Top Items:
Drudge Report:
CHENEY: — “One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort.
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The Politico:
Cheney hits Obama on handshake — Former Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity that President Obama's handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez “was not helpful” and could lead “foes” of the U.S. to “think they're dealing with a weak president.”
New York Times:
Obama Urges C.I.A. Not to Be Discouraged by Memos — WASHINGTON — Pressure mounted on President Obama on Monday for more thorough investigation into harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects under the Bush administration, even as he tried to reassure the Central Intelligence Agency …
The Politico:
Cheney v. Obama on torture — Former Vice President Cheney last month formally asked the Central Intelligence Agency to de-classify top secret documents he believes show harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding helped prevent terrorist attacks against U.S. targets, according to a source familiar with the effort.
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Top of the Ticket, Josh Gerstein's Blog, The Swamp, RedState and The Page
Associated Press:
SPIN METER: Saving federal money the easy way — SPIN METER: Obama's latest budget-tightening effort hardly makes a dime's worth of difference — WASHINGTON (AP) — Cut a latte or two out of your annual budget and you've just done as much belt-tightening as President Barack Obama asked of his Cabinet on Monday.
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Gibbs: Obama's tiny, tiny budget cut is big money where I'm from
Gibbs: Obama's tiny, tiny budget cut is big money where I'm from
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications
Satyam Khanna / Think Progress:
History Professor Gingrich Falsely Claims U.S. Presidents Don't ‘Smile And Greet’ Russian Leaders — Yesterday, President Obama shook hands and briefly chatted with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, explaining in a press conference afterwards that he was trying to move towards a “more constructive” …
Discussion:
TPMDC, Salem-News.com, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Washington Monthly and Daily Kos TV (beta)
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Fox News:
Miss California Sparks Furor With Gay Marriage Comments on Miss USA Telecast — Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton was crowned Miss USA on Sunday, but the big story to come out of the normally politics-free telecast was Miss California's comments regarding gay marriage.
Discussion:
FOX Forum, Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit, Newsday, Power Line, About.com Conservative …, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and American Power
RELATED:
Access Hollywood:
Miss California: My Sister Is A Gay Rights Activist — Pageants,LGBT,Billy Bush,Celebrities — Her opinions on same-sex marriage may have cost Miss California the Miss USA crown on Sunday night - but in an interview with Billy Bush for “The Billy Bush Show” and Access Hollywood on Monday morning …
Discussion:
Christian Science Monitor, ABCNEWS, Perez Hilton, pandagon.net, La Figa and Townhall.com
New York Times:
Lawmaker Is Said to Have Agreed to Aid Lobbyists — WASHINGTON — One of the leading House Democrats on intelligence matters was overheard on telephone calls intercepted by the National Security Agency agreeing to seek lenient treatment from the Bush administration for two pro-Israel lobbyists …
Discussion:
Philly.com
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Jeff Stein / static.cqpolitics.com:
Sources: Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Promising to Intervene for AIPAC — Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage …
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker, Swampland, The Cable, CREW, Informed Comment, PoliGazette, Matthew Yglesias, Mondoweiss, DownWithTyranny!, David Rothkopf, QandO and Truthdig
Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Second Amendment extended — The Constitution's protection of an individual right to have guns for personal use restricts the powers of state and local government as much as it does those of the federal government, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled Monday. The opinion by the three-judge panel can be found here.
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Ilya Shapiro / Cato @ Liberty:
Yes, California, There Is an Individual Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Yes, California, There Is an Individual Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Discussion:
Townhall.com
Frank Jordans / Associated Press:
Iran's president slams Israel, sparks Western walkout, clown protest at UN conference — GENEVA (AP) — Dozens of Western diplomats walked out of a U.N. conference and a pair of rainbow-wigged protesters threw clown noses at Iran's president Monday when the hard-line leader called Israel the “most cruel and repressive racist regime.”
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Meghan McCain / Blogs and Stories:
Karl Rove, Twitter Creep — Blogs and Stories — Meghan McCain says we need to take back Twitter from the creepy people—like Karl Rove, “America's Toughest Sheriff,” and the other undesirables who now follow her every Tweet. — Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That's creepy.
Washington Post:
Sources: Chrysler Financial Refused Government Loan Over Limits on Executive Pay — Top officials at Chrysler Financial turned away a $750 million government loan because executives didn't want to abide by new federal limits on pay, sources familiar with the matter say.
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obama Begins Mocking GOP's National Security Attacks — An interesting, if subtle, shift in Obama's tone: He's taken to openly mocking GOP criticism of his willingness to diplomatically engage hostile foreign leaders. — You saw the new tone on display over the weekend …
Discussion:
The White House, Political Punch, Top of the Ticket, CNN, And So it Goes in Shreveport and PoliGazette
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Big Gov't. Still Viewed as Greater Threat Than Big Business — Democrats' views have changed, now view big business as greater threat — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup's recent update of its long-standing trend question on whether big business, big labor, or big government will be the biggest threat …
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Ron Howard / The Huffington Post:
Angels & Demons: It's A Thriller, Not A Crusade — William Donohue of the Catholic League is on a mission. Whether it is a “mission from God,” as the Blues Brothers would say, only God knows, but the goal of his mission is clear: to paint me and the movie I directed, Angels & Demons, as anti-Catholic.
Discussion:
Christianity Today
Rasmussen Reports:
51% View Tea Parties Favorably, Political Class Strongly Disagrees — Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans have a favorable view of the “tea parties” held nationwide last week, including 32% who say their view of the events is Very favorable. — Thirty-three percent (33%) …
Bloomberg:
Treasury Says ‘No Basis’ to Report on Bank Testing — A U.S. Treasury spokesman said there's no basis to a blog posting that buffeted financial stocks by saying that most of the nation's largest banks are insolvent. — Andrew Williams, a Treasury spokesman, dismissed the report from Hal Turner …
Chris Steller / Minnesota Independent:
Coleman appeals to state high court — Norm Coleman has kept his word and filed a notice of petition to appeal his election-contest loss today to the Minnesota Supreme Court (pdfs available here). The former U.S. senator's petition will ask the state's high court to find fault …
Lindsey Ellerson / Political Punch:
President Beefcake? D.C. magazine to feature shirtless Obama on cover — ABC News' Karen Travers and Jake Tapper report: — In the throes of an economic crisis and two wars, does the nation want more headlines about a “Pec-tacular” “Buff Bam”? — President Obama appears shirtless …
Discussion:
Right Pundits
The U.S. Department of Labor:
FAQs For Employees About COBRA Continuation Health Coverage — Printer Friendly Version Subscribe To This Page — Q1: What is COBRA continuation health coverage? — Congress passed the landmark Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) health benefit provisions in 1986.
Ali Frick / Think Progress:
Gibbs confirms that torture memo authors are ‘not being held accountable.’ — Yesterday, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said that when it came to the Bush administration's illegal torture program, “those who devised the policies...should not be prosecuted.”