Top Items:
Washington Post:
Obama to Discuss Guantanamo With Victims of Terror Attacks, Their Relatives — President Obama will meet today with victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the USS Cole bombing and their families as his administration reviews how to handle detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Discussion:
Jules Crittenden
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Andy McCarthy / The Corner:
Military Drops Cole Bombing Charges ... For Now and Possibly Forever — Distressingly, there is more going on here than meets the eye. Suffice it to say that the Defense Department's “appointing authority,” which oversees all military commissions, has dismissed the charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri …
Lindsey Ellerson / Political Punch:
Military Commission Charges Dropped Against Terrorist Suspect Al-Nashiri
Military Commission Charges Dropped Against Terrorist Suspect Al-Nashiri
Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:
“To Retain and Detain” — The president is scheduled to meet today …
“To Retain and Detain” — The president is scheduled to meet today …
Lara Jakes / Associated Press:
Charges dropped in Guantanamo terror trial
Charges dropped in Guantanamo terror trial
Discussion:
Associated Press, Agence France Presse, Wake up America, The Politico, Scared Monkeys and Gateway Pundit
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
On the Edge — A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to economic recovery. Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, TalkLeft, CANNONFIRE, Brilliant at Breakfast, Prairie Weather, Rising Hegemon and Daniel W. Drezner
Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
598,000 Jobs Lost as Jobless Rate Hit 7.6% in January — WASHINGTON — The country moved into its second year of uninterrupted job losses last month, with companies shedding another 598,000 jobs — the most since December 1974 — and the unemployment rate moving up to 7.6 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday.
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Chris Isidore / CNNMoney.com:
Job loss: Worst in 34 years — Employers slashed 598,000 more jobs in January as unemployment rate climbed to 7.6%. — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Employers slashed another 598,000 jobs off of U.S. payrolls in January, taking the unemployment rate up to 7.6%, according to the latest government reading …
Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press:
Jobless rate jumps to 7.6 percent, 598K jobs lost
Jobless rate jumps to 7.6 percent, 598K jobs lost
Discussion:
Donklephant
The Politico:
At Dem retreat, a partisan love fest — WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — A fired-up Barack Obama ditched his TelePrompter to rally House Democrats and rip Republican opponents of his recovery package Thursday night - at one point openly mocking the GOP for failing to follow through on promises of bipartisanship.
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Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The Fierce Urgency of Pork — “A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe.” — Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared “we have chosen hope over fear.” Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.
CBS News:
CBS Poll: Support For Stimulus Falls — Survey Finds Half The Country Backs Bill, But Support Is Down From January; Obama Seen As Working For Bipartisanship — (CBS) Slightly more than half the country approves of President Obama's $800 billion-plus stimulus package, a new CBS News poll finds.
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Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:
Harry Hangs It Up For the Night; Stimulus Vote Postponed Until Tomorrow
Harry Hangs It Up For the Night; Stimulus Vote Postponed Until Tomorrow
Campbell Brown / CNN:
Campbell Brown: Congress clueless about retreats — Editor's note: Campbell Brown anchors CNN's “Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull” at 8 p.m. ET Mondays through Fridays. She delivered this commentary during the “Cutting through the Bull” segment of Thursday night's broadcast.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
RNC shakeup as Steele asks for resignations — Top staffers at the Republican National Committee were told to submit their resignations today, with some being told they will not get their jobs back in what insiders call a top-to-bottom review of the entire organization.
Discussion:
American Street
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Resignations at the RNC — A Republican source says newly …
Resignations at the RNC — A Republican source says newly …
Discussion:
The Plum Line
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
Wanted: Personal Economic Trainers. Apply at Capitol. — As long as we're about to spend gazillions to stimulate the economy, I'd like to suggest we throw in another $53.5 million for a cause dear to all business journalists: economic literacy. And what better place to start than right here in Washington.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, The Foundry, Blog entry and Balloon Juice
John Cole / Balloon Juice:
You'll Never Get This 21 Minutes Of Your Life Back — Instapundit, Malkin, and Joe the Plumber discuss politics for PJTV. — There is so much to love about this, I don't know where to start, but certainly Joe the Plumber bemoaning the lack of spending cuts and general program cuts in the stimulus bill was a highlight.
Greg Mankiw / Greg Mankiw's Blog:
My Preferred Fiscal Stimulus — Regular readers of this blog have a pretty good sense of my policy preferences. But for those occasional readers who might be stopping by, let me reiterate what I would do right now if I were the fiscal king. — I would institute an immediate …
Paul Romer / Wall Street Journal:
Let's Start Brand New Banks — A clean slate would keep TARP money away from bad banks. — Everyone agrees that the United States urgently needs a few good banks. Turning bad banks into good banks is a difficult and risky way to get them. It's simpler and safer to start entirely new banks.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Martin Fackler / New York Times:
Japan's Big-Works Stimulus Is Lesson — HAMADA, Japan — The Hamada Marine Bridge soars majestically over this small fishing harbor, so much larger than the squid boats anchored below that it seems out of place. — And it is not just the bridge. Two decades of generous public works spending …
The Huffington Post:
Bush Jacketless In Oval Office: Photo Uncovered After Bush Chief Of Staff Slams Obama's Informal Appearance (SLIDESHOW) — One day after President Bush's former Chief of Staff Andrew Card blasted President Obama for breaking the Bush dress code, which reportedly required that a jacket be worn …
Discussion:
The Swamp, rubber hose, democracyarsenal.org, Swampland, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Emptywheel and The Caucus
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Dramatic tapes of Hilda Solis-White House emergency radio chatter — In an amazing news coincidence, on the very same day as the US Air Flight 1549 emergency radio tapes were released, The Ticket has exclusively obtained the tapes of recent emergency radio conversations between ground traffic controllers …
Discussion:
Moe Lane
Val Kilmer / Associated Press:
Val Kilmer ponders running for governor — Democrat actor known for roles as ‘Batman’ and ‘Iceman’ eyes 2010 race — SANTA FE, N.M. - Holy hornet's nest, Batman! The New Mexico governor's mansion? — Fresh from the inauguration, actor Val Kilmer is pondering running for governor in 2010 …
Sharon Lafraniere / New York Times:
Possible Link Between Dam and China Quake — BEIJING — Nearly nine months after a devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, left 80,000 people dead or missing, a growing number of American and Chinese scientists are suggesting that the calamity was triggered by a four-year-old reservoir built close …
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Clinton Packs Full Asia Agenda for First Trip as Secretary of State — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Asia on her first voyage as chief diplomat, skipping the more traditional itinerary of Europe or the Middle East in order to place a renewed focus on an area with half …
Washington Post:
Senate Moderates Negotiate Cuts to Economic Stimulus Bill — A large group of Senate moderates huddled in a Capitol Hill conference room today in an effort to cut tens of billions of dollars from an economic stimulus bill that now tops $900 billion, as wrangling continued over a package …
John / Power Line:
WHAT'S THE RUSH? — As Paul notes below, neither Barack Obama nor any other Democrat has even tried to explain why the Dems' pork-fest, which appropriates hundreds of billions of dollars years in the future, needs to be rushed through the Senate in the dead of night as an “emergency.”
Discussion:
GINA COBB
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
High Stakes for Obama at Weekend Security Conference — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is facing its first big international test this weekend as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. heads to a conference in Europe in the face of a confrontational stance from an old cold war adversary.