Top Items:
Sarah Palin / USA Today:
Why I'm speaking at Tea Party convention — Later this week I'll head to Nashville, where I'll have the honor of speaking with members of the Tea Party movement. I look forward to meeting many Americans who share a commitment to limited government, common sense and personal responsibility.
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Gillian Reagan / The Wire:
Reuters Withdraws ‘Backdoor Taxes To Hit Middle Class’ Story Linked By Drudge Report — The lead story at DrudgeReport.com as of 11:30 a.m. this morning was “**REUTERS: Backdoor taxes to hit middle class.” But Reuters withdrew the article last night. Drudge noted the change and wrote …
Discussion:
YID With LID, Gates of Vienna, Sister Toldjah, Reuters, Big Journalism, Bob McCarty Writes, Washington Post and theblogprof
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Terri Cullen / Reuters:
Backdoor taxes to hit middle class — NEW YORK (Reuters.com) —The Obama administration's plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.
Discussion:
Media Decoder, Liberal Values, Hyscience, Left Coast Rebel, Outside The Beltway and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
Christina Bellantoni / TPM LiveWire:
White House Gets Reuters To Pull Budget Story — Obama administration aides appealed to the Reuters White House reporting team to kill a story by another reporter of the news service that suggested the president's new budget blueprint included “backdoor” tax hikes.
Newsdesk / Clout St:
Giannoulias, Kirk declare victory in U.S. Senate primaries — Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias declared victory tonight in the Democratic primary for President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat. — The victory for the first-term son of a banking family sets up a nationally-watched November contest …
Discussion:
The Fix, Michelle Malkin, The Other McCain, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Post and Weekly Standard
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Chicago Sun Times:
Giannoulias declares victory in Democratic Senate race — Says Kirk's days in Washington are over — State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias beat back a strong challenge from former City Inspector General David Hoffman for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from Illinois — the former seat of President Obama.
Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Giannoulias, Kirk to fight each other for Obama's old Senate seat
Giannoulias, Kirk to fight each other for Obama's old Senate seat
Discussion:
MyDD
Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
Top Defense Officials Seek to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' — WASHINGTON — The nation's top two Defense officials called for an end on Tuesday to the 16-year-old “don't ask, don't tell” law, a major step toward allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the United States military for the first time in its history.
Discussion:
The Politico, Democracy in America, The Hill, Firedoglake, CBS News, The Reality-Based Community, The Note, Prop 8 Trial Tracker, Room for Debate, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Law Blog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Monthly, TPM LiveWire, Raw Story, ACS Blog, democracyarsenal.org, Indecision Forever, INSTAPUTZ, Shakesville, Ben Smith's Blog, Boing Boing, Towleroad News #gay and Unqualified Offerings
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Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
McCain appears to shift on ÂÂ'don't ask, don't tell' — Three years ago, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was pretty clear about his stand on the military's “don't ask, don't tell” policy. — A former war hero, McCain said he would support ending the ban once the military's top brass told him that they agreed with the change.
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Reid: Senate can't pass reconciliation first, decision hopefully by next week — Emerging from a meeting Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hopes Democrats can decide by next week on a way to move the health care bill forward.
Discussion:
The Reality-Based Community
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Kos / Daily Kos:
The 2010 Comprehensive Daily Kos/Research 2000 Poll of Self-Identified Republicans — As I've mentioned before, I'm putting the finishing touches on my new book, American Taliban, which catalogues the ways in which modern-day conservatives share the same agenda as radical Jihadists in the Islamic world.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico, Philly.com, Hotline On Call, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, New York Magazine, The BRAD BLOG, Ezra Klein, The TrogloPundit, Washington Monthly, Newsweek Blogs, The Moderate Voice, No More Mister Nice Blog, TPMDC, NewsBusters.org, Feministe, Politics Daily, The Jawa Report, Left Coast Rebel, Little Green Footballs, race42008.com, Winds of Change.NET, Conservatives4Palin.com, Progressive Fix, Economist's View, Discourse.net, The Washington Independent, Swampland, msnbc.com, Liberal Values, 24Ahead and The Impolitic
New York Times:
Official Says Terrorism Suspect Is Cooperating — WASHINGTON — Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jetliner bound for Detroit on Dec. 25, started talking to investigators after two of his family members arrived in the United States and helped earn his cooperation …
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
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Jordy Yager / The Hill:
Intelligence officials warn new attacks are ‘certain’ — The nation's top intelligence officials warned Congress on Tuesday that terrorists are “certain” to attempt another attack on the U.S. within the coming months. — CIA Director Leon Panetta said the foremost risk …
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ABCNEWS:
Exclusive: The Jenny Sanford Interview — S.C. First Lady Tells Barbara Walters: ‘I Thought He Loved Me in His Own Way, Which Is Not a Warm, Bubbly Way’ — South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford recalls how she made the “leap of faith” to marry husband Gov. Mark Sanford even though …
Rahm Apologizes / Political Punch:
Rahm Apologizes for Privately Calling Liberal Activists “Retarded” — Paulson: I Was Afraid McCain Would Change Mind and Go Against TARP — Brennan: All Transferred Detainees Who Returned to Terrorism Were Released by Bush, No Recidivism for Those Released by Obama
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David Folkenflik / NPR:
Conservative Blogger Faces Criticism Over Protege … text sizeAAA — The conservative online news entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart is, for the moment, doing little to dispel stereotypes about bloggers. During a recent visit to his home on the west side of Los Angeles, Breitbart, 41, is working from his own basement.
Discussion:
protein wisdom
Brian A. Howey / howeypolitics.com:
Former Sen. Coats to Challenge Sen. Bayh — INDIANAPOLIS - Informed and reliable sources are telling Howey Politics Indiana that former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats will announce Wednesday he will challenge U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh. — The source, former aide Curt Smith of the Indiana Family Institute …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Futile Struggle Against Free Content — David Goldman writes about falling music sales: … Music industry executives can tell themselves that as long as they want. But under conditions of perfect competition, the price of a song ought to be equal to the marginal cost of distributing a new copy of a song.
Discussion:
Conventional Folly
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David Goldman / CNNMoney.com:
Music's lost decade: Sales cut in half
Music's lost decade: Sales cut in half
Discussion:
The Atlantic Business Channel
David Streitfeld / New York Times:
No Help in Sight, More Homeowners Walk Away — In 2006, Benjamin Koellmann bought a condominium in Miami Beach. By his calculation, it will be about the year 2025 before he can sell his modest home for what he paid. Or maybe 2040. — “People like me are beginning to feel like suckers,” Mr. Koellmann said.
Sewell Chan / New York Times:
Dodd Calls Obama Plan Too Grand — WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee warned on Tuesday that the Obama administration's new proposals to rein in Wall Street firms ran the risk of derailing months of delicate negotiations over overhauling financial regulations.
Discussion:
The Big Picture
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Limbaugh ‘thanks God every day’ for Obama's political problems — Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said that he “thank[s] God every day” for the political difficulties facing President Barack Obama. — Limbaugh told Fox News in an interview to air on “Fox and Friends” …
Mary Pilon / Wall Street Journal:
What's a Degree Really Worth? — A college education may not be worth as much as you think. — For years, higher education was touted as a safe path to professional and financial success. Easy money, in the form of student loans, flowed to help parents and students finance degrees …
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Blanche Lincoln Poll — John Boozman will enter the Arkansas Senate race this weekend as the frontrunner. He leads incumbent Blanche Lincoln by an amazing 56-33 margin in our first poll of the race. — Lincoln's approval rating has sunk to just 27%, with 62% of voters in the state disapproving of her.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Shoe bomber was read Miranda rights — Republicans may have a hard time keeping up their talking point about how reading Miranda rights to the Christmas Day bomber represented a dangerous new direction under President Barack Obama. — It turns out that that back in December 2001 …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, JustOneMinute, Newsweek Blogs, Washington Monthly and Ben Smith's Blog
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Obama takes another dig at Las Vegas — President Barack Obama on Tuesday took another dig at Las Vegas at his New Hampshire town hall Tuesday after similar remarks got him into hot water last year. — Obama said that people should now “blow a bunch of cash in Vegas” during a tough recession.
Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
Kim Jong-il's regime is even weirder and more despicable than you thought. — Visiting North Korea some years ago, I was lucky to have a fairly genial “minder” whom I'll call Mr. Chae. He guided me patiently around the ruined and starving country, explaining things away by means of a sort …
Discussion:
NewsReal Blog
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
In sex scandal, Edwards braced for media onslaught that never came — Two weeks before the 2008 Iowa caucuses, the National Enquirer published a detailed story reporting that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards had had an affair, and that the woman involved, campaign videographer Rielle Hunter …
Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Hoyer walks back week-end prediction — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters on Tuesday that he doesn't “think time's running out” for Congress to do health care reform - but he's not making any predictions about when things will get back on track.
Discussion:
TPM LiveWire
Peterhamby / CNN:
Palin hired former Gore speechwriter for big speech — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin delivered a humorous speech at the Gridiron Dinner last December. — Washington (CNN) - Sarah Palin's political action committee doled out tens of thousands of dollars last year to Republican consulting firms …