Top Items:
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The dishonest “Blame Dodd” scheme from Treasury officials — (updated below - Update II) — There is a major push underway — engineered by Obama's Treasury officials, enabled by a mindless media, and amplified by the right-wing press — to blame Chris Dodd for the AIG bonus payments.
Discussion:
MyDD, Wizbang, New York Times, Betsy's Page, Hullabaloo, Firedoglake, DealBook, Emptywheel, TIME.com, Room for Debate, Taylor Marsh, Right Pundits, Clusterstock, The Moderate Voice, DADvocate and Seeing the Forest
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Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Fury over AIG fuels clawback bills — Lawmakers channeled their raw outrage Tuesday into a competition to see who could hammer AIG the hardest for doling out $165 million in bonuses after getting a $170 billion taxpayer bailout. — AIG dominated the day at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue …
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Paying Workers More to Fix Their Own Mess — We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury.
Wall Street Journal:
Treasury Will Make Grab to Recoup AIG Bonuses — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Tuesday it would seek to recoup from American International Group Inc. the $165 million in bonuses paid to employees of the bailed-out insurance titan as it tried to contain a national furor over the payments.
Eliot Spitzer / Slate:
It's not the bonuses. It's that AIG's counterparties are getting paid back in full. — Everybody is rushing to condemn AIG's bonuses, but this simple scandal is obscuring the real disgrace at the insurance giant: Why are AIG's counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars?
Discussion:
TalkLeft, New York Times, Think Progress, The New Republic, TPMDC, Firedoglake and Ben Smith's Blog
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:No Boiled Carrots — Barack Obama even needs a teleprompter to get mad.
Discussion:
Commentary
Tahman Bradley / Political Punch:Obama Administration: We Didn't Find Out About AIG Bonuses Until This Month
Rob Gillies / Associated Press:
Bush says it's ‘essential’ to help Obama — CALGARY, Alberta - Former President George W. Bush, making his first public speech since leaving office in January, says he wants Barack Obama to succeed and that it's “essential” to support the new leader. — Bush declined to critique …
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Associated Press:
Begorra! Irish PM trips over White House speech — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address at a St. Patrick's Day celebration at the White House when he realized something sounded way too familiar.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Fausta's Blog, Dr. Sanity, Reuters, The Politico, Riehl World View and Pajamas Media
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Mary Kate Cary / US News:
Obama's Jay Leno Tonight Show Gig Will Diminish His Presidency — By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog — When I was writing speeches for President Bush #41, we'd start working every Spring on the annual “joke” dinners—the Gridiron Club, the Alfalfa Club, and the White House Correspondents Dinner.
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Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
President's Budget Strategy Under Fire — Tactic May Break Obama's Bipartisan Pledge, GOP Says — Senior members of the Obama administration are pressing lawmakers to use a shortcut to drive the president's signature initiatives on health care and energy through Congress without Republican votes …
Discussion:
TIME.com
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Washington Times:
Guns on a plane — Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns — After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control …
Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:
Veterans Groups, Lawmakers Condemn Obama Idea to Bill Private Insurers for Service-Related Care — An Obama administration proposal to bill veterans' private insurance companies for treatment of combat-related injuries has prompted veterans groups to condemn the idea as unethical …
Discussion:
This ain't Hell …
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Ira Iosebashvili / themoscowtimes.com:
At G20, Kremlin to Pitch New Currency — The Kremlin published its priorities Monday for an upcoming meeting of the G20, calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system.
Discussion:
FT Alphaville
Pamela A. MacLean / LAW.com:
In a First, Bankruptcy Judge Rules Calif. City Can Void Union Contracts — Post a Comment Printer-friendly Email this Article Reprints & Permissions — In the first ruling of its kind, a bankruptcy judge held the city of Vallejo, Calif. has the authority to void its existing union contracts …
Alice Gomstyn / ABCNEWS:
AIG CEO to Testify Before Congress Today — Edward Liddy to Testify in Wake of Bailout, Bonus Outrage — ABC NEWS Business Unit — As outrage continues to swell around bailed-out insurance giant American International Group, the company's chief executive will take the hot seat today …
Marybeth Hicks / Washington Times:
Men are women's ‘issue’ — Last week, President Obama signed an executive order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. He did so with a speech in which he praised the perseverance and pluck of his own single mother, the grandmother who ultimately raised him, and especially his wife …
Discussion:
Dr. Helen
Al Kamen / Washington Post:
Tauscher to State — Word is that Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on strategic forces and a staunch superdelegate for presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, is in line for a top post at the State Department …
New York Times:
U.S. Weighs Taliban Strike Into Pakistan — WASHINGTON — President Obama and his national security advisers are considering expanding the American covert war in Pakistan far beyond the unruly tribal areas to strike at a different center of Taliban power in Baluchistan …
Andy Barr / The Politico:
N.Y. race first big test for GOP — The March 31 special election to fill the House seat left vacant by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is suddenly taking on exaggerated importance, viewed by many insiders as the first real gauge of the Obama-era electorate.
Discussion:
TIME.com
Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Specter won't rule out run as an Independent — Sen. Arlen Specter said Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2010 as a Democrat, but might run as an Independent. — The Pennsylvania Republican has been under tremendous pressure from the GOP base since being one of just three Republicans …
Discussion:
MyDD
Mickey Kaus / Kausfiles:
The Uninvited — Brad DeLong objects to the hed—"Inside the echo chamber"—on Michael Calderone's piece discussing the underknown leftish email cabal organized by Ezra Klein: … Fair enough. But I think the headline-writers' worry was that an “echo chamber” is what the outside world tends …
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