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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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Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Obama Seeks Freeze on Many Domestic Programs — WASHINGTON — President Obama will call for a three-year freeze in spending on many domestic programs, and for increases no greater than inflation after that, an initiative intended to signal his seriousness about cutting the budget deficit, administration officials said Monday.
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Brad DeLong / Grasping Reality with Opposable Thumbs:
Barack Herbert Hoover Obama? — UPDATE II: It seems that it is not a freeze in non-security discretionary outlays, but rather an overall cap on non-security discretionary—which is a diffrent animal. And it seems that it is not an overall cap on non-security discretionary outlays …
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) …
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
The White House's Brain Freeze — First reactions aren't always the best ones, but my first reaction to tonight's news is that it's a mistake on par with John McCain's “suspending my campaign” gaffe. Politico: … I'll let the economists talk about the wisdom of curtailing government 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.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Obama Budget to Call for Freeze in Non-Security Discretionary Spending
Obama Budget to Call for Freeze in Non-Security Discretionary Spending
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:
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Lincoln rejects using reconciliation to pass health bill — Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) rejected using the budget reconciliation process to pass health reform legislation on Tuesday. — Lincoln joined Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) to reject using the parliamentary maneuver bypassing …
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
GOP Strategy: Derail Health Bill Reconciliation Fix With …
GOP Strategy: Derail Health Bill Reconciliation Fix With …
Discussion:
A plain blog about politics
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:
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Ellie Light speaks — A letter defending Obama, over the signature of one “Ellie Light,” drew some attention after it became clear that the same letter had been published in some 60 outlets, listing different, local hometowns in different newspapers. — The episode provoked various theories around …
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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 …
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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 …
David Hammer / New Orleans Times-Picayune:
ACORN gotcha man among four arrested for attempting to bug Mary Landrieu's office … The FBI, alleging a plot to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in downtown New Orleans, arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos …
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
The importance of independents — In the wake of Sen.-elect Scott Brown's (R) victory over state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) in last week's Senate special election, a debate has been raging over independents. — The conventional wisdom — as argued in this blog and many other places …
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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.
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:
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Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Tea Party Disputes Take Toll on Convention — A Tea Party convention billed as the coming together of the grass-roots groups that began sprouting up around the country a year ago is unraveling as sponsors and participants pull out to protest its expense and express concerns about “profiteering.”
Front Page Magazine:
An Open Letter to Charles Johnson — Posted by Dennis Prager on Jan 26th, 2010 and filed under FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry … Dear Charles: — As you know, over the years …