Top Items:
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Steele's victory — Michael Steele makes history as the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, and as a rare winner — at least in part — of an outside game in what is usually an insider's contest. He won with 91 votes, 6 more than he needed, over South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson.
Discussion:
The Swamp, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, AmSpecBlog, NewMajority.Com Scroll and Fausta's Blog
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Peter Hamby / CNN:
BREAKING: Steele picked to lead RNC — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Members of the Republican National Committee elected their first-ever African-American party chief on Friday, choosing former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele to chair the organization after six rounds of tumultuous balloting.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Steele Elected RNC Chair — The Republican National Committee elected Michael Steele as its first African American chairman today in Washington, a decision that came after an excruciating series of ballots that displayed a level of drama rarely seen in national politics.
Alexander Burns / The Politico:
It's Steele! — Former Maryland Lt. Gov Michael Steele triumphed over four opponents in the race for Republican National Committee chairman Friday, giving the party its first black chairman as well as a forceful communicator at a time of political weakness. — “This is awesome,” Steele told RNC members in a victory speech.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:Affirmative action at the RNC?
Discussion:
Think Progress, New York Times, Colorado Independent, Wonkette and The Washington Independent
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo: CLARITY — So we've just had a third vote in the RNC chairmanship race.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Why Limbaugh is the new Bush — I've been hunting around for polling data to explain why Democrats are so eager to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the Republican Party, and lo, Mark Blumenthal finds some. — The numbers are pretty clear. When this poll was taken last fall …
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Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama vs Limbaugh: ‘Adult beverages’ — President Barack Obama should think twice before making too much of the criticism of radio's Rush Limbaugh, Republican Sen. John McCain suggests. — While Limbaugh slams the Obama administration for the “pork” of the president's economic stimulus plan …
Adriel Bettelheim / Balance of Power:Will Opposing the Stimulus Makes Voters See Blue?
Discussion:
DCCC
Erik Larson / Bloomberg:
Cuomo Said to Eye Return of $4 Billion in Early Merrill Bonuses — Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may demand the return of $4 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch & Co. just before it was acquired by Bank of America Corp., a person familiar with the matter said.
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, The Washington Independent, TPMMuckraker, Free exchange and FT Alphaville
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Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Nelson ‘Undecided’ On Recovery Plan: 'I Don't Even Know How Many Democrats Will Vote For It As It Stands' — On Wednesday, when the House voted 244 - 188 to approve the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 11 Democrats joined with the entire Republican caucus in voting against the bill.
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Trish Turner / Fox News:
Influential Senate Dem Questions Party Support for Stimulus Bill — Sen. Ben Nelson told FOX News he is unsure how many Democrats will support President Obama's $819 billion economic stimulus bill. — FOXNews.com — An influential Senate Democrat said Friday that it's unclear whether …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Power Line, NewsBusters.org, TPMDC, Commentary, Hot Air, TalkLeft, Don Surber and Michelle Malkin
Charles Hurt / New York Post:
CHANGE FOR THE WORSE — WASHINGTON - Buried deep inside the massive spending orgy that Democrats jammed through the House this week lie five words that could drastically undo two decades of welfare reforms. — The very heart of the widely applauded Welfare Reform Act of 1996 is a cap …
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Joe Biden / USA Today:
Time to put middle class front and center — For years, we had a White House that failed to put the middle class front and center in its economic policies. — President Obama has made it clear that is going to change. And it's why he has asked me to lead a task force on the middle class.
RELATED:
The Politico:
GOP fights to keep Gregg in the Senate — Republicans in Washington and New Hampshire are mounting a full-court press to keep Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) in the Senate and out of the Obama administration, aides and senators said Friday. — But if he does take the commerce secretary job …
David Brooks / New York Times:
Cleaner and Faster — Throughout 2008, Larry Summers, the Harvard economist, built the case for a big but surgical stimulus package. Summers warned that a “poorly provided fiscal stimulus can have worse side effects than the disease that is to be cured.” So his proposal had three clear guidelines.
RELATED:
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:What “Belongs” In the Stimulus? — I saw Senator Ben Nelson …
Discussion:
Ross Douthat
Emily Wax / Washington Post:
U.S. Removes Kashmir From Envoy's Mandate; India Exults — Inside a chandeliered ballroom Thursday, Indian diplomats and business leaders and American officials held forth about a new “Cooperation Triangle” for the United States, China and India. But little mention was made at the Asia …
RELATED:
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Obama Distorts America's Stance on Muslims — Every new president flatters himself that he, kinder and gentler, is beginning the world anew. Yet, when Barack Obama in his inaugural address reached out to Muslims by saying “to the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward …
CNN:
Monument to Bush shoe-throwing shines at Iraqi orphanage — BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — For the war-beaten orphans of the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, this big old shoe fits. — A huge sculpture of the footwear hurled at President Bush in December during a trip to Iraq has been unveiled in a ceremony at the Tikrit Orphanage complex.
RELATED:
Joshua Rhett Miller / Fox News:
Unlike Bush's ‘Google Bomb,’ Google Quickly Defuses Obama's — It took four years for Google to address the “Google bomb” that was lobbed at former President Bush. — But it took the Internet behemoth only a few days to defuse the same attack on President Obama.
Carol Rosenberg / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Former USS Cole commander slams Obama on Guantanamo — The former commander of the USS Cole, the American war ship that was struck by a suicide boat in Yemeni waters more than eight years ago, on Thursday slammed President Barack Obama's orders to close the Guantanamo detention center and reassess the prisoners being held there.
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