memeorandum: NATO ministers, commanders advertise planned offensive in southern Afghanistan (Craig Whitlock/Washington Post)

8:35 PM ET, February 6, 2010

Top Items:

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

Birther Speaker Takes Heat at Tea Party Convention — NASHVILLE — During WorldNetDaily Editor-in-Chief Joseph Farah's Friday night dinner speech, which spent around 10 of its forty minutes on questions about Barack Obama's citizenship, Andrew Brietbart was among the conservatives …

Discussion: Hot Air, Mediaite, Little Green Footballs, Coop's Corner, The Lonely Conservative, 24Ahead, Hit & Run and Townhall.com

Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:

Andrew Breitbart at National Tea Party Convention to Media: “It's Not Your Business Model That Sucks, It's You That Sucks” (Video) — Andrew Breitbart raised the roof at the National Tea Party Convention this morning in Nashville, Tennessee. Speaking to the dozens of reporters assembled in the back of the room, Andrew said this:

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Big Government, Associated Press, The Lonely Conservative, American Power, Scared Monkeys and race42008.com

Kate Zernike / New York Times:

Tea Party Looks to Move From Fringe to Force — NASHVILLE — Yes, there were the handful of Revolutionary War re-enactors with their powdered wigs and tri-corner hats. And the man with the T-shirt proclaiming himself a proud member of the “Tennessee MOB” — a poke at politicians who dismissed Tea Partiers as an “angry mob.”

Discussion: The Caucus and Prairie Weather

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

Tennessee Tea Party Leaders Attack the Convention, Sort Of — NASHVILLE — At 1 p.m., four representatives of Tennessee Tea Party groups gathered in a ballroom adjacent to the National Tea Party Convention with about 50 reporters and unleashed the criticisms that had dogged the event in the weeks leading up to it.

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Tea Party Convention showdown

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, The Caucus, The Swamp, ABCNEWS and CNN

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Palin and McConnell wage proxy battle in Kentucky Republican Senate primary

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Riehl World View and New York Times

Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Convention Is Trying to Harness Tea Party Spirit

Discussion: Founding Bloggers, Big Government, New York Magazine and Washington Wire

Washington Post:
The Tea Party is still taking shape

Discussion: Hot Air, RedState, PERRspectives, First Draft, The Moderate Voice, Boston Globe, Prairie Weather, Nashville Scene, GOP 12 and CNN

Fox News:
Tea Party Movement Produces New Political Organization

Discussion: The Confluence and Top of the Ticket

Ed Pilkington / Guardian:
America's right meets at tea party

Discussion: Truthdig and Newshoggers.com

Jacob Weisberg / Slate:

Blame the childish, ignorant American public—not politicians—for our political and economic crisis. — In trying to explain why our political paralysis seems to have gotten so much worse over the past year, analysts have rounded up a plausible collection of reasons including …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, QandO, The Daily Dish, POWIP, Matthew Yglesias, Swampland and Hit & Run

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Snowstorm puts W.H. press corps in danger — Photographers in the White House press corps experienced two dangerous moments on Saturday while covering President Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Committee's Winter Meeting. — Reporters ventured out to cover the speech amid …

Discussion: theblogprof, CNN, The Lonely Conservative and JammieWearingFool

Alex Williams / New York Times:

The New Math on Campus — CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — ANOTHER ladies' night, not by choice. — After midnight on a rainy night last week in Chapel Hill, N.C., a large group of sorority women at the University of North Carolina squeezed into the corner booth of a gritty basement bar.

Discussion: CARPE DIEM, Jezebel and Marginal Revolution

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Eulogy To The Unknown Campaign Volunteer; Obama Misstates Facts — Obama is getting a bit of a bum rap for eulogizing a campaign volunteer (Melanie Shouse, per this, or this) who Obama claims, incorrectly, died without health insurance but insisted on being buried in an Obama t-shirt.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, sara in italy and Flopping Aces

Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture:

How Can Securitization Lending Be Made Safer ? … In his column today, Floyd Norris asks “Can the world be made safe for the return of securitizations?” — To a degree, that is the wrong question. — While some people have become focused on securitization, what we should really be looking …

Discussion: Angry Bear and Eschaton

Floyd Norris / New York Times:
Seeking a Safer Way to Securitization

Discussion: Angry Bear

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

RESPONDING TO ‘ANY CONFUSION OUT THERE’.... Well, he certainly sounds serious about getting health care reform done. — Speaking at a winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee, President Obama covered some familiar ground, but tackled health care reform in a rather straightforward way.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, FiveThirtyEight, CBS News and The Reality-Based Community

Peter Foster / Telegraph:

China threatens world health by unleashing waves of superbugs — China's reckless use of antibiotics in the health system and agricultural production is unleashing an explosion of drug resistant superbugs that endanger global health, according to leading scientists.

Discussion: Truthdig

New York Times:

Democrats Ask, Can Health Care Bill Be Saved? — WASHINGTON — For a moment, President Obama's pledge to keep fighting for major health care legislation got personal on Thursday night as he told supporters at a fund-raiser about a former campaign worker in St. Louis without health insurance who had died of breast cancer.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Open Left and Cafe Hayek

Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
Obama suggests extending debate as way to pass health reform

Discussion: The Caucus

Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:

Steele: ‘Trust Me, After Taxes, A Million Dollars Is Not A Lot Of Money’ — RNC Chairman Michael Steele and former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN) held a joint appearance Thursday night at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. When the debate turned to President Obama's plan …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Raw Story and Associated Press

Blake Hurst / Weekly Standard:

Farmer Knows Best — The dark side of going green. — Kathleen Merrigan, deputy secretary of agriculture and an organic and sustainable food expert, has announced an initiative entitled “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.” Sixty-five million dollars will be spent “to begin a national conversation …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Key Dem senator: Implementing 'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal could last into 2011 — A key Democratic senator on Saturday said that implementing the repeal of the military's “Don't ask, don't tell” policy against openly gay service members could last into next year.