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.
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Firedoglake, The New Republic, Swampland, NY Daily News, Wonkette, Gawker and KansasCity.com Prime Buzz
The Daily Politics:
Aide: Caroline “became aware of a personal situation” — The Daily News' Ken Lovett reports: — Caroline Kennedy's aides this morning are saying her decision to withdraw from consideration for the U.S. Senate seat had nothing to do with the health of her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy.
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.
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 …
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Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Feministe, Riptide 2.0, D-Day, theheretik.us, Washington Monthly and AMERICAblog News
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Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:Obama Starts Reversing Bush Policies
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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 …
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Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
2,688 Days — When President Bush left office on Tuesday, America marked 2,688 days without a terrorist attack on its soil. There are 1,459 days until the next inauguration. Whether Barack Obama is standing on the Capitol steps to be sworn in a second time depends on whether he succeeds in replicating Bush's achievement.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:A RIDICULOUS STANDARD.... Marc Thiessen, up until recently George …
Discussion:
Media Matters for America
Peter Baker / New York Times:On Plane to Texas, Critiques of the Speech
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:
Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in Dark Ages of Technology — If the Obama campaign represented a sleek, new iPhone kind of future, the first day of the Obama administration looked more like the rotary-dial past. — Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign …
Discussion:
The Caucus, Democratic Strategist, CNN, The Moderate Voice, Top of the Ticket and Lost in Transition
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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 …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:DON'T JUMP IN THE POOL.... It's impractical for every major media outlets …
Discussion:
Washington Post
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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The Moderate Voice
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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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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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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 …
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.
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The Raw Story, MoJoBlog, Fox News, The BRAD BLOG, JustOneMinute, Emptywheel and Washington Post
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:
Discussion:
The Washington Independent, pogo.org, MoJoBlog, Think Progress, Swampland, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Project …, TPMDC and ATTACKERMAN
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Lisa Lerer / The Politico:
Geithner is approved — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — The Senate Finance Committee approved Timothy Geithner's nomination for Treasury secretary Thursday over the objections of several Republicans. — Five Republicans on the committee voted against him …
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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 …
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.
Marc Ambinder:
Robert Gibbs's First Briefing: Minute-By-Minute — Overall Grade: B+ — Detail Evasion Technique: 7 out of 10. — Telegeniousity: 10/10. The accent kills. The suit was nice. Pointing technique was sharp. — Strength of opinion; tenacity; obstinacy: 9 out of 10. — Timing: 10 minutes late.
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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.
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 …
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:
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Coleman takes a new day job — Last session's senior senator from Minnesota Norm Coleman, still battling Al Franken to be seated in the Senate, has taken a paid job as a consultant to the Republican Jewish Coalition, which harshly attacked Obama last fall, its executive director, Matt Brooks, said.
Discussion:
Daily Kos, MyDD, Front Row Washington, PoliticalBase.com Blog, FiveThirtyEight.com and MoJoBlog
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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