Friday, November 15, 2013

Mediaite’s Morning Reading List: Happy Friday!

As we introduced yesterday, Mediaite publishes a primer of what the interweb machine is writing, talking, tweeting, and blogging about, so that you may fool friends and family into thinking you are a trove of information and insight. Today’s list below:
Story of the Day: ‘Democrats With 2014 Races Unhappy With Obama Health Fix’ (Julie Hirschfeld Davis & Michael C. Bender, Bloomberg)
Whether or not the party leadership likes it, the narrative is growing that Dems facing election next year are deeply concerned about the Obamacare rollout and how it could potentially hurt their chances of re-election. Obama’s fix “doesn’t go as far as I’d like,” said Senator Jeff Merkley (Oregon). Sen.Mark Begich (D-AK) is in a similar boat; as is Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Whether or not President Obama‘s accepting of “blame” and backing of his “fix” plan will help or hurt Democrats in the long run remains to be seen.
Nuh-uh: ‘The Democrats Need to Stop Freaking Out About Obamacare and Take Charge’ (Michael Tomasky, Daily Beast)
Liberal columnist Tomasky says the White House cannot allow this narrative to develop any further. He suggests the president “crack the whip” and rally Democrats behind a trust-building plan that includes admitting fault for the failure of “Round 1,” but an overall re-assertion of the Affordable Care Act’s long-run merits.
Controversy of the Morning: ‘Health Law Rollout’s Stumbles Draw Parallels to Bush’s Hurricane Response’ (Michael D. Shear, New York Times)
This one has already drawn the ire of conservatives on Twitter, and will likely grow as the day goes on.Times political reporter Shear suggests that President Obama‘s bungled Affordable Care Act rollout has a plethora of parallels to President George W. Bush‘s botched response to 2005′s Hurricane Katrina. The key grafs here:
The disastrous rollout of [Obama's] health care law not only threatens the rest of his agenda but also raises questions about his competence in the same way that the Bush administration’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina undermined any semblance of Republican efficiency.
But unlike Mr. Bush, who faced confrontational but occasionally cooperative Democrats, Mr. Obama is battling a Republican opposition that has refused to open the door to any legislative fixes to the health care law and has blocked him at virtually every turn.
Must-Read Column: ‘Let’s Skip a War With Iran’ (Sheldon Richman, Reason)
Remember that whole “war with Iran” thing? (It occasionally pops up in the news, even as a question during Obama’s healthcare “fix” announcement on Thursday.) Reason columnist Sheldon Richman has a suggestion that would undoubtedly upset neoconservatives and fans of John McCain turning Beach Boys classics into battle cries.
LOLWUT Story of the Day: ‘Elk Standoff Lasts 7 Very Tense Minutes’ (TheBlaze)
What is an “elk standoff”? Well, apparently it’s when an elk puts his head up against yours and stares at you for a long time? Not really sure, but it sounds like the makings of a Phone Booth-like film

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