Top Items:
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Justices Gone Wild — Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings won't happen for over a month, but it's easy to predict how they will go. In a series of preening, long-winded questions, the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will attempt to divine Sotomayor's position on a variety …
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Manu Raju / The Politico:
Right demands tougher fight — Conservatives are demanding that Senate Republicans take a harder line on Sonia Sotomayor, with new signs of tension between the Hill GOP and elements of the Republican base over the direction the opposition should move in the Supreme Court fight.
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Dems pressure Obama on Israel — As President Barack Obama prepares to depart for his first trip to the Arab world, the administration's escalating pressure on Israel to freeze all growth of its settlements on Palestinian land has begun to stir concern among Israel's numerous allies in both parties on Capitol Hill.
Discussion:
CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, Matthew Yglesias, Commentary, TPMCafe, Political Punch and Weasel Zippers
Charles Savage / The Caucus:
Conservatives Ask Republican Senators to Filibuster on Sotomayor — Several years ago, when Senate Democrats were using filibusters to block confirmation votes on several of President George W. Bush's appeals court nominees, some conservatives decried the tactic as unconstitutional.
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Leader Of Conservative Opposition To Sotomayor Was Nailed For Hacking …
Leader Of Conservative Opposition To Sotomayor Was Nailed For Hacking …
Discussion:
Think Progress
ABCNEWS:
Recruiter Shooting Suspect Under FBI Investigation — Man Accused of Killing One Recruiter, Wounding Another, Spent Time in Yemen — The suspect arrested in the fatal shooting of one soldier and the critical injury of another at a Little Rock, Ark., Army recruiting booth today …
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William M. Welch / USA Today:
Recruiter shot dead outside Army office — A Muslim convert who said he was opposed to the U.S. military shot two soldiers outside an Arkansas recruiting station, killing one, police said Monday. — “This individual appears to have been upset with the military, the Army in particular …
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
O'Reilly Responds To The Tiller Murder: ‘No Backpedaling Here...Every Single Thing We Said About Tiller Was True’ — After yesterday's brutal shooting of George Tiller, a Kansas doctor who administered abortions, many anti-choice groups quickly condemned the murder and attempted to separate themselves from the actions of the killer.
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William Saletan / Slate:
Is it wrong to murder an abortionist?
Is it wrong to murder an abortionist?
Discussion:
Firedoglake, NewsBusters.org, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Julian Sanchez, Shakesville, Feministe, ALL, RHRealityCheck.org and Reason
Frank Schaeffer / The Huffington Post:
How I (and Other “Pro-Life” Leaders) Contributed to Dr. Tiller's Murder
How I (and Other “Pro-Life” Leaders) Contributed to Dr. Tiller's Murder
Discussion:
protein wisdom, The BRAD BLOG, Pharyngula, Wilshire & Washington and Colorado Independent
Nancy Zuckerbrod / Associated Press:
Obama says Iran's energy concerns legitimate — LONDON — President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy _ provided it proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful. — In a BBC interview broadcast Tuesday, he also restated plans …
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CNN:
CNN Poll: Many Americans hold unfavorable view of Muslim world — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Hours before President Barack Obama departs for a trip to the Middle East, a new national poll suggests that only one in five Americans has a favorable view of Muslim countries.
Anne Schroeder Mullins / Anne Schroeder's Blog:
Playboy 's “Top 10 Conservative Women We Hate to Love” — The Playboy article linked to on this blog listed 10 conservative women “they love to hate” adding their reasons why. The blog included the link but only used the names of the women listed. But the Playboy article also included …
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David Gardner / Daily Mail:
How Obamas' romantic £120 trip to Broadway racked up a £45,000 bill — ...that's for three private jets, two helicopter rides, extra planes for security and closing roads for motorcade — It was a campaign pledge that Barack Obama didn't dare break - a promise to take his wife …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Cafe Hayek, US News, NewsBusters.org, Fox News, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Fausta's Blog, Pat Dollard, GayPatriot and Say Anything
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Jeremy P. Jacobs / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Kim Jong Il selects youngest son as successor — Kim Jong Il has selected his 26 year-old son to succeed him as leader of North Korea, the Associated Press reports. — Kim Jong Un is the youngest of Kim Jong Il's three sons. As the AP reports, the son is already being called “Commander Kim” in the communist country.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal
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Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Cheney mixes up Obama, Osama — Former Vice President Dick Cheney confused the president of the United States with the world's most-wanted terrorist in a speech on Monday. — Speaking at the National Press Club, Cheney answered a question as to why his administration had not caught Osama bin Laden.
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The Huffington Post:
Cheney Offers Support For Gay Marriage
Cheney Offers Support For Gay Marriage
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Vanity Fair, UPI, Law Dork, 2.0, American Power, Political Punch, Right Wing News, Pam's House Blend, The Reaction, The Washington Independent, D-Day, PoliGazette, The Swamp, Moe_Lane's blog, AMERICAblog News, Think Progress, The Note, Don Surber, Althouse, Ben Smith's Blog and Politics Daily
Carl Hulse / The Caucus:
Obama to Name N.Y. Congressman the Army Secretary — Representative John M. McHugh, a Republican congressman from New York, will be nominated by President Obama to be secretary of the Army, according to officials, as the administration continues to reach into the ranks of the opposition for executive appointments.
Discussion:
The Fix, Matthew Yglesias, Real Clear Politics, Hotline On Call and The Washington Independent
New York Times:
Foreclosures: No End in Sight — A continuing steep drop in home prices combined with rising unemployment is powering a new wave of foreclosures. Unfortunately, there's little evidence, so far, that the Obama administration's anti-foreclosure plan will be able to stop it.
Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: Most oppose closing Gitmo — WASHINGTON — Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to closing the detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and moving some of the detainees to prisons on U.S. soil, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds. — By more than 2-1, those surveyed say Guantanamo shouldn't be closed.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Fix, MSNBC, Commentary, Fox News, Real Clear Politics, The Strata-Sphere, NewsBusters.org and Moe Lane
Wall Street Journal:
Why Obama Voted Against Roberts — ‘He has used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak.’ — The following is from then-Sen. Barack Obama's floor statement explaining why he would vote against confirming Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts (September 2005):
Discussion:
Donklephant
Mark Landler / New York Times:
A New Iran Overture, With Hot Dogs — SAN SALVADOR — Having sent the Iranian people a video greeting on their New Year, President Obama is now inviting them to help celebrate a quintessentially American holiday, the Fourth of July. — Last Friday, the State Department sent a cable …
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Quagmire Ahead — On Jan. 21, 1988, a General Motors executive named Elmer Johnson wrote a brave and prophetic memo. Its main point was contained in this sentence: “We have vastly underestimated how deeply ingrained are the organizational and cultural rigidities that hamper our ability to execute.”
Nancy A. Youssef / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Why'd Obama switch on detainee photos? Maliki went ballistic — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama reversed his decision to release detainee abuse photos from Iraq and Afghanistan after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki warned that Iraq would erupt into violence and that Iraqis …
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Washington Independent, Liberty Street, ATTACKERMAN, Raw Story, MoJo Blog Posts and Taylor Marsh