Top Items:
Harry Esteve / Oregonian:
Oregon voters pass tax increasing measures by big margin … Oregon voters bucked decades of anti-tax and anti-Salem sentiment Tuesday, raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to prevent further erosion of public schools and other state services. — The tax measures passed easily …
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Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Business Channel:
Oregon's Rich Tax is Not a Victory for Liberals — Yesterday, Oregon voters ratified two tax increases, one on high earners, and another a revision of the state's corporate income tax. This is their strategy for plugging an enormous budget gap, like the ones that have opened up in state budgets around the country.
The Politico:
Top Dems at war - with each other — President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will be all smiles as the president arrives at the Capitol for his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, but the happy faces can't hide relationships that are fraying and fraught.
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Ezra Klein:
Waiting for Barack — Every Hill office I've spoken to in the past week has had the same complaint. “Where,” they ask, “is the White House?” — There's been no clear message on the way forward for health-care reform. No clear articulation of preferences. No public leadership to speak of.
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Democrats woo Snowe, Collins in hope of saving health reform legislation
Democrats woo Snowe, Collins in hope of saving health reform legislation
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
House to Senate: We're Ready On Health Care If You Are — Leading Democrats in the House still insist that “all options are on the table” to move ahead on health care. But for the first time since last Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts, it's clear that they're coalescing around …
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The Huffington Post, The New Republic, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, Guardian, The Reaction and The Plum Line
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Patterico's Pontifications:
Washington Post Writer Makes Assumptions About O'Keefe That the Facts Don't Cash — Again — The Washington Post reports that James O'Keefe stands accused of a plot to “bug” Mary Landrieu's office: — When I first read a news story about this yesterday, it sounded to me like O'Keefe …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, Washington Post, RedState, NewsBusters.org, Sister Toldjah and Riehl World View
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Andrew Breitbart / Big Government:
MSM Leaping to Conclusions — While Big Government Waits for Facts — Wait until the facts are in. — Mainstream Media, ACORN, Media Matters (all the supposed defenders of due process and journalistic ethics) are jumping to conclusions over the arrest today of James O'Keefe …
Washington Wire:
Book Report: ‘The Politician’ By Andrew Young — If Washington Wire readers are interested in reading Andrew Young's forthcoming tell-all on his decade behind the scenes with John Edwards, the story heats up on page 154 when Young begins to recount how the 2008 presidential hopeful …
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Brad Stone / Bits:
Live Blogging the iPad Product Announcement — Apple chief executive, Steve Jobs, unveils the iPad. — 10-Hour Battery Life — Update | 1:38 p.m. “We been able to achieve 10 hours of battery life” Mr. Jobs says. “I can take a flight form San Francisco to Tokyo and watch video the whole way.”
Discussion:
New Jersey Online, Runnin' Scared, Guardian, Althouse, Philly.com, CNET News, TechCrunch and Gadget Lab
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Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Bringing Sexy Back — He's The One, all right. — The handsome, athletic pol with the comely wife and two lovely daughters who precipitously rose from the State Legislature to pull us all together. — The fresh face and disarming underdog America's been waiting for …
Discussion:
Commentary, Wake up America, pandagon.net, Prairie Weather, HillBuzz, The Other McCain, The Page, Mediaite, Sadly, No! and JammieWearingFool
Laura Rozen / Laura Rozen's Blog:
Clinton signals not a two-term Secretary of State — In an interview to air at 8pm tonight on PBS's Tavis Smiley Reports, Hillary Clinton tells Smiley she does not envision serving as Secretary of State for a second term. She also tells Smiley she is “absolutely not interested” in another presidential run:
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Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
In Speech, Obama to Admit Missteps in First Year — WASHINGTON — For all the questions circulating in Democratic quarters as President Obama tries to weather the worst storm of his administration, perhaps none is as succinct as this: Are the missteps at the White House rooted in message or substance?
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Jennifer Fermino / New York Post:
‘Obama Girl’ now falling out of love — First, Massachusetts turned on the president. — Now, the bikini-clad “Obama Girl” — who fa mously cooed about her “crush” throughout the presidential campaign on YouTube videos — admits the thrill is gone. — Amber Lee Ettinger …
Dana Priest / Washington Post:
U.S. military teams, intelligence deeply involved in aiding Yemen on strikes — U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops who in the past six weeks have killed scores of people, among them six of 15 top leaders …
Discussion:
Associated Press, TalkLeft, Worldfocus, Firedoglake, Neptunus Lex, BBC, CNN, RealClearWorld, Outside The Beltway and Raw Story
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New York Times:
Geithner Says A.I.G. Rescue Prevented a Depression — WASHINGTON — In heated questioning that at times took on the air of a cross-examination, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Wednesday defended his role and the government's actions in bailing out the American International Group …
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TalkLeft
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Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Meltdown in PA: Toomey up 14 over Specter? — A new poll by a newspaper collective in Pennsylvania shows Pat Toomey handily beating both Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak in a matchup for the Senate race in November. The Times-Tribune reports that the survey polled 1165 registered voters in Pennsylvania …
Discussion:
The Times-Tribune
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Dan Harrie / Salt Lake Tribune:
Salt Lake County GOP cancels keynote address after New Orleans arrest — Plan B » Party's big annual fundraiser will find new featured speaker instead of O'Keefe. — Salt Lake County Republicans are scrambling to line up a new keynote fundraising speaker after the arrest Tuesday …
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Adults Only, Please — Maybe it's just me, but I've found the last few weeks in American politics particularly unnerving. Our economy is still very fragile, yet you would never know that by the way the political class is acting. We're like a patient that just got out of intensive care …
Orlando Sentinel:
Obama aims to ax moon mission — NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon are dead. So are the rockets being designed to take them there — that is, if President Barack Obama gets his way. — When the White House releases his budget proposal Monday, there will be no money …
Mara Liasson / NPR:
NPR Poll Shows Vulnerability Of Obama, Democrats … text sizeAAA — Wednesday night's State of the Union speech is an opportunity for President Obama to reconnect to voters who are frustrated about the state of the economy and the progress he's been making toward fulfilling his campaign promises.
Discussion:
Democracy Corps, The Strata-Sphere, Hot Air, Commentary, Prairie Weather, Glenn Thrush's Blog and Wake up America
Rich Lowry / The Corner on National Review Online:
Teleprompter Shot of the Day — By: Rich Lowry — Here's Obama dropping in for a chat with his middle-class task force. And people made fun of Reagan because of his notecards!
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, Another Black Conservative, iOwnTheWorld.com, Wizbang, NO QUARTER and Hot Air