Top Items:
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Obama White House bars press from press award ceremony — We are not making this up: — Barack Obama was elected commander in chief promising to run the most transparent presidential administration in American history. — This achievement and the overall promise of his historic administration caused …
Discussion:
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog, Little Green Footballs, Dean's World, Atlas Shrugs and Hot Air
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TMZ.com:
Special Olympics Champ to Barack: Bring it On! — A bowling phenom in the Special Olympics has just challenged Prez Barack Obama to a White House roll-off ... and he'll probably kick Barack's butt. — Kolan McConiughey, a Special Olympics competitor who has bowled three perfect 300 games …
Alessandra Stanley / New York Times:
Seeking Everyman, Obama Does Leno — President Obama didn't look burdened by his office on “The Tonight Show” on Thursday; he seemed bemused. — As he described the problems of American International Group and the credit crisis to Jay Leno, Mr. Obama behaved less like a beleaguered president …
Michelle Malkin:
Why can't Obama tell a good joke? — Why are the president's “jokes” (scripted or not) so lame? — The answer is a three-letter-word (or is that four letters, Joe?): E-G-O. — Barack Obama is constitutionally incapable of self-deprecation, because self-deprecation requires sincere humility.
ABCNEWS:
Obama Apologizes for Calling His Bad Bowling ‘Like the Special Olympics’ — President Apologizes Before Wisecrack Even Airs — His controversial joke hadn't even aired yet when President Obama got on the phone from Air Force One Thursday night to apologize for comparing his notoriously bad bowling skills to the Special Olympics.
Discussion:
Townhall.com, Los Angeles Times, Daily Kos, NewsBusters.org, Washington Monthly, Salon and The Caucus
Toby Harnden / Toby Harnden's blog listings:Top 10 gaffes by Barack Obama and Joe Biden
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
Michael Saul / NY Daily News:Barack's sorry for ‘insensitive’ Special Olympics dig
Discussion:
Mad Kane's Political Madness
Associated Press:Obama apologizes for Special Olympics gaffe
Discussion:
Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Shakesville, MSNBC, Entertainment Weekly's … and Newsweek Blogs
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:Every word of the Obama-Leno summit, including the Special Olympics ‘joke’
Discussion:
The Swamp
Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
THIS FEED IS CLOSED TO THE PRESS. — Huh, I wonder why Jake Tapper, press access warrior, has blocked me from following his Twitter feed. — Time for a blogger ethics panel? — UPDATE: Tapper has also blocked Talking Points Memo. — Bonus Tapper: His exchange with White House Press …
Discussion:
Gawker
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
TAPPER, TWITTER, AND ONLINE ETIQUETTE.... It was bound to be of interest to the political world anyway, but ABC News' Jake Tapper helped get the ball rolling on the Special Olympics/Obama story last night. He was first out of the gate with a news item and a report on the president's comment on his Twitter feed.
Discussion:
Greg's Opinion
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
NOT A MENTALITY BUT A DISEASE — Everything you need to know about the DC journo establishment, from ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper's Twitter feed: … Late Update: Tapper gets his revenge: He has “blocked” me from following him on Twitter. — Later Update: Seems to be a trend.
Washington Post:
GOP Pressed on Health Care — House Democrats Set September Deadline for Compromise — House Democrats, in consultation with the White House, will give Republican lawmakers until September to reach a compromise on President Obama's signature health-care initiative — otherwise …
Discussion:
Reuters, Wall Street Journal, D-Day, Brian Beutler, The Note, But As For Me, Los Angeles Times, Blog entry and AmSpecBlog
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Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
U.S. Federal Deficit Soars Past Previous Estimates — Deteriorating economic conditions will cause the federal deficit to soar past $1.8 trillion this year and leave the nation wallowing in a sea of red ink far deeper than the White House had previously estimated, congressional budget analysts said today.
David Rogers / The Politico:
Budget: Red ink far as the eye can see — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — President Barack Obama's new budget will produce a string of annual deficits averaging in excess of $926 billion over the next 10 years and dramatically add to the national debt …
Michael Lewis / Bloomberg:
Mass Hysteria Over AIG Obscures Simple Truths: Michael Lewis — Last September the U.S. government began to dole out the first of $173 billion to American International Group. A big chunk of it passed right through to banks that had bought insurance from AIG against mortgage and corporate defaults …
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Ali Akbar Dareini / Associated Press:
Iran plays down new Obama video message — TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran played down President Barack Obama's new video message to the Iranian people on Friday, saying it welcomed the overtures but warned that decades of mistrust can't easily be erased. — Obama released the video to coincide …
Discussion:
The New Republic, RealClearWorld, Booman Tribune, Hullabaloo, Think Progress, TIME.com and The Cable
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Alan Cowell / New York Times:
Obama and Israeli Leader Make Taped Appeals to Iran — Invoking art, history and “the common humanity that binds us,” President Obama offered a “new day” in America's relationship with Iran, using a videotaped message released on the Internet to make an unusual appeal directly to Iranians for a shift away from decades of confrontation.
Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:
Palin rejects over 30% of stimulus money — 31 PERCENT: She says state can't commit to continuation. — JUNEAU — Gov. Sarah Palin is refusing to accept over 30 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska, including dollars for schools, energy assistance and social services.
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:
AIG — Preliminary thoughts on the tax bill: — 1. It's not the way you should make policy — it's clumsy, and it will punish some innocent parties while letting the most guilty off scot-free — 2. But — there wasn't much alternative at this point. And for that I blame the Obama people.
Henry Blodget / Clusterstock:
90% Tax? Now We Really ARE Screwed — The frantic passage of the Populist Rage Tax was a new low in the US government's response to this crisis. It shows just how likely we are to doom ourselves to a decade or more of misery—by choking our markets, closing our borders …
RELATED:
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:“Saving” Banks — Henry Blodget, going to battle on behalf …
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Mary Ann Akers / The Sleuth:
Joe the Plumber Wants to Make Love to Washington — The Republican's Working Man hero Joe the Plumber could barely contain himself last night before a crowd of adoring, media-bashing conservatives. — “God, all this love and everything in the room - I'm horny,” declared Joe, whose real name is Samuel Wurzelbacher.
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
After Years Of Lies, WSJ Concedes That Employee Free Choice Act 'Doesn't Remove The Secret-Ballot Option' — In a stunning reversal, the anti-labor Wall Street Journal editorial page admitted today that one of the key messages in Big Business's fight against the Employee Free Choice Act is false.
RELATED:
Telegraph:
Iran responds to Barack Obama's video appeal with nuclear pledge — US President Barack Obama's appeal for a ‘new beginning’ with Iran has been met by a pledge to turn on the country's nuclear power plant this year. — Mr Obama sent Iran an unprecedented videotaped message offering …
James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:
Newspaper cuts open door to more political trickery — Political consultants aren't exactly rubbing their hands together and snickering. But as the hired guns look over a landscape of closing newspapers and laid-off investigative reporters, they sense an opening that leaves them both excited and queasy.
Discussion:
Democracy in America
Henry C. Jackson / Associated Press:
Burris seeks to establish legal fund — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - Roland Burris has asked the Senate's ethics committee for permission to raise money for a legal expense fund in connection with his appointment to the Senate by ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
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