Top Items:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Tough talk comes after Obama exits — Senate Democrats held back from asking President Barack Obama about healthcare reform during a carefully scripted question-and-answer session in front of television cameras. — With the cameras rolling, a group of senators selected in advance …
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The Hill:
Scott Brown will be sworn in as Massachusetts senator Thursday — Sen.-elect Scott Brown (R), the successor to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), will be sworn in to office Thursday afternoon, giving Republicans 41 seats in the upper chamber. — “Once we get his certificate …
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Matt Viser / Boston Globe:
Brown pushes swearing-in to today — Upcoming votes cited in sudden shift — After days of expressing little urgency about being sworn in, US Senator-elect Scott Brown abruptly changed course yesterday, demanding that state officials certify his victory so he can take office this afternoon.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WHY THE SWEARING-IN DATE MATTERS.... When Sen.-elect Scott Brown …
WHY THE SWEARING-IN DATE MATTERS.... When Sen.-elect Scott Brown …
Discussion:
The Hill
Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:
Comedian Jon Stewart takes the hot seat with Bill O'Reilly — In a vigorous, policy-laden debate, ‘The Daily Show’ host blasts Fox's ‘panic attack’ coverage of Obama and the economy. O'Reilly says ‘the narrative of a couple of guys’ doesn't represent the whole network.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Don Surber, American Power, TVNewser, Mediaite, The Swamp and The Wire
Larry O'Connor / Big Journalism:
James O'Keefe vs. Max Blumenthal: How the Left Distorts, Invents and Lies — It started with a blog post at something called One People's Project, in which someone named Daryle Jenkins claimed: … The photograph that One People's Project shows as its proof (above) is cropped and just shows O'Keefe from the shoulders up.
Discussion:
Salon, Runnin' Scared, Firedoglake, One People's Project, The Washington Independent, Wizbang and Pam's House Blend
Kristi Keck / CNN:
Fractures emerge as Tea Party convenes — (CNN) — As the Tea Party's first national convention gets under way, members are united in their anger but divided over the future of the movement. — The convention is marketed as an opportunity to bring Tea Party leaders from across …
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Los Angeles Times:
Congressional Democrats are nay-saying Obama's budget — Lawmakers are railing against certain items as a campaign strategy, establishing their distance from controversial aspects of the administration. — Reporting from Washington - As Congress begins picking through President Obama's …
Discussion:
Dennis the Peasant
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Chicago Sun Times:
Details surface of Scott Lee Cohen's 2005 domestric violence arrest — Scott Lee Cohen — a pawnbroker who shocked state Democratic leaders Tuesday night by winning the party's nomination for lieutenant governor — was arrested about four-and-a-half years ago and accused of holding a knife …
Discussion:
Newsalert
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Newsdesk / Clout St:
New questions in 2005 arrest of Democratic lieutenant governor nominee — UPDATED at 8:24 p.m. with additional Quinn comment; originally posted by David Heinzmann and Ray Long at 7:55 p.m. — The newly minted Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor said Wednesday he doesn't think a …
Eli Lake / Washington Times:
‘Permission’ needed to kill U.S. terrorists — The U.S. intelligence community policy on killing American citizens who have joined al Qaeda requires first obtaining high-level government approval, a senior official disclosed to Congress on Wednesday. — Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair …
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Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
Intelligence chief acknowledges U.S. may target Americans involved in terrorism
Intelligence chief acknowledges U.S. may target Americans involved in terrorism
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
Ben Webster / Times of London:
IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri under pressure to go over glacier error — The head of the UN's climate change body is under pressure to resign after one of his strongest allies in the environmental movement said his judgment was flawed and called for a new leader to restore confidence in climatic science.
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Walter Russell Mead / Walter Russell Mead's Blog: UK Greenpeace Chief Calls on Pachauri to Resign: Al Gore Still Silent
Gail Collins / New York Times:
Florida, We Have a Problem — The Obama administration's proposed budget holds many surprises. — O.K., you have to be kind of dorky to make that statement. — Still, how can you not be fascinated when the White House announces it wants to cancel plans to put an American on the moon by 2020?
E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Off-message, Biden recasts the Obama agenda — Vice President Biden is tired of seeing the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan demeaned, derided and dismissed, and he wanted to talk about it. — But a funny thing happened in the course of an interview at Biden's White House office on Tuesday afternoon.
Chris Isidore / CNNMoney.com:
Poof: Another 800,000 jobs disappear — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — As bad as the government's jobs readings numbers have been during the Great Recession, we'll soon find out the real situation likely was worse. — Much worse. — Job losses during the recession may have been underestimated by close to a million jobs.
Jim Newell / Wonkette:
Official Carly Fiorina Video Wins Current Hour Of Internet — OH MY GOD “Carlyfornia” Senate candidate Carly Fiorina has struck again on the Internet and the results are monstrous. It's best at the beginning and end, especially the end, picking up steam at exactly 2:26.
Discussion:
TPMDC, Runnin' Scared, Carly for California, AmSpecBlog, PolitiCal, New York Magazine and The Awl
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Michael Scherer / Swampland:
Carly Fiorina Releases Rare Psychedelic Attack Ad
Carly Fiorina Releases Rare Psychedelic Attack Ad
Discussion:
National Review Online, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, American Power, Indecision Forever and Washington Post
Corey Pein / Santa Fe Reporter:
BORN POOR? — SANTA FE ECONOMIST SAMUEL BOWLES SAYS YOU BETTER GET USED TO IT — Consider these two numbers. Don't worry, there won't be a quiz. — The first number is 3,500. — The second is 32. — The first is how many jobs Santa Fe County lost in 2009, according to the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Justice Defends Ruling on Finance — WASHINGTON — In expansive remarks at a law school in Florida, Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday vigorously defended the Supreme Court's recent campaign finance decision. — And Justice Thomas explained that he did not attend State of the Union addresses …
Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blog:
Changes coming to Bloomberg's D.C. bureau — At the Bloomberg News' Washington bureau, management changes are in the works that will affect who oversees daily coverage of government and politics. — Executive Washington editor Al Hunt is expected to step away from much of the bureau's …
Ariane De Vogue / ABCNEWS:
White House Prepares for Possibility of 2 Supreme Court Vacancies — SCOTUS Watchers Believe Justices Stevens and Ginsburg Could Decide to Step Aside — Lawyers for President Obama have been working behind the scenes to prepare for the possibility of one, and maybe two Supreme Court vacancies this spring.
Discussion:
New York Times
Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
Obama's Aunt Seeks Asylum to Avoid Deportation — Zeituni Onyango Claims No Contact With White House, Obamas — When President Obama's Kenyan aunt appears before a U.S. immigration judge in Boston today, she says she will literally be making the case for her life.
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
Investor's Business Daily:
The White House's Illegal Piggy Bank — TARP: The OMB director is grilled over the misuse of bank bailout funds for purposes other than intended by Congress. This taxpayer money wasn't intended to be the administration's perpetual slush fund. — When the specifically targeted …
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
The President's GOP Outreach Comes Too Late — A photo-op is not the same as compromising on policy. — Last Friday, President Obama met with House Republicans in Baltimore. He took questions, parried criticisms, and allowed all of it to be put on television.
Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
GOP cash provides 2012 clues — The battle for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination quietly began last year — maybe not for the candidates, but for their political groups. — Sarah Palin's committee paid more than $50,000 for policy advice in the second half of 2009 …
Discussion:
GOP 12