Top Items:
Michelle Malkin:
KENNEDY UNHINGED: LIVEBLOGGING THE MELTDOWN — ***updated with video link*** — I am watching Sen. Ted Kennedy on C-SPAN unraveling before my eyes. He is screaming. The face is fire-engine red. The fists are waving furiously. Here's my rough transcript of his ongoing diatribe smearing …
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CNN:
Anti-Alito filibuster soundly defeated — Final confirmation of Supreme Court nominee expected Tuesday — WASHINGTON (CNN) — A Democratic filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito — led by Massachusetts Democratic Sens. John Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy — was defeated 72-25 Monday …
Fred Barbash / Washington Post:
Senate Ends Alito Filibuster Attempt — 75-25 Vote Virtually Assures Nominee's Confirmation — By a 72-25 vote, the Senate cut off a symbolic filibuster attempt today on the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr., all but assuring that the federal appeals court judge will be confirmed Tuesday morning by the Senate.
Daily Kos:
Lieberman, Chafee To Hand Political Gifts To Their Opponents — Senators Joe Lieberman and Lincoln Chafee are poised to hand their political rivals great gifts today. They will be energizing the opposition to their continued presence in the Senate. — CNN's Ed Henry reports …
ReddHedd / firedoglake:
Down to the Wire — Armando is reporting at DKos that the Gang of 14 (according to Ed Henry at CNN) will be voting as a block to prevent a filibuster due to their decision that extraordinary circumstances do not exist on this nomination. More information in Armando's DKos diary here.
Jane Hamsher / firedoglake:
NARAL Drops the Ball — The announcement this morning that Lincoln Chaffee would vote "no" on Alito but "yes" on cloture was a hollow gesture to NARAL and the pro-choice community he pretends to cultivate. A vote for cloture is a vote for Alito. It's that simple.
Discussion:
Democrat Taylor Marsh …
Thomas Ferraro / Reuters:
Senate clears way for Alito confirmation — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led Senate on Monday soundly defeated a Democratic bid to block Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito — clearing the way for confirmation of the 55-year-old federal judge, who could move the nation's highest court to the right.
Associated Press:
Zawahiri, in New Videotape, Says He Survived Airstrike — CAIRO, Egypt — Al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a videotape aired Monday that President Bush was a "butcher" and a "failure" because of a deadly U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeting the bin Laden deputy, and he threatened a new attack on the United States.
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CNN:
Al Qaeda's No. 2 taunts U.S. in new video — Tape seems to prove al-Zawahiri survived missile attack — (CNN) — Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, appeared in a new video Monday, saying he is alive and well just weeks after a U.S. missile strike targeted him in Pakistan.
Fox News:
New Patriot Act Provision Creates Tighter Barrier to Officials at Public Events — WASHINGTON — A new provision tucked into the Patriot Act bill now before Congress would allow authorities to haul demonstrators at any "special event of national significance" away to jail on felony charges …
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Debra Burlingame / Opinion Journal:Our Right to Security — Al Qaeda, not the FBI, is the greater threat to America.
Philip Bobbitt / New York Times:Why We Listen — IN the debate over whether the National …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, TigerHawk, The Heretik, The Right Coast, Austin Bay Blog, Prometheus 6, Hyscience and Transterrestrial Musings
Shankar Vedantam / Washington Post:
Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases — Put a group of people together at a party and observe how they behave. Differently than when they are alone? Differently than when they are with family? What if they're in a stadium instead of at a party? What if they're all men?
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New York Times:
Exxon Mobil Posts Largest Annual Profit for U.S. Company — HOUSTON, Jan. 30 — Exxon Mobil, the nation's largest energy company, today reported a 27 percent surge in profits for the fourth quarter as elevated fuel prices gave rise to the most lucrative year ever for an American company …
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John O'Neil / New York Times:
Abbas and Hamas Leader Call for Continuation of Aid — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a leader of Hamas today both called for a continuation of foreign aid. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the European Union responded that Hamas must renounce violence and accept Israel's right …
Discussion:
Captain's Quarters, Washington Post, PoliBlog, Weapons of Mass Destruction, A Blog For All and The RCP Blog
dailykos.com:
A Message From Your Host … Rep. Timothy V. Johnson's opponent in the next election is Dr. David Gill. — (Contact me if you want a pdf of the full invitation email, complete with GOP headers and footers) — Update: I've uploaded a pdf, available here.
Wonkette:
Letter From the Editors: Politics Makes Strange Blogfellows — Quick! Guess which one used to be lawyer! (Photo © Nikola Tamindzic/AMBREL.net) — You know what we're sick of? Bylines. That's why as of today there won't be any more little gray words at the ends of posts on Wonkette.
Drudge Report:
LOS ANGELES RADIO STATION SQUARES-OFF WITH MUSLIM GROUP — Los Angeles's top talkradio station is under fire from a Muslim group because of comments made earlier this month by morning man Bill Handel. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has demanded an apology from Handel for making fun …
Judd / Think Progress:
Matthews: Bush's Warrantless Domestic Surveillance Is "A Winner Politically" — Today on the Chris Matthews show, Matthews asserted that the President warrantless domestic spying program was "a winner politically": … Three of the most recent polls on the issue paint an completely different picture:
New York Times:
Lawmakers Urge Bush to Make Abramoff Information Public — WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 — Republican legislators urged President Bush today to make public photographs and information about contacts that he or his top aides had with the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to felony charges …
BBC:
EU 'to keep funding Palestinians' — The European Union says it will continue funding the Palestinian Authority so long as its new government is committed to peace with Israel. — EU ministers renewed their call for Hamas to renounce violence and recognise the Jewish state following the militant group's election victory.
Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
Sign Here — Presidential signing statements are more than just executive branch lunacy. — There are two ways President Bush likes to wage war on your civil liberties: He either asks you to surrender your rights directly—as he does when he strengthens and broadens provisions of the Patriot Act.
Bruce Kesler / Democracy Project:
Potty-Mouth Politics II — John Kerry and Ted Kennedy's posts grace DailyKos, leading far-left blog and home to repeated slurs and vulgar language, John Dean fulminates like a drunken Blue redneck, Nancy Pelosi channels Haight-Ashbury, and their Hollywood contributors echo their onscreen filth.
Discussion:
PoliPundit.com
Rob Stein / Washington Post:
Health Workers' Choice Debated — More than a dozen states are considering new laws to protect health workers who do not want to provide care that conflicts with their personal beliefs, a surge of legislation that reflects the intensifying tension between asserting individual religious values and defending patients' rights.
Siobhan Gorman / Baltimore Sun:
System error … A program that was supposed to help the National Security Agency pluck out electronic data crucial to the nation's safety is not up and running more than six years and $1.2 billion after it was launched, according to current and former government officials.
Ezra Klein:
Katrina Throws Down — Yeah, I guess I deserved that. You know what? Never mind. Katrina Vanden Huevel's slap at me for knocking Tim Kaine's appearance while not looking like Brad Pitt purposefully misses my point. In politics, looks matter. That's why the cover of Katrina's new book features her in a leather miniskirt.
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Hullabaloo, Shakespeare's Sister, The Huffington Post, firedoglake, Crooks and Liars and Brainster's Blog
Drudge Report:
DEAN UNDER FIRE FROM PARTY DEMS; NEARLY ALL CASH SPENT — Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are privately bristling over Howard Dean's management of the Democratic National Committee and have made those sentiments clear after new fundraising numbers showed he has spent nearly all the committee's cash …
Cam Edwards / On Tap:
ABC Radio VP Supports Alito Filibuster? — Friday afternoon I received one of those forwarded emails from a buddy of mine. The subject: asking people to sign on to John Kerry's petition to filibuster Sam Alito. — The email was started by a KaufNYC@aol.com, with the message "forward away, my liberal friends".
New York Times:
An Enron Jury Free of Grudges? Easy, Judge Says — HOUSTON, Jan. 29 — Chances are that in this city's pool of 2.3 million registered voters, there are at least 16 people who are not angry about the implosion of Enron, the largest business collapse in history. But finding them in a single day could be a challenge.
