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.
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
Wall Street's Dangerous Refusal to Learn — You have to wonder what else has to go wrong, how much more wealth will need to be destroyed, before the people on Wall Street get the message that it's no longer business as usual. — The latest outrage, of course, is over the $400 million …
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
The Gloves Come Off — White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel just had to scratch that itch. Speaking for the President and to the New York Times yesterday, he called the contretemps over the AIG news a “distraction” from the “main priority of getting the financial system stabilized.”
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
New York Times:
A.I.G. Chief Expected to Offer Bonus Compromise — Edward M. Liddy, the embattled chief of American International Group, is expected to ask employees who received lucrative bonuses to give half the money back. — According to a person briefed on Mr. Liddy's plans, the A.I.G. chief …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Business Channel, Wonk Room, Indecision Forever and TIME.com
Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
Will Obama, McCain, Dodd Return Contributions From AIG Employees?
Will Obama, McCain, Dodd Return Contributions From AIG Employees?
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
Kate Phillips / The Caucus:
Watching the A.I.G. Hearing on the Hill
Watching the A.I.G. Hearing on the Hill
Discussion:
The Atlantic Business Channel, Runnin' Scared, DealBook, Think Progress and Democracy in America
Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Associated Press:
Washington knew AIG was preparing to pay bonuses
Washington knew AIG was preparing to pay bonuses
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post, Associated Press, Wake up America, The Smirking Chimp and Power Line
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Paying Workers More to Fix Their Own Mess
Paying Workers More to Fix Their Own Mess
Discussion:
Megan McArdle, Matthew Yglesias, Portfolio, Clusterstock, The Baseline Scenario and Prairie Weather
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 …
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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 Espo / Associated Press:
Analysis: White House, Dems backpedaling on AIG — Analysis: AIG bonuses have Democrats reeling, unable to blame Bush; Republicans go on offense — WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time since last fall's election, Democrats and the Obama administration are backpedaling furiously …
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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 …
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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:
The Hill, McClatchy Washington Bureau, New York Times, The Huffington Post, CBS News, PostPartisan, Hullabaloo, The Politico and Blog entry
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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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Andy Katz / ESPN:
Presidential pick 'em at the White House — ESPN.com takes an exclusive look at President Obama's bracket — WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama has studied Lincoln and FDR to help guide him through the early stages of his presidency. — But he is very much a modern man …
Discussion:
CBS News, The Swamp, Right Pundits, TIME.com, The Impolitic, Washington Post and The Caucus
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
The Husband Of Fox News' Greta Van Susteren Is A ‘Protector Of The Palin Brand’ — During the presidential campaign, Fox News's Greta Van Susteren had perhaps the best access to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin of any journalist. In September, she hosted a one-hour “documentary” …
Ryan Powers / Think Progress:
Bayh refuses to name anonymous members of his new Blue-Dog style coalition. — This morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) officially announced the creation of his new Blue-Dog style coalition of approximately 15 “moderate” Democratic senators.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
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Ben Katcher / The Washington Note:
Guest Post by Lawrence Wilkerson: Some Truths About Guantanamo Bay — Lawrence B. Wilkerson was chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell and is chairman of the New America Foundation/U.S.-Cuba 21st Century Policy Initiative. — There are several dimensions to the debate …
Tom Gross Mideast Media Analysis:
Exclusive: This is CNN (& BBC-UNRWA connection revealed) — * CNN Jerusalem producer's shocking public outburst against Israel (see video below) — * Revealed: UNRWA spokesman who lied about Israel's shelling of a school previously worked at the BBC with Jeremy Bowen
Alex Conant / The Politico:
The 5 biggest myths about Obama — By trade if not by choice, I have become something of a Barack Obama aficionado. POLITICO's Mike Allen wrote last week that I have “probably listened to more President Obama speeches than any human besides [White House spokesman Robert] Gibbs.”
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.