Top Items:
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Headmaster Disputes Claim That Obama Attended Islamic School — Fresh doubt was cast yesterday on a magazine's allegation that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) attended a madrassah, or religious school that teaches a fundamentalist version of Islam. — Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster …
Discussion:
The Corner, QandO, Booman Tribune, Think Progress, The Moderate Voice and It Shines For All
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David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
Death Knell May Be Near for Public Election Funds — The public financing system for presidential campaigns, a post-Watergate initiative hailed for decades as the best way to rid politics of the corrupting influence of money, may have quietly died over the weekend.
New York Times:
Bush, at Low Point in Polls, Will Push Domestic Agenda — Carrying some of the worst public approval ratings of any president in a generation, President Bush is heading into his State of the Union address on Tuesday night seeking to revitalize his domestic agenda but facing stiff resistance …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Mahablog, Captain's Quarters, PoliBlog (TM), Oliver Willis and Ezra Klein
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Jay Carney / Swampland:
The Clinton Playbook — When George W. Bush takes the podium …
The Clinton Playbook — When George W. Bush takes the podium …
Discussion:
The Caucus
Michael van der Galien / The Moderate Voice:
Guest Voice: Governor Schwarzenegger's Office on Health Care
Guest Voice: Governor Schwarzenegger's Office on Health Care
Los Angeles Times:
Scant evidence found of Iran-Iraq arms link — U.S. warnings of advanced weaponry crossing the border are overstated, critics say. — BAQUBAH, IRAQ — If there is anywhere Iran could easily stir up trouble in Iraq, it would be in Diyala, a rugged province along the border between the two nations.
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Glenn Greenwald / Unclaimed Territory:
Investigating, rather than reciting, Bush claims re: Iran — (updated below) — Something odd occurred this week: Fox News — spewing filth churned out by the lowest depths of right-wing innuendo swamps — was "reporting" the two-pronged falsehood that Barak Obama attended a "madrassa" …
Roger Si / politico.com:
McCain Bashes Cheney Over Iraq Policy — With his presidential hopes tied to an administration whose Iraq policy he supports but cannot control, John McCain for the first time blamed Vice President Cheney for what McCain calls the "witch's brew" of a "terribly mishandled" war in which U.S. forces are on the verge of defeat.
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, DownWithTyranny!, The Heretik, Reason Magazine, Kiko's House and Andrew Sullivan
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Josephine Hearn / politico.com:
Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed — Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome. — "I think they're real happy I'm not going to join," said Cohen …
Liz Cheney / Washington Post:
Retreat Isn't an Option — Sen. Hillary Clinton declared this weekend, " I'm in to win." Anyone who has watched her remarkable trajectory can have no doubt that she'll do whatever it takes to win the presidency. I wish she felt the same way about the war.
Fox News:
WEB SITE KICKS SAND IN FACES OF GIS IN IRAQ ASKING FOR MATS TO EASE HARDSHIP OF SLEEPING ON GROUND — An American GI assigned to one of the harshest posts in Iraq had a simple request last week for a Wisconsin mattress company: send some floor mats to help ease the hardship of sleeping on the cold, bug-infested ground.
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PJM / Pajamas Media:
The State of the Union is a Disaster: — The Speech George Bush Should Make Tuesday Night — Don't bother standing up or clapping, any of you. I already know who won the election, and I know how you feel. — I come before you tonight not to make amends, not to make it good, curry any favor or find any middle ground.
New York Times:
Key Republican Senator Offers Bipartisan Call to Reject Bush Plan for More Troops in Iraq — Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, one of Congress's leading authorities on the military, presented a bipartisan proposal on Monday that soundly rejected President Bush's plan to send more American troops …
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Michael J. Totten:
Hezbollah Riots in Lebanon — While I was in Lebanon gathering the material I've been publishing, Hezbollah kept threatening to strangle the country by seizing major roads, including the one that leads to the airport. I was worried I might get stuck there, but I didn't.
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Washington Post:
Abortion Foes to Renew Efforts — Activists Rally on Mall, Vow to Keep Pressure on Congress — Tens of thousands of abortion opponents marched through melting snow on the Mall yesterday and vowed to work harder — since Democrats have taken control of the Capitol — to overturn …
John Solo / Washington Post:
Casino Executive Contributes $1 Million to Gingrich Group — Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker and a possible presidential contender, jump-started his new political group with a check for $1 million from a source many in his conservative base would shun — the gambling industry.
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker
Nadine Elsibai / Bloomberg:
Bush Poll Ratings Before Speech Fall to Nixon's Level (Update2) — Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush's approval ratings are now the lowest for any president the day before a State of the Union speech since Richard Nixon in 1974, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Amanda / Think Progress:
CNN's Glenn Beck Calls Anti-Gay Slur Simply A 'Naughty Name' — Yesterday on CNN Headline News, host Glenn Beck addressed the controversy raised after Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington called his castmate T.R. Knight a "faggot." — Beck called the New York Times's refusal to print the anti-gay slur …
Thomas E. Ricks / Washington Post:
Surprises From Gates's 1996 Memoir — Defense Secretary Admires Leaders, Thinkers in Both Parties — Of all the presidents he worked for, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is particularly supportive of one — but it isn't, as might be expected, Ronald Reagan, the first President Bush or even Gerald R. Ford.
Discussion:
Demagogue