Top Items:
Brooks Barnes / Wall Street Journal:
Cheney Accident Triggers Jokes on Late-Night TV — For TV comics, it's a target so big and so attractive that few will resist taking their shot. — Vice President Dick Cheney was already the butt of jokes on the late-night TV circuit for his brooding public persona, ardent support for the war …
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Mark Leibovich / Washington Post:
After Cheney's Shooting Incident, Time to Unload — Episode Triggers a Fusillade of Wisecracks, And a Withering Blast From White House Press — It was one of those "everyone's a wise guy" days in Washington yesterday, thanks to Dick Cheney. Quipping at the vice president's expense …
New York Times:
No End to Questions in Cheney Hunting Accident — WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — The White House sought with little success on Monday to quell an uproar over why it took the better part of a day to disclose that Vice President Dick Cheney had accidentally wounded a fellow hunter in Texas on Saturday …
New York Times:
White House Shoots Foot — Let's see. The vice president of the United States accidentally shot someone while bird-hunting on a Texas ranch. It took the White House nearly 24 hours to share that information with the rest of the nation because Dick Cheney thought it would be better …
Discussion:
Bark Bark Woof Woof, The Huffington Post, Media Blog on National … and The American Thinker
Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
Groans at Home Re: (Cheney Joke Here) — WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — What do you do when the vice president shoots someone? — That was the question the White House grappled uncertainly with on Monday, after Dick Cheney made history as the second vice president to fire a gun at someone …
Ian Urbina / New York Times:
Popular Ohio Democrat Drops Out of Race, and Perhaps Politics — Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and popular Democratic candidate in Ohio's closely watched Senate contest, said yesterday that he was dropping out of the race and leaving politics altogether as a result of pressure from party leaders.
Discussion:
Majikthise, Ezra Klein, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakespeare's Sister, Hullabaloo, Lance Mannion, Daniel W. Drezner, The Huffington Post, The Left Coaster, Greg's Opinion, The Moderate Voice, Outside The Beltway, Bring it On!, Brilliant at Breakfast, Booman Tribune, Sisyphus Shrugged, The American Street, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Hotline On Call, Daily Kos, Brainster's Blog and Swing State Project
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Daily Kos:
OH-Sen: Hackett out. Of politics. — Hackett is out. … Calling his donors? Seems like a bulls**t thing to do. But the party wasn't afraid of Hackett, they were afraid of an untested candidate in a high-profile Senate race. He'd have all the support in the world had he decided to run for OH-02.
Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster — JERUSALEM, Feb. 13 — The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.
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CNN:Poll: Americans nervous about Iran
Discussion:
Blinq, Mystery Pollster, Right Wing News, BobGeiger.com, CorrenteWire and King of Zembla
Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
U.S. Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies — WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years. — New projections, buried in the Interior Department's …
Discussion:
Blanton's and Ashton's, skippy the bush kangaroo, NathanNewman.org, The Sideshow and Tim Worstall
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Dispatches From The Fever Swamp — Jason Zengerle over at the Plank gives Mickey Kaus props for being wrong and then discusses every Joementum Democrat's favorite new theme: the "fever swamp" of the liberal blogosphere. He quotes Kaus: … And then adds:
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Josh White / Washington Post:
'Don't Ask' Costs More Than Expected — Military's Gay Ban Seen in Budget Terms — The financial costs to the U.S. military for discharging and replacing gay service members under the nation's "don't ask, don't tell" policy are nearly twice what the government estimated last year …
Michael A. Fletcher / Washington Post:
Larger Darfur Force Needed, Bush, Annan Say — President Bush and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan agreed on the need for a bigger, more mobile peacekeeping force in Sudan's troubled Darfur region during a White House meeting yesterday, but Annan made no specific requests for U.S. military help.
Michelle Malkin:
DANA MILBANK: CLOWN — Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank turned up on an MSNBC show to talk about the Cheney accidental hunting trip shooting wearing this costume: — Download and watch the video (Windows Media .wmv file). — Hat tip: Tom Elia at The New Editor …
Discussion:
The Mahablog, Captain's Quarters, RedState, Power Line, Ezra Klein, Exposing Liberal Media Bias, PoliPundit.com and The American Mind
Hamza Hendawi / Associated Press:
Saddam Says He's on a Hunger Strike — BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein and three former officials in his regime on Tuesday told the court handling their trial that they were on a hunger strike in protest of the judge overseeing the proceedings. — Saddam said he had not eaten in three days …
Victor Davis Hanson / realclearpolitics.com:
What Will Europe Really Do? — Nothing is quite as surreal as the Islamic world's fury at the liberal and innocuous Danes. How could anyone wish to burn their embassies and kill their citizens, when they have always offered all the politically correct, multicultural platitudes and welcomed in any and all from the Middle East?
