Top Items:
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
No Boiled Carrots — Barack Obama even needs a teleprompter to get mad. — On St. Patrick's Day, the president spoke a bit of Gaelic, dyed the White House fountains green and talked about his distant relatives in the tiny Irish town of Moneygall, aptly named since money and gall are the two topics now consuming him.
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Edward M. Liddy / Washington Post:
Repairing AIG and Repaying the Public — The government rescue of American International Group (AIG) and other financial firms has produced a palpable wave of anger on the part of Americans and a rising public demand for accountability from corporate and government leaders.
Ian Swanson / The Hill:
AIG staff: We deserve this money — AIG's new management team last year proposed that its employees give up their “retention” bonuses, or at least reduce them. The response from the 370 or so employees set to rake in $450 million in bonuses through 2010? — Take a hike.
Washington Post:
AIG Firestorm Raises Alarm For Other Firms — The firestorm over bonuses paid by insurance giant American International Group has triggered alarm at other financial firms, threatening federal efforts to draw private investors into economic recovery programs. — It is a critical juncture for the Obama administration.
Discussion:
Achenblog, AMERICAblog News, The Hill, Don Surber, MSNBC, Cato @ Liberty and The New Republic
Washington Post:
White House Calls Bonuses a Late Surprise — Congress Moves to Impose Hefty Tax on Executives Who Don't Return Money — Senior White House officials said last night that President Obama did not learn that bonuses worth $165 million were to be paid to executives of American International …
Discussion:
CBS News, The Fix, Associated Press, BBC, Real Clear Politics, Bloomberg, Time, Democracy in America, TIME.com, The Note, The Caucus and RedState
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
Wall Street's Dangerous Refusal to Learn
Wall Street's Dangerous Refusal to Learn
Discussion:
The Campaign Spot
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Paying Workers More to Fix Their Own Mess
Paying Workers More to Fix Their Own Mess
Discussion:
The Baseline Scenario, Clusterstock, Wall Street Journal, Prairie Weather and Econbrowser
Tahman Bradley / Political Punch:
Obama Administration: We Didn't Find Out About AIG Bonuses Until This Month
Obama Administration: We Didn't Find Out About AIG Bonuses Until This Month
Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Associated Press:
Washington knew AIG was preparing to pay bonuses
Washington knew AIG was preparing to pay bonuses
Discussion:
CNN, Power Line, Wake up America, The Smirking Chimp, Associated Press, Washington Post and Gateway Pundit
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:
Fausta's Blog, Reuters, The Politico, Flopping Aces, Dr. Sanity, Riehl World View and Pajamas Media
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Tim / Sky News:
The Obama 100 — Earlier in the day, the president claimed an Irish ancestry, saying his mother's family could be traced back to Ireland. — He joked to Cowen: “We may be cousins. We haven't sorted that through yet.” — Speaking in the Oval Office, he told the Irish premier …
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 …
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
LOWERING THE BAR FOR MOB RULE.... About two weeks ago …
LOWERING THE BAR FOR MOB RULE.... About two weeks ago …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
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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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Bush promises not to attack Obama
Bush promises not to attack Obama
Discussion:
Top of the Ticket, The New Republic, The Swamp, Associated Press, Wake up America and Political Machine
Wall Street Journal:
Financial Journalists Fail Upward — “Listen, you knew what the banks were doing and yet were touting it for months and months,” said “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart to CNBC superstar Jim Cramer in their much-discussed confrontation last week. “The entire network was, and so now to pretend …
Discussion:
Newshoggers.com
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David Kaplan / paidContent.org:
@ McGraw-Hill: NBCU's Zucker Calls Out Jon Stewart: Blaming CNBC Is ‘Absurd’ — NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) CEO Jeff Zucker, in a Q&A with Ellen Pollock, executive editor, BusinessWeek, opened the *McGraw-Hill* Media Summit by taking on Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, who on the Daily Show …
David Harsanyi / Denver Post:
There are fates worse than bonuses — Here's an idea: If you stop nationalizing banks, there will be no need to engage in phony-baloney indignation over bonus payments anymore. — This cockamamie populism in Washington really hit its stride when Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley suggested …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute
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Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Stayin' Alive — The inside story of health care reform's near-death experience. — In early January, most of Barack Obama's senior staff assembled with the president-elect for a meeting inside a windowless, eighth-floor office at the transition headquarters in Washington.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Democratic Strategist and Ben Smith's Blog
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Some Members of Evan Bayh's New Anti-Progressive Caucus Too Frightened to Admit Membership — It's been known for a while now that Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) has been planning to form a caucus of “moderate” Senate Democrats hoping to soak up special interest cash in exchange for blocking the progressive agenda.
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 …
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
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 …
The Politico:
Some Dems want brake in Obama plans — Barack Obama's Big Bang Theory of Governance is starting to face its first big test among the new president's fellow Democrats. — At the White House Tuesday morning, Obama began the day with a sharp push-back against the idea that his far-reaching agenda …