Top Items:
Judd Legum / Legum's New Line:
5 Facts About The New RNC Chairman — Former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele was just elected chairman of the RNC. Here are five facts about the new leader of the Republican party: — 1. Steele compared stem cell research to Nazi experiments during the Holocaust.
Discussion:
MoJoBlog, PoliticalBase.com Blog, The Caucus, Firedoglake, Think Progress, Pam's House Blend, The New Republic, The Nation, Marc Ambinder and D-Day
RELATED:
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.
Discussion:
Wonkette, The Immoral Minority, Legum's New Line, Balloon Juice, Gawker, American Street and Macsmind
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.
Amanda Carpenter / Townhall.com:
Clintonista Already Dishing Out Oppo Hit Pieces on Steele — Well, that didn't take long. — Hillary Clinton's former research director dished up a nasty hit-piece memo on Michael Steele hours after he was elected the GOP's first black RNC Chairman. — He cites shaky resources like Think Progress …
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.
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:
Affirmative action at the RNC?
Affirmative action at the RNC?
Discussion:
Colorado Independent, Think Progress, The Washington Independent, Wonkette and New York Times
Huma Khan / Political Punch:
Bumps in the Road: Obama's HHS Secretary Nominee Faces Tax Questions Over Car and Driver — ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to be President Obama's secretary of health and human services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate Finance Committee.
RELATED:
CNN:
Angry senator wants pay cap on Wall Street ‘idiots’ — WASHINGTON (CNN) — One day after President Obama ripped Wall Street executives for their “shameful” decision to hand out $18 billion in bonuses in 2008, Congress may finally have had enough. — An angry U.S. senator introduced legislation Friday …
RELATED:
CNN:
Giuliani: Corporate plums help keep NYC afloat
Giuliani: Corporate plums help keep NYC afloat
Discussion:
MSNBC, Spin Cycle, New York Magazine, AMERICAblog News, Runnin' Scared and Talking Points Memo
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.
Satyam Khanna / Think Progress:
Sen. Conrad: 'I'd have a very hard time voting' for recovery package as it stands.» — Earlier today, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) said he is “undecided” on whether to support President Obama's recovery plan. Another “undecided” Democratic senator is Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND).
RELATED:
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Nelson ‘Undecided’ On Recovery Plan: 'I Don't Even Know How Many …
Nelson ‘Undecided’ On Recovery Plan: 'I Don't Even Know How Many …
Discussion:
TPMDC, Power Line, The Moderate Voice, Fox News, D-Day, Don Surber, Hullabaloo and Hot Air
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 …
Discussion:
RushLimbaugh.com, Hot Air, The Swamp, Pollster.com, No More Mister Nice Blog and Tennessee Guerilla Women
RELATED:
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Dems: House GOP's Stimulus Plan Would Actually Raise Taxes For Many Americans — GOP leaders — led by John Boehner and Eric Cantor — have spent days bashing the economic stimulus package being touted by President Obama and Democrats because it doesn't sufficiently cut taxes.
Julianna Goldman / Bloomberg:
White House Lawyers Look to Limit Commercial Use of President — Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama's popularity makes him a marketer's dream. Now, the honeymoon may be over for those trying to profit from his appeal. — White House lawyers want to control the use of the president's image …
Discussion:
The Swamp
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 …
Discussion:
New York Times, CNSNews, MSNBC, Weekly Standard, MyDD, TIME.com, The New Republic and Balloon Juice
Ryan J. Donmoyer / Bloomberg:
Richest Americans' Income Doubled as Tax Rate Slashed — Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — The average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million, new IRS data show.
Discussion:
BloggingStocks
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Face Of The Day — An Iraqi Army soldier gestures from the top of a Humvee parked outside a polling station which will be used in tomorrow's election on January 30, 2009 in Basra, Iraq. Security in Iraq's second city is being increased with a curfew and total vehicle movement ban imposed …
John Bresnahan / The Politico:
Conyers-Rove showdown postponed — The John Conyers-Karl Rove showdown has been delayed. — Conyers, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, agreed on Friday to postpone the deadline on the Rove subpoena for three weeks, giving the Obama administration time to decide how it wants to handle …
Elder of Ziyon:
Gaza cameraman burned - literally — According to Palestine Today, News photographer Abdul Rahman Al-Khatib received medium-degree burns after he caught fire during coverage of the burning of Israeli and American flags in a march organized by Hamas in Gaza City this afternoon.
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Wallace: It's ‘pretty funny’ that ‘feminists are very angry’ about Armey's sexist comments.» — Earlier this week, former Republican House majority leader Dick Armey set off a firestorm when he responded to an argument by Salon.com editor Joan Walsh with the sexist comment, “I'm so damn glad that you can never be my wife.”