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Do the Right Thing — A message to House Democrats: This is your moment of truth. You can do the right thing and pass the Senate health care bill. Or you can look for an easy way out, make excuses and fail the test of history. — Tuesday's Republican victory in the Massachusetts special election means …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, The Politico, USA Today, Kausfiles, TPM LiveWire and Prairie Weather
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Dem health care talks collapsing — Health care reform teetered on the brink of collapse Thursday as House and Senate leaders struggled to coalesce around a strategy to rescue the plan, in the face of growing pessimism among lawmakers that the president's top priority can survive.

In U.S., Majority Favors Suspending Work on Healthcare Bill — Seven in 10 say Massachusetts election result reflects frustrations shared by Americans — PRINCETON, NJ — In the wake of Republican Scott Brown's victory in Tuesday's U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, the majority of Americans …


A New Search for Consensus on Health Care Bill — WASHINGTON — Even as Speaker Nancy Pelosi affirmed her commitment to pass far-reaching health care legislation this year, members of Congress and health policy experts began Thursday to deal with the reality that a smaller bill would have a better chance.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Politico, Washington Post, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and AMERICAblog News

Will the Base Abandon Hope? — Imagine for a moment that you're a liberal. Oh, I know, that won't be a stretch for some of you. Over the years, you've developed a pretty thick skin, since while you've won an election now and then, you haven't had too many policy victories since ... well, since forever.

Fox News Poll: Voters Split On Congressional Elections
Discussion:
Media Matters for America, The Washington Independent, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and GOP 12

The Court's Blow to Democracy — With a single, disastrous 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has thrust politics back to the robber-baron era of the 19th century. Disingenuously waving the flag of the First Amendment, the court's conservative majority has paved the way for corporations …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Firedoglake, QandO, Outside The Beltway, Taylor Marsh, Prairie Weather and PostPartisan
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Justice Stevens Stumbles: A Step To Retirement? — Justice John Paul Stevens has left some clues he's planning to retire this year, shortly after he turns 90 years old. He's only hired one law clerk for next term, for example, and not the four that sitting justices typically hire every year.

Political Fallout From the Supreme Court Ruling
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Betsy's Page, Big Journalism, Big Brass Blog, BBC, SCOTUSblog and Commentary

Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Eduwonk, The Caucus, The Politico, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, No More Mister Nice Blog, Democracy 21, CNN, Emptywheel, Slate, How Appealing, PR Newswire, unbossed.com, ACS Blog, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller, Firedoglake, CANNONFIRE, Daily Kos, SCOTUSblog, Media Nation, Big Journalism, The Hill, The Greenroom, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Grist, No Sheeples Here and The Plum Line

Analysis: A few open, or not so open, questions
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Cato @ Liberty, Truthdig, Sunlight Foundation, Campaign Diaries, Washington Times and Associated Press

Bloomberg Hammers Obama, Congress Over Bank Plan — Mayor Says President's Idea To Limit Size And Investments Will Lead To Big Problems For NYC, Including Layoffs — Hizzoner Suggests Salaries Of D.C. Lawmakers Be Held Back For Decade — NEW YORK (CBS) ― President Barack Obama's demand Thursday …
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Geithner has reservations on US bank limits-sources — President Barack Obama's newest Wall Street crackdown was met with hesitation from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who is concerned that politics could be sacrificing good economic policy, according to financial industry sources.

So Is It Really Over? — Let me take a moment and explain where I think we are on the Health Care Reform front. — As I've argued, procedurally, with the senate Dems reduced to 59 votes, there's no way to get a better or revised bill through the senate. (Frankly, it's not clear to me that there are still 59 votes.)
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Fluid and Muddle — I've been poking around some sources …
Discussion:
The Greenroom

Senate Dems Not Sure They Can Get Enough Votes to Reconfirm Bernanke — Amidst the voter anger at Wall Street and Washington, D.C., ABC News has learned that the Senate Democratic leadership isn't sure there are enough votes to re-confirm Ben Bernanke for another term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.


The World Bids Farewell to Obama — US President Barack Obama suffered a painful defeat in Massachusetts on Tuesday. With mid-term elections looming, it means that Obama will have to fundamentally re-think his political course. German commentators say it is the end of hope.
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W II — Obama's first term is looking a lot like Bush's second term.
Discussion:
TigerHawk

Union Households Gave Boost to GOP's Brown
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USA Today

Detainees Will Still Be Held, but Not Tried, Official Says — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided to continue to imprison without trials nearly 50 detainees at the Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba because a high-level task force has concluded that they are too difficult …

Air America, the Talk Radio Network, Will Go Off the Air — Air America, the long-suffering progressive talk radio network, abruptly shut down on Thursday, bowing to what it called a “very difficult economic environment.” — The chairman of Air America Media, Charlie Kireker …
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE
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Scott Brown's Wife Music VIDEO: Gail Huff's RACY ‘Girl With The Curious Hand’ (PHOTOS) — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — On Tuesday night, Scott Brown's wife pleaded with her husband to stop advertising his “available” daughters, but a video we've dug up reveals that Gail Huff wasn't always so prim and proper.
Discussion:
Moe Lane, Bostonist, The Lonely Conservative, Gateway Pundit, Boston Globe, POWIP, DaTechguy's Blog, Mediaite, BuzzFlash.org and Michelle Malkin

Jay Leno to keynote White House Correspondents Dinner — White House Correspondents Association has picked this week's most unpopular stand-up comic Jay Leno be the keynote speaker at this year's White House Correspondents DInner. — An NBC rep confirmed the invitation to The TV Column.
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Senator John Thune: Obama seeks to spark ‘class warfare’ with populist rhetoric — A prominent Republican senator said Thursday that President Obama is seeking to spark “class warfare” with increasingly populist rhetoric and a series of regulatory measures aimed at Wall Street.
Discussion:
RedState

Prop. 8 backer stands by views on pedophilia — SAN FRANCISCO — A proponent of California's same-sex marriage ban testified Thursday that he thinks gays are more likely to be pedophiles and that allowing them to wed would lead to efforts to lower the age at which teenagers can legally have sex with adults.
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend

Man Claims Terror Ties in Little Rock Shooting — MEMPHIS — A Tennessee man accused of killing a soldier outside a Little Rock, Ark., military recruiting station last year has asked a judge to change his plea to guilty, claiming for the first time that he is affiliated with a Yemen-based affiliate of Al Qaeda.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers


Big Banks Have Already Figured Out The Loophole In Obama's New Rules — Big banks have already begun poking the holes in Obama's new rules—holes they expect their banks to pass through basically unchanged. — The president promised this morning to work with Congress to ensure that no bank …