Top Items:
Laura Rozen / The Cable:
Freeman speaks out on his exit — Retired Amb. Chas Freeman, who said today that he no longer accepts an offer to chair the National Intelligence Council, has just sent this message: … More to come.
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Schumer Takes Credit For Getting Chas Freeman Ousted — Chuck Schumer's office sends over a statement from the Senator himself, saying he's the one who got Chas Freeman dumped from the post of National Intelligence Council chief: … As I reported the other day, Schumer had privately communicated …
Discussion:
The Cable, TBogg, Taylor Marsh, The Washington Independent, Mondoweiss, Weekly Standard, Commentary, Think Progress and Newshoggers.com
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Freeman hits ‘Israel lobby’ on way out — President Barack Obama's controversial pick for a top intelligence post blasted the “Israel lobby” on his way out the door Tuesday, intensifying a debate on the role Israel's allies played in the latest failed Obama appointment.
Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
Impartiality Questioned, Intelligence Pick Pulls Out — Charles W. Freeman Jr. withdrew yesterday from his appointment as chairman of the National Intelligence Council after questions about his impartiality were raised among members of Congress and with White House officials.
Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:
Nominee Ends Bid for Key Job in Intelligence — WASHINGTON — Charles W. Freeman Jr., the Obama administration's choice for a major intelligence post, withdrew his name on Tuesday and blamed pro-Israel lobbying groups, saying they had distorted his record and campaigned against him.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Charles Freeman fails the loyalty test — Obviously, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt are rabid, hateful paranoids — total bigots and anti-Semites — for having suggested that there are powerful domestic political forces in the U.S. which enforce Israel-centric orthodoxies …
Discussion:
The Reaction, Mondoweiss, Commentary, Capital J | JTA, The New Republic, The Plum Line, Booman Tribune, Needlenose, The Daily Dish and TPMCafe
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Controversial intelligence pick withdraws — Charles Freeman, the Obama administration's choice to head the National Intelligence Council, has withdrawn from consideration after facing strong opposition from Senate Republicans. — Freeman is the latest in a string of Obama administration appointees …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Freeman Precedent — There are a couple of things worth noting …
The Freeman Precedent — There are a couple of things worth noting …
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
Huma Khan / Political Punch:
Blair Defends Chas Freeman to Lieberman
Blair Defends Chas Freeman to Lieberman
Discussion:
The Plum Line, American Thinker, Israel Matzav, Mondoweiss, Atlas Shrugs and Weekly Standard
Siobhan Gorman / Wall Street Journal:
Intelligence Pick Derailed by Critics
Intelligence Pick Derailed by Critics
Discussion:
Gates of Vienna
Camille Paglia / Salon:
Heads should roll — President Obama's clumsy, smirky staff is sinking him — and resurrecting a deflated GOP! Plus: Lay off Rush! And a Brazilian diva, up close and electric — View a slide show of Daniela Mercury at the 2009 carnival in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. — Free Barack!
Discussion:
Don Surber, Babalú Blog, alicublog, The Other McCain, TBogg, GINA COBB and American Power
Howard Fineman / Newsweek:
A Turning Tide? — Obama still has the approval of the people, but the establishment is beginning to mumble that the president may not have what it takes. — Surfer that he is, President Obama should know a riptide when he's in one. The center usually is the safest, most productive place in politics …
Discussion:
Buck Naked Politics, NewsBusters.org, Whiskey Fire, Firedoglake, Babalú Blog and Jules Crittenden
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
ZOMBIE LIES THAT WILL NOT DIE. — We're not even going to talk about the tendentious Matrix analogy laced into this column Amity Shlaes wrote for Bloomberg. Not. Even. Going. To. Talk. About. It. I already read the thing for you. I refuse to relive it.
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Amity Shlaes / Bloomberg:
Obama's ‘Matrix’ Alters Reality of Health Care: Amity Shlaes — Every administration has its movie. George W. Bush seemed too often on the wrong side of guerrilla warfare in “The Battle of Algiers.” Bill Clinton mixed business and pleasure with the predictably messy results of “The Apartment.”
Judicial Watch:
Judicial Watch Uncovers Documents Detailing Pelosi's Repeated Requests for Military Travel — House Speaker Issued Unprecedented Demands for Military Aircraft and Wasted Taxpayer Resources with Last Minute Cancellations — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates …
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David Rogers / The Politico:
Budget bill clears, now new challenges — A long-delayed budget bill cleared Congress Tuesday night, bringing with it a fresh challenge for President Barack Obama: what to do about the thousands of parochial spending projects attached by lawmakers? — The White House rejects Republican calls …
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Ali Frick / Think Progress:
Specter on Steele: 'I wouldn't pay a whole lot of attention to him.' — This morning, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) spoke to Pennsylvania radio show “The Morning News with Nancy and Kevin,” where he was asked who led the Republican Party. Specter replied that he was “trying to bring it back in a sensible …
Discussion:
Salon
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
No quit: the campaign to boost Bush — The defense never rests. When President Barack Obama released his own policy this week on former President George W. Bush's practice of attaching controversial signing statements to legislation, a reporter quickly got a tip from a Bush loyalist …
Discussion:
The Politico
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Will Bunch / Philly.com:
What the Huck? Chuck Norris' roundhouse kick to the gut of American democracy — That was fast. It was just one year ago that right-wing martial arts guru Chuck Norris was a sought-after “get” for the GOP presidential candidates like Mike Huckabee, who paraded the star of “Walker …
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Wall Street Journal:
The President Politicizes Stem-Cell Research — Taxpayers have a right to be left out of it. — Yesterday President Barack Obama issued an executive order that authorizes expanded federal funding for research using stem cells produced by destroying human embryos.
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Teddy Davis / The Note:
S.C. Guv to Obama: Thanks, But No Thanks — ABC News' Teddy Davis reports: — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) has completed his review of the recently enacted stimulus package and will be sending President Obama a letter in the next few days asking for permission to apply a quarter …