Top Items:
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Assailant Was a Coakley Staffer on Loan from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee? — Or just a really good lookalike? — A tipster tells me that the man who was pushing me outside of a Capitol Hill fundraiser Tuesday night for Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley is Michael Meehan.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, National Review Online, Big Government, Gateway Pundit, The Other McCain, Fox News, Saberpoint, The Hill, Taylor Marsh and RedState
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John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Video: Someone With the Coakley Campaign Pushes Me into a Metal Railing — Coakley won't say if she thinks there are terrorists in Afghanistan. — Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley attended a fundraiser at the Capitol Hill restaurant Sonoma tonight.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Wall Street Journal, JustOneMinute, The Corner on National …, The Natural Truth, theblogprof, Big Journalism, Left Coast Rebel, Taylor Marsh, TD Blog, Flopping Aces, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Confederate Yankee, NO QUARTER, Scared Monkeys, Political Byline, DaTechguy's Blog, TBogg, The Lonely Conservative and Another Black Conservative
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
DSCC: Shoved reporter tape a GOP ‘dirty trick’ — A spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is describing the video above, which shows a Weekly Standard reporter getting pushed around by a DSCC consultant, Michael Meehan, as a “dirty trick” by “Washington Republicans.”
William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
This Photo May Change The Election — A hot story today is how a reporter for The Weekly Standard was shoved to the ground by a Martha Coakley campaign worker when the reporter tried to ask Coakley why she was attending a fundraiser with lobbyists. — But another part of the story …
Discussion:
Investor's Business Daily, The Corner on National …, Big Government, Power Line, RedState and The Other McCain
Washington Post:
In Massachusetts, Republican Brown steps up campaign for Kennedy's Senate seat — Fueled by the energy of conservative activists, a solid debate performance and a 24-hour, $1.3 million Internet fundraising haul, Massachusetts state Sen. Scott Brown (R) has thrown a major scare …
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics, Boston Globe, PostPartisan, The Fix, NewsBusters.org, The Caucus and Hotline On Call
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
What Massachusetts can tell us about the midterms — The Massachusetts special election to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy is five days away from its — surprisingly suspenseful — conclusion but, even before the votes are cast, the race has provided political junkies a window into the message strategies for the two national parties.
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: Coakley associate shoves Weekly Standard reporter; Update: Photo of assailant — What is it about my friend John McCormack and campaign panic? He's actually one of the nicest, mild-mannered people you'd ever want to meet, and yet for the second time in three months, John finds himself at the center of controversy.
Discussion:
NewsReal Blog
Laura Crimaldi / Boston Herald:
Reporter roughed up outside Coakley fund-raiser
Reporter roughed up outside Coakley fund-raiser
Discussion:
Commentary
CNN:
PM: Hundreds of thousands dead in Haiti quake — Watch live reports from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Anderson Cooper is on scene for firsthand accounts of the horror and devastation from the earthquake. — Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) — “Port-au-Prince is flattened” after a 7.-magnitude earthquake struck …
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Wall Street Journal:
Support Grows for U.S. Health Exchange — WASHINGTON — The White House wants to include a national health-insurance exchange in the health bill, which would give House Democrats one of their top remaining demands, according to an official involved in the discussions.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Crooks and Liars, Associated Press, Washington Post, The Hill and Think Progress
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The Hill:
Rep. Rangel: Dems facing ‘serious problems’ on healthcare reform bill — Congressional Democrats face “serious problems” in getting a healthcare reform bill to the president's desk, according to a House panel chairman. — “We've got to get a bill that's more compatible to the House,” …
Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Senate Hopeful in New State Airs Evolving Views — In his first extensive interview since he began weighing a run for United States Senate from New York, Harold E. Ford Jr. distanced himself from his previous opposition to same-sex marriage, his description of himself as “pro-life” …
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Jeremy W. Peters / City Room:
Paterson Does Not Oppose a Ford Senate Bid
Paterson Does Not Oppose a Ford Senate Bid
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
The Official Google Blog:
A new approach to China — Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.
Discussion:
BuzzMachine, The Atlantic Business Channel, The Huffington Post, James Fallows, The New Republic, Financial Times, Gawker, Telegraph, Political Byline, Wall Street Journal, TPM LiveWire, Guardian, Between the Lines, Free exchange, Law Librarian Blog, Washington Post, TechCrunch, Global Voices Online, FP Passport, The Business Insider, Personal Democracy Forum blogs, American Power, The Market Ticker, Matthew Yglesias, Google Enterprise Blog, Left Coast Rebel, The Googlization of Everything, Jay Bookman and ReadWriteWeb
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Quinnipiac University:
Obama's Approval Splits Evenly For First Time, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Voters Split On Whether First Year Is Success Or Failure — American voters are split 45 - 45 percent on whether Barack Obama's first year in office is a success or failure and split 35 …
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Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
When Jon Stewart Fails. — There is an unexpected silence in the liberal blogosphere after last night's highly anticipated Daily Show episode, in which Jon Stewart hosted John Yoo, the author of many of the Bush administration's torture memos and one of the people most responsible for giving legal sanction to the practice of torture.
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Derek Kravitz / Washington Post:
Democrat wins Va. Senate race — Defying recent voting trends that saw several Northern Virginia Republicans win big in November, Del. David W. Marsden (D-Fairfax) narrowly won a special election Tuesday night to represent a broad swath of southwestern Fairfax County in the Virginia Senate.
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Jane Hamsher / The Huffington Post:
How the White House Used Gruber's Work to Create Appearance of Broad Consensus — Up until this point, most of the attention regarding the failure to disclose the connection between Jonathan Gruber and the White House has fallen on Gruber himself. Far more troubling, however …
Discussion:
Capital Gains and Games blogs
Michael F. Cannon / Cato Institute:
Obama's Prescription for Low-Wage Workers: High Implicit Taxes, Higher Premiums … House and Senate Democrats have produced health care legislation whose mandates, subsidies, tax penalties, and health insurance regulations would penalize work and reward Americans who refuse to purchase health insurance.
GottaLaff / The Political Carnival:
VIDEO- Pat Robertson: Haiti disaster due to Haiti's “pact at the Devil.” — Relevant segment starts at about 6:00: — “When these disasters strike, we are there to help the people.” — Of course you are, Pat... after you come out with outlandishly despicable statements about why Haiti …
Discussion:
Think Progress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Ben Smith's Blog, Gawker, Pam's House Blend and Pharyngula
Associated Press:
Obama concedes he hasn't brought country together — WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama says he has not succeeded in bringing the country together, acknowledging an atmosphere of divisiveness that has washed away the lofty national feeling surrounding his inauguration a year ago.
Karen Ocamb / LGBT POV:
Prop 8 trial -day 3 - You all have ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and it even got awards - gay discrimination is over — (Marriage Equality USA's Davina Kotulski is blogging for The Bilerico Project and other outlets on a blogger passed shared with Michael Petrelis. She sent this via email this morning.
Discussion:
Firedoglake