Top Items:
New York Times:
Housekeeper and Taxes Are Said to Derail Kennedy's Bid — ALBANY — Problems involving taxes and a household employee surfaced during the vetting of Caroline Kennedy and derailed her candidacy for the Senate, a person close to Gov. David A. Paterson said on Thursday, in an account at odds …
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Karen Tumulty / Time:
Ted Kennedy's Circle Upset By Caroline Kennedy's Awkward Exit — Senator Ted Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy in August 2008 — Of all the many ways in which Caroline Kennedy's brief and unofficial candidacy for the U.S. Senate was mishandled, one final ungraceful note is striking particularly close to home.
Discussion:
The Daily Politics, The New Republic, Firedoglake, Wonkette, Gawker, NY Daily News, Swampland and KansasCity.com Prime Buzz
Danny Hakim / City Room:
With Kennedy Out, N.R.A. Becomes Issue — ALBANY — Representative Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island, a staunch supporter of gun-control laws, said in an interview Thursday that she would challenge a fellow Democrat, Representative Kirsten E. Gillibrand, if Gov. David A. Paterson names Ms. Gillibrand to the Senate.
Peter Baker / New York Times:
On Plane to Texas, Critiques of the Speech — WASHINGTON — On the plane, no longer Air Force One but now Special Air Mission 28000, they talked about the speech. George W. Bush, the former president, was heading home to Texas with his inner circle, having just left the west front of the Capitol …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
A RIDICULOUS STANDARD.... Marc Thiessen, up until recently George W. Bush's chief speechwriter, has a twisted op-ed in the Washington Post today, arguing that if Barack Obama changes Bush's national-security apparatus in anyway, he'll invite domestic terrorism and will shoulder the blame for American deaths.
Discussion:
Media Matters for America
Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:2,688 Days — When President Bush left office on Tuesday …
Discussion:
The New Republic, The Huffington Post, democracyarsenal.org and No More Mister Nice Blog
CNN:
Obama picks Mitchell as his Middle East envoy — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell was named as a special envoy for the Middle East during an event at the State Department on Thursday afternoon. — The move, which is meant to send the signal that Obama …
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Mark Landler / The Caucus:
Secretary of State Clinton Arrives at Foggy Bottom — Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived for her first day of work at the State Department Thursday, assuming the mantle of the nation's chief diplomat and preparing to name a pair of renowned diplomats to serve as special emissaries to the Middle East and South Asia.
Nick Baumann / MoJoBlog:
Obama to Bush: I Can Release Your Records. Don't Like It? Sue. — On his first day in office, President Obama put former president Bush on notice. His administration just released an executive order that will make it difficult for Bush to shield his White House records …
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:DON'T JUMP IN THE POOL.... It's impractical for every major media outlets …
Discussion:
Washington Post
Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in Dark Ages of Technology
Discussion:
The Caucus, CNN, Democratic Strategist, The Moderate Voice, Top of the Ticket, Lost in Transition and Infinite Loop
WJAC-TV:
Local Defense Contractor Raided By FBI, IRS — WINDBER, Pa. — Federal agents raided Kuchera Industries, an area defense contractor located in Windber. — The entrance of the building was blocked by state and federal authorities. One by one, Kuchera employees drove off the property.
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Fred Hiatt and the Washington establishment's bizarre concept of “due process” — Barack Obama will have spent his first several days in office issuing a series of executive orders which, some quibbling and important caveats aside, meet or actually exceed even the most optimistic expectations …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Editor and Publisher, Daily Kos, Washington Post, D-Day, Feministe, Riptide 2.0, theheretik.us and Washington Monthly
David Neiwert / Crooks and Liars:
Limbaugh on Hannity: Racism is ‘the exclusive province of the left’ — Something seems strangely off about Rush Limbaugh in his interview with Sean Hannity yesterday on Fox. Of course, there's also the crazy things he says, such as his further explanation of why he hopes Barack Obama's presidency fails:
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Jack Shafer / Slate:
Chris Matthews' Inaugural Jib-Jabbery — The MSNBC motormouth talks a lot, says nothing. — Nobody in TV news stir-fries his ideas and serves them to the audience faster than MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Drawing from a larder filled with old anecdotes, unreliable metaphors, wacky intuition …
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org
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Blogs and Stories:
John Thain's $87,000 Rug — Merrill Shocker: CEO Thain's $87,000 Office Rug by Charlie Gasparino — Full Coverage: Obama Inauguration, Bush Farewell — Blogs and Stories — In a Daily Beast/CNBC exclusive, Charlie Gasparino reveals how Merrill Lynch's CEO spent over $1 million …
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DealBook, The World Newser, Gawker, TIME.com, BloggingStocks, Portfolio, Don Surber and Gothamist
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Paul J. Gough / Hollywood Reporter:
Book, TV deal in Sarah Palin's future? — Politician enlisting help of superstar D.C. attorney — NEW YORK — It looks like Sarah Palin may be ready to tell her remarkable story in print. — The former GOP vice presidential candidate has apparently enlisted the help …
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Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
Cheney Speaks Out on Libby — Former vice president calls prosecution a “serious miscarriage of justice” and disagrees with Bush's decision. — Former Vice President Dick Cheney disagreed publicly with his boss just four times in the eight years they served together.
Discussion:
The Raw Story, MoJoBlog, JustOneMinute, Emptywheel, Fox News, The BRAD BLOG and Comments from Left Field
Carolyn Lochhead / San Francisco Chronicle:
Obama retakes oath to err on side of law — (01-22) 04:00 PST Washington - — President Barack Obama took the advice of constitutional lawyers and retook the oath of office Wednesday that Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed the first time around. — Roberts re-administered the oath privately Wednesday …
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Christian Science Monitor
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Carrie Sheffield / Washington Times:
Wounded vets walk out during inaugural ball concert — An inaugural ball honoring U.S. military veterans ended in a kerfluffle as several veterans walked out when a musical act's attempt at humor backfired. — During the Heroes Red, White & Blue Inaugural Ball honoring the nation's veterans …
The White House:
Executive Order — Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel — By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and sections 3301 and 7301 of title 5, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
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The Washington Independent, pogo.org, MoJoBlog, Swampland, Think Progress, TPMDC, The Project …, Ben Smith's Blogs and ATTACKERMAN
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Randall Mikkelsen / Reuters:
Obama CIA choice won't call waterboarding torture — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's choice to head the CIA declined on Thursday to call waterboarding “torture,” only days after his attorney general nominee condemned the interrogation practice as precisely that.
Discussion:
Think Progress, Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, Amygdala, The Project … and The Washington Independent
Marc Lynch:
Unilateral al-Qaeda ceasefire with the U.S.? — Mohammed Essam Derbala, one of the leaders of the Egyptian al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, today called on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to declare a unilateral four month ceasefire [hudna] with the United States to test Barack Obama's pledges to establish …
New York Times:
Obama Orders Secret Prisons and Detention Camps Closed — WASHINGTON — Saying that “our ideals give us the strength and moral high ground” to combat terrorism, President Obama signed executive orders Thursday effectively ending the Central Intelligence Agency's secret interrogation program …
The Politico:
GOP pressures Bunning to quit — Some Republicans are privately urging Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) to step down at the end of his term amid growing concerns that he can't win reelection in 2010. — According to two GOP sources, leading Republican fundraisers in Kentucky are hesitant …
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: No stimulus money for white males — Wasn't this supposed the era of post-racialism? Robert Reich apparently didn't get that message. In his appearance before Congress on structuring the stimulus plan on January 7th, Reich suggested that the package discriminate against white male workers:
The Politico:
Obama flashes irritation in press room visit — President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with a substantive question. — Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration …
Discussion:
The Swamp
New York Times:
Geithner Says China Is Manipulating Its Currency — WASHINGTON — Timothy F. Geithner, who took a big step toward confirmation as Treasury secretary on Thursday, told senators that the Obama administration believes China is “manipulating” its currency, suggesting a more confrontational trade stance toward …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Conyers Hits Newsweek As “Glib” And “Cynical” — Rep. John Conyers — angered by a recent Newsweek.com piece claiming that his efforts to force a probe of Bush-era “war on terror” practices are nothing but the “politics of vengeance” — fired off an unusually scathing letter to Newsweek hammering …
Discussion:
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