Top Items:
James O'Keefe / Big Government:
Statement from James O'Keefe — The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu's office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.
Discussion:
New York Times, Big Journalism, The Hill, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Hot Air, Michael Calderone's Blog, Washington Post, At-Largely, Talking Points Memo, 24Ahead, The Jawa Report, Another Black Conservative, USA Today, TPMMuckraker, Mediaite, The Lonely Conservative, Wonkette, Instapundit, Swampland, The Washington Independent, The Daily Caller, GayPatriot and NewsBusters.org
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
O'Keefe's defense — He posts a statement on Big Government: — I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu's constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn't want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the health care bill.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: FOURTH QUARTER 2009 (ADVANCE ESTIMATE) — Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, (that is …
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Catherine Rampell / New York Times:
U.S. Economy Grew at Fastest Pace in 6 Years Last Quarter — The United States economy grew at its fastest pace in over six years at the end of 2009, but a sluggish job market is still souring economists on the sustainability of the recovery. — Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate …
Megan McArdle:
Dude, Where's My Job? — The initial estimate is that fourth quarter GDP grew at a blistering 5.7% annual pace. With the usual caveats—third quarter GDP estimates started high and then were revised down to a much more modest level—that's great news. — But man cannot live by GDP alone.
Ezra Klein:
Rahm Emanuel makes me very pessimistic about health-care reform — According to the New York Times, the “White House on Thursday signaled the outlines of its strategy for breaking the partisan logjam holding up President Obama's agenda.” And that outline is the most depressing thing I've read on the chances for health-care reform.
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Washington Post:
After Obama speech, Democrats confused about path ahead — A day after President Obama called on them to renew efforts to pass his ambitious agenda, congressional Democrats remained in disarray Thursday about how to move forward, with at least some pointing at the White House as the cause …
New York Times:
Health Bill Stalled, Obama Juggles an Altered Agenda — WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday signaled the outlines of its strategy for breaking the partisan logjam holding up President Obama's agenda, saying Democrats would move quickly to underline their commitment to fixing …
Robin Abcarian / Los Angeles Times:
Scott Roeder convicted of murdering abortion doctor George Tiller — A jury in Wichita deliberates for just over a half-hour before finding Roeder guilty. He had admitted that he shot Tiller, who performed late-term abortions, at a church in May. — Reporting from Wichita, Kan. …
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Justin Elliott / TPMMuckraker:
BREAKING: Roeder Found Guilty Of Murdering Dr. George Tiller
BREAKING: Roeder Found Guilty Of Murdering Dr. George Tiller
Discussion:
MyDD
Salah Nasrawi / Associated Press:
Bin Laden blasts US for climate change — CAIRO — Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming, according to a new audiotape released Friday.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Politics Daily, Big Government, Stop The ACLU, Majikthise, LewRockwell.com Blog, Swampland and The Daily Caller
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Aljazeera:
Bin Laden deplores climate change — Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has condemned the US and other industrial economies, holding them responsible for the phenomenon of climate change. — In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera, bin Laden criticised George Bush, the former US president …
Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Palin On Whether She Will Still Speak At ‘Scammy’ Tea Party Convention: ‘You Betcha!’ — Tea Party activists and loyalists have recently criticized the National Tea Party Convention set to take place in Nashville, TN next month, balking at the expensive ticket prices and the fact that the “scammy” event is for-profit.
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Fox News:
Palin to Obama: Stop the Fingerpointing — This is a rush transcript from “On the Record,” January 28, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. — GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Tonight, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin right here, right now! She joins us from Wasilla, Alaska.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Brown on Romney: 'He's changed' — One Washington habit Scott Brown doesn't seem to be adopting is message control. — Some highlights from his wide-ranging interview,with the Globe, in which he seems to stake quite a bit on his and others' personal qualities, include a description …
Discussion:
GOP 12
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John Tlumacki / Boston Globe:
Scott Brown interview transcript — Massachusetts' new senator talks about his campaign, the issues — and signing a supporter's head — Senator-elect Scott Brown sat down with Boston Globe reporters Matt Viser and Eric Moskowitz in his State House office for a half-hour interview.
WISH-TV:
Congressman Buyer won't seek reelection — 24-Hour News 8 has learned Indiana Congressman Steve Buyer (R-4th District) will announce he will not seek reelection during a news conference Friday. — Buyer is perhaps best known for his 1998 role as a prosecutor in President Clinton's impeachment hearings.
Discussion:
The Fix, The Hill, Ben Smith's Blog, The Page, Hotline OnCall, Politics Nation, TPMDC and The Washington Independent
NY Daily News:
White House orders Justice Department to look for other places to hold 9/11 terror trial — White House officials have told the Justice Department to consider other venues for the 9/11 terror trial that was to be held in lower Manhattan, the Daily News has learned.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Firedoglake, New York Post, The League of Ordinary …, Michelle Malkin, Top of the Ticket, Taylor Marsh, Gothamist, Creeping Sharia, Sister Toldjah, Gawker, The Daily Politics, The Foundry, The Politico, Scared Monkeys, No More Mister Nice Blog, JONATHAN TURLEY, Sweetness & Light, The Page, Betsy's Page, At-Largely, Another Black Conservative, Big Government, The Caucus, GINA COBB, Main Justice and Gateway Pundit
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Linda Greenhouse / Opinionator:
The Next Time — Three years ago, after Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. led the Supreme Court to the brink of overturning a few precedents but then blinked, a frustrated Justice Antonin Scalia accused the chief justice of “faux judicial restraint.” — It was foreseeable then that something …
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Bruce Bartlett / Forbes:
More Goo-Goo Than Gipper — A number of pollsters have noted that Barack Obama's approval rating is about the same as Ronald Reagan's at a similar stage of his presidency. Yet it feels that Obama is in far worse shape politically. I think a key reason for the difference is that Reagan …
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Z. Byron Wolf / ABCNEWS:
Democrats Declare Rhetorical War on the Supreme Court — Senators Claim Court Decisions Blatantly Support the Republican Party — President Obama's public undressing of the robed Supreme Court justices seated in front of him at the State of the Union address turned heads and drew rebukes from Republicans.
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
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Randy E. Barnett / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Owes the High Court an Apology
Obama Owes the High Court an Apology
Discussion:
CBS News, New York Times, Political Punch, SCOTUSblog, The Hill, Hit & Run, The Caucus and Cafe Hayek
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
March of the Peacocks — Last week, the Center for American Progress, a think tank with close ties to the Obama administration, published an acerbic essay about the difference between true deficit hawks and showy “deficit peacocks.” You can identify deficit peacocks, readers were told …
Discussion:
PERRspectives, Pacific Views, QandO, Dennis the Peasant, The Business Insider, Prairie Weather and Daily Kos
Timothy Jost / The New Republic:
You Call This a Better Idea? — Timothy Jost is a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law. He posts regularly on the Politico health reform arena and on Georgetown University's Legal Issues in Health Reform blog. — Although President Obama's primary health reform message …
Discussion:
Progressive Fix
RELATED:
Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Obama rumbles with House GOP — BALTIMORE — President Barack Obama told House Republicans Friday that Washington can't break through partisan gridlock “if we can't move past the politics of no” — then engaged with them in an extraordinary back-and-forth straight out of the House of Commons.
Jules Crittenden:
... Won't Be Down To Breakfast — Two empty places at the table. J.D. Salinger and Howard Zinn. Well, we can sit here awkwardly silent, listening to the clink of cutlery, or we can have a cheery chinwag! I vote for chinwag. — Salinger first. I may be one of the few people …
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: Stewart rips Matthews on “forgot Obama was black” moment — Jon Stewart calls Chris Matthews “a Scotch away from becoming Ron Burgundy,” and that's not the best line in this clip from Mediaite, where Stewart and Wyatt Cenac tear into Chris Matthews and his “big thinking” on race after the State of the Union speech.
Discussion:
Mudville Gazette