Top Items:
Washington Post:
Late Change in Course Hobbled Rollout of Geithner's Bank Plan — Just days before Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner was scheduled to lay out his much-anticipated plan to deal with the toxic assets imperiling the financial system, he and his team made a sudden about-face.
Discussion:
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Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
In a World Not Wholly Cooperative, Obama's Top Economist Makes Do — WASHINGTON — President Obama has a few nicknames for Lawrence H. Summers, the brash and brainy former Harvard president who, as chief White House economic adviser, is guiding him through treacherous terrain.
Thomas M. Defrank / NY Daily News:
Cheney pushed Bush to grant Libby pardon — WASHINGTON - In the waning days of the Bush administration, Vice President Dick Cheney launched a last-ditch campaign to persuade his boss to pardon Lewis (Scooter) Libby - and was furious when President George W. Bush wouldn't budge.
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Congress' Approval Rating Jumps to 31% — More positive ratings from Democrats largely responsible for increase — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup's latest congressional job approval rating, from a Feb. 9-12 poll, shows a sharp 12 percentage-point increase from last month, rising from 19% to 31%.
Michelle Malkin:
President Obama's 2,000-point tumble — On Nov. 4, after Barack Obama clinched the White House, the market closed at 9,625.28. — In mid-morning trading today, the day President Obama signs his massive Generational Theft Act into law and a day before he unveils a massive new mortgage entitlement, the Dow dropped to to 7,606.53.
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Sara Just / Political Radar:
Bristol Palin Speaks Out — ABC's Teddy Davis and Sara Just report: Bristol Palin, the 18-year-old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, told Fox News in her first interiew since giving birth that she would like to be an advocate against teen pregnancy. — “Everyone should wait 10 years,” Palin said.
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Ta-Nehisi Coates, TBogg, The Other McCain, The Daily Dish, People.com and The Impolitic
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Politico's David Rogers Catches Republicans Lying About High-Speed Rail, Won't Call Them Liars — David Rogers has a piece in Politico that offers a nice summary of the recovery plan's actual high-speed rail provisions and the direct role of the White House in securing them:
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Shakesville
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Byron York / www.dcexaminer.com:
For Obama, it's more about showmanship than sunlight — After rushing Congress to act, why did he wait for days to sign the “emergency” stimulus bill? — Back during the presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised something he called “Sunlight Before Signing.”
Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:
Justice Dept. Defends Bush Rule on Guns — But Interior Is Reviewing Measure, Which Allows Concealed Firearms in Parks — The Obama administration is legally defending a last-minute rule enacted by President George W. Bush that allows concealed firearms in national parks …
John Hawkins / Pajamas Media:
Six Keys to Turning Around the Republican Party — Here's how the GOP can charge into 2010 with a fired-up conservative base and appeal to a wider slice of the American public. — If we want to fix what ails the Republican Party, it's worth taking a few moments to diagnose what went wrong …
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Right Wing News
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Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
How to fix the GOP? — John Hawkins is the list-master …
How to fix the GOP? — John Hawkins is the list-master …
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Redhot
CNN:
Police: TV station founder beheaded wife — From Deborah Brunswick and LaNeice Collins — NEW YORK (CNN) — The founder of an Islamic television station in upstate New York aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes has confessed to beheading his wife, authorities said.
Jim McElhatton / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Postmaster got $800,000 in pay, perks — Raise came amid calls for cuts in delivery — Postmaster General John E. Potter recently warned that economic times are so dire that the U.S. Postal Service may end mail delivery one day a week and freeze executive salaries.
Wall Street Journal:
McCain's Vote Should Trouble Obama — By the president's own standard of bipartisanship, he has failed. — “John McCain Was Right.” — That's one headline we ought to see when President Barack Obama puts his name to the stimulus bill in Denver later today. But we won't.
Discussion:
Commentary
Patrick Cockburn / The Independent:
A ‘fraud’ bigger than Madoff — Senior US soldiers investigated over missing Iraq reconstruction billions — In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn …
New York Times:
U.S. Accuses Texas Financial Firm of $8 Billion Fraud — HOUSTON — Stopping what it called a “massive ongoing fraud,” the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday accused Robert Allen Stanford, the chief of the Stanford Financial Group, of fraud in the sale of about $8 billion …
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
Tennis Channel Won't Televise Dubai Event in Protest — The Tennis Channel will not televise the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships this week to protest the United Arab Emirates' refusal to grant an entry visa to the Israeli player Shahar Peer. Peer was scheduled to play Anna Chakvetadze in the first round.
New York Times:
Japan's Finance Minister Quits After G-7 Blunder — TOKYO — Japan's finance minister resigned Tuesday after widespread criticism of embarrassing behavior at the weekend Group of 7 meeting in Rome. — The minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, raised eyebrows for his slurred speech and muddled answers …
Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Obama Gains Support From G.O.P. Governors — WASHINGTON — President Obama must wish governors could vote in Congress: While just three of the 219 Republican lawmakers backed the $787 billion economic recovery plan that he is signing into law on Tuesday, that trifling total …
Washington Post:
A Truth Commission? — The Danger in Democrats' Rush to Investigate — A growing chorus of critics is demanding the creation of a special commission to “investigate” the Bush administration's alleged abuses of power, especially prosecution of the war on terrorism.
Bradley Burston / Haaretz:
Sure the Israeli right won? Peace lost? Look closer — To judge solely from the gloating, the right conclusively won last week's election. Hawkish politicians were swift to crow triumph. Hardline analysts and legions of talkbackers have positively glowed in pronouncing the end of the left …
City Journal:
Green Cities, Brown Suburbs — On a pleasant April day in 1844, Henry David Thoreau—the patron saint of American environmentalism—went for a walk along the Concord River in Massachusetts. With a friend, he built a fire in a pine stump near Fair Haven Pond, apparently to cook a chowder.
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
STILL SPIRALING — Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) was on Hardball last night and put on a dizzying display as he tried to blame George Soros and Chuck Schumer for the economic collapse:
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Some F-22 Links — If you're interested in a more substantive take on why Mark Bowden's F-22 advertorial in The Atlantic was silly, please read Robert Farley. — For a really serious look at the overall defense budget, procurement priorities, and national strategy please check out this report …
Gary Kamiya / Salon:
The death of the news — If reporting vanishes, the world will get darker and uglier. Subsidizing newspapers may be the only answer. — Journalism as we know it is in crisis. Daily newspapers are going out of business at an unprecedented rate, and the survivors are slashing their budgets.
Discussion:
pandagon.net
Mark Brown / Chicago Sun Times:
Transcript has Burris dancing around the truth — Here's the proof that he really is a lying little sneak — Sen. Roland Burris says the transcript of his Illinois House impeachment committee testimony proves he is not a lying little sneak. — It doesn't. But judge for yourself.
Discussion:
Hot Air, New York Times, Patterico's Pontifications, Political Machine and Sister Toldjah