Top Items:
Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: Pennsylvania Republican Senate Primary — Pennsylvania Senate Primary: Toomey 51% Specter 30% — Incumbent Senator Arlen Specter trails former Congressman Pat Toomey by 21 points in an early look at Pennsylvania's 2010 Republican Primary. Fifty-one percent (51%) …
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Washington Post:
In Obama's Inner Circle, Debate Over Memos' Release Was Intense — Some Feared That a Partisan Outcry Could Obstruct Larger Agenda — As President Obama met with top advisers on the evening of April 15, he faced one of the sharpest policy divides of his young administration.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Power Line, New York Times, Townhall.com, Hot Air, Wake up America, The Daily Dish, Sister Toldjah, Taylor Marsh, The Washington Independent, Weekly Standard, Althouse, democracyarsenal.org, ProPublica, Think Progress, The Page, NY Daily News and FP Passport
Washington Post:
Obama Rejects Truth Panel — Commission Would Have Investigated Abuses in Terrorism Fight — President Obama rebuffed calls for a commission to investigate alleged abuses under the Bush administration in fighting terrorism, telling congressional leaders at a White House meeting yesterday …
Rasmussen Reports:
58% Say Release of CIA Memos Endangers National Security
58% Say Release of CIA Memos Endangers National Security
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications, Washington Post, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Hot Air and PrairiePundit
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Key Dem Senator Likely To Vote Against Top Obama Legal Nominee — Uh oh. This could signal real trouble for a key Obama nominee under assault by the right: Office of Legal Counsel chief Dawn Johnsen, a fierce Bush critic who would be at the center of the war over whether Obama …
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Ben Smith's Blog, The Anonymous Liberal and DownWithTyranny!
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Democratic complicity and what “politicizing justice” really means — (updated below) — Bush-defending opponents of investigations and prosecutions think they've discovered a trump card: the claim that Democratic leaders such as Nancy Pelosi, Jay Rockefeller and Jane Harman were briefed …
Jonathan Allen / CQ Politics:
Blocked Nomination Shows Weakness of Anti-Abortion Groups — For the first time, anti-abortion activists are getting traction in an effort to block one of President Obama's nominees. — But the delay in Senate consideration of Dawn Johnsen to head the Justice Department's Office …
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
White House Worried About Johnsen Nomination — Dawn Johnsen's nomination to head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel is in trouble, White House officials said today. Vote counters believe that she is several votes shy of the 60 needed to avert a filibuster.
Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Gingrich vs. Gore in global warming showdown — It's Gingrich vs. Gore at Friday's global warming hearing. — The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee has added former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) to the roster of witnesses for its hearing on a climate bill Friday.
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obtained: Cheney's Request Form Detailing The Two CIA Torture Docs He Wants — I've just obtained from the National Archives the actual request form that Dick Cheney submitted for CIA documents he claims will prove that torture worked. — Cheney requested all of two CIA documents, a total of 21 pages.
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Josh Gerstein / Josh Gerstein's Blog:
Hot doc: Cheney's request to declassify intel from ‘torture’
Hot doc: Cheney's request to declassify intel from ‘torture’
Discussion:
The Page
Elizabeth Cheney / The Huffington Post:
Liz Cheney Defends Father's Torture Legacy (VIDEO) [UPDATED]
Liz Cheney Defends Father's Torture Legacy (VIDEO) [UPDATED]
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Reclaiming America's Soul — “Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.” So declared President Obama, after his commendable decision to release the legal memos that his predecessor used to justify torture. Some people in the political and media establishments have echoed his position.
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Top of the Ticket, Guardian, neo-neocon, Economist's View, normblog, LewRockwell.com Blog and Corrente
Washington Post:
Pakistani Taliban Pull Back to Swat Stronghold — Taliban extremist forces, facing threats of an army assault and a flurry of criticism from Pakistani officials, began withdrawing Friday from a district in northwest Pakistan they had occupied for the past week.
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Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
Taliban Advance, Pakistan's Wavering Worry Obama Team
Taliban Advance, Pakistan's Wavering Worry Obama Team
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Associated Press, BBC, D-Day, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Independent
Mark Sherman / News Talk Radio 77 WABC-AM:
Obama legal team wants to limit defendants' rights — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to overrule a 23 year-old decision that stopped police from initiating questions unless a defendant's lawyer is present, the latest stance that has disappointed civil rights and civil liberties groups.
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
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Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
Obama DOJ Seeks to Restrict Defendant's Right to Lawyer During Questioning
Obama DOJ Seeks to Restrict Defendant's Right to Lawyer During Questioning
Discussion:
The Sideshow
John Cook / Gawker:
Ambushing Bill O'Reilly's Ambusher — Gawker has some questions for Jesse B. Watters, the Fox News producer that Bill O'Reilly likes to send out to ambush his enemies. So we're outside his building in Long Island. Right now. (Hi, Jesse!) — This apartment building is the last known address …
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Schmidt, Plouffe on long-shot McCain — NEWARK, Del. - The men who ran the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain appeared together on stage for the first time Thursday at the University of Delaware to complete a pair of tasks: To articulate their (remarkably similar) …
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Bob Von Sternberg / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Minnesotans won't know second Senator until at least June — The state Supreme Court set the schedule today for the legal showdown between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman over the Senate seat that has been vacant since January. — Minnesotans won't know who will be their second U.S. Senator until at least June.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Palin, Fundraising Firm Part Ways — Campaign Solutions, a Republican consulting firm advising Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee, has parted ways with the former Republican vice presidential nominee. — The group had been working with the Palin operation to raise money …
Discussion:
The Swamp, The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, Political Machine and Conservatives4Palin.com
John Leo / Wall Street Journal:
A Limited Love of Liberty — A former ACLU board member says that the organization has lost its way. — When the American Civil Liberties Union comes under attack, the salvos are often launched from the right. The ACLU, after all, is as enthusiastic about protecting the interests of feminists …
www.washingtonexaminer.com:
Chris Matthews changes book title Jon Stewart mocked — Could the interview Chris Matthews called “the worst he's ever had” have something to do with his decision to change the title of his most recent book before its paperback edition is released? — In 2007, the “Hardball” host went on …
USA Today:
Poll: Public thinks highly of Obama — WASHINGTON — President Obama's opening months in the Oval Office have fortified his standing with the American public, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, giving him political capital for battles ahead. — As his 100th day as president approaches next Wednesday …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Politico, QandO, The Note, The Page, Democracy in America and Real Clear Politics
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
BANANA REPUBLICS.... To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, Republicans keep using this phrase, but I don't think it means what they think it means. — On Tuesday, Karl Rove argued on Fox News that accountability for Bush administration officials who broke the law would make United States …
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Clinton Counters Israeli Stance on Palestinians and Iran — Progress on establishing a Palestinian state must go “hand-in-hand” with efforts to stem Iranian influence in the Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday, implicitly rejecting the emerging position of the new Israeli government.
Danny Hakim / New York Times:
Ethics Panel Asked to Look Into Kennedy Leaks — ALBANY — The state's top ethics panel is reviewing a request from three government watchdog groups to investigate the Paterson administration's leaks of confidential information provided by Caroline Kennedy when she was seeking appointment to the United States Senate.
Discussion:
The Daily Politics, Michael Calderone's Blog, New York Magazine, TPMMuckraker, Gothamist and Politicker NY