Top Items:
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Reid: Roberts 'didn't tell us the truth' — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that John Roberts misled the Senate during his confirmation hearings by pretending to be a moderate - and that the United States is now “stuck” with him as chief justice.
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Manu Raju / The Politico:
Reid to liberals: Back off — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that liberal groups targeting moderate Democrats with ads should back off, saying pressure from the left wing of his party won't be helpful to enacting legislation. — “I think it's very unwise and not helpful,” Reid said Friday morning.
Discussion:
Whiskey Fire, Salon, The Note, Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh, Think Progress and Pennsylvania Ave.
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Pro-Life Democrat Harry Reid Says He Could Support Abortion Provision in Health-Care Bill — At a breakfast meeting with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor this morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that he could vote for a health care bill that included insurance coverage for abortion.
Discussion:
Hot Air
The Huffington Post:
Senators Get Nasty: “You're Good” ... “Your Wife Said The Same Thing” (VIDEO) — Marking up budget legislation can be a brutal affair, often beginning early and lasting long into the night. — But buried within the hours of debate in the Senate on Thursday is an exchange you'd be more likely …
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Chris Good / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Grassley: ‘Your Wife Said the Same Thing’ — Priceless. Chuck Grassley gets Kent Conrad good at Thursday's Senate Budget Committee markup. … Courtesy of the C-SPAN Video Library.
Ali Frick / Think Progress:
Touting Her Currency Conspiracy, Bachmann Insists: ‘This Is Not Michele Bachmann Being A Kook’ — Earlier this week, right-wing fanatic Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) started peddling false conspiracy theories that the world was moving toward a unified global currency — and that the U.S. might join …
Discussion:
Dump Michele Bachmann
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Bachmann and Beck Double-Down on Currency Conspiracy Theory — Michele Bachmann was recently on Glenn Beck's radio show, so that two of the right-wing's most prominent nutters could talk, inaccurately, about currency issues: … Here, for once, Beck is on the money.
Discussion:
Alas, a blog
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Bachmann Blasts Obama's “Economic Marxism,” Calls For “Orderly Revolution” To Save Freedom — Wow. Just plain wow. This past Wednesday, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appeared on Sean Hannity's radio show, and sharply reiterated her calls for revolution in America, warning against the imminent dangers of tyranny under Barack Obama:
New York Times:
Obama Sets New Afghan Strategy — WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to further bolster American forces in Afghanistan and for the first time set benchmarks for progress in fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban there and in Pakistan, officials said Thursday. — In imposing conditions …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Matthew Yglesias, The Daily Dish, The Politico, New York Times, The Washington Independent, Commentary, ATTACKERMAN, Wonk Room, Newshoggers.com, Hot Air, Financial Times, The Huffington Post, Guardian, Political Punch, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, UN Dispatch, Associated Press, The Swamp, BBC, Outside The Beltway and CBS News
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Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:
White House Won't Rule Out Troops for Pakistan War
White House Won't Rule Out Troops for Pakistan War
Discussion:
The New Republic, BLACKFIVE, The Atlanticist, ATTACKERMAN and The Washington Independent
New York Times:
Obama Unveils Afghan Plan to Add Troops and Set Goals
Obama Unveils Afghan Plan to Add Troops and Set Goals
Discussion:
Swampland, The Huffington Post, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, George's Bottom Line, The Opinionator, FP Passport, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly, Mudville Gazette, Matthew Yglesias, MoJo Blog Posts, Buck Naked Politics, Democracy in America, American Power, Booman Tribune, The Daily Dish and USA Today
Irene Jay Liu / Capitol Confidential:
Sundwall endorses Murphy — Libertarian congressional candidate Eric Sundwall has endorsed Democrat Scott Murphy. — In a letter to supporters posted on his campaign website, Sundwall writes, in part: — Faced with the prospect of spending much of the rest of campaign on the witness stand …
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Jamison Foser / Media Matters:
Gibbs ridicules media's teleprompter obsession — Washington Post reporter Lois Romano interviews White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:
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Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
Conservatives embrace the Snuggie — “Never let it be said that conservatives and libertarians have no sense of humor,” says Americans for Tax Reform's Derek Hunter, who's been doing his best to photograph fellow conservatives sporting the trend of the moment: the Snuggie.
Michael Yon:
Obama on Afghanistan: Disappointing — 27 March 2009 — President Obama has just spoken on AfPak. I closed my eyes and listened closely to his words, coming via the BBC from the other side of the world. — The President's words were disappointing. He talked about our goal to reach …
Discussion:
TigerHawk
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Market Mystique — On Monday, Lawrence Summers, the head of the National Economic Council, responded to criticisms of the Obama administration's plan to subsidize private purchases of toxic assets. “I don't know of any economist,” he declared, “who doesn't believe that better functioning capital markets …
Jason Noble / Kansas City Star:
Missouri Highway Patrol retracts controversial report on militia activity — The Missouri Highway Patrol this week retracted a controversial report on militia activity and will change how such reports are reviewed before being distributed to law enforcement agencies.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
GOP Leadership Rivals Throw Mike Pence Under the Bus — I've seen a lot of people link to this Glenn Thrush Politico item, but I have a slightly different take on it: … To me the salient point here is that Pence's spokesman is almost certainly telling the truth here …
New York Times:
As New Lawyer, Senator Was Active in Tobacco's Defense — The Philip Morris Company did not like to talk about what went on inside its lab in Cologne, Germany, where researchers secretly conducted experiments exploring the effects of cigarette smoking. — So when the Justice Department tried …
John Cook / Gawker:
Sarah Palin Adviser's Secret Scientology Plot to Take Over Washington — John Coale, currently advising Sarah Palin on running for president in 2012, is a Scientologist. And according to a memo obtained by Gawker, Coale once plotted to use friendly politicians to advance the power-hungry cult's agenda.
Michael J. Totten:
Baghdad in Fragments — Many third world cities look better at night than during the day. Darkness hides shabbiness. You have to imagine what the city actually looks like. If you live in a first world city yourself, you might fill in the blanks with what you're familiar with.
Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
BREAKING: UPS Announces It Will Stop Advertising On Bill O'Reilly's Show — In response to our Stop Supporting The O'Reilly Harassment Machine campaign, UPS told us yesterday that it was investigating whether to continue supporting O'Reilly's show. “We are sensitive to the type …
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
A Target-Rich Environment — Karl Rove made a habit of employing this strategy in the salad days of the Bush revolution: draw out the more voluble, more controversial, more trigger-happy Democratic voices and use them reductively, cutting off more legitimate debate with more legitimate Democrats.
Byron York / www.washingtonexaminer.com:
On Spending and the Deficit, McCain Was Right — Barack Obama used to get very upset about federal budget deficits. Denouncing an “orgy of spending and enormous deficits,” he turned to John McCain during their presidential debates last fall and said, “We have had, over the last eight years …
Discussion:
Rasmussen Reports, New York Post, Power Line, Conservatives4Palin.com, Reason and AmSpecBlog
Lionel / The Huffington Post:
God Bless Bill Maher — And now, the award for best critical thinking by a television news commentator. The nominees are (Drumroll): Bill Maher . . . and that's the only nominee. He wins. — I watched Mr. Maher this weekend (March 20) on HBO's “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org
Noam Cohen / New York Times:
When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking — The rapper 50 Cent is among the legion of stars who have recently embraced Twitter to reach fans who crave near-continuous access to their lives and thoughts. On March 1, he shared this insight with the more than 200,000 people who follow him …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Why Not Arbitrary Limits on Executive Pay? — Josh Marshall, in the course of making rather a different point, says: … Some people, as I understand it, just don't think inequality is a problem. But for the egalitarians among us, I've never really understood the view that obscene executive compensation …
Associated Press:
Jury Finds Kan. Doctor Not Guilty in Abortion Case — WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — One of the nation's few late-term abortion providers was acquitted Friday of misdemeanor charges stemming from procedures he performed, but moments after the verdict was announced the state's medical board announced …