Top Items:
The Politico:
GOP defies Obama overtures — House Republicans have proposed an alternative that leaders say would create 6.2 million jobs for only $478 billion. — “What Member can't go back his or her District and explain: Rather than voting for a bloated bill, ... I voted for an alternative …
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
HALPERIN BLAMES OBAMA.... President Obama went to great lengths to reach out to House Republicans, trying to get them to support an economic stimulus in the midst of an economic crisis. The president not only offered them more tax cuts than seemed necessary, he also acted swiftly …
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
1993 All Over Again? — One of the goals of the unanimous Republican “no” vote on the stimulus package Wednesday was producing news analyses like this one, from The New York Times. … And we all know what happened in 1994. Still, I don't think the analogy holds up. — 1. The Obama stimulus package is popular.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, FiveThirtyEight.com, Outside The Beltway, Matthew Yglesias, Eunomia and Washington Post
Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Dems: GOP will pay political price for stimulus vote — Democrats are blasting House Republican leaders for pressing their conference to vote against the stimulus bill and warn the party that it will face political consequences. — In a memo on the “Republican Problem” to “interested parties” …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Americans United / americansunitedforchange.org: NEW ADS TARGET REPUBLICAN SENATORS ON RECOVERY BILL
Rush Limbaugh / Wall Street Journal:
My Bipartisan Stimulus — Let's cut taxes, as I want, and spend more, as Obama would like. — There's a serious debate in this country as to how best to end the recession. The average recession will last five to 11 months; the average recovery will last six years.
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Lawrence B. Lindsey / Wall Street Journal:
How About a Payroll Tax Stimulus? — For a similar amount of money, we could give workers $1,500. — Congress and the Obama administration seem near to deciding the details of an economic stimulus package. Unlike the efforts of President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush …
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
White House Unbuttons Formal Dress Code — WASHINGTON — The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.
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Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
The Obama White House May Be a Crowded Mess — There will be four people in my old office. — On the campaign trail, Barack Obama criticized Washington for being “obsessed with the perpetual campaign.” As president he is the first occupant of the Oval Office to give his director of political affairs …
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
With Al Due Respect, We're Doomed — The lawmakers gazed in awe at the figure before them. The Goracle had seen the future, and he had come to tell them about it. — What the Goracle saw in the future was not good: temperature changes that “would bring a screeching halt to human civilization …
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Rasmussen Reports:
Public Support for Economic Recovery Plan Slips to 42% — Public support for the economic recovery plan crafted by President Obama and congressional Democrats has slipped a bit over the past week. At the same time, expectations that the plan will quickly become law have increased.
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New York Times:
Obama Seeks Accord With Military on Iraq — WASHINGTON — As President Obama moves to redefine the nation's mission in Iraq, he faces a difficult choice: Is he willing to abandon a campaign promise or risk a rupture with the military? Or can he finesse the difference?
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Washington Post:
Obama Signs Lilly Ledbetter Act — Former Goodyear employee Lilly Ledbetter of Alabama cut an ad for President Obama during his campaign for office. Today, the fair pay law named after her gets signed by the man she helped elect. Obama's statement on the law this morning:
Discussion:
TalkLeft
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Philip Elliott / Associated Press:
Obama set to sign equal-pay bill — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is signing into law an equal-pay bill that is popular with labor and women's groups and is expected to make it easier for workers to sue for decades-old discrimination. — Obama was to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act …
Bloomberg:
Obama's Open Records Pledge Tested Over Citigroup Guarantees — Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — U.S. government guarantees on securities totaling $419 billion for bank bailouts provide an early test of President Barack Obama's pledge to be open with taxpayers about what they have at risk in the credit crisis.
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Edward Cody / Washington Post:
Bush War on Roquefort Raises a Stink in France — ROQUEFORT-SUR-SOULZON This seems an unlikely spot to fight a trade war. — A village of 600 souls in a remote part of southern France, Roquefort clings precariously to the side of Combalou Rock, a promontory overlooking a deep valley …
Discussion:
FP Passport
Marcia Kramer / WCBS-TV:
Mayor Bloomberg Declares War On ... Salt — Hizzoner Calls On U.S. Manufacturers To Reduce Salt Content Until It Results In A 50 Percent Cut In 10 Years — Citizens Revolt, Claim NYC Is Turning Into Nanny State — Singer Jimmy Buffett will never find his “lost shaker of salt” …
Guardian:
Revealed: the letter Barack Obama's team hope will heal Iran rift — Officials of Barack Obama's administration have drafted a letter to Iran from the president aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks, the Guardian has learned.
Discussion:
Daled Amos, Israel Matzav, TIME.com, Hot Air, Jules Crittenden, The Corner, Reuters, Sister Toldjah, Telegraph and Pajamas Media
Marc Ambinder:
The Long Tail Of Cooperation — Next week, according to administration officials, the Treasury Department will unveil a plan to buy toxic assets from banks, put them into a repository like the Resolution Trust Corporation held real estate from the S&L crisis), tend to them, securitize them …
Discussion:
Brian Beutler
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Would I Have Voted No? — That's a good question. It's also a silly one, since the odds of my being a Republican Congressman as a married man are nil (they only want you to have a stable family life if you're straight). I'm not an economist and so it's very hard for me to judge how big …
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times:
Putting Torture Behind Us — President Obama is resisting calls for an investigation into torture and other abuses during the Bush years, so the chance to learn from our mistakes is slipping away. — Mr. Obama understandably wants to focus on economic recovery rather than a dissection of the past.
Washington Post:
Iraq to Deny New License To Blackwater Security Firm — U.S. Embassy's Preferred Contractor Accused of Killings — The Iraqi government has informed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that it will not issue a new operating license to Blackwater Worldwide, the embassy's primary security company …
Discussion:
MoJoBlog, The Moderate Voice, ATTACKERMAN, The Washington Independent, BLACKFIVE and At-Largely
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