rollout — President Obama is participating in an online conference call on Obamacare tonight with his friends at Organizing For Action (OFA). However, in an interesting twist, numerous reporters had difficulty logging into the call on the OFA website.
Discussion:
Ed Driscoll
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Another Website, Another Problem for Obama
Discussion:
Red Alert Politics, National Review and National Republican …

Obama flubs during health care conference call with community organizers, claims 'more than 100 …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, VodkaPundit, Weasel Zippers and Twitchy

Chris Christie Knocks GOP, Says Washington Is Full of ‘Absolutists’ — WASHINGTON — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had some harsh words for Washington, D.C. Monday night, telling a group of CEOs that “both parties” in Washington are the problem, but still harshly criticizing the GOP …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Liberaland and Politico
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Iowa GOP to Christie: Don't skip caucuses — Iowa Republicans are urging New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to contest the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses if he runs for president in 2016, warning a decision to ignore the Hawkeye State would do more harm than good to his campaign.
Discussion:
CNN and First Read


Poll: Mitt Romney beats President Obama today — As more bad poll numbers continue to pour in for President Barack Obama, a new survey finds that if the 2012 election matchup were held this month, Mitt Romney would hold the edge with the voters. — Romney topped Obama 49 percent …
Discussion:
Power Line, Outside the Beltway and Scared Monkeys
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Botched ACA Rollout Hammers Obama; Job Disapproval Reaches a Career High
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Weasel Zippers, National Review and Washington Free Beacon


Va. Sen. Creigh Deeds Stabbed in Bath County Home — Sources say Deeds' son stabbed his father, then shot himself — Virginia State Sen. Creigh Deeds was stabbed by his son, Austin “Gus” Deeds, before the son fatally shot himself, Democratic sources tell News4.
Discussion:
USA Today, Liberaland, Crooks and Liars and Daily Kos
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Police: Sen. Deeds assaulted in home; 1 found dead
Discussion:
CNN and The Raw Story


Sen. Elizabeth Warren Calls For Expanding Social Security — American values demand that Congress boost retirement benefits rather than shrinking them to satisfy deficit hawks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said on the Senate floor Monday afternoon. “We should be talking …
Discussion:
Liberaland and Taylor Marsh
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Elizabeth Warren: Don't cut Social Security. Expand it!
Discussion:
BillMoyers.com, Crooks and Liars and The Impolitic


The analogy is less telling than who is employing it. — Granted, it's an imperfect analogy. So is every other analogy, but there are some particularly glaring differences here. As Karl Van Zandt observes on Twitter, President Bush didn't push Hurricane Katrina through Congress without a single vote from the other party.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News and alicublog

High Standards for All Schools and Students, Everywhere — We have a tendency in our fast-moving world to focus on controversial-sounding soundbites, instead of the complex policy debates that underlie them. Unfortunately, I recently played into that dynamic.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hit & Run, theGrio, Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters blogs and The Answer Sheet
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Duncan sorry for ‘moms’ remark
Discussion:
The Federalist, AEIdeas, The Daily Caller, Betsy's Page, The Answer Sheet, Washington Free Beacon and Red Alert Politics


Ford Nation hits the airwaves … Mayor Rob Ford and Coun. Doug Ford debuted their talk show ‘Ford Nation’ on the Sun News Network Monday evening shortly after council voted to futher strip the mayor's power and budget. Video courtesy: Sun News … Photos View photos — zoom
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
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'I'm not perfect': Defiant Toronto Mayor Rob Ford insists he can lead
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, World News, Guardian, The Raw Story, NBCNews and KFOR-TV

DHS Still Hasn't Fired Black Supremacist Who Called for Mass Murder of Whites — Almost four months after he was unmasked as a militant black nationalist who called for murdering “Uncle Tom race traitors,” Ayo Kimathi is still employed. — The black-nationalist Department of Homeland Security employee …
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon


Court order that allowed NSA surveillance is revealed for first time — Fisa court judge who authorised massive tapping of metadata was hesitant but felt she could not stand in the way — A secret court order that authorised a massive trawl by the National Security Agency of Americans' email …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, The Verge, USA Today, The Switch and Prairie Weather


Martin Bashir apologizes for dirty, disgusting slam at Sarah Palin — FILE: Martin Bashir on the second day of Michael Jackson's child molestation trial in Santa Maria.reuters — When I first saw a headline about what Martin Bashir said, I figured it must be exaggerated.


Monty Python to reunite for stage show — All of the surviving members of comedy group Monty Python are to reform for a stage show, one of the Pythons, Terry Jones, has confirmed. — “We're getting together and putting on a show - it's real,” Jones told the BBC. — “I'm quite excited about it.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Guardian and Gawker


Suicide bombings kill 23 near Iran embassy in Beirut — (Reuters) - Two suicide bombings rocked Iran's embassy compound in Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least 23 people including an Iranian cultural attaché and hurling bodies and burning wreckage across a debris-strewn street.
Discussion:
emptywheel and The Agonist


Albuquerque Election: Voters Deciding Whether To Outlaw Late-Term Abortions — Voters in Albuquerque on Tuesday will decide on an initiative to outlaw most late-term abortions in New Mexico's largest city, marking the first such measure placed on a municipal ballot.
Discussion:
Liberaland, The Raw Story and RH Reality Check