memeorandum: How Low Can The Market Go? — On days like today, it helps to look at the silver lining. (Henry Blodget/Clusterstock)

7:55 AM ET, March 3, 2009

Top Items:

Steele to Rush: I'm sorry — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says he has reached out to Rush Limbaugh to tell him he meant no offense when he referred to the popular conservative radio host as an “entertainer” whose show can be “incendiary.”

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

I'M LOVING MICHAEL STEELE — I mean, I'm not sure how else to put it. This guy has to be about the worst, most embarrassing party chair we've seen in recent memory. It's embarrassing enough that Steele is like, what? ... the third Republican to criticize Rush and then make it less …

Discussion: Donkeylicious

CNN:

Jindal says Obama is better speaker — (CNN) — CNN's Larry King talked with Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal in a prime-time exclusive interview Monday night. — Jindal gave the Republican response after President Obama's address to Congress last week. Jindal received negative reviews after the speech …

Discussion: Firedoglake

RushLimbaugh.com:

A Few Words for Michael Steele — BEGIN TRANSCRIPT — RUSH: I was not going to talk about Michael Steele. I have had e-mails from the Drive-By Media. I have had interview requests to be on television shows to talk about Michael Steele and what he said about my speech Saturday night.

Discussion: Macsmind, Hullabaloo, FRAMESHOP, The Plum Line, The Caucus, Hotline On Call, Clips & Comment, Don Surber, The Atlantic Politics Channel and Newshoggers.com

The Huffington Post:

Steele Takes On Rush Limbaugh: “Ugly,” “Incendiary” (VIDEO) — Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele took umbrage Saturday night when CNN's D.L. Hughley referred to radio host Rush Limbaugh as “the de facto leader of the Republican party.” — “No he's not.

Discussion: The Plum Line, CNN, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, The Gun Toting Liberal, PoliticalBase.com Blog, MyDD, Pam's House Blend, Jack & Jill Politics and The Strata-Sphere

Sam Youngman / The Hill:
White House fires back at Rush Limbaugh

Discussion: The Politico, CNN, Wizbang and Don Surber

Michelle Malkin:
A note to Michael Steele; Update: Steele agrees that GOP convention …

Discussion: Washington Whispers, Washington Post, Cold Fury, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Washington Times, DownWithTyranny!, The Plum Line, Right Wing Nut House, Sister Toldjah, Flopping Aces, Crooks and Liars, The Moderate Voice, The Raw Story, Hot Air, Outside The Beltway, Political Machine and Riehl World View

The New Majority:
SOCIAL ISSUES WON'T WIN MINORITIES FOR GOP

Discussion: Eunomia and The Moderate Voice

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Obama Offered Deal to Russia in Secret Letter — WASHINGTON — President Obama sent a secret letter to Russia's president last month suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long-range weapons, American officials said Monday.

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Pajamas Media, Closing Velocity, MoJo Blog Posts, MyDD and Cafe Talk Aggregator

RIA Novosti:

Obama ‘ready to drop shield plans for Russian help on Iran’ — Washington has told Moscow that Russian help in resolving Iran's nuclear program would make its missile shield plans for Europe unnecessary, a Russian daily said on Monday, citing White House sources.

Discussion: Washington Post, Flopping Aces, FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog, Gateway Pundit, Fox News, Babalu Blog, Jules Crittenden, The Raw Story and Hot Air

Barak Ravid / Haaretz:
Israel to present Clinton with ‘red lines’ on talks with Iran

Discussion: The Washington Note and Soccer Dad

Paul Richter / Los Angeles Times:
Clinton says U.S. diplomacy unlikely to end Iran nuclear program

Discussion: Commentary and Patterico's Pontifications

Darlene Superville / Associated Press:

Obama kicks up White House entertaining — WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House is the place to be on Wednesdays. — Since the presidency changed hands less than six weeks ago, a burst of entertaining has taken hold of the iconic, white-columned home of America's head of state. Much of it comes on Wednesdays.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Gawker, Preemptive Karma, Associated Press, Jules Crittenden, Pajamas Media and Reuters

David Rogers / The Politico:

Angry McCain slams Obama — Long delayed but not shrunken with time, a nearly $410 billion omnibus spending bill is fast becoming a great bone in the throat for Democrats and the White House, just when each hoped to put the past behind them and move onto President Barack Obama's new 2010 budget.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Politico and Babalú Blog

Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:

Obama beats early retreat on promise to fight pork — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - Despite campaign promises to take a machete to lawmakers' pet projects, President Barack Obama is quietly caving to funding nearly 8,000 of them this year …

Discussion: Bloomberg and Power Line

Toby Harnden / Toby Harnden's blog listings:
Barack Obama cancels press conference with Gordon Brown “because of snow”

Discussion: Benedict Brogan's …

Desmond Butler / Associated Press:
Britain's Brown looks for boost from Obama meeting

Discussion: Reuters and Agence France Presse

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit:

THE DOW-JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE since the passage of the stimulus bill. Looks like a vote of “no confidence” to me. — UPDATE: Can you say “going John Galt?” Upper-Income Taxpayers Look for Ways to Sidestep Obama Tax-Hike Plan. “A 63-year-old attorney based in Lafayette, La. …

Discussion: The Corner, TigerHawk, PoliPundit.com, GayPatriot, Wizbang, Power Line, Michelle Malkin, Sense of Events, Confederate Yankee and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Rich Lowry / The Corner:
A Dow Unworthy of FDR

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Megan McArdle:

How low will the stock market go — According to Henry Blodget, probably a lot farther: … Incidentally, if you think that people still have a vestigial view of housing as an investment asset rather than a consumption good with residual value, this implies that housing will substantially undershoot as well.

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings

Henry Blodget / Clusterstock: How Low Can The Market Go? — On days like today, it helps to look at the silver lining.

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

Another Obama pick owes back taxes, but it's OK because, now caught, he'll pay up — Oh, Sergei, you mean you've lost another submarine? — Word today that yet another Barack Obama appointee has a little problem with taxes — a $10,000 problem. — Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas …

Discussion: Commentary

Lost in Transition:
Panel Says Ron Kirk Underpaid Taxes

Discussion: Dan_McLaughlin's blog, Political Machine and TPMMuckraker

Associated Press:

Obama releases secret Bush anti-terror memos — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - The Obama administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers …

Discussion: Reuters, This ain't Hell …, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Democratic Daily

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
DOJ releases Bush post-9/11 memos

Discussion: New York Times and At-Largely

Charles Duhigg / New York Times:

U.S. Likely to Keep the Reins on Fannie and Freddie — Despite assurances that the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be temporary, the giant mortgage companies will most likely never fully return to private hands, lawmakers and company executives are beginning to quietly acknowledge.

Discussion: naked capitalism, Cafe Hayek and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Marilyn / Taxpayers for Common Sense:

Facebook Reddit Digg Print this article — Here's the database you all have been waiting for - the FY 2009 Omnibus with 8,570 earmarks worth $7.7 billion. Since the Senate started debate on the bill today, we tabulated the Senate recipients of earmarks - from top to bottom.

Discussion: The Caucus, Blog P.I., Glenn Thrush's Blogs, The Swamp and Open Congress

Fox News:

Malaysia Restores ‘Allah’ Ban for Christians — KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Malaysian government will issue a new decree restoring a ban on Christian publications using the word “Allah” to refer to God, officials said Sunday. — Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar said a previous Feb. 16 decree …

Discussion: Jihad Watch

Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture:

Irrational Exuberance? We Are Now Below It . . . On December 5, 1996, Alan Greenspan gave his famous Irrational Exuberance speech. — At the time, the S&P500 was at 744.38. It blew through that number today, closing at 700. We're still 350 points above the Dow's closing price of 6,437.10 …

Discussion: Clusterstock