Top Items:
Ariel Leve / Times of London:
Protocol is abandoned as Michelle Obama cosies up to Queen — Protocol seems to be dispensed with when the Obamas come to town. — When the President and his wife, Michelle, attended a reception at Buckingham Palace, the First Lady and the Queen slipped their arms around each other towards the end of the evening.
Discussion:
The Swamp, BBC, Power Line, Jules Crittenden, On Deadline, Washington Post, Fox News, Political Punch, Gateway Pundit and The Corner
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Michelle Obama's Favorable Rating Eclipses Her Husband's — Both president and first lady are quite popular — USA - Favorability - Government and Politics - Presidential Ratings - The Presidency - Americas - Northern America — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans have very positive impressions …
Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
The media's giftgate — I know, my head hurts, too, reading the ‘coverage.’ (I'm waiting for some reporter to combine the gift ‘story’ with a detailed description of what Michelle Obama was wearing when she gave the Queen of England the gift.) — Aside from the fact that key facts …
Howard Chua-Eoan / Time:
The Queen and Mrs. Obama: Did the First Lady Break Protocol? — Michelle Obama with Queen Elizabeth II during an audience at Buckingham Palace — The rules are set in stone and so the eagerly watching British media sputtered when the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Michelle's recovery — The newest Gallup numbers show Michelle Obama as more popular even than her husband, with a 72% favorable rating to his 69%. — Her transformation in the public eye is one of David Axelrod's great successes, and really a remarkable thing.
Discussion:
marbury
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
The President Is ‘Keeping Score’ — Chicago politics has moved into the White House. — “Don't think we're not keeping score, brother.” That's what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Wake up America, RedState, Commentary, Don Surber, Gateway Pundit and No More Mister Nice Blog
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Mark Murray / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: DIPLOMATIC DECATHLON — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro — *** Diplomatic decathlon: In just a few hours yesterday, President Obama completed the equivalent of a diplomatic decathlon — from pledging nuclear disarmament with the Russians …
Victoria McGrane / The Politico:
Former AIG chief says bailout ‘failed’ — Former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg says the bailout has “failed” and he's proposing a 10-point alternative focused on saving, not breaking apart, the mega-insurer. — Greenberg will reveal his plan during a hearing before the House Oversight …
Discussion:
TIME.com
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Ted Barrett / CNN:
Senate rejects controversial fast-track budget procedure — WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate overwhelmingly voted Wednesday not to use a fast-track budget procedure to pass President Obama's “cap and trade” plan to combat global warming. — The vote was a victory for Republicans …
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Quinnipiac University:
Dodd Falls Way Behind As Approval Drops To Lowest Ever, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Are Angry At AIG Bonuses And Blame Dodd — Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd trails former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, a possible Republican challenger, 50 - 34 percent in the 2010 Senate race …
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Romney breaks with GOP on the issue of deregulation — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) said Wednesday that his party needs to take a fresh approach to government regulations in the wake of the economic crisis that has rattled the U.S. and world economies.
Discussion:
Anne Schroeder's Blog
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Natasha Korecki / Chicago Sun Times:
Indictment in Blagojevich case coming later today — The U.S. Attorney's office said this morning it plans to make an announcement about a “significant criminal matter” later today, which sources said is the indictment of ex-governor Rod Blagojevich. The indictment will likely be handed down within the next several hours.
Discussion:
CBS News
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Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
Cantor: Dems ‘overreacting’ to crisis — GOP Whip Eric Cantor thinks his party can retake the House in next year's midterm elections — and accused Democrats of “overreacting” to the economic crisis by embarking on a federal spending spree. — UPDATED: I cleaned up the transcript and transcribed his full quote from the tape.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, AMERICAblog News, The Plum Line, PoliticalBase.com Blog, TPMDC and Ben Smith's Blog
Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
Sen. Stevens ‘got screwed’ by Justice — The Justice Department's stunning decision to drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had GOP senators hailing the news as a vindication while government watchdogs fretted over the impact on other corruption cases against public officials.
RELATED:
Mike Mount / CNN:
North Korea is fueling rocket, U.S. military says — CNN Senior Pentagon Producer — WASHINGTON (CNN) — North Korea has begun fueling its long-range rocket, according to a senior U.S. military official. — The fueling signals that the country could be in the final stages of what North Korea …
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Yochi J. Dreazen / Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Weighs Troop Surge in Afghanistan — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is weighing whether to deploy 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are questioning an increased commitment and seeking specific measures of progress against the deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
RELATED:
The New Republic:
How to Fight a Smear — Dahlia Lithwick has a really good piece lamenting the fact that the mainstream media has failed to take on the right-wing smear campaign against Yale Law prof—and Obama's nominee to serve as the State Department's top lawyer—Harold Koh:
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Manu Raju / The Politico:
Franken puts Pawlenty in a jam — The legal fight between Al Franken and Norm Coleman is headed to the desk of Gov. Tim Pawlenty — a no-win predicament for a Minnesota Republican with his eye on a White House run in 2012. — Franken won big Tuesday when a three-judge panel allowed …
New York Times:
G-20 Pact Tries to Bridge Gaps on Stimulus and Bank Rules — LONDON — Attempting to bridge deep divides in policy and financial philosophy, the leaders of nearly two dozen of the world's largest economies agreed Thursday to a broad array of new fiscal and regulatory steps, in a desperate effort to revive the paralyzed global economy.
Discussion:
BBC, Green Inc., Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Washington Post, Guardian, TIME.com and FP Passport
Peter Baker / New York Times:
The Words Have Changed, but Have the Policies? — WASHINGTON — When President Obama briefed Congressional leaders at the White House last week on his plans to send more troops to Afghanistan, Senator Harry Reid offered some advice: Whatever you do, he told the president, don't call it a “surge.”
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
New York Times:
Earmarks of Scandal — Speaker Nancy Pelosi should listen to the wise Democrats who are pushing for an ethics inquiry into the far-too-cozy relationship between lawmakers and the PMA Group of superlobbyists. — The Justice Department is investigating whether PMA used illegal straw donors …