Top Items:
David Brooks / New York Times:
When Obamatons Respond — On Tuesday, I wrote that the Obama budget is a liberal, big government document that should make moderates nervous. The column generated a large positive response from moderate Obama supporters who are anxious about where the administration is headed.
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Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Michelle Obama serves food to D.C. poor and homeless, but... First Lady Michelle Obama showed up Thursday as a surprise and welcome volunteer at Miriam's Kitchen, a soup kitchen for homeless poor people not far from the White House. — She brought with her some food donated by White House staff.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, TBogg, Sweetness & Light, Media Blog, The Swamp, Connecting.the.Dots and PoliGazette
Iain Martin's blog listings:
President Barack Obama dislikes Britain, but he's keen to meet the Queen — President Obama has been rudeness personified towards Britain this week. His handling of the visit of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling. First Brown wasn't granted a press conference with flags …
Fox News:
Obama's Blockbuster Gift for Brown: 25 DVDs
Obama's Blockbuster Gift for Brown: 25 DVDs
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blogs, FP Passport, Democracy in America, Swampland, Flopping Aces and Conservatives4Palin.com
Jack Healy / New York Times:
651,000 Jobs Reported Lost in February — Another 651,000 jobs were lost in February, adding to the millions of people who have been thrown out of work as the economic downturn deepens. — In a stark measure of the recession's toll, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday …
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Chris Isidore / CNNMoney.com:
Unemployment hits 25-year high — Jobless rate hits 8.1% in February as a record-high 12.5 million people are unemployed. — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The U.S. economy continued to hemorrhage jobs in February, bringing total job losses over the last six months to more than 3.3 million …
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
GOP Fights Back Over Criticism of Limbaugh — White House Is Accused Of Cynicism, Hypocrisy — By one measure, Rush Limbaugh is a clear winner this week: His ratings have nearly doubled since his feud with the White House burst into the media limelight. — But the Obama administration's strategy …
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The Politico:
Steele pushes back; rivals gripe — With Republican criticism of Michael Steele intensifying following his dust up earlier this week with Rush Limbaugh, the new Republican National Committee chairman's high command is moving to rebut claims that he's not up to leading the party.
Mark Leibovich / New York Times:
Republicans Look for a Reliever in Kentucky
Republicans Look for a Reliever in Kentucky
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, The Washington Independent, Political Machine, Scorecard's Blogs, TPMDC, USA Today and Prairie Weather
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Big Dither — Last month, in his big speech to Congress, President Obama argued for bold steps to fix America's dysfunctional banks. “While the cost of action will be great,” he declared, “I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy …
Robert Reich / Salon:
Is Obama responsible for Wall Street's meltdown? — “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer. — Is Obama responsible for the meltdown of the Dow? The consistently wrongheaded Wall Street Journal's editorial page says so, as does Republican Fox News, CNN's reliably demagogic Lou Dobbs, and now CNBC …
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Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:
Fox News' Glenn Beck strikes ratings gold by challenging Barack Obama — His success comes as Fox News embraces the role of voice of opposition to the new administration. — Reporting from New York — Before Glenn Beck started his new show on Fox News in January, he sat down with Roger Ailes …
Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Obama Highlighting Stimulus Funds for Law Enforcement — In January, more than two dozen new police recruits in Columbus, Ohio, were sent notices that they would be laid off, even before they were sworn in as officers. The city had spent $1.4 million to train them, but like cities everywhere, Columbus was running out of money.
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Keith Johnson / Environmental Capital:
A Heated Exchange: Al Gore Confronts His Critic(s) — The Goreacle has spoken-again. — Former Vice President Al Gore repeated his message that climate change is a planetary emergency at the WSJ's Eco:nomics conference in California. The Nobel-prize winner declined to take any questions from reporters …
Michael J. Boskin / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's Radicalism Is Killing the Dow — A financial crisis is the worst time to change the foundations of American capitalism. — It's hard not to see the continued sell-off on Wall Street and the growing fear on Main Street as a product, at least in part, of the realization …
Discussion:
Atlas Shrugs, The Corner, Top of the Ticket, OpenMarket.org, NewsBusters.org, Commentary and Gateway Pundit
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The Great Non Sequitur — The Sleight of Hand Behind Obama's Agenda — Forget the pork. Forget the waste. Forget the 8,570 earmarks in a bill supported by a president who poses as the scourge of earmarks. Forget the “2 trillion dollars in savings” that “we have already identified …
Discussion:
Betsy's Page
Maggie Haberman / New York Post:
WEINER'S ‘NAUGHTY’ HOTTIE$ — FOREIGN BABES GAVE ILLEGALLY — Talk about the wrong kind of foreign aid! — After he proposed to expand the visas available to foreign models so they can work in New York, Rep. Anthony Weiner's mayoral campaign took contributions from some cat walkers from abroad.
New York Times:
Undisclosed Losses at Merrill Lynch Lead to a Trading Inquiry — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One Merrill Lynch trader apparently gambled away more than $120 million in the currency markets. Others seemingly lost hundreds of millions on tricky credit derivatives. — But somehow all this red ink …
Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
Afghan Supply Chain a Weak Point — With Troop Buildup Coming, U.S. Is Challenged on the Ground and in the Air — The U.S. military is laboring to shore up a vulnerable supply chain through Pakistan and Central Asia as it seeks to expand the flow of supplies into Afghanistan by at least 50 percent …
RELATED:
Pete Harrison / Reuters:
Never waste a good crisis, Clinton says on climate — BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience on Friday “never waste a good crisis,” as she highlighted the opportunity of rebuilding economies in a greener, less energy intensive model.
Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Nominee for Solicitor General Revises Her Opinion on Opinions — Perhaps every nominee committed a dark, regrettable act in the past that he or she hopes will never see the light, but unfortunately for Elena Kagan, hers was discovered pretty quickly after she was nominated to be solicitor general:
Stephen Green / Pajamas Media:
My Fellow Conservatives, Let's Be Bad Guys! — No matter what we do, we're painted as the villains. So let's twirl our mustaches and get to work. — By the numbers: since President Barack Obama was sworn in, the financial markets have dropped to ten-year lows, housing prices are off …
Discussion:
Riehl World View
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE ECONOMIC CRISIS — Looking over the consolidation of the financial services industry you see a distressing pattern. Find one company that brings together a lot of decently run and profitable companies under one roof. Then set up one subsidiary which sells …
Discussion:
The Reaction
Tim Reid / Times of London:
Barack Obama bets the farm in $4 trillion poker game — The President believes he can change US politics for a generation. If he's wrong he could bankrupt the whole country — One of the most seductive elements of Barack Obama's ascent to the White House was his unshakeable conviction …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Birther smackdown — As the many lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility make their way through the courts, judges appear to be getting a little fed up, and D.C. District Judge James Robertson penned a particularly harsh memo yesterday dismissing a case called Hollister vs. Soetero.
Discussion:
ACSBlog
John / Power Line:
ONE VOTE SHORT — Harry Reid called off a cloture vote on the Democrats' $410 billion omnibus spending bill last night when he realized he was a vote short. Both Russ Feingold and Evan Bayh said they would vote “No.” — The Republicans are on the strong side of this issue and need to stick to their guns.