Top Items:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Tea Parties Forever — This is a column about Republicans — and I'm not sure I should even be writing it. — Today's G.O.P. is, after all, very much a minority party. It retains some limited ability to obstruct the Democrats, but has no ability to make or even significantly shape policy.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, BuzzFlash.org, Buck Naked Politics, DownWithTyranny!, The Reaction, Whiskey Fire, Whatever Is Right, EconLog and Fox News
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Meghan McCain / Blogs and Stories:
Memo to the GOP: Go Gay — Blogs and Stories — Republican resistance to gay marriage goes against conservative values—and our own self-interest. — This week, I will be speaking at the Log Cabin Republicans' national convention in support of the gay community and its role in the future of the Republican Party.
Discussion:
Riehl World View, The Next Right, culturekitchen, The Daily Beast, Political Machine and Good As You
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Bonfire of the Wingnutteries: Howard Kurtz attacks Fox's slobbering …
Bonfire of the Wingnutteries: Howard Kurtz attacks Fox's slobbering …
Glenn H. Reynolds / New York Post:
TEA PARTIES: REAL GRASSROOTS
TEA PARTIES: REAL GRASSROOTS
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, American Power, The Impolitic, Firedoglake, Wizbang, The Rhetorican, GayPatriot, Power Line and TaxProf Blog
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
A Reticent Justice Opens Up to a Group of Students — Justice Clarence Thomas has not asked a question from the Supreme Court bench since Feb. 22, 2006. He speaks only to announce his majority opinions, reading summaries in a gruff monotone. Glimpses of Justice Thomas in less formal settings are rare.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, American Prospect, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, Political Machine, ACSBlog, Law Blog and Hullabaloo
Felix Gillette / New York Observer:
MSNBC Developing a Weekend Politics Show for NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd — Get ready for more of the “Goateed Guru.” — According to multiple network sources, MSNBC is in the process of developing a weekend political show to be moderated by Chuck Todd …
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Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
An Early Military Victory for Obama
An Early Military Victory for Obama
Discussion:
The Washington Independent, The Swamp, New York Times, Daily Kos, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Christian Science Monitor, UPI, NO QUARTER, Wall Street Journal, Right Wing Nut House, The Hill, US News, CBS News, Political Machine, Salon, White House Watch, American Thinker, Harry's Place, Slate, Hot Air, Caleb's blog, Reuters, PoliticalBase.com Blog, Brendan Nyhan and Pajamas Media
Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY AND THE RESCUE OF CAPTAIN PHILLIPS.
PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY AND THE RESCUE OF CAPTAIN PHILLIPS.
Discussion:
BLACKFIVE
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
White House Announces Easing of Cuba Restrictions — WASHINGTON — The White House announced on Monday that it is abandoning longstanding restrictions on family travel, remittances and gifts to Cuba, and is also taking steps to open up telecommunications with the island …
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Max Blumenthal / Blogs and Stories:
Palin's New Disaster — Blogs and Stories — The governor is reeling after nominating for attorney general a man who allegedly defended the right of men to rape their wives. Now, Max Blumenthal reports, she may dump him to save herself. — While priming her political machine …
Discussion:
Progressive Alaska
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Parsing the Polls: Dick Cheney, Joe Biden and America's Safety — Expect new poll numbers out of CNN this afternoon to draw a huge amount of attention. — Why? — Because they provide strong empirical evidence that suggests most Americans do not agree with former vice president Dick Cheney's contention …
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Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:
Rush & Me, Today — I'm not listening. I have two pressing deadlines. But I keep getting a lot of email about it. For instance: Jonah, Apparently Rush is pointing out the absurdity in your praising Obama and not praising those who were directly responsible for the rescue by being absurd.
Jeff Bliss / Bloomberg:
U.S. Military Considers Attacks on Somali Pirates' Land Bases — The U.S. military is considering attacks on pirate bases on land and aid for the Somali people to help stem ship hijackings off Africa's east coast, defense officials said. — The military also is drawing up proposals to aid …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Washington Post, Reuters, FP Passport, RebelReports, Times of London, The Raw Story, Newshoggers.com and Think Progress
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Helen Kennedy / NY Daily News:
President Obama vows to battle Somali pirates
President Obama vows to battle Somali pirates
Discussion:
Pajamas Media
Natasha Korecki / Chicago Sun Times:
The Jackson $5 million? — The Sun-Times has learned that 2 members of Chicago's Indian community sent word to Blagojevich's camp that Jesse Jackson Jr. would raise $5 million in exchange for Obama's Senate seat — Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's camp was told last year that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. …
Hugh Hewit / www.washingtonexaminer.com:
Trillions for pork but nothing for the Raptors? — Has the world really changed that much since 1990? — When the Air Force first announced its planned procurement of the F-22 Raptors, the intended acquisition was for 750 of the fighters. The Soviet Union was the enemy then, and soon thereafter the Soviet Union fell apart.
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Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:
The latest NY 20 tally: Murphy by 25 — According to the latest official count this morning in the special election, Democrat Scott Murphy holds a 25-vote lead over Republican Jim Tedisco in New York's 20th District. — The 10:30 a.m. tally shows Murphy with 77,907 votes and Tedisco with 77,882 votes.
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Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:
The battle over the absentee ballots
The battle over the absentee ballots
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
Ari Fleischer / Wall Street Journal:
Everyone Should Pay Income Taxes — It's bad for our democracy to exempt half the country. — If you thought Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme was bad, wait until you hear about the inverted pyramid scheme the federal government is working on. While Mr. Madoff preyed on people who trusted …
LATimes / L.A. Now:
Phil Spector guilty in Lana Clarkson's death — Phil Spector has been convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of actress Lana Clarkson six years ago. An L.A. Superior Court jury reached its decision against the legendary music producer after nine days of deliberations.
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
White House Mum On Legislation That Would Nix Bush “State Secrets Privilege” — The White House is declining to say whether the Obama administration will support legislation introduced by Senate Democrats that would roll back the use of the “state secrets privilege,” one of Bush's most controversial legal tools.
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The Huffington Post:
Fox's Cavuto Claims Network Covered Protests Before Network Was Founded — Fox News' Neil Cavuto has gone on the defensive lately, defending his network's coverage of the coming political fringe tax day Renaissance Faires known as Tea Parties. Naturally, no one in the wide world …
Communications / OpenSecrets.org:
OpenSecrets.org Goes OpenData — Award-winning website from the Center for Responsive Politics now provides 20 years of downloadable money-in-politics data—for free — WASHINGTON — Politicians, prepare yourselves. Lobbyists, look out. Today the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics …
Discussion:
Sunlight Foundation
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
What Would a “Bipartisan” Obama Look Like? (Hint: A Lot Like the One We're Seeing) — Over at RealClarPolitics, Jay Cost takes Obama to task for failing to live up to his promises of bipartisanship. Cost writes: … What Cost accuses Obama of is acting in bad faith — he promised “bipartisanship” and hasn't delivered.
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Joe Klein / Swampland:
Obama and the Pirates — It's better to be lucky than good. It's even better to be lucky and good. One can easily imagine all the different ways the rescue of Captain Phillips might have been screwed up—and the political firestorm that would have resulted.
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Americans Most Confident in Obama on Economy — Democratic leaders in Congress fare better than Republican leaders — USA - Congress - Government and Politics - Presidential Ratings - The Presidency - Americas - Northern America — PRINCETON, NJ — Over two-thirds of Americans …
Steve Coll / New Yorker:
NO NUKES — There is no madness like nuclear madness. That was the conceit of the Cold War's greatest comedy, “Dr. Strangelove,” and it was the conceit of North Korea's recent rocket-launch extravaganza. By testing a missile that might one day be able to reach Alaska …
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Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:
Re: Congratulating Obama — Most of the email in response to my earlier post has been positive. Then there are a few like this: Dear Jonah, Below is the DNC/MSM/Hollywood/Academia 8 year, massive, coordinated, and unrelenting war room strategy against Pres Bush and the Republicans: Create doubt.