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 …
Discussion:
CBS News, Crooks and Liars, The New Republic, New York Post, Outside The Beltway, NO QUARTER, MSNBC, Political Machine, TPMDC, Hot Air, Salon, NewsBusters.org and Taegan Goddard's …
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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:
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.
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:
Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Feministe, Riptide 2.0, D-Day, theheretik.us, Washington Monthly, AMERICAblog News and KansasCity.com Prime Buzz
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Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Obama Starts Reversing Bush Policies
Obama Starts Reversing Bush Policies
Discussion:
The Mahablog, Danger Room, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Podium Pundits, Wall Street Journal, Political Punch and The Caucus
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
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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.
Peter Baker / New York Times:
On Plane to Texas, Critiques of the Speech
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, Lost in Transition and Infinite Loop
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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 …
DON'T JUMP IN THE POOL.... It's impractical for every major media outlets …
Discussion:
Washington Post
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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Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Pa. defense firm raided by FBI — Federal agents raided the offices of a Western Pennsylvania defense contractor that has received millions in federal earmarks at the request of Rep. John Murtha, according to local media reports. — The offices of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems …
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker
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:
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
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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 …
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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 …
Discussion:
DealBook, Don Surber, The World Newser, Gawker, TIME.com, Portfolio, BloggingStocks and Gothamist
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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, Fox News, The BRAD BLOG, JustOneMinute, Emptywheel and Washington Post
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:
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 …
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 …
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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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 …
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.
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: