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.
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JustOneMinute, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, Buck Naked Politics, DownWithTyranny!, The Reaction, BuzzFlash.org, Whiskey Fire, Whatever Is Right, EconLog and Fox News
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John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Bonfire of the Wingnutteries: Howard Kurtz attacks Fox's slobbering promotion of the Tax Day Tea Parties — Howard Kurtz hit FOX News for their promotion of the “Tea Party” protests on CNN's Reliable Sources. He actually says the shows are now “a full-fledged Fox fight.” — Transcript:
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.
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Riehl World View, The Next Right, culturekitchen, The Daily Beast, Political Machine and Good As You
Glenn H. Reynolds / New York Post:TEA PARTIES: REAL GRASSROOTS
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The Huffington Post, American Power, The Impolitic, Firedoglake, Wizbang, The Rhetorican, GayPatriot, Power Line and TaxProf Blog
Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY AND THE RESCUE OF CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. — After foolishly setting up the hostage situation with Somali pirates as a test of Obama's mettle, the right has been really desperate to convince themselves that President Obama could not possibly have authorized the use of force …
Discussion:
BLACKFIVE
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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.
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:An Early Military Victory for Obama
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The Washington Independent, The Swamp, New York Times, Daily Kos, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Christian Science Monitor, The Moderate Voice, NO QUARTER, UPI, Wall Street Journal, Right Wing Nut House, The Hill, US News, CBS News, Political Machine, Salon, White House Watch, American Thinker, Harry's Place, Hot Air, Slate, PoliticalBase.com Blog, Reuters and Caleb's blog
Jeff Bliss / Bloomberg:U.S. Military Considers Attacks on Somali Pirates' Land Bases
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Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Reuters, FP Passport, Washington Post, RebelReports, Times of London, The Raw Story, Newshoggers.com, Think Progress and UN Dispatch
Helen Kennedy / NY Daily News:President Obama vows to battle Somali pirates
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Pajamas Media
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.
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The Huffington Post, American Prospect, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, Political Machine, ACSBlog, Law Blog and Hullabaloo
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 …
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Progressive Alaska
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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.
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CNN:
CNN Poll: Obama not making U.S. less safe — WASHINGTON (CNN) - A new poll indicates Americans don't agree with former Vice President Dick Cheney's recent assertion that President Barack Obama's actions have increased the chances of a terrorist attack against the United States.
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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.
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. …
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
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
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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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 …
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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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
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 …
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 …
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
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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