Top Items:
Robin Givhan / Washington Post:
Rogers's unwanted new guest: Scrutiny — Social secretary's managerial style faces criticism in wake of her first state dinner — On the night of the Obamas' first state dinner, White House social secretary Desirée Rogers glided past the rope line of press and photographers at 6:53 p.m. …
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The Caucus:
Separation of Powers Cited for W.H. Social Secretary — The White House on Wednesday invoked the separation of powers to keep Desiree Rogers, President Obama's social secretary, from testifying on Capitol Hill about how a couple of aspiring reality television show celebrities crashed …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather, American Power, Washington Post, Balkinization, White House.gov Blog Feed and TPMDC
Josh Rogin / The Cable:
Exclusive: White House aides insisted F-22 be removed from Obama speech venue — When President Obama spoke to troops at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base last month, the unit there parked a shiny new F-22 fighter plane in the hanger. But according to multiple sources …
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
New York State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill — ALBANY — The State Senate defeated a bill on Wednesday that would legalize same-sex marriage, after an emotional debate that touched on civil rights, family and history. The vote means that the bill, pushed by Gov. David A. Paterson …
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay, JammieWearingFool, The Daily Politics, CNN, nysenate.gov/blog, NY Daily News, Gothamist, Joe. My. God., Newsweek Blogs, The Awl, Syracuse Post-Standard, Opinion L.A., Prairie Weather, Hot Air, Think Progress, Gawker, Paper Chase, AmSpecBlog, Washington Monthly, The Page, TalkLeft, Indecision Forever, Redhot, DISSENTING JUSTICE, TPM LiveWire, msnbc.com, Feministe and Truthdig
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The Huffington Post:
GOP Senator Pens Obstruction Manual For Health Care — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Sen. Judd Gregg, (R-NH) has penned the equivalent of an obstruction manual — a how-to for holding up health care reform — and has distributed the document to his Republican colleagues.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, White House.gov Blog Feed, Washington Monthly, TPMDC, Raw Story and The Lonely Conservative
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CNN:
McCain challenges Obama in private meeting — Washington (CNN) - Hours before he was set to address the nation on his new Afghanistan strategy, President Obama and members of his war council spent about an hour briefing senior members of Congress at a White House meeting that multiple sources described as businesslike and sobering.
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
Senate Dems prep for hardball tactics in health debate after floor strategizing — Senate Democrats threatened to pull out the procedural stops to force votes on amendments to the healthcare reform bill on the floor as the GOP continues to object to advancing the legislation.
Katherine Goldstein / The Huffington Post:
ClimateGate: The 7 Biggest Lies About The Supposed “Global Warming Hoax” — A few weeks ago, hackers broke into the emails of one of the Climate Research Unit of The University of East Anglia, and climate skeptics have been having a field day making mountains out of molehills about what the emails contain.
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John Ingham / Daily Express:
CLIMATE CHANGE ‘FRAUD’
CLIMATE CHANGE ‘FRAUD’
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, DaTechguy's Blog, CNSNews, Wizbang, JammieWearingFool, Confederate Yankee and EU Referendum
Ezra Klein:
If you give away the public option, what do you get? — Most of the energy in the Senate right now is being directed into a mad rush for compromise proposals on the public option. This reflects the sense that the right compromise on the public option is a compromised public option.
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Tiger Woods:
Tiger comments on current events — I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family.
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Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
Senator Moves to Hold Up Bernanke Confirmation — WASHINGTON — Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont said on Wednesday that he would try to block the Senate from confirming Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. — The move is unlikely to derail Mr. Bernanke's reappointment …
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Manu Raju / The Politico:
Franken fallout has GOP fuming — Republican senators feel burned by Al Franken — and not by his old jokes. — The Republicans are steamed at Franken because partisans on the left are using a measure he sponsored to paint them as rapist sympathizers — and because Franken isn't doing much to stop them.
Michael Crowley / The New Republic:
The Day After: A Hollow Withdrawal Pledge Comes Into Focus — Barack Obama's aides can pat themselves on the back today; they have succeeded in spinning the president's new troop surge as a simultaneous plan for leaving Afghanistan. And I can see honest logic there: By delivering a hard punch …
Discussion:
Ross Douthat, Weekly Standard, New York Times, Hot Air, The Daily Dish, MoJo Blog Posts and Commentary
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Vidya Rao / msnbc.com:
‘Family Ties’ mom: ‘I am a lesbian’ — Meredith Baxter says she has been dating women for the past seven years — For seven years, actress Meredith Baxter has been hiding a secret. — Now Baxter, who played the devoted hippie mom constantly butting heads with her conservative kids on “Family Ties,” is making a public admission.
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay, The Stranger …, Viewer Discretion, The Huffington Post and The Faster Times
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Boxer: Hackers should face criminal probe over ‘Climategate’ — Leaked e-mails allegedly undermining climate change science should be treated as a criminal matter, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday afternoon. — Boxer, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee …
Scott McLemee / Inside Higher Ed:
Decline of the West — Ten years ago, in the final pages of a collection of his selected writings, Cornel West gave readers a look at the work he had in progress, or at least in mind, for the years ahead. One would be “a major treatment of African-American literature and modern Greek literature.”
Spencer Morgan / New York Observer:
Rrrowl! Beware Cougar's Young Niece, the Cheetah — The cheetah is most often a just-one-of-the-guys girl. That's her cover. In nature, a cheetah will lurk in the high grass and use her spots as camouflage. — I called up an accomplished and self-described cougar named Angela …
Jason / The Tolbert Report:
HuckPAC Resignation — As I mentioned this morning, I resigned my position as Arkansas coordinator for HuckPAC today where I served in a volunteer capacity. My departure was with a heavy heart but was done after serious prayer and consideration. Some have asked about the timing.
Discussion:
CNN, Little Green Footballs, Washington Post, Human Events, Ben Smith's Blog, Don Surber, Hot Air, The Hill, Raw Story and The Other McCain
Brad / Think Progress:
Lou Dobbs Explodes: ‘Who The Hell Does This President Think He Is!?!’ — Birther Lou Dobbs and climate denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) are concerned that President Barack Obama is trying to turn America into a monarchy. Appearing on Dobbs' radio show on Tuesday, Inhofe argued President Obama …
Adam Ciralsky / Vanity Fair:
Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy — Erik Prince, recently outed as a participant in a C.I.A. assassination program, has gained notoriety as head of the military-contracting juggernaut Blackwater, a company dogged by a grand-jury investigation, bribery accusations, and the voluntary-manslaughter trial …
Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blog:
WashTimes cutting staff up to 40 percent — Jonathan Slevin, acting publisher and president of the Washington Times, outlined a new plan for the beleaguered newspaper and spoke of “significant staff reductions” at a meeting this afternoon. — Staff are receiving notices at the meeting …
Gabor Steingart / Spiegel Online:
Searching in Vain for the Obama Magic — Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric — and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught.
Discussion:
The Corner on National …, Guardian, Erick's blog, Slate, The Greenroom, The Atlanticist, Outside The Beltway, Left Coast Rebel, msnbc.com, Pajamas Media, Fausta's Blog, New York Times, Power Line, Gateway Pundit, The New Republic, Financial Times, Hot Air, The Lonely Conservative and Indecision Forever
Gordonskene / Crooks and Liars:
And Thirty Years Ago This Month Somebody Else Had A Great Idea About Afghanistan — ("They'll greet us with flowers and candy . .. sort of") — Thirty years ago this December, the Soviet Union decided it was a good idea to take advantage of an unstable region by launching an invasion of Afghanistan.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo