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Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Report: Shelby Blocks All Obama Nominations In The Senate Over AL Earmarks — Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary “blanket hold” on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. The hold means no nominations …
Discussion:
TPM LiveWire, Ezra Klein, National Journal Online, Think Progress, al.com, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The New Republic, Talking Points Memo, Democracy in America, DownWithTyranny!, Balkinization, Capital Gains and Games blogs, New York Magazine, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Open Congress, Washington Monthly, Ta-Nehisi Coates, PoliBlog, Progressive Fix, BuzzFlash.org, No More Mister Nice Blog, Outside The Beltway, Jesus' General, Firedoglake, Left in the West, The Reality-Based Community, skippy the bush kangaroo and Dennis the Peasant
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Ezra Klein:
What is a ‘hold’? — The news of the day, as I mentioned earlier, is that Richard Shelby has decided to place a hold on everything that eats, breathes or moves unless Alabama gets a couple billion more in pork. Before we take a step further on this, it's worth noting that Shelby is doing exactly …
The Politico:
Shelby puts hold on Obama noms — Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby has placed a unilateral hold on all of President Barack Obama's executive branch nominees in an apparent protest over home state concerns. — Shelby is frustrated over the Pentagon's bidding process for air-to-air refueling tankers …
Discussion:
Angry Bear
National Journal Online:
Reid: Shelby Has Hold On All Nominees
Reid: Shelby Has Hold On All Nominees
Discussion:
The New Republic, Hotline On Call, The Huffington Post, Newsweek Blogs, TPMDC, Talking Points Memo and Outside The Beltway
ABCNEWS:
‘Tea Party’ Fireworks: Speaker Rips McCain, Obama, ‘Cult of Multiculturalism’ — Ex-Rep. Tom Tancredo Suggests ‘Civics, Literacy Test’ Would Have Foiled Obama's Election; High-Priced National ‘Tea Party’ Convention Stirs Debate Among Factions — The opening-night speaker …
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Judd Berger / Fox News:
Tea Party Launches ‘Counter-Revolution’ — The first-ever National Tea Party Convention started with a bang Thursday, as conservative firebrand Tom Tancredo used his kickoff speech to rail against “the cult of multiculturalism” and the country's “socialist ideologue” president …
Susan Davis / Washington Wire:
Tom Tancredo to Tea Partiers: ‘Thank God John McCain Lost’ — If Tea Party activists are unhappy with President Barack Obama, it would have been a lot worse under President John McCain, Tom Tancredo declared Thursday in opening remarks at the convention in Nashville, Tenn.
Brent Budowsky / Pundits Blog:
Sarah Palin takes $100,000 for populist Tea Party speech
Sarah Palin takes $100,000 for populist Tea Party speech
Discussion:
CNN
The Politico:
Franken lays into Ax over health bill — Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats. — Five sources who were in the room tell POLITICO that Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration's failure …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The New Republic, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Another Black Conservative, Ruby Slippers, Commentary, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Coop's Corner, Betsy's Page, Washington Post, Don Surber, Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, RedState, The Page, The Reaction and The Lonely Conservative
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Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Lobbying Imperils Overhaul of Student Loans — WASHINGTON — Four months ago, it appeared all but certain that the White House and Democrats in Congress would succeed in overhauling the student loan business and ending government subsidies to private lenders.
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obama Suggests Possibility That Health Reform May Not Happen — Maybe I'm misreading this. But if you look at the transcript of Obama's remarks at a fundraiser last night, it seems like the President was at least raising the possibility that health reform may not happen.
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David M. Herszenhorn / Prescriptions:
Obama Maps a Way Forward for a Health Overhaul
Obama Maps a Way Forward for a Health Overhaul
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New York Times
New York Times:
Labor Market Shows Signs of Reawakening in New Data — The American unemployment rate dipped from 10 percent to 9.7 percent in January, the Labor Department reported Friday, buoying hopes that the worst job market in at least a quarter-century is finally improving.
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Rachel Monahan / NY Daily News:
Queens girl Alexa Gonzalez hauled out of school in handcuffs after getting caught doodling on desk — A 12-year-old Queens girl was hauled out of school in handcuffs for an artless offense - doodling her name on her desk in erasable marker, the Daily News has learned.
The Hill:
Patrick Kennedy: Scott Brown's candidacy ‘a joke’ — Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) election has been shown to be “a joke,” the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Thursday. — Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) castigated Brown for having pushed to be sworn in ahead of schedule …
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Providence Journal, Townhall.com, Hot Air, RedState, JammieWearingFool, Boston Globe, TPMDC and Gateway Pundit
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
New senator Scott Brown sure gets down to Republican business
New senator Scott Brown sure gets down to Republican business
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Washington Monthly, Boston Globe, The Note, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Corner on National …
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Socialism Viewed Positively by 36% of Americans — Majority of Americans positive on capitalism, entrepreneurs, free enterprise, and small business — PRINCETON, NJ — More than one-third of Americans (36%) have a positive image of “socialism,” while 58% have a negative image.
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Fiscal Scare Tactics — These days it's hard to pick up a newspaper or turn on a news program without encountering stern warnings about the federal budget deficit. The deficit threatens economic recovery, we're told; it puts American economic stability at risk; it will undermine our influence in the world.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, DailyHowler.com, Progressive Fix, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather and The Glittering Eye
Los Angeles Times:
Rahm Emanuel's latest gaffe points to larger issues — He's apologized for using the word ‘retarded,’ but Obama's chief of staff, once seen as the perfect strategist for the job, has become a target of criticism as the White House's agenda lags. — President Obama's chief of staff has apologized for his use of the word “retarded.”
Discussion:
The New Republic
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Bill Dedman / msnbc.com:
Palin e-mails reveal a powerful ‘first dude’ — Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails that the first gentleman, Todd Palin, exchanged with state officials draw a picture of his influence on policy in the Sarah Palin administration. Other e-mails are still being withheld by the state of Alaska.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Daily Dish, Taegan Goddard's …, Associated Press, Washington Post and The Awl
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The great peasant revolt of 2010 — “Iam not an ideologue,” protested President Obama at a gathering with Republican House members last week. Perhaps, but he does have a tenacious commitment to a set of political convictions. — Compare his 2010 State of the Union to his first address to Congress a year earlier.
Scott / Power Line:
“It's a joke name, sir” — With his all-seeing eye, Glenn Reynolds has directed readers to an intriguing story out of Pakistan and/or Saudi Arabia: … In place of any straightforward cue to the story, Glenn substituted a quote from a very funny scene in “Monty Python's Life of Brian” (the scene is below).