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5:45 PM ET, February 4, 2009

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Rasmussen Reports:
Support for Stimulus Package Falls to 37%  —  Support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress has fallen again this week.  For the first time, a plurality of voters nationwide oppose the $800-billion-plus plan.  —  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found …
RELATED:
Washington Post:
Senate Lacks Votes to Pass Stimulus  —  Democrats Trying to Trim $900 Billion Plan to Gain GOP Support  —  Senate Democratic leaders conceded yesterday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written and said that to gain bipartisan support …
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Time to Steer ‘Forceful Course’ for Stimulus  —  The most serious charge against the stimulus package is that it does not pack enough punch.  Two different camps have been making this argument over the last few weeks.  Publicly, the Obama administration hasn't really answered either one.
Rasmussen Reports:
50% Say Stimulus Plan Likely to Make Things Worse
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:   A STRUGGLING STIMULUS.... President Obama probably thought this would be easier.
Ryan Avent / Matthew Yglesias:   Whither Stimulus?
The Politico:
Cheney warns of new attacks  —  Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration's policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.
RELATED:
Spencer Ackerman / ATTACKERMAN:
Someone Is Lying  —  Barely two weeks out of office and Dick Cheney …
The Politico:   Cheney not fretting about GOP's future
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
THANKS A LOT, DUDE  —  I think it's understandable, though unfortunate in terms of the future of the country and the interests of justice, that Sen. Gregg (R-NH) made it a condition of his accepting the Commerce appointment that he'd be replaced by a Republican.
RELATED:
Elana Schor / TPMDC:
Gregg Recuses Himself From Voting on Stimulus
Tony Mauro / The BLT:
Florida Student Asks Scalia a Question — and Gets Scolded  —  Where others fear to tread, a 20-year-old college student from Tequesta, Fla.,boldly stepped forward Tuesday to ask Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a question he did not like during a public appearance in West Palm Beach.
RELATED:
George Bennett / Palm Beach Post:   Scalia on 2000: ‘Get over it’  —  WEST PALM BEACH …
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
PHIL BREDESEN AS DASCHLE'S REPLACEMENT?  —  He's not the only candidate.  But an array of sources say he's a serious candidate.  And he'd be a very risky choice.  —  Phil Bredesen is the governor of Tennessee.  Before he was the governor of Tennessee, he made his money in the managed care revolution …
RELATED:
Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:
Bredesen for Health Reform? No Thanks.
Discussion: D-Day and TPMDC
Pat G. / Think Progress:
The Right Wing's Next Target: Hilda Solis?  »  —  Yesterday, President Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Daschle, withdrew after it was revealed he failed to pay over $100,000 in taxes.  In the wake of Daschle's departure, the right-wing is gunning …
RELATED:
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Solis Lingers; Acting Secretary Appointed
Discussion: The Hill and Political Machine
Victor Davis Hanson / The Corner:
The Impending Obama Meltdown  —  Some of us have been warning that it was not healthy for the U.S. media to have deified rather than questioned Obama, especially given that they tore apart Bush, ridiculed Palin, and caricatured Hillary.  And now we can see the results of their two years of advocacy rather than scrutiny.
Discussion: Weekly Standard and Townhall.com
Barbara Slavin / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Obama backs out on Iraq appointment  —  The Obama administration asked retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni to be U.S. ambassador to Iraq but abruptly withdrew the appointment without explanation, Gen. Zinni said Tuesday.  —  Gen. Zinni, a former commander of Central Command …
Peter Hamby / CNN:
Palin takes on Ashley Judd's ‘extreme fringe group’  —  (CNN) - Alaska governor Sarah Palin's support for aerial wolf-hunting has sparked a heated cross-country war of words between the governor and an environmental ad campaign fronted by the actress Ashley Judd, with Palin calling …
Discussion: The Politico and Ben Smith's Blogs
Rachel Donadio / New York Times:
Vatican Demands Holocaust Denier Publicly Recant  —  ROME — Responding to global outrage, especially in Pope Benedict XVI's native Germany, the Vatican for the first time on Wednesday called on a recently rehabilitated bishop to take back his statements denying the Holocaust.
Discussion: Balkinization and Ross Douthat
RELATED:
Victor L. Simpson / Associated Press:
Vatican turnaround: Holocaust denier must recant
Discussion: The Daily Dish and At-Largely
Michael Hirsh / Newsweek:
Losing Control  —  Obama needs to reassert command of the agenda in Washington  —  Barack Obama began making his comeback on Wednesday, apparently aware that he has all but lost control of the agenda in Washington at a time when he simply can't afford to do so.
Discussion: American Prospect and Chicago Boyz
Craig Crawford / Craig Crawford's Trail Mix:
Why Not Gingrich for HHS?  —  Quick, name three past secretaries of HHS.  Okay, two?  One?  Don't even know what HHS stands for?  Don't worry, most Americans probably would fail this little quiz.  If you passed, take your honors as a super geek.  —  In normal times, the head of the Department …
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Obama could break 5-day rule  —  Obama appears poised to break his campaign pledge to give the public five days to review a bill before he signs it.  —  Obama scheduled a bill signing for 4:35 p.m. Wednesday, even though the House has yet to vote on the legislation expanding a children's health insurance program.
Discussion: The Swamp and Sister Toldjah
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Well, That Certainly Didn't Take Long  —  On 9/11, President Bush learned of disaster while reading “The Pet Goat” to grade-school kids.  On Tuesday, President Obama escaped from disaster by reading “The Moon Over Star” to grade-school kids.  —  “We were just tired of being in the White House …
Jim Tankersley / Los Angeles Times:
California farms, vineyards in peril from warming, U.S. energy secretary warns  —  'We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California,' Steven Chu says.  He sees education as a means to combat threat.  —  Reporting from Washington — California's farms and vineyards …
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obama To Circumvent Media By Selling Stim Package Directly To Public Via Video  —  Here it is: President Obama's first major effort to use his massive campaign email list and communications apparatus to get around the filter of the big news orgs in order to personally sell his agenda directly to the American people.
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Death Of A Blogger  —  A prolific blogger is dead.He wroter diaries on the progressive blog, The Daily Kos.  Here's the beginning of the post written by a friend in his spot on the site, under his byline: … Go to the link to read it.  Yes, he left a political message …
Discussion: Daily Kos
The Politico:
The Karl Rove of the Commode?  —  Call it a pipe dream come true: When members of the Conservative Working Group held their weekly strategy meeting on the Hill on Tuesday morning, they were joined by none other than Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher, who had come to offer his thoughts on the economic recovery bill.
Discussion: Firedoglake and Riehl World View
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
DENIAL AS POLITICAL STRATEGY  —  Behind all the back and forth over the Stimulus Bill is a simple fact: the debate in Washington is rapidly moving away from any recognition that the US economy — and the global economy, for that matter — is in free-fall.  The range of outcomes stretches …
Discussion: Washington Monthly and Corrente
Washington Post:
LOCAL BRIEFING  —  Lockheed Says Cutting F-22 Would Cost Jobs  —  Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the F-22 fighter jet, said thousands of jobs would be lost if President Obama decides not to continue funding for the advanced but costly plane.
Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Commentary
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
WHAT CHANGE LOOKS LIKE.  —  My reporting has been similar to that of Jon Cohn.  Everyone I've spoken to in the administration has expressed total shock over Daschle's withdrawal.  As recently as last night, they were counting votes and felt certain the nomination was on track for a bumpy but comfortable confirmation.
Discussion: D-Day
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Pelosi: 500 million jobs lost every month  —  Dear lord, it really is a Depression: At this rate, we'll lose 6 billion jobs this year.  Or rather 5,997,000,000, thanks to those 3 million the stimulus is going to “save or create.”  Assuming, of course, it passes, which is suddenly less certain than it used to be.
Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:
CNBC's Clueless Mark Haines Calls Me “Clueless” on Morning Joe: I Respond  —  I was on Morning Joe this morning, talking about the bailout.  —  Right after my segment, CNBCs Mark Haines came on and, armed with lots of hostility and no facts, started taking shots at me, calling me “clueless” …
Discussion: Firedoglake
Washington Post:
Iraq's Winning Vote  —  Elections strengthen secular moderates who seek to curb Iran's influence.  Will President Obama support them?  —  IRAQ'S FIRST postwar election four years ago was mostly a procedural victory: Iraqis sent a message to the world by turning out en masse despite intimidation …
Discussion: The Corner
Communications / OpenSecrets.org:
TARP Recipients Paid Out $114 Million for Politicking Last Year  —  The companies that have been awarded taxpayers' money from Congress's bailout bill spent $77 million on lobbying and $37 million on federal campaign contributions, Center finds.  The return on investment: 258,449 percent.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Associated Press:
Obama signs kids' health insurance bill
Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
Both Parties Move to Aid Homeowners
United States Senator Tom Coburn:
Coburn Fights Generational Theft Act, AKA Senate Stimulus Bill
Discussion: Michelle Malkin
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
Stumbling on Their Sense of Entitlement
Hope Yen / Associated Press:
Shinseki: More VA claims processors on the way
Discussion: TIME.com
Norman Geras / normblog:
One-Eyed in Gaza  —  This is a post about war crimes in Gaza …
 Earlier Items: 
Chris / TVNewser:
Obama to Wallace: “I Think It's Fair to Say That I Don't Always …
Discussion: Gateway Pundit
Bill Allison / Real Time Investigations …:
Ethics Panel to Clear Rangel?
Discussion: QandO
Robert Cox / New Rochelle's Talk of the Sound:
A Barack Too Far? …
Discussion: Moonbattery
Kate Galbraith / New York Times:
Dark Days for Green Energy
Discussion: Booman Tribune and JustOneMinute
Kathleen Parker / Washington Post:
Phelps Takes a Hit
Discussion: Reason and NewsBusters.org
Alan S. Blinder / Wall Street Journal:
My Economic Wish List
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A New York judge finds Sirius XM liable for a difficult subscription cancellation process; Sirius says it will appeal but abide by a new “click-to-cancel” rule

Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Sources: NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Bonnie Hammer plans to leave the company at the end of the year; she has been with the company since 2004

Anja Karadeglija / The Canadian Press:
Meta clashes with Canada's CRTC over the Online News Act by declining to publicly release information about its measures to block news content on its platforms

 
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