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Details Scarce in Rescue Plan — WASHINGTON—The Obama administration Tuesday announced a wide-ranging financial sector rescue plan that could send $2 trillion coursing through the financial system. — The plan, which would ideally involve a mix of government and private capital …
Discussion:
CNBC.com, The Atlantic Business Channel, Real Time Economics, Indecision, TigerHawk, Donklephant, Jules Crittenden and TIME.com
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Secretary Geithner Introduces Financial Stability Plan — Remarks by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner — Introducing the Financial Stability Plan — As President Obama said in his inaugural address, our economic strength is derived from “the doers, the makers of things.”

Geithner Said to Have Prevailed on the Bailout — WASHINGTON— The Obama administration's new plan to bail out the nation's banks was fashioned after a spirited internal debate that pitted the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, against some of the president's top political hands.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, Washington Post, naked capitalism, Top of the Ticket, Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Tech Ticker, Salon, European Tribune, DealBook, Riehl World View, CBS News, Kevin Drum, MSNBC, Cafe Talk Aggregator, D-Day, TPMCafe, Obsidian Wings, theheretik.us, The Washington Independent, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Caucus, The Note, The Curious Capitalist, The Baseline Scenario and The Opinionator


Geithner vs Axelrod — According to The New York Times the debate inside the administration turned into a controversy between economic policymakers and political operatives: … To start with the good news, this is the right way for a president to make a decision.

Showing Some Discipline — It's no fun being a leader in a financial crisis.
Discussion:
Firedoglake


At His First Prime-Time News Conference, Obama Is Serious and Expansive — In a prime-time debut for the new Oval Office occupant and a press corps often accused of being too enamored of him, President Obama faced journalistic skepticism from the opening question.
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Impressed Me Not — On Obama's first White House press conference. — Through most of his inaugural primetime press conference, Barack Obama seemed like he was channeling a particularly loquacious combination of Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, and the ghost of Hubert Humphrey.

Obama snubs black press — After the first black president completed his first prime-time press conference, the black press was red hot. — “We were window dressing,” said Hazel Edney, a reporter with the National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press of America.
Discussion:
mediabistro.com, Michelle Malkin, JammieWearingFool, Michael Calderone's Blogs and FishBowlDC

The Stimulus Bills: House vs. Senate — If all goes as expected today, the Senate will pass an $838 billion economic stimulus plan that follows a compromise reached over the weekend. But before the package can go to President Obama's desk, the Senate will have to resolve differences with the House and its $819 billion version.
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Connecticut's Rell Is Queen Of The Hill At Midterm, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Dodd Has Worst Approval Ever — Halfway through her first elected term as Connecticut Governor and one week after a grim budget message, Jodi Rell has a 75 - 19 percent approval rating and tops …
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Poll: Lieberman Would Lose 2012 Re-Election In Landslide
Discussion:
Newshoggers.com

Eight arrested in Michael Phelps case — Updated: — COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - New details have emerged about a party where Olympic champion Michael Phelps was spotted. — On Feb. 2, a British tabloid published a picture of the 14-time Olympic gold medalist using a water pipe to smoke marijuana.

How The World Almost Came To An End At 2PM On September 18 — LiveLeak has caught a scary moment of previously undisclosed insight by Paul Kanjorski where he reveals some facts that have not been captured by the media previously. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds in the video below …

Why Obama Wants Control of the Census — Counting citizens is a powerful political tool. — President Obama said in his inaugural address that he planned to “restore science to its rightful place” in government. That's a worthy goal. But statisticians at the Commerce Department …


Obama Sternly Takes On His Critics — WASHINGTON — President Obama has made a show of reaching across the aisle since taking office, inviting three Republicans into his cabinet and wining and dining other opposition leaders. But by Monday, he sounded like a candidate back on the trail …
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The Chess Master — It was just a week ago that the bad-mouthing of Barack Obama seemed to be reaching a fever pitch. — The president was taking heat for the tax problems of Tom Daschle, Timothy Geithner and other appointees and nominees. Liberal supporters of the president were upset …

Perry, Hutchison take swipes — Gov. Rick Perry and Republican rival Kay Bailey Hutchison traded verbal barbs Monday as Hutchison accused Perry of political retaliation and he accused her of shirking her job as a U.S. senator because she's spending time campaigning in Texas.
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Blue Dog nips Obama with a better stimulus idea — While President Barack Obama goes on the road to shore up slipping popular support for the $1 trillion stimulus porkfest that he ordered up from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Walt Minnick …

Schumer: “The American people really don't care” about pork; Obama: “The American people don't need to be convinced;” Final passage vote: 61-37 — The Senate is about to pass the Turbaconducken stimulus package. Sen. Schumer took to the floor about 20 minutes ago to fear-monger.

Roll Over the Republicans — Bipartisanship is safe and effective when used as directed. In the present circumstance, however — dire economic crisis, hardheaded Republicans, time running out — bipartisanship is doing more harm than good. President Obama and the Democratic majorities …

It's Not the Prison, It's the Prisoners — Among our illustrious allies in the War on Terror, Yemen ranks right up there with Pakistan, whose government just released nuke-peddler A. Q. Kahn from house arrest. Yemen's government says it is preparing a major combat operation to drain one of the many swamps where jihad festers.

Obama's Charm Isn't Working Wonders Abroad — Policy does matter after all. — Barack Obama has now been president for 21 days, following an inauguration that was supposed to have pressed the reset button on America's relations with the wider world and ushered in a new period of global cooperation against common threats.

SPECIAL PREVIEW Stimulus: A History of Folly — Before he was sworn in as President, Barack Obama began to lay out his plans for reviving an American economy that, it would later be discovered, had declined 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, its worst performance in 26 years.
Discussion:
Dr. Sanity

Liveblog: Ft. Myers, FL townhall — 1:12 p.m.: Wrapping up. President is shaking some hands and greeting the crowd. — 1:10 p.m.: Question from an enthusiastic young man named Julio who says he has worked for McDonald's for four years but hasn't seen his benefits improve.
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

The 180-degree reversal of Obama's State Secrets position — (updated below - Update II) — From the Obama/Biden campaign website, mybarackobama.com, here was what the Obama campaign was saying — back then — about the State Secrets privilege: — Apparently, the operative word …
Discussion:
American Prospect, Balkinization, Newshoggers.com, Outside The Beltway, War in Context and Swampland

What will Michael Steele do with the presidential primary calendar? — The power of the chairman to impact the future of the party is, to a degree, limited. Michael Steele will be able to attract a range of people that other candidates may not have been able to.