Top Items:
Huma Khan / Political Punch:
President Obama Does First Formal TV Interview as President with Al-Arabiya — As special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell heads off to the region to begin work on negotiating a cease fire between Israel and the Palestinians, President Obama has sat for his first formal TV interview …
Discussion:
Eunomia, The Moderate Voice, TIME.com, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Riehl World View, AmSpecBlog, Atlas Shrugs and Don Surber
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Washington Post:
Obama Voices Hope for Mideast Peace in Talk With Al-Arabiya TV — President Obama expressed optimism yesterday about the prospect of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but he said a peace accord will take time and require new thinking about the problems of the Middle East as a whole.
Discussion:
Political Punch, Stop The ACLU, Harry's Place, The Raw Story and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Adam Hutton / CBS News:
Obama's Interview On Arab Television — President Obama reached out to the Muslim world Monday in an exclusive interview on Arab television channel Al Arabiya. — “In all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith …
Discussion:
Riehl World View
Evan Perez / Wall Street Journal:
Democrats Subpoena Rove — WASHINGTON — House Democrats renewed their effort to force former White House aide Karl Rove to testify in a probe into Justice Department controversies, presenting a challenge to President Barack Obama, who will have to decide whether to defend his predecessor's legal arguments.
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Larry Margasak / Associated Press:
House Judiciary chairman subpoenas Karl Rove — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee chairman subpoenaed former White House adviser Karl Rove on Monday to testify about the Bush administration's firing of U.S. attorneys …
Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
Conyers subpoenas Rove — House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) subpoenaed former White House senior adviser Karl Rove, a sign that Democrats are not letting go of investigations the Bush administration stonewalled. — The subpoena requires Rove to testify regarding …
Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — CBO has released a cost estimate for H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was introduced today in the House of Representatives. A link to the full cost estimate can be found here.
Discussion:
Clive Crook, The Gavel, EconLog, Swampland, QandO, Matthew Yglesias, The Atlantic Business Channel and Marginal Revolution
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Associated Press:
Officials: Family planning money may be dropped — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - House Democrats are likely to jettison family planning funds for the low-income from an $825 billion economic stimulus bill, officials said late Monday …
Discussion:
Think Progress, Reuters, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Corrente, Yahoo! News, Michelle Malkin and The Politico
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Joelle Tessler / Associated Press:
Senate OKs 4-Month Delay to Digital TV Changeover — Senate votes to delay digital transition by 4 months to June 12 — The Senate on Monday voted unanimously to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12 …
Discussion:
The Agonist
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Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
William Kristol's Column in the Times Ends — William Kristol, the conservative columnist, and The New York Times have quietly ended their relationship after little more than a year, the newspaper said on Monday. — A single sentence printed below Mr. Kristol's weekly column …
Discussion:
Althouse, Gawker, PoliBlog, Sweetness & Light, The Reaction, Washington and The Huffington Post
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Menzie Chinn / Econbrowser:
Five Reasons Why Fiscal Policy Might Be Completely Ineffective: A Textbook Exposition — It's been frustrating to me that so much virtual ink has been spilled about why the fiscal package will or will not be effective, with so little clarity. Lots and lots of words are being thrown around …
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John H. Cochrane / University of Chicago GSB …:
Fiscal Stimulus, Fiscal Inflation, or Fiscal Fallacies?
Fiscal Stimulus, Fiscal Inflation, or Fiscal Fallacies?
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Prosecuting torture: ‘Hard to believe’ — Eric Holder, President Barack Obama's nominee for attorney general, made plenty of people uncomfortable when he asserted, flatly, in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, that water-boarding is torture.
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Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Senate Confirms Geithner for Treasury — WASHINGTON — Timothy F. Geithner was sworn in as secretary of the Treasury on Monday evening, confirmed by a Senate majority that concluded that his experience in government and finance outweighed concerns about recent disclosures of some $34,000 in past tax delinquencies.
Discussion:
The Politico, Political Buzz, The Swamp, TIME.com, Atlas Shrugs, DownWithTyranny!, The Reaction and Truthdig
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Drudge Report:
GORE HEARING ON WARMING MAY BE PUT ON ICE — Al Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on the ‘urgent need’ to combat global warming. — But Mother Nature seems ready to freeze the proceedings.
Michelle Malkin:
The B.O. Republicans who voted for Geithner — and video of Inhofe's statement — Here is the roll call vote on the Geithner nomination: — And here are the 10 B.O. (Barack Obama/Bend Over) Republicans who sided with Obama and the Dems: — Corker (R-TN) — Cornyn (R-TX) — Crapo (R-ID)
Discussion:
CNNMoney.com, KansasCity.com Prime Buzz, GayPatriot, Right Wing Video, Gateway Pundit and The Corner
Elizabeth Benjamin / NY Daily News:
Hired PR gun doomed Caroline, insiders say — Gov. Paterson's decision to go nuclear on Caroline Kennedy was a hatchet job run by a pricey out-of-state consultant who specializes in political scandals, disgruntled administration sources said. — Judy Smith, a Washington-based PR guru …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, New York Post, The Other McCain, New York Times, Spin Cycle, CBS News and Newsday
Abdon M. Pallasch / Chicago Sun Times:
Obama's victory? Burris credits Martin Luther King and himself — Gov. Blagojevich compared himself to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. But he's not the only Illinois official stretching to elevate himself to high stature.
Owen Thomas / Gawker:
Cheney's Veil Lifted on Vice President's Residence — Hope and change has come to Google Maps. The official residence of the vice president, obscured until Dick Cheney's last days in office and residence, now shines in satellite sunlight. — A reader tipped us off that Google Maps …
Avi Issacharoff / Haaretz:
Egypt to Hamas: Take Gaza truce before Netanyahu is voted PM — Officials in Egypt are attempting to persuade Hamas to accept Israel's current offer of a cease-fire in Gaza before a far less accommodating government under Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is elected, the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported Monday.
Marc Lynch:
How badly did Gaza poison the well? — The Israeli attack on Gaza during the last weeks of the Bush administration looks more than ever like Bush's “last gift” to Israel and to the region — carried out during the transition, with no American attempt to intervene, ending immediately before Obama's inauguration.