memeorandum: NUCLEAR OPTION TRIGGERED: Dems Make Historic Change To Filibuster Rules (Sahil Kapur/Talking Points Memo)

7:30 PM ET, November 21, 2013

Top Items:

NUCLEAR OPTION TRIGGERED: Dems Make Historic Change To Filibuster Rules — After years of threats and warnings, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and his Democratic majority on Thursday executed the “nuclear option” to eliminate the filibuster for executive branch and judicial nominees, except for the Supreme Court.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Washington Wire, Wonkblog, The Impolitic, The Other McCain, The Verge, Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Landmark Senate Vote Limits Filibusters — WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Thursday to eliminate the use of the filibuster against most presidential nominees, a move that will break the Republican blockade of President Obama's picks to cabinet posts and the federal judiciary.

Discussion: American Prospect, The Plum Line, LifeNews.com, Outside the Beltway, Althouse, The Monkey Cage, Discourse.net, No More Mister Nice Blog, Talking Points Memo and Crooked Timber

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:

Nine reasons the filibuster change is a huge deal — 1. The change the Senate made today is small but consequential: The filibuster no longer applies to judicial or executive-branch nominees. It still applies to bills and Supreme Court nominations. — Goodbye, filibuster. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Discussion: Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, PostPartisan, The Plum Line, Washington Center … and Marginal Revolution

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

Reid, Democrats trigger ‘nuclear’ option; eliminate most filibusters on nominees — The partisan battles that have paralyzed Washington in recent years took a historic turn Thursday, as Senate Democrats eliminated filibusters for most presidential nominations, severely curtailing …

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, CNN, Daily Kos, Guardian, PostPartisan, The Democratic Daily, The Plum Line, The Fix, Talking Points Memo, The Volokh Conspiracy, United Liberty, Hit & Run, Weasel Zippers, Questions and Observations and The Gateway Pundit

ThinkProgress:

Why Senate Democrats Had To Invoke The ‘Nuclear Option’ — President Obama introduces three nominees to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit — Well, it finally happened. — After five years of filibusters, obstruction, lengthy waits for confirmation …

Discussion: Taking Note and Hullabaloo

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

A Move Years in the Making, With Lasting Ramifications — WASHINGTON — The curtailment of the filibuster, probably the most well-known aspect of the Senate in popular culture, came in a politically charged vote Thursday that had been years in the making. It will have significant ramifications …

Paul Waldman / American Prospect:

Don't Believe the Republican Cries of Vengeance — So now the Democrats have exercised the “nuclear option,” which is not particularly nuclear. They've changed existing Senate rules so that judicial nominations can not be filibustered, but can pass with a majority vote.

Discussion: Mother Jones, BBC, First Read, The Dish and ThinkProgress

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:

Why Harry Reid Went Nuclear — Fed up with an unrelenting stream of blocked nominations, the Democratic leader makes a historic change to Senate filibuster rules. — Like an actual nuclear weapon, the Senate's “nuclear option” was long thought to be most effective not as a weapon but as a deterrent.

Discussion: Guardian and Prairie Weather

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
McCain: Dems Will Pay ‘Heavy, Heavy Price’ For Changing Filibuster

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Jose Delreal / Politico:
Paul on Reid: 'We've got a big bully'

Discussion: PostPartisan

Politico:
Senate goes for ‘nuclear option’

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The World's Greatest …, Washington Free Beacon and Chicago Boyz

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
GOP Senator: Nuclear Option Is ‘Obamacare II’

Discussion: Mediaite

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Senate Could Go Nuclear As Soon As Today: Sources

Discussion: Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, The Mahablog, The Dish, New York Times, Weekly Standard, The Political Carnival and Business Insider

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate guts filibuster power

Discussion: Daily Kos, CNN, Crooks and Liars, ABC News, Politico and Taylor Marsh

John Boehner / Speaker.gov:

My Attempt to Sign Up For Health Care … Earlier this afternoon, I sat down to try and enroll in the DC exchange under the president's health care law: — Like many Americans, my experience was pretty frustrating. After putting in my personal information, I received an error message.

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Post Politics, Political Capital, Business Insider and Washington Free Beacon

New York Times:

G.O.P. Maps Out Waves of Attacks Over Health Law — WASHINGTON — The memo distributed to House Republicans this week was concise and blunt, listing talking points and marching orders: “Because of Obamacare, I Lost My Insurance.” “Obamacare Increases Health Care Costs.”

Discussion: The Week, Talking Points Memo, Taking Note, Shakesville, Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars, No More Mister Nice Blog, Prairie Weather, The Plum Line, Yahoo! News, Washington Wire, Liberaland, First Read and Daily Kos

Robert Laszewski / Health Care Policy …:
“If You Like Your Doctor You Will Be Able to Keep Your Doctor. Period”

Discussion: VodkaPundit

New York Times:
Republican Talking Points on Obamacare

Discussion: The New Republic, PoliticusUSA, The Democratic Daily, Talking Points Memo and Althouse

Washington Post:
Insurers restricting choice of doctors and hospitals to keep costs down

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, USA Today, Via Meadia, LifeNews.com, Betsy's Page, Hot Air and Cafe Hayek

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

Obama approval rating sinks to new low in CNN poll — Washington (CNN) - As President Barack Obama's approval rating hits another all-time low, a new national survey also indicates that Americans say the President has less power than congressional Republicans when it comes to shaping events over the next year.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Power Line, Weasel Zippers and National Review

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:
CNN Poll: More than half back Iranian nuclear deal

Discussion: Liberaland

James Oliphant / NationalJournal.com:

Love It or Hate It, Obamacare Redistributes Americans' Wealth — Not everyone comes out ahead as a result of the Affordable Care Act. Somebody has to foot the bill when you shift that much wealth. — President Obama has said a lot of things about health care reform …

Discussion: Ed Driscoll and Hot Air

Richard Kim / The Nation: The problems with the Affordable Care Act stem from government being too small and weak, not too big and powerful.

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
Doctors Fire up the Obamacare Waaambulance

Discussion: protein wisdom, Ross Douthat, Weekly Standard and Twitchy

Jason Zengerle / Politico:

The race that broke the Cheney family — What happened when a gay sister came between Liz Cheney and a Senate seat. — Liz Cheney just wanted to enjoy her milkshake. It was a Friday afternoon in early November, and the shadows were growing longer over the flat expanse of eastern Wyoming as a hard week dragged on.

Discussion: Advocate, ABC News, Truth Wins Out and Talking Points Memo

Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:

Obama's Image Machine: Monopolistic Propaganda Funded by You — News organizations protest White House restrictions on independent photo coverage. — New York Times photographer Doug Mills strode into Jay Carney's office Oct. 29 with a pile of pictures taken exclusively …

Discussion: Firedoglake, THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE, Agence France Presse, Yahoo! News, Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters blogs, TheBlaze.com, Poynter and VodkaPundit, more at Mediagazer »

Ari Shavit / New York Times:

How Bush Let Iran Go Nuclear — AMERICAN and Iranian negotiators yesterday began a second round of talks in Geneva, seeking a deal on Iran's nuclear program. — If such an agreement were signed, it would represent an Iranian victory — and an American defeat.

Discussion: TruthRevolt.org, Israel Matzav and Liberaland

Nancy Gibbs / TIME:

Obama's Race for the Cure — The President's second term may hinge on how fast his health care reform can recover — A good President needs a big comfort zone. He should be able to treat enemies as opportunities, appear authentic in joy and grief, stay cool under the hot lights.

Discussion: NewsBusters blogs, Capital New York and Business Insider

Colum Lynch / Foreign Policy:

Exclusive: Inside America's Plan to Kill Online Privacy Rights Everywhere — The United States and its key intelligence allies are quietly working behind the scenes to kneecap a mounting movement in the United Nations to promote a universal human right to online privacy …

Discussion: Guardian, emptywheel, Techdirt and RT

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

Fox News Chastises People For Giving To The Homeless: 'You're An Enabler' — According to Fox News, this woman is likely a scammer, alcoholic, or addict who doesn't deserve your help. — CREDIT: AP — I don't throw around the term “hero” lightly, but it takes a special kind of person …

Discussion: Mediaite

Byron Tau / Reuters:

Tea party groups can't shield donors, FEC rules — The Federal Election Commission declined on Thursday to grant a tea party group the same exemption from disclosure that it has long granted to left-wing political parties. — The panel voted 3-2 against a proposal that would have allowed …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico