Top Items:
Marc Ambinder:
Lynch Will Appoint Republican If Obama Nominates Gregg — Gov. John Lynch (D-NH) indicated today he'll appoint a Republican to replace Sen. Judd Gregg if Obama nominates the New Hampshire senator to be Secretary of Commerce. In a statement, Lynch said that Gregg made it clear …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, The Politico, Daily Kos, Obsidian Wings, MyDD, The Next Right, Ben Smith's Blogs and Salon
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Gregg won't leave without a GOP sub — New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg said Monday for the first time that he won't accept an appointment as secretary of commerce unless he's replaced by a Republican, confirming days of speculation and dashing Democratic hopes of obtaining a 60-seat majority.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Fix, Firedoglake, Weekly Standard, Political Machine, Associated Press and Ben Smith's Blogs
Lance Griffin / News for Dothan Eagle:
Richard Shelby wants Senate to filibuster stimulus bill — U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, said he is prepared to filibuster the proposed economic stimulus bill, but fears enough Republicans will side with Senate Democrats to override any attempt to block the bill's passage.
The Politico:
Is a top Dem stirring Daschle trouble? — Tom Daschle will tell his old Senate colleagues Monday that he made an honest mistake when he failed to pay taxes on the use of a limousine and a driver — and that he considered the services to be a gift from an old friend rather than income he had to report to the IRS.
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David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
In Daschle's Tax Woes, a Peek Into Washington — WASHINGTON — Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate leader, had been voted out of office. His close friend Leo Hindery, a Democratic donor and media mogul, was out of a job too, having just sold his latest company, Yes Networks.
Wall Street Journal:
Driving Mr. Daschle — Tax avoidance and Democratic Party standards. — So Tom Daschle, the erstwhile prairie populist and scourge of multiple Presidential nominees, failed to disclose and pay taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars of income. He also waited months to pay up and told …
Scott Horton / Harper's:
Renditions Buffoonery — In a breathless piece of reporting in the Sunday Los Angeles Times, we are told that Barack Obama “left intact” a “controversial counter-terrorism tool” called renditions. Moreover, the Times states, quoting unnamed “current and former U.S. intelligence figures,” …
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Jamison Foser / Media Matters:
The LA Times takes a cheap shot at Dr. Jill Biden. — In an article portraying Jill Biden - who is teaching at a community college in Virginia, though she could doubtless land a gig at Georgetown or GW if she chose - as pompous, the Los Angeles Times falsely suggests her use of the title “Doctor” is fraudulent.
Discussion:
Emptywheel
Thomas Schaller / Salon:
Just how bad off is the Republican Party? — Republicans know what they're against: Barack Obama. They're still figuring out what they're for. — Michael Steele speaks after being elected Republican National Committee chairman in Washington Jan. 30, 2009.
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Ta-Nehisi Coates:
Some thoughts on Michael Steele — It's tempting to go all roflerz over the RNC's selection of Michael Steele as chairmen. But I think the proper response is a salute. I have no idea whether Steele will be any good, but I think his selection marks the start of excising the Obama is a M00zlim contingent of the party.
Jill Lawrence / USA Today:New GOP chair comes out swinging
Discussion:
Washington Post, Commentary, AmSpecBlog, The Daily Dish, Legum's New Line and ONTD: Politics
Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times:
35 years later, Jerry Brown runs for governor again — The ‘reformed reformer’ wants to be governor again — 35 years after first winning the post. — It was 1974 when Jerry Brown ran for governor as a dashing 36-year-old reformer, the embodiment of change in Watergate's aftermath.
Pam Spaulding / Pam's House Blend:
Conservative Pajamas Media shuts down ad network, righty blogs hopping mad — This story is a little inside baseball about the blogosphere that sounds like another bit of fallout from the election and the economy is rocking the righty blogs right now. A few years ago (2005) …
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Bailouts for Bunglers — Question: what happens if you lose vast amounts of other people's money? Answer: you get a big gift from the federal government — but the president says some very harsh things about you before forking over the cash. — Am I being unfair? I hope so.
Vicki Michaelis / USA Today:
Phelps apologizes for ‘bad judgment’ in marijuana photo — A widely circulating photo of Michael Phelps inhaling from a marijuana pipe will not lead to doping sanctions for the Olympic swimmer but it could endanger his participation in a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency program aimed at helping athletes prove they compete drug-free.
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Lisa Taddeo / Esquire:
The Man Who Made Obama — Campaign manager David Plouffe got the first black president elected. Now he's moving on to something even more difficult, and potentially more important. — Plouffe with Obama at the second presidential debate last October. The prep was serious, he says, “but we had fun.
Discussion:
The Field on the Narcosphere
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Poll: Republicans Want Party To Be Like Palin — A new Rasmussen poll further demonstrates that the GOP could be in for a long stretch in the wilderness: A majority of GOP voters now say that the party should be more like Sarah Palin. — The numbers: 55% of Republicans say the party should be like Palin …
Discussion:
The Hill's Pundits Blog, Washington Monthly, Pam's House Blend, Wonkette, Stinque, Salon and PoliticalBase.com Blog
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
Justice Dept. Under Obama Is Preparing for Doctrinal Shift in Policies of Bush Years — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department, probably more than any other agency here, is bracing for a broad doctrinal shift in policies from those of the Bush administration, department lawyers and Obama administration officials say.
Discussion:
QandO, NION, Washington Monthly, Think Progress, The BLT, Seeing the Forest and Emptywheel
Michael Yon:
How Can the World Be Blind to Israel's Existential Threats? — I heard Benjamin Netanyahu, the person who could soon become Israel's new prime minister, speak this week at the Jerusalem Conference. The most pressing point that he talked about was that under no circumstances should Jerusalem be divided.
Jerry Remmers / The Moderate Voice:
Wells Fargo — A Dividend In Our Favor — Good news out of the failing financial sector, finally. Wells Fargo Bank reports it will pay back the federal government $371.5 million in its first quarterly bailout installment. — Wells Fargo is believed to be the first major bank receiving TARP …
Discussion:
QandO
Little Green Footballs:
ElBaradei: 'I'm Not Taking Sides' on the Destruction of Israel — In an interview with the Washington Post, the leader of the UN's blind, toothless International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei (on whose watch Iran's nuclear weapons program has been able to advance almost unhindered) …
Wall Street Journal:
How Government Prolonged the Depression — Policies that decreased competition in product and labor markets were especially destructive. — The New Deal is widely perceived to have ended the Great Depression, and this has led many to support a “new” New Deal to address the current crisis.
Discussion:
The Swamp, Michelle Malkin, The Edge of the American West, Townhall.com, Macsmind and Fausta's Blog
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Oh, c'mon, laugh! Pres. Obama does have big ears — Breaking News: President Obama spoke in public Sunday and did not utter one newly depressing economic statistic. Not one. — He said nothing about us living in the worst economic times since Joe Biden invented television during the Hoover admi nistration.
Discussion:
RedState
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
ADDING IT UP — As I mentioned over the weekend, I've seen a lot of Republicans on TV complaining that spending programs that demonstrably do create jobs do not create jobs, like buying new and more energy efficient vehicles for government workforces, etc. But where I've really seen …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
DIM BRODER — I'm watching Andrea Mitchell interview David Broder in what's amounting to a sort of parody of High Broderism. But setting aside the unsupported a priori assumption that a bill with input from both parties is necessarily better than a bill put forward by a single party …
Ben Fried / Streetsblog:
Schumer Proposes $6.5B More for Transit in Senate Stim Bill — Senator Chuck Schumer has unveiled an amendment to the Senate stimulus bill that would increase transit funding by $6.5 billion — to $14.9 billion overall. This would direct $2.9 billion more to transit, in total, than the House stimulus bill that passed last week.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Media Matters for America:
NBC's David Gregory falsely claimed Social Security will “pay out more than it's taking in by 2010” … During the February 1 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, host David Gregory falsely asserted that “Social Security is about to go — pay out more than it's taking in by 2010.”
Discussion:
PoliticalBase.com Blog
Josh Rogin / CQ Politics:
OMB Draws Line on Defense Budget — The Obama administration has given the Pentagon a $527 billion limit, excluding war costs, for its fiscal 2010 defense budget, an Office of Management and Budget official said Monday. — If enacted, that would be an 8 percent increase from the $487.7 billion allocated …
ABCNEWS:
Bailed Out Bank of America Sponsors Super Bowl Fun Fest — Morgan Stanley Hosts Conference at 5-Star Resort in Palm Beach — Despite a near collapse that required $45 billion in federal taxpayer bailout funds, Bank of America sponsored a five day carnival-like affair just outside …
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