Top Items:
Mark Murray / MSNBC:
Poll: Obama's rating at all-time high — NBC/WSJ poll shows gap between popularity of president and his policies — WASHINGTON - After Barack Obama's first six weeks as president, the American public's attitudes about the two political parties couldn't be more different, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Strata-Sphere, Salon, San Francisco Chronicle, Oliver Willis, MyDD, Macsmind, Riehl World View and The Reaction
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Washington Whispers:
GOP to Michael Steele: Quiet About Rush Limbaugh or You're Fired — Apology to Rush Limbaugh aside, new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is coming under fire from his own GOP troops to shut up and focus on his job of organizing the party and raising money, not fighting with his own political kind.
David Plouffe / Washington Post:
Minority Leader Limbaugh — The 2008 election sent many messages. At the top: Americans wanted to turn the page on the politics of division and partisan pettiness, and they wanted a government — and country — that would put the middle class first. — Watching the Republicans operate …
Discussion:
The Politico, HorseRaceBlog, The Note, Balloon Juice, Pajamas Media, PoliGazette and Daily Pundit
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Inside the Dems' anti-Rush plan — Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.
Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Gets Strong Support in Poll — Popularity Can Help President Pursue Big Initiatives; Warning Signs on Health Care — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama enjoys widespread backing from a frightened American public for his ambitious, front-loaded agenda, a new poll indicates.
Discussion:
CNBC, MSNBC, Real Time Economics, American Power, Hot Air, Washington Wire, News Hounds, Daily Kos and The Moderate Voice
Perry Bacon Jr / Washington Post:
GOP Seeks Balance With Conservative Icon Limbaugh
GOP Seeks Balance With Conservative Icon Limbaugh
Discussion:
BAGnewsNotes
SteveK / TVNewser:
White House Knocks Jim Cramer For Calling Obama Budget “Greatest Wealth Destruction By a President” — NBC's Tom Costello, on duty at the White House today, asked press secretary Robert Gibbs about some comments made by his CNBC colleague Jim Cramer. On the Today show this morning …
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Michael Calderone / The Politico:
How media sucks up to White House — In a profile last month, The Washington Post described deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina as a “low-profile aide” who begins “fixing President Obama's problems” before 7 a.m., works 14 hours straight and then hits the gym.
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Cramer goes nuclear on Obama, White House rips Cramer
Video: Cramer goes nuclear on Obama, White House rips Cramer
Discussion:
The Politico
Alan K. Ota / CQ Politics:
Democratic Revolt May Slow Obama Agenda — Democratic Reps. Jim Matheson of Utah and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona have joined a quiet revolt in the House that could slow some of President Obama's fast-moving priorities. — The two are among 49 Democrats from congressional districts …
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Manu Raju / The Politico:
Moderates uneasy with Obama plan — Moderate and conservative Democrats in the Senate are starting to choke over the massive spending and tax increases in President Barack Obama's budget plans and have begun plotting to increase their influence over the agenda of a president who is turning out to be much more liberal than they are.
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Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
Obama Officials Defend Budget — Republicans Criticize Tax Increases, Plan to Cap Pollution — Two of the administration's top economic officials defended President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget plan yesterday, arguing that the proposal would finance a historic investment in critical economic priorities …
Discussion:
The Sundries Shack
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Robert J. Barro / Wall Street Journal:
What Are the Odds of a Depression? — International evidence suggests there is a 20% chance our stock-market crash will lead to much worse. — Central questions these days are how severe will the U.S. economic downturn be and how long will it last? — The most serious concern …
Dan Mihalopoulos / Chicago Tribune:
How Quigley claimed Democratic nomination in Rahm Emanuel race — Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley claimed the Democratic nomination to replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress by carrying liberal areas close to the lakefront and doing well enough in many Northwest Side precincts …
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Deutsche Welle:
Russian President Won't “Haggle” Over US Missile Defense Plans — Russian President Dimitry Medvedev's comments came in response to a New York Times report that US President Barack Obama had written a secret letter to his Russian counterpart offering to halt the planned missile shield …
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Eric Lipton / New York Times:
Ex-Leaders at Countrywide Start Firm to Buy Bad Loans — CALABASAS, Calif. — Fairly or not, Countrywide Financial and its top executives would be on most lists of those who share blame for the nation's economic crisis. After all, the banking behemoth made risky loans to tens of thousands of Americans …
Discussion:
Clusterstock, Prairie Weather, naked capitalism, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Democratic Daily
CNN:
Conservative group funds ads in race to replace Gillibrand — (CNN) - A conservative group has launched an ad campaign in support of Republican Jim Tedisco's fight for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's former House seat. — The conservative Our Country Deserves Better Committee, an independent PAC …
Discussion:
Don Surber
CNN:
Palin foe gets administration job — (CNN) - Alaska State Sen. Kim Elton, one of the leading officials to pursue an investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin during the heat of the presidential campaign, has taken a high-level job in the Interior Department. — Palin reacted in a short statement Monday …
Discussion:
The Strata-Sphere
Michael Lewis / Vanity Fair:
Wall Street on the Tundra — Iceland's de facto bankruptcy—its currency (the krona) is kaput, its debt is 850 percent of G.D.P., its people are hoarding food and cash and blowing up their new Range Rovers for the insurance—resulted from a stunning collective madness.
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Stage of Fools — If only Shakespeare had known how to Twitter. — There was a bit of King Lear in the scene on the Senate floor, a stormy, solitary John McCain on “this great stage of fools,” as the Bard wrote, railing against both parties and the president in fiery speeches and rapid-fire tweets.
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Job Losses Show Breadth of a Recession — What does the worst recession in a generation look like? — It is both deep and broad. Every state in the country, with the exception of a band stretching from the Dakotas down to Texas, is now shedding jobs at a rapid pace.
Discussion:
Pirate's Cove
Media Matters / Media Matters for America:
Limbaugh declares Ed Henry a “butt boy,” but “Jake Tapper is the one guy that's outside of the butt boy bubble in the White House press room” — You are right, I dont hear you saying any of those things. But what I do hear you saying is things are better than they are. — You are wrong Rush.