Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
A 40-Year Wish List — You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill. — “Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before.” — So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November, and Democrats in Congress are certainly taking his advice to heart.
RELATED:
Byron York / The Corner:
“Overwhelming” GOP Opposition to Stimulus Bill — Just talked to a very clued-in Republican on the Hill. This person wouldn't predict a unanimous Republican vote against the Democratic stimulus package, but said there would be “minimal” GOP support of the bill.
Alec MacGillis / Washington Post:
Democrats Among Stimulus Skeptics
Democrats Among Stimulus Skeptics
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Wall Street Journal, The Swamp, Matthew Yglesias, Outside The Beltway, The Hill, CBS News, Commentary, A Blog For All, Wizbang, TPMDC, Hullabaloo, Los Angeles Times, Eduwonk, Kevin Drum, Washington Monthly, Wonk Room, Scared Monkeys, AmSpecBlog and International Herald Tribune
Robert Pear / New York Times:
Relief Seen for Jobless and States in Health Care Plan
Relief Seen for Jobless and States in Health Care Plan
Discussion:
QandO, The Foundry, Michelle Malkin, Christian Science Monitor, US News, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, MyDD and Townhall.com
The Politico:
The case for doing nothing — Most of Washington has reached quick consensus: Government must do something big to shock the economy, and it should cost between $800 billion and $900 billion. — But dissident economists and investment professionals offer a much different take: Most of Washington is dead wrong.
RELATED:
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
DUMB JOCKS — Over the last few days I've been trying to take stock of an essential element of the current stimulus debate: namely, Hill Republicans have been getting a lot of air time and minimal press criticism for a series of arguments about the stimulus that are in most cases transparently ridiculous.
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Republicans all a-Twitter over the visit — Audiences usually treat presidents to a round of polite applause, but when President Obama addressed House Republicans on Tuesday, they started Twittering. — Just a week after being inaugurated and becoming the most powerful man in the world …
RELATED:
Eli Lake / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Holder assures GOP on interrogation prosecution — President Obama's choice to run the Justice Department has assured senior Republican senators that he won't prosecute CIA officers or political appointees who were involved in the Bush administration's policy of “enhanced interrogations.”
Discussion:
The Caucus, Commentary, Salon, Daily Kos, Emptywheel, The Raw Story, Ben Smith's Blogs and TPMMuckraker
RELATED:
Congressman Phil Gingrey, M.D.:
Gingrey comments on Rush misunderstanding — Congressman Phil Gingrey, MD (R-GA) made the following statement in response to an article that ran in Politico Newspaper about comments he made regarding conservative commentator, Rush Limbaugh and the Republican Leadership:
RELATED:
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Gingrey apologizes over Limbaugh
Gingrey apologizes over Limbaugh
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Think Progress, The Plum Line, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Matthew Yglesias
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Presider — One impression from Obama's interactions with the Republicans and Democrats in Congress: Obama clearly sees the presidency as a different institution than his immediate predecessor. This is a good thing, it seems to me. Bush had imbibed a monarchical sense of the office from his father and his godfather (Cheney).
Jon Swaine / Telegraph:
Russia ‘drops missile plans due to Obama change to US attitude’ — Russia has dropped plans to install missiles near Poland after the Obama administration signalled a change in US attitude to the region, a Moscow military official has reportedly said. — The official suggested …
Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:
Backlash Against Bush Apparent in RNC — Many Members Seek New Chairman to Steer Party in a Different Direction — As they begin meeting in Washington today, many members of the Republican National Committee are focusing their ire against what they considered George W. Bush's anti-conservative policies …
Discussion:
The Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Democratic Strategist, Political Machine, TIME.com and The Reaction
RELATED:
Fredreka Schouten / USA Today:
Geithner names ex-lobbyist as Treasury chief of staff — WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner picked a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as a top aide Tuesday, the same day he announced rules aimed at reducing the role of lobbyists in agency decisions.
Max Boot / Commentary:
20 or 30 Years Ago? — “America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that. And that I think is going to be an important task.”
RELATED:
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
State of the States: Political Party Affiliation — Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and District of Columbia are most Democratic — USA - Democrats - Government and Politics - Party Affiliation - Republicans - Americas - Northern America … PRINCETON, NJ — An analysis …
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Abdullah II: The 5-State Solution — In February 2002, I traveled to Saudi Arabia and interviewed the then crown prince, now king, Abdullah, at his Riyadh horse farm. I asked him why the next Arab summit wouldn't just propose to Israel full peace and normalization of relations …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Matthew Yglesias, War in Context, Yourish.com, Commentary and Gawker
Andie Coller / The Politico:
Grassley launches porn inquiry — Chuck Grassley knows it when he sees it. — The “it,” of course, is pornography. And Grassley has seen it deep in a demurely titled section of a report from the National Science Foundation — a report that says NSF employees have been spending significant amounts …
Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times:
School can expel lesbian students, court rules — An appeals panel finds California Lutheran High School in Riverside County is not a business and therefore doesn't have to comply with a state law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. — Reporting from San Francisco …
Alex Koppelman / Salon:
Right attacking stimulus money for health programs — Matt Drudge already collected one scalp in the battle over the stimulus package that will be voted on in the House today. After he highlighted money for family planning programs in the bill, Republicans started an outcry …
Watts Up With That?:
James Hansen's Former NASA Supervisor Declares Himself a Skeptic - Says Hansen ‘Embarrassed NASA’, ‘Was Never Muzzled’, & Models ‘Useless’ — UPDATE 1/28: Full text of Dr. Theon's letter has been post on the Senate website and below. — This is something I thought I'd never see.
Joe Sudbay / AMERICAblog News:
Prediction of zero votes from the GOP zeroes in the House — I know I sound like a broken record here, but is this a surprise? The Republicans, under the leadership of George Bush, destroyed the American economy. We're on the precipice — facing a depression.
David Stout / New York Times:
Obama Says Not a ‘Moment to Spare’ on Stimulus Plan — WASHINGTON — Declaring that “we don't have a moment to spare,” President Obama on Wednesday promised that his economic stimulus plan would be not just enormous in its scope but run with a transparency and accountability not always associated with huge Washington projects.
Discussion:
The Agonist
BBC:
Top doctor admits she made up the condition ‘cello scrotum’ — A top doctor has admitted her part in hoodwinking a leading medical journal after inventing a medical condition called “cello scrotum”. — Elaine Murphy - now Baroness Murphy - dreamt up the painful complaint in the 1970s, sending a report to the British Medical Journal.
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Coleman's Supposedly Friendly Witnesses Backfire — We have seen the best thing that Norm Coleman's legal team has done so far in this election trial — and it ain't pretty. — This afternoon the Coleman team was bringing in rejected absentee voters to show that their ballots were improperly tossed.