memeorandum: G.O.P. Senators Say Some Big Banks Can Be Allowed to Fail (New York Times)

Spitzer choked her during sex, says call girl — His political rivals used to accuse Eliot Spitzer of going for the jugular. Now a new call girl is claiming the former governor literally went for hers — claiming he wrapped his fingers around her neck during some kinky role-playing.

Discussion: Don Surber and MyDD

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

DAVID BROOKS GETS SHRILL.... Just yesterday I argued that respectable figures of the political establishment are reluctant to call obvious stupidity “stupid,” especially when it comes to truly painful ideas like a spending freeze in the midst of the economic crisis.

Discussion: The Other McCain and Left in the West

Ryan Powers / Think Progress:

Brooks: Boehner's spending freeze would be ‘insane,’ GOP is ‘stuck with Reagan.’ — This morning on ABC's This Week, conservative columnist David Brooks addressed House Minority Leader John Boehner's recent call for a “freeze on government spending” in response to the quickly worsening economic conditions.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Huffington Post, The Reaction, DownWithTyranny!, Liberty Street and Washington Monthly

New York Times:

G.O.P. Senators Say Some Big Banks Can Be Allowed to Fail — John McCain and Richard C. Shelby, two high-profile Republican senators, said on Sunday that the government should allow a number of the biggest American banks to fail. — “Close them down, get them out of business,” Mr. Shelby …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Crooked Timber, JustOneMinute, Balloon Juice, The Big Picture, Calculated Risk and Below The Beltway

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

OY — If nothing else is clear in our current crisis, it is that the only thing more bankrupt than the big banks is the debate over whether or not to nationalize them. On This Week this morning, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) said he opposed nationalization but thought insolvent banks should be closed down.

Discussion: George's Bottom Line, MoJo Blog Posts and Cafe Talk Aggregator

Patterico's Pontifications:

Democrats Have No Right To Be Snooty About Rush Not Wanting the President to Succeed — Let's put aside arguments about Rush Limbaugh for the time being and recognize that he's undeniably right about this: … I think we all know the answer to that — but here's some hard proof.

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Macsmind, Sister Toldjah and Weasel Zippers

Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Wallace Defends Limbaugh: 'He Wasn't Saying I Want The President To Fail'

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Gateway Pundit and Cafe Talk Aggregator

Patterico / Hot Air:
David Frum Does Not Speak for Me Any More Than Rush Limbaugh Does

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Copious Dissent, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish, The Sundries Shack, Jules Crittenden, American Power and five feet of fury

Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:

A Rising Dollar Lifts the U.S. but Adds to the Crisis Abroad — As the world is seized with anxiety in the face of a spreading financial crisis, the one place having a considerably easier time attracting money is, perversely enough, the same place that started much of the trouble: the United States.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Matthew Yglesias

Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
World Bank Says Global Economy Will Shrink in '09

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Clusterstock and The Raw Story

Greyhawk / Mudville Gazette:

Diversions (III) — Remember the Iraq drawdown you heard about last month? The one where a Brigade originally scheduled for Iraq was going to Afghanistan instead? Well, a funny thing about that... Last weekend we noted this obscure bit of news from ABC:

Discussion: BLACKFIVE

Frank Schaeffer / The Huffington Post:

Open Letter to the Republican Traitors (From a Former Republican) — Dear Republican Leaders: The Republican Party has become the party dedicated to sabotaging the American future. Check out the sermon I just delivered about the Republican Party on CNN when being interviewed by D.L. Hughley — and/or read on.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

New York Times:

Terror-War Fallout Lingers Over Bush Lawyers — WASHINGTON — When John C. Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer, was selected by President George W. Bush in May 2004 to join a government board charged with releasing historical Nazi and Japanese war crimes records, trouble quickly followed.

Reuters:

Iran test-fires new missile - media — TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has test-fired a new air-to-surface missile, Iranian media reported on Sunday, in the Islamic Republic's latest display of its military capability. — The missile test was carried out despite the offer by the administration …

Discussion: Don Surber

Mike Dorning / Chicago Tribune:

His words, the president's voice — Obama has called his head speechwriter a mind-reader. And at age 27, his prose is being acclaimed worldwide — Head speechwriter Jon Favreau talks with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Jan. 29, 2009. (White House Photo by Pete Souza / January 29, 2008)

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

The Inflection Is Near? — Sometimes the satirical newspaper The Onion is so right on, I can't resist quoting from it. Consider this faux article from June 2005 about America's addiction to Chinese exports: … Let's today step out of the normal boundaries of analysis of our economic crisis …

Discussion: Climate Progress, LewRockwell.com Blog and Cafe Talk Aggregator

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Defending Chas Freeman — The Chas Freeman saga continues with the publication of the following letter in The Wall Street Journal: … The authors are Thomas Pickering (ambassador to Jordan, then Nigeria, then El Salvador, then Israel, then the United Nations, then India …

MSNBC:

Mexico morgues crowded with drug-war dead — Bodies awaiting autopsies tell the story of an escalating drug war — Bodies awaiting autopsies crowd a walk-in refrigerator at the morgue in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. — Slideshow — Mexico under siege

Discussion: Associated Press

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:

Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court liberal? — In a decision last week against the drug company Wyeth, it was the court's most conservative justice who most harshly criticized a Bush administration legal policy. — Reporting from Washington — The Supreme Court opinion that drew the most praise …

Discussion: The Swamp

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Court Defies Pro-Business Label

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy

Tom Blumer / NewsBusters.org:

Tea Parties? What Tea Parties? Predictably, Established Media Coverage of Tea Party Protests Is Sparse — Coverage of “tea party” protests in various cities around the country (this March 4 Pajamas Media press release, HT to FreeRepublic, cited 22 locations on February 27 and seven this weekend) …

Discussion: alicublog and Instapundit

Scott / Power Line:

WHAT PRICE CHURCHILL? — Ted Bromund notes that upon entering office President Obama returned a bronze bust of Winston Churchill that had been on loan as a symbol of the Special Relationship from the British Government to the United States since 9/11. According to Newsweek's report …

Gene Weingarten / Washington Post:

Fatal Distraction — Forgetting a child in the back seat of a hot, parked car is a horrifying, inexcusable mistake. But is it a crime? — The defendant was an immense man, well over 300 pounds, but in the gravity of his sorrow and shame he seemed larger still.

Discussion: Majikthise