Top Items:
Rick Klein / Boston Globe:
Kerry won't run for president in '08 — WASHINGTON —Senator John F. Kerry plans to announce today that he will not run in the 2008 presidential race, and will instead remain in Congress and seek reelection to his Senate seat next year, according to senior Democratic officials.
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CNN:
Source: Kerry decides against 2008 presidential run … WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, won't make a second bid for the White House, sources familiar with Kerry's thinking said Wednesday. — A source close to Kerry …
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
President's Portrayal of 'The Enemy' Often Flawed — In his State of the Union address last night, President Bush presented an arguably misleading and often flawed description of "the enemy" that the United States faces overseas, lumping together disparate groups with opposing ideologies …
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White House:
President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address — Washington, D.C. — State of the Union 2007 — State of the Union 2007 Policy Initiatives — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. And tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own — as the first President to begin …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Defense Tech, Redstate, Power Line, The Carpetbagger Report, Facing South, Pacific Views, Winds of Change.NET, Bill Hobbs, Eclectics Anonymous, Don Surber, QandO, The BRAD BLOG, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Townhall.com Blog's …, Beltway Blogroll, Chicago Boyz, Blogs for Bush, Dick Polman's American Debate, Kiko's House, VodkaPundit, Washington Wire, FP Passport, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Making Light, Right Wing News, Daily Pundit, On Deadline, Blogs of War, Captain's Quarters, The American Mind, Think Progress and The Political Pit Bull
Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
The Knee-Jerk Opposition — If George W. Bush proposes something, it must be bad. Such is the knee-jerk state of partisan suspiciousness that when the president actually endorses a tax increase — a tax increase that would primarily hit the well-off, no less — Democrats still howl.
Discussion:
Grasping Reality …, Ezra Klein, Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, Polimom Says and Greg Mankiw's Blog
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Lara Setrakian / ABCNEWS:
Former Duke Prosecutor Faces New Ethics Charges — Nifong Accused of Withholding DNA Evidence From Defense, Making Misrepresentations to Judge — ABC Law & Justice Unit — Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been charged with new ethics violations for his conduct on the Duke lacrosse sex assault case.
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Michael J. Gerson / Newsweek:
Exceeding Expectations — Bush's former speechwriter on what the president did right—and on Jim Webb's wobbly wordcraft. — All the commentary leading up to the State of the Union noted the president's historically low poll ratings and unpopular Iraq strategy.
Discussion:
TIME
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Jonathan Alter / Newsweek:
A Powerful Response — Jim Webb tore up his party's playbook—and helped point the Democrats in a new direction. — Something unprecedented happened tonight, beyond the doorkeeper announcing, "Madame Speaker." For the first time ever, the response to the State of the Union Message overshadowed the president's big speech.
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE NEW YORK MONEY PEOPLE: — I've admired Wes Clark for a long time. But his comments to Ariana Huffington about wealthy Jews pushing the country toward war with Iran strike me as nutty and disturbing. Either I seriously misjudged the man, or his comments were misquoted or taken wildly out of context.
Discussion:
American Prospect, Sister Toldjah, Reason Magazine, Matthew Yglesias, Outside The Beltway, Prairie Weather and Hot Air
Hardball / Hardblogger:
SOTU: MCCAIN — LACK OF SELF-CONTROL? AN EXPRESSION OF CONTEMPT? EMBARRASSING IN ANY CASE. — By Tucker Carlson — "We advance our own interests by helping reformers and advocates for democracy"? That was Bush's position on the Middle East immediately after 9-11 and, remarkably, it remains his position.
Discussion:
Right Wing News
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KSTP-TV:
MN congresswoman can't keep her hand off President — Newly-elected Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann got quite a bit of face time with President Bush after his State of the Union Speech Tuesday night. — While the President was signing autographs for members of Congress after the speech …
Tom Shales / Washington Post:
Getting a Read On the Speech Makes for Quite A Snapshot — George W. Bush flirted with eloquence only at the end of his so-so, nuts-and-bolts State of the Union speech last night: "The state of our union is strong," he said, "our cause in the world is right, and tonight that cause goes on."
Damien Cave / New York Times:
Iraq Parliament Finds a Quorum Hard to Come By — Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the speaker of Parliament, read a roll call of the 275 elected members with a goal of shaming the no-shows. — Ayad Allawi, the former prime minister? Absent, living in Amman and London. Adnan Pachachi, the octogenarian statesman?
dailynews.com:
Officials net 761 illegal immigrants — About 450 caught in sweep have already been deported — Federal officials fanned out across Southern California over the past week in one of the biggest sweeps of its kind, arresting 761 illegal immigrants ranging from murder suspects to visa violators.
Bill Carter / New York Times:
Rivals CNN and Fox News Spar Over Obama Report — A disputed report on the Web site of a conservative magazine about Senator Barack Obama's childhood schooling kicked off a pointed exchange this week between the rival cable news networks CNN and Fox News, when CNN seemed to make an overt effort …
Howard Fineman / MSNBC:
Sticking to his guns — President Bush defiantly defends his Iraq stance — WASHINGTON - George W. Bush wanted to be Harry Truman (patron saint of embattled presidents) in his State of the Union speech, but he may have reminded voters of Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.
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