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, Open Congress, Obsidian Wings, MyDD, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Next Right and Boston Globe
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Gregg won't leave without a GOP sub — New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg said for the first time Monday 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, Associated Press, Firedoglake, Ben Smith's Blogs, Weekly Standard and Political Machine
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.
David Stout / New York Times:
Obama and a Key Democrat Voice Support for Daschle — WASHINGTON — President Obama and a key Democratic senator voiced unqualified support on Monday for Tom Daschle to become the head of the Health and Human Services Department, giving the contrite nominee a big boost toward confirmation.
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.
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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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.
Discussion:
Open Left, Jack & Jill Politics, D-Day, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, The Sideshow and theheretik.us
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Jane Hamsher / The Huffington Post:
Obama Financial Team to Taxpayers: You'll Get Nothing, and Like It
Obama Financial Team to Taxpayers: You'll Get Nothing, and Like It
Discussion:
Bloomberg
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:
Daily Kos, The Hill's Pundits Blog, Washington Monthly, Stinque, Pam's House Blend, Wonkette, New York Magazine and Salon
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 …
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Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Did POTUS diss Jessica Simpson? — A comment at the end of Matt Lauer's interview has left people wondering whether Obama called pop singer Jessica Simpson fat: — “Mr. President: Didn't Michelle teach you to never, ever comment on a woman's weight - even if you are just reading a headline off an entertainment magazine?”
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.
Justin Gardner / Donklephant:
More On Pajamas Media Business Model — ...and why the numbers still don't add up. — So, I was going to drop this whole PJM subject, but then I saw a new comment in my previous post, “Where Did The Pajamas Media Money Go?” — What it reveals is that my estimates for how much they paid their bloggers actually overshot the mark.
Discussion:
The Other McCain
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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:
TalkLeft, Sentencing Law and Policy, QandO, NION, Think Progress, Washington Monthly, Seeing the Forest and The BLT
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
STRAIGHT OUTTA HOOVERVILLE — It gets better. The latest from RNC Chair Michael Steele: “Not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job.” — This is such transparent nonsense it's hard to know where to start; but I guess it builds on the DeMint nonsense.
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.
Jan Falstad / Billings Gazette:
Highwood coal plant dropped for natural gas/wind — Blaming regulatory uncertainty and environmental lawsuits, developers of the Highwood Generating Station near Great Falls are halting work on the planned coal-fired generating plant for now and are going to build one powered by natural gas with wind turbines for additional power.
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
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 …
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) …
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 …
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:
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 …
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