Top Items:
John Bresnahan / The Politico:
Pelosi butts heads with Obama — Nancy Pelosi repeatedly stood to applaud Barack Obama when he addressed a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. But in the days since, the speaker of the House has been standing up for herself —distancing herself from the president on Iraq …
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J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
Reid joins Pelosi in opposing weapons ban revival — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will join Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in opposing any effort to revive the 1994 assault weapons ban, putting them on the opposite side of the Obama administration. — Reid spokesman Jim Manley …
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Iraq Withdrawal Plan Gains G.O.P. Support — WASHINGTON — President Obama won crucial backing on Thursday for his Iraq military withdrawal plan from leading Congressional Republicans, including Senator John McCain, the party's presidential nominee, who spent much of last year debating the war with Mr. Obama.
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Obama Plans to End Combat Mission in Iraq by August 2010 — WASHINGTON — President Obama heads to one of the nation's most storied military bases Friday morning to unveil plans to pull most troops out of Iraq by August 2010 and he has support from an unlikely quarter — Senator John McCain …
Discussion:
The New Republic, JustOneMinute, The Raw Story, MSNBC, Outside The Beltway, TalkLeft, Taegan Goddard's … and FP Passport
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Climate of Change — Elections have consequences. President Obama's new budget represents a huge break, not just with the policies of the past eight years, but with policy trends over the past 30 years. If he can get anything like the plan he announced on Thursday through Congress, he will set America on a fundamentally new course.
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David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Conservatives Confident Their Day Is Coming — Tucker Carlson closed out the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference to a chorus of boos. His crime: informing a crowd of youngish, frustrated conservatives that if they wanted to succeed, they had to copy The New York Times.
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CNN:
Steele to CPAC: The Republican party is just fine — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Capping off a day of conservative soul-searching, strategizing and navel-gazing at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele announced Thursday …
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Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
WashPost's Fred Hiatt plays dumb for George Will — Journalism is not complicated. Honest. But sometimes people practicing it pretend that it is. They pretend that it's very complicated and that every fact has nine different sides and it's impossible—impossible— to figure out what the truth really is.
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Curtis Brainard / CJR:
The George Will Affair — Post stands by climate column despite …
The George Will Affair — Post stands by climate column despite …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Intersection, TalkLeft, TPMMuckraker, Media Matters for America, Wonk Room and AMERICAblog News
Meg Marco / Consumerist:
The “Worst Food Product Ever” May Have Been Found — Pork Brains In Milk Gravy. Could it be the worst food product ever? It does have 1170% of your daily cholesterol per serving. Mmmm. More »
Associated Press:
Mayor who sent watermelon e-mail says he'll resign — LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - The mayor of a small Southern California city says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.”
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CNBC:
Steep GDP Revision Puts Economic Loss at 6.2% — The U.S. economy contracted more sharply than initially estimated in the fourth quarter, government data showed on Friday, as exports plunged and consumers cut spending by the most in over 28 years amid a severe recession.
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Think Progress:
Exclusive: Joe the Plumber suggests some members of Congress should be shot. — On Wednesday, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher said that if he were in Congress, he would “probably be in jail” because he'd be charged with “slapping some member.” He added, “And that's not [bull] either.”
Financial Times:
Insight: Time to expose those CDOs — Just how much should a debt vehicle backed by subprime mortgage bonds be worth these days? Two years ago, most banks and insurance companies assumed the answer was close to 100 per cent of face value - or more. — Since then, however, that “price” …
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Noam N. Levey / Chicago Tribune:
Obama administration may rescind ‘conscience rule’ — Officials say the move seeks to clarify rules for health care workers — WASHINGTON — Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration Friday will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows health-care workers …
Wall Street Journal:
The Obama Revolution — Paid for by the people. — In the closing weeks of last year's election campaign, we wrote that Democrats had in mind the most sweeping expansion of government in decades. Liberals clucked, but it turns out even we've been outbid.
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
NYUK, NYUK, NUKE.... What is it about conservatives and their attitudes about attacks on U.S. cities? — A few years ago, TV preacher Pat Robertson said he welcomed a nuclear attack on the State Department, telling a national television audience, “Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up.”
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Right's Civil War — Predictions of a “conservative crack-up” tend to be a dime a dozen in American politics, and it rarely happens. But this month, I really do get the sense that we're witnessing the opening rounds in a significant battle inside the conservative movement.