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, New York Post, The New Republic, Outside The Beltway, Crooks and Liars, MSNBC, NO QUARTER, Blue Crab Boulevard, Political Machine, TPMDC, Hot Air, Salon and NewsBusters.org
RELATED:
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
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
RELATED:
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post: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
RELATED:
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
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
RELATED:
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
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.
RELATED:
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.
RELATED:
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:
RELATED:
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, The BRAD BLOG, JustOneMinute, Emptywheel, Fox News and Washington Post
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
RELATED:
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
RELATED:
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 …
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, FiveThirtyEight.com, PoliticalBase.com Blog and MoJoBlog
RELATED:
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, TPMDC, The Project … and ATTACKERMAN
RELATED:
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 …
RELATED:
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 …
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.
RELATED:
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 …
Senior Data Journalist, NY — 
Manager - Publishing Editorial, Manila — 
Oil Reporter, Singapore — 
Newsperson - State Govt. & Politics, CA — 
Business Reporter, SC — 
State Government Reporter, WA — 
Climate Crisis Columnist — 
Multimedia Journalist, CA — 
Community Engagement Mgr., DC — 
Senior California Politics Reporter, CA — 
Staff Writer - Business, NY — 
Team Editor - Opinion, ON — 
Assistant Correspondent, DC — 
Climate & Weather Reporter, MN — 
Senior Tech Editor, Remote US — 
Lead Business Reporter, TN — 
Managing Editor, WA — 
Private Credit Reporter, NY — 
Trending News Reporter, TX — 
City Correspondent, London — 
Legislative Reporter, CA — 
Reporter, PA — 
Visual Editor, Remote — 
Staff Writer, MI — 
Senior Political Reporter, DC — 
California Playbook Writer, CA — 
National Investigative Reporter, NY — 
Business & Gaming Reporter, NV — 
Coastal Climate Reporter, SC — 
Environment & Energy Reporter, CT — 
Coordinating Editor, OR — 
Editor, Remote US — 
Business Reporter, WA — 
Editor-in-Chief, AZ — 
