The New Republic

Kevin Drum thinks the defection of 34 Republican Senators from the Norquist line doesn't matter much: [M]aybe this is more of a good old sectional fight than a real schism on the proper interpretation of Norquist's anti-tax pledge. READ MORE >>

-- Jon Cohn offers yet more reasons to worry about Obama's deficit speech. -- Many of the new federal budget cuts may just be accounting tricks. -- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have fun with Jon Kyl. READ MORE >>

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Tom Jensen on the Republican primary threat: READ MORE >>

I love Matt Yglesias's response to Jon Kyl's suggestion that having the Senate work on December 27 would somehow be an insult to Christians: Yglesias proposes a Jews-only session on Christmas Day. Although note that Christmas happens to fall on a Saturday this year; I believe Joe Lieberman will only show up and vote on Shabbat if his vote is really necessary. READ MORE >>

The tentative deal on taxes and Obama's defense of it deserves additional analysis. Jon Chait has some over at his blog. I hope to provide some more here, as well. For now, I thought I'd point readers to a statement from Bob Greenstein, of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. There is nobody I trust more on these matters than him: READ MORE >>

WASHINGTON -- Can we govern ourselves in the next two years? Do Republicans have any interest in accomplishments that might even indirectly benefit President Obama? These questions hang over this week's meeting between the president and congressional leaders, an encounter that could set the tone for the next two years. READ MORE >>

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Walter Pincus reports that Republicans overwhelmingly favored the previous Start Treaty before changing their tune on the current one: READ MORE >>

Mitch McConnell wants to revisit the 14th Amendment in order to take away birthright citizenship: READ MORE >>