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 …
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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 …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, FiveThirtyEight.com, Don Surber, No More Mister Nice Blog, Balance of Power, Fact-esque, Political Machine, The Washington Independent, Comments from Left Field, New York Times, USA Today, Marginal Revolution, The Bellows, Associated Press, Hullabaloo, Salon, QandO, Wonk Room, The Caucus, George's Bottom Line, Top of the Ticket and AMERICAblog News
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.
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.
Discussion:
The Swamp, NewsBusters.org, MoJoBlog, BBC, The Board, Salon, The Raw Story, Agence France Presse, Talking Points Memo, TPMDC, New York Times, Weekly Standard, At-Largely, The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Plum Line, Think Progress and Newshoggers.com
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Spencer Ackerman / ATTACKERMAN:
Someone Is Lying — Barely two weeks out of office and Dick Cheney …
Someone Is Lying — Barely two weeks out of office and Dick Cheney …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns and Money
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.
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Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama's five-day rule: Broken again — Hey, what about Obama's five-day rule? — Congress today passed a bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, allocating an additional $32.8 billion in funding for the program over the next four and a half years.
Discussion:
The Politico
Kevin Freking / Associated Press:
Obama signs kids' health insurance bill — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama signed a bill Wednesday extending health coverage to 4 million uninsured children, a much-needed win a day after he lost his nominee to lead his drive for sweeping health care reform.
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:
Matthew Yglesias, American Prospect, D-Day, Eunomia, The Campaign Spot, Redhot, Riehl World View and GayPatriot
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 …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, The Corner, Foreign Policy, Commentary, Daily Pundit, Kausfiles and Riehl World View
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Laura Rozen / The Cable:
General Zinni gets undiplomatic treatment from Obama team — When retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni told the Washington Times today that he was offered the job of U.S. ambassador to Iraq before being passed over in favor of diplomat Christopher Hill, he did not say that one of the outrages …
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.
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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 …
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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.
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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 …
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Glenn R. Simpson / Wall Street Journal:
Panetta Earned $700,000 in Fees — WASHINGTON — The White House's nominee for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, has earned more than $700,000 in speaking and consulting fees since the beginning of 2008, with some of the payments coming from troubled financial firms …
Discussion:
Flopping Aces
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
Max Blumenthal / Blogs and Stories:
Rush Limbaugh Loses a Popularity Contest — America to Rush: Drop Dead by Max Blumenthal — Blogs and Stories — Congressional Republicans have turned to Rush Limbaugh to lead the battle against Obama. One problem: A poll says he's less popular than Jeremiah Wright.
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 …
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 …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Climate Progress, QandO, BuzzFlash.org, Wonk Room, Townhall.com and GINA COBB
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.
NEWS.com.au:
‘Mum’ had 80 women raped for suicide missions — A WOMAN suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers has confessed to organising their rapes so she could later convince them that martyrdom was the only way to escape the shame. — Samira Jassam, 51, was arrested by Iraqi police …
Associated Press:
UN says Hamas seized Gaza food aid and blankets — JERUSALEM - A U.N. spokesman says Hamas police in Gaza have seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents. — Spokesman Christopher Gunness says Hamas police raided a U.N. warehouse in Gaza City on Tuesday evening.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
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 …
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 …
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.
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
Fox News:
Conservative Groups Declare Obama's Stimulus Bill a War on Prayer — A provision in the House-passed stimulus bill — banning money to be used to renovate schools from being spent on facilities that allow “religious worship” — has ignited fury among those who claim it discriminates on the basis …