memeorandum: Schock to the President's Argument (Lindsey Ellerson/Political Punch)

7:35 PM ET, February 13, 2009

Top Items:

Stimulus Bill Passes in the House With No G.O.P. Support — WASHINGTON — The House approved a $787 billion economic stimulus package Friday afternoon, with Democrats successfully promoting it as a boost for middle-class Americans and Republicans countering in vain that it will only stimulate wasteful government spending.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Post, CNN, American Power, DownWithTyranny!, Macsmind, Indecision, No More Mister Nice Blog and Democracy in America

The Politico:

Hardened Obama plans new fights — Emboldened by his victory on the stimulus package — but chastened by the pothole-pocked road that got him there —President Barack Obama and his aides are plunging ahead on a large and expensive agenda that virtually assures 2009 will be marked …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Think Progress, Weekly Standard, The Nation, The Impolitic, HorseRaceBlog, Ben Smith's Blogs, Open Left, Don Surber, Commentary and The Plum Line

Karl Rove / The Huffington Post:

Rahm: Obama Lost Control Of Stimulus Debate — The Wall Street Journal reports: … According to Emanuel, the White House “lost” control of the message for four days. He suggested that the president decided to change his tone after the House vote, when not a single Republican voted for the bill.

Discussion: The Field on the Narcosphere, Wizbang and CBS News

Jared Allen / The Hill:
Conference tactics leave deep House resentment

Discussion: The Politico, The Swamp, RedState, George's Bottom Line and New York Times

Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:
Caterpillar Workers Oppose Stimulus, Despite Obama's Visit, Implausible Promises

Discussion: Chicago Sun Times, Political Machine and The Corner

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
House Passes Stimulus Package-and Oh, By the Way, Bipartisanship is Dead

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and TalkLeft

Mark Silva / The Swamp: Economic stimulus vote: ‘Present’

Byron York / www.dcexaminer.com:

Why Gregg Bailed — When he took the job, Republicans searched for a diplomatic way to ask: Are you crazy? — After 16 years as a Republican senator from New Hampshire, Judd Gregg has a lot of friends among GOP lawmakers, and in the past two weeks, many of them — perhaps most of them …

Discussion: TPMDC and The Daily Dish

CNN:

Gregg to vote against stimulus bill — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Republican Sen. Judd Gregg is putting a final exclamation point on his withdrawal as Barack Obama's designee for Commerce Secretary with a promise to vote against the president's economic stimulus package. — Gregg's office confirmed the decision Friday.

Discussion: Think Progress and TPMDC

CNBC.com:
Sen. Gregg: Obama on the Right Economic Track

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Federal Eye and Ben Smith's Blogs

Mark Murray / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: THIS JUDD'S (NOT) FOR YOU — From Chuck Todd …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Commentary, MyDD, The Moderate Voice and JoeTrippi.com

Dengre / Daily Kos:
Judd Gregg & his Abramoff Problem

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Gotomario.com

Washington Post:
‘My Mistake’ — Commerce secretary? Never mind.

Discussion: Commentary, Lynn Sweet, Federal Eye and Balloon Juice

William Kristol / PostPartisan:
Why Gregg Withdrew

Discussion: Capital Commerce and TBogg

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
WaPo: Obama administration “peeved and churlish” over Gregg

Discussion: Commentary

A.L. / The Anonymous Liberal:
The Notion of a “Bipartisan Cabinet” Has Always Been a Stupid One

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Fox News:
Sen. Gregg to Vote Against Economic Stimulus Bill

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Hot Air

Gene Warner / Buffalo News:

Prominent Orchard Park man charged with beheading his wife — Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband — an influential member of the local Muslim community — reported her death to police Thursday.

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Little Green Footballs, Gates of Vienna and GINA COBB

Greg Mitchell / Editor and Publisher:
Buffalo Man Who Launched TV Network to Show Muslims in Positive …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

San Francisco Chronicle:

Addicted to fake outrage — I'm not sure if it's because we're strung out on “Lost” episodes, or if it's because we're still suffering from a post-9/11 stress disorder that makes us crave “breaking news” alerts, or if it's because the economy has turned us into distraction junkies.

Discussion: Left in the West, Hullabaloo, The Huffington Post and Open Left

Lynn Zinser / The Lede: Mazda Has Michael Phelps Apologize to China

Chuck Todd / MSNBC:

THE WHITE HOUSE BUBBLE — From NBC's Chuck Todd — Obviously, I'm one of the newbies here in the White House press corps, so maybe I'm unfamiliar with the ways of how this place works. I have to say, nothing is more frustrating than covering an actual event here at the White House …

Discussion: The Politico, TVNewser, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Wonkette

Mike Baker / Associated Press:

APNewsBreak: Blackwater dumps tarnished brand name — RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticized work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe.

Discussion: On Deadline and TPMMuckraker

Noah Shachtman / Danger Room: Blackwater Takes Our Advice, Adopts Inscrutable, Opaque Name

John B. Judis / The New Republic:

End The Honeymoon — Why the left is to blame for the lackluster stimulus and bank bailout. — There are many good things to say about the stimulus bill. But all in all, it wasn't as good as it could be: It's probably too small and too skewed toward tax cuts, and particularly cuts …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Open Left, Democratic Strategist, Prairie Weather and Matthew Yglesias

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama and liberals: a counter-productive relationship

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Monthly, Open Left, The Impolitic, Booman Tribune and Balloon Juice

Ross Douthat:

Authoritarianism Just Around the Corner — It's possible you've also already been following the debate prompted by Damon Linker's attack on Andrew Bacevich's vision of conservatism; if not, go here and here and here; here for Linker's response to his critics; and here and here for more.

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Upturned Earth, Eunomia and The American Scene

Damon Linker / The New Republic:
Lessons in Blogging — I avoided blogging for a long time.

Discussion: Upturned Earth

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Friday Senate Line: Gregg Adds to GOP Pain — The withdrawal of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) as President Obama's commerce secretary nominee on Thursday was initially greeted with relief by Senate Republicans who believed that the incumbent might now stay on and seek reelection in 2010.

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org, Senate Guru and The Moderate Voice

CNN:

Dems target right-wing talk radio — WASHINGTON (CNN) — More and More Democrats in Congress are calling for action that Republicans warn could muzzle right-wing talk radio. — Representative Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat from New York is the latest to say he wants to bring back the …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, American Power, NewsBusters.org and Shakesville

ProPublica:

The Stimulus Plan: A Detailed List of Spending — Congress released its compromise of the economic stimulus plan at 11 p.m. Thursday. Debate began in the House at 9 a.m., with voting set for 1 p.m. Want to know what's in it? You could read the 1,071-page gorilla they've posted.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Atlantic Politics Channel, SENATUS, D-Day, ProPublica, Politics Nation and TalkLeft

Greg Miller / Chicago Tribune:

Predator drones flown from base in Pakistan, U.S. lawmaker says — Sen. Feinstein's surprise disclosure likely to complicate joint campaign against Taliban militants — WASHINGTON, D.C. - A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown …

Discussion: Hot Air, Weekly Standard, protein wisdom, Danger Room, Neptunus Lex, Indecision, Wizbang and BLACKFIVE

Ali Frick / Think Progress:

Bush Aide: Leahy Truth Commission Is ‘Terribly Dangerous’ Idea, Possibly ‘Deadly’ — Last night on The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly showed a clip of a Fox News producer ambushing Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to accuse him of political hypocrisy for urging an investigation into Bush crimes after he had opposed the Clinton impeachment.

Discussion: Big Brass Blog

Rasmussen Reports:

Specter Vote For Stimulus Hurts Him Back Home — Senator Arlen Specter is one of only three Republicans to support the economic stimulus bill in Congress, and the latest Rasmussen Reports survey in Pennsylvania shows that his position is costing him support back home.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight.com, Hot Air, TPMDC, Power Line and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Kevin G. Hall / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Will the stimulus actually stimulate? Economists say no — WASHINGTON — The compromise economic stimulus plan agreed to by negotiators from the House of Representatives and the Senate is short on incentives to get consumers spending again and long on social goals that won't stimulate economic activity …

Discussion: Townhall.com, AmSpecBlog, United States Senator, The Reaction, Stop The ACLU, SENATUS and Sister Toldjah

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

If The Right Were Intellectually Honest ... This Manzi post would be their argument going forward. Here's why they are not being intellectually honest, and Manzi's post includes the relevant facts. The GOP has passed what amounts to a spending and tax-cutting and borrowing stimulus package …

Discussion: American Power, TalkLeft, Outside The Beltway and The American Scene

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

The Audacity of Audaciousness — It takes a certain amount of nerve to have an event at the National Press Club and then ban the press from covering it. — It takes another level of chutzpah entirely to admit members of the general public to your event at the National Press Club …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Note, TRAIL BLAZERS and The Impolitic

Sarah Abruzzese / The Politico:

WH flies senator from wake to vote — Sarah Abruzzese reports: — A government plane will ferry Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) back to Washington from his mother's wake in Ohio in time to vote tonight, courtesy of the White House. — Brown won't even be leaving until viewing hours end …

Nick Spinetto / Local & Florida:

Henrietta Hughes says she's not milking the system — SOUTHWEST FLORIDA - A woman making national headlines after a tearful moment with President Obama has a new home. — Thursday morning, Chene Thompson handed Henrietta Hughes the keys to her home in Hendry County.

Discussion: Sweetness & Light and Riehl World View