Top Items:
John O'Connor / The State:
Exclusive: E-mails between Sanford, woman — Woman in affair declines interview — Below are excerpts of e-mails, obtained by The State newspaper in December, between Gov. Mark Sanford's personal e-mail account and Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Discussion:
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John Dickerson / Slate:
The disturbing glee at Mark Sanford's downfall. — Mark Sanford is no longer missing, but he's obviously lost. The South Carolina governor's press conference was excruciating: apology, followed by self-flagellation, followed by apology. It was like watching a man light himself on fire.
S.A. Miller / Washington Times:
Social conservatives fall from moral high ground — Republicans retreat from values claims — Social conservatives, the once-powerful force that focused the Republican agenda on moral virtue and family values, have suffered a diminished brand on the national political landscape …
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Sanford Case a New Dose of Bad News for Republicans — WASHINGTON — Republicans were just starting to breathe a little easier. — The news that Senator John Ensign had had an affair with a former aide who was married to another former aide was fading. Polls showed some voter impatience …
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Conservatives Write Off Sanford as a National Leader — Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) speaks at the Tax Day Tea Party in Columbia, S.C., on April 15. (YouTube: GovernorSanford) — At the Washington, D.C. office of FreedomWorks, the conservative non-profit that has promoted and trained organizers …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Erick's blog, The New Republic, Mark Sanford 2012, Salon and Sadly, No!
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama's Michael Dukakis moment — Barack Obama got ABC to move their news division into the White House in order to make the big pitch for his egalitarian, everyone-gets-treated-equally ObamaCare push. Instead, Obama fumbled into a Michael Dukakis moment that exposed him as a hypocrite.
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Hollywoodreporter / The Live Feed:
ABC's White House special struggled for viewers — President Obama's town hall meeting on health care delivered a sickly rating Wednesday evening. — The one-hour ABC News special “Primetime: Questions for the President: Prescription for America” (4.7 million viewers …
Peter Nicholas / Los Angeles Times:
Obama discusses deathbed measures — At a healthcare town hall, he says stopping futile procedures for the terminally ill can lower costs. — Reporting from Washington — President Obama suggested at a town hall event Wednesday night that one way to shave medical costs is to stop expensive …
ABCNEWS:
EXCLUSIVE: President Obama Defends Right to Choose Best Care — In ABC News Health Care Forum, President Answers Questions About Reform — President Obama struggled to explain today whether his health care reform proposals would force normal Americans to make sacrifices that wealthier …
Borzou Daragahi / Los Angeles Times:
Iran opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi lashes out; 70 professors arrested — Mousavi blasts Iran's supreme leader and state media. He says the ongoing government crackdown on post-election protests puts the nation at risk. Meanwhile, teachers who met with Mousavi are arrested.
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BBC:
MPs ‘snub’ Ahmadinejad party — More than 100 MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say. — All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night but 105 did not turn up, the reports say.
Discussion:
Aljazeera, Telegraph, Wake up America, The Strata-Sphere, Hot Air, A Blog For All, PoliBlog and Taylor Marsh
Gina Smith / The State:
Hunch leads to airport and tired, troubled Sanford — It was about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday as I stood in the waiting area at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, squinting my eyes to see whether Gov. Mark Sanford was part of a crowd exiting the plane from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Peter Hamby / CNN:
Sanford took taxpayer-funded trip to Argentina last June
Sanford took taxpayer-funded trip to Argentina last June
Discussion:
The Politico, The State, Salon, TPMDC, Washington Monthly, Shakesville, Raw Story, The Campaign Spot and Ben Smith's Blog
David Stout / New York Times:
Supreme Court Says Child's Rights Violated by Strip Search — WASHINGTON — In a ruling of interest to educators, parents and students across the country, the Supreme Court ruled, 8 to 1, on Thursday that the strip search of a 13-year-old Arizona girl by school officials who were looking …
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Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
Emanuel: Sanford needed a cigarette — Perhaps no one knows how to butter up reporters better than White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. — The longtime Washington insider is known for personally reaching out to reporters and always being cognizant of the media landscape.
Discussion:
The Note
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Wall Street Journal:
The Cap and Tax Fiction — Democrats off-loading economics to pass climate change bill. — Printer — Friendly — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday.
Discussion:
The Rhetorican, FiveThirtyEight, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Gateway Pundit, Commentary and Maggie's Farm
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Eddie Wrenn / Daily Mail:
Stunning pictures of the volcano that blew a hole in the sky as astronauts witness eruption from International Space Station — Framed by a circle of clouds, this is a stunning illustration of Nature's powerful force. — A plume of smoke, ash and steam soars five miles into the sky from an erupting volcano.
Discussion:
Doug Ross
Elliott Abrams / Wall Street Journal:
Hillary Is Wrong About the Settlements — The U.S. and Israel reached a clear understanding about natural growth. — Printer — Friendly — Despite fervent denials by Obama administration officials, there were indeed agreements between Israel and the United States regarding the growth of Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
Discussion:
Commentary
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Murray Waas / The Hill:
Bush administration leaks bolstered Rick Renzi's reelection bid — In the fall of 2006, one day after the Justice Department granted permission to a U.S. attorney to place a wiretap on a Republican congressman suspected of corruption, existence of the investigation was leaked to the press …
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Dems see agenda slipping — There is a growing sense among Democrats that they will not be able to accomplish the entire agenda leaders set for 2009, pushing major policy debates into the midterm election year. — Concerns over the cost of overhauling the nation's healthcare system have served as a wake-up call to lawmakers.
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James Hibberd / Hollywood Reporter:
Fox News set for best year yet — Viewership solid as rivals take post-election hits — Fox News is on track to have its most-watched year ever, showing significant ratings growth despite having just come off a highflying election year. — With the second quarter coming to a close …