Top Items:
David Hammer / New Orleans Times-Picayune:
ACORN gotcha man among four arrested for attempting to tamper with Mary Landrieu's office phones … Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe …
Discussion:
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Think Progress:
Fox News Devastated Over Arrest Of ACORN Pimp, Says The Story Probably Needs ‘A Lot Of Context’ — Fox News has been one of the biggest supporters of James O'Keefe, who is infamous for dressing up as a pimp and videotaping ACORN staffers offering to help the supposed pimp and his prostitutes secure funding for a brothel.
Chris Good / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
FBI Arrests James O'Keefe At Landrieu's Office
FBI Arrests James O'Keefe At Landrieu's Office
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
Paul Krugman:
Obama Liquidates Himself — A spending freeze? That's the brilliant response of the Obama team to their first serious political setback? — It's appalling on every level. — It's bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment.
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Jared Bernstein / White House.gov Blog Feed:
Budget Freeze-eology 101: Hatchets vs. Scalpels — So I'm on my way to do a TV interview last night on a set of middle-class initiatives we announced yesterday, when I learn that what they really want to talk about is our proposed freeze on non-security discretionary spending.
Bob Herbert / New York Times:
Obama's Credibility Gap — Who is Barack Obama? — Americans are still looking for the answer, and if they don't get it soon — or if they don't like the answer — the president's current political problems will look like a walk in the park. — Mr. Obama may be personally very appealing …
Ezra Klein:
The Obama administration loses the deficit — and the spending — argument — This video is not good for the White House. It shows Barack Obama repeatedly, and eloquently, rejecting John McCain's proposal for a “non-defense spending discretionary freeze.” We need a scalpel, Obama says, not a hatchet.
Paul Rosenberg / Open Left:
It's Official: Obama is an idiot — As noted in quick hits by BDB and rayj, [UPDATE] and by David in a diary that just caused me to push back this diary's publication time, Obama has now gone off the deep end. After passing a stimulus that most economists (not just liberal ones) …
Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Obama Seeks Freeze on Many Domestic Programs
Obama Seeks Freeze on Many Domestic Programs
Discussion:
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
The White House's Brain Freeze
The White House's Brain Freeze
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, National Review Online, Grist, Megan McArdle, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Booman Tribune, TalkLeft and Right Wing Nut House
Jonathan Zasloff / The Reality-Based Community:
Obama's Self-Inflicted Lobotomy Proceeds Apace
Obama's Self-Inflicted Lobotomy Proceeds Apace
Discussion:
ProfessorBainbridge.com
Rachel Slajda / TPMDC:
Lincoln, Bayh Won't Support Passing Health Care Fixes Via Reconciliation — Two Democratic senators, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, have declared that they won't support a plan to have the House pass the Senate health care bill whole, then pass fixes to the bill through the reconciliation process.
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New York Times:
Decision Looms on Advancing Health Care Bill — WASHINGTON — Seeking to avert the collapse of major health care legislation, the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress face a crucial decision about whether to use a procedural maneuver that would allow them to advance the bill despite …
Discussion:
TPMDC, The Politico, Washington Times, A plain blog about politics, Associated Press and Daily Kos
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
GOP Strategy: Derail Health Bill Reconciliation Fix With “Free For All” Of Amendments — The GOP Senate leadership has privately settled on a strategy to derail health reform if Dems try to pass the Senate bill with a fix through reconciliation, aides say: Unleash an endless stream …
Stephen Koff / Plain Dealer:
Ellie Light revealed: I'm Barbara Brooks, a nurse, says Pro-Obama letter writer … WASHINGTON — Ellie Light, the ubiquitous letter writer arousing blogosphere suspicions that she is a White House operative spreading the gospel of Barack Obama, is actually a registered nurse.
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Erick Erickson / RedState:
BREAKING: Mike Pence Will Not Run for Senate — Sources are confirming for me this morning that Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) will not run for the United States Senate. — In fact, later today the Congressman will send out a letter to supporters outlining his reasons. In it he will write:
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Populist Addiction — Politics, some believe, is the organization of hatreds. The people who try to divide society on the basis of ethnicity we call racists. The people who try to divide it on the basis of religion we call sectarians. The people who try to divide it on the basis …
The Huffington Post:
Double Standard For Bernanke: Only 50 Votes Needed In Senate — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — When it comes to progressive priorities in the Senate, there's one standard: 60 votes are needed. But for Ben Bernanke, there's a second standard: 50 will be just fine, thank you.
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Fox leads for trust — Americans do not trust the major tv news operations in the country- except for Fox News. — Our newest survey looking at perceptions of ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and NBC News finds Fox as the only one that more people say they trust than distrust.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
Quinnipiac University:
Rubio Edges Crist In Florida Gop Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; President Obama Under Water As Voters Disapprove — Former State House Speaker Marco Rubio has squeaked past Gov. Charlie Crist in the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, leading 47 …
John Koblin / New York Observer:
After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for Newsday's Web Site — In late October, Newsday, the Long Island daily that the Dolans bought for $650 million, put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall …
Peter Wallsten / Wall Street Journal:
Rahm Emanuel Draws Fire From Left — WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's liberal backers have a long list of grievances. The Guantanamo Bay prison is still open. Health care hasn't been transformed. And Wall Street banks are still paying huge bonuses.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Firedoglake, Glenn Thrush's Blog, ABCNEWS, Commentary, Top of the Ticket and The Caucus
Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:
CBO Releases the Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2010-2020 — CBO projects, that if current laws and policies remained unchanged, the federal budget would show a deficit of $1.3 trillion for fiscal year 2010. At 9.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), that deficit …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Business Channel, Hit & Run, Financial Times, AmSpecBlog, Free exchange, Row 2, Seat 4, theblogprof and Gateway Pundit
The Note:
Obama Spending Freeze Lands on Hill with Thud — ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: — The president's proposed discretionary spending freeze has hit Capitol Hill with a thud. — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said, simply, that she looks forward to “examining the details” of the proposed freeze.
Discussion:
The Page
Chris Frates / The Politico:
Koop raises specter of rationing — The 60 Plus Association, a conservative seniors' group, is airing a new ad featuring former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop telling seniors that Congress is drafting reform legislation behind-closed doors. In the spot, Koop, who served under former …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
Nicole Winfield / Associated Press:
Book: John Paul II used belt to whip himself — Buzz up! — VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II whipped himself with a belt, even on vacation, and slept on the floor as acts of penitence and to bring him closer to Christian perfection, according to a new book by the Polish prelate spearheading his sainthood case.
Steven E. Levingston / Short Stack:
China is not likely to surpass United States as global economic superpower, new book predicts — Joel Kotkin has some reassuring words for Americans worried that their country is in decline. — In a book due out next month, the international futurist says China isn't likely to overtake …
Kevin Allocca / TVNewser:
Fox News Finishes Week #1 in All of Primetime Cable — Fox News was the top cable network in primetime last week, averaging the most total viewers between January 18th-24th. The last time FNC topped USA and came in first was during the week of the 2008 presidential election.