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Washington Post:
Rep. John Murtha dies at 77 — Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), 77, a Vietnam veteran who staunchly supported military spending and became a master of pork-barrel politics, died today at Virginia Hospital Center following gallbladder surgery last month. — Elected to Congress in 1974 …
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
John Murtha dies, special election looms — The death of longtime Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha (D) this afternoon will set off a special election in his very competitive western Pennsylvania 12th district. — According to state law, the governor has ten days once the vacancy …
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Peter Jackson / Associated Press:
Rep. John Murtha, Iraq war critic, dies at 77 — HARRISBURG, Pa. — U.S. Rep. John Murtha, an influential critic of the Iraq War whose congressional career was shadowed by questions about his ethics, died Monday. He was 77. — The Pennsylvania Democrat had been suffering complications from gallbladder surgery.
Kate Phillips / The Caucus:
Congressman Murtha Dies — Representative John P. Murtha, the longtime Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, has died at age 77. — His aides released a statement saying that he died shortly after 1 p.m. today at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, a suburb of Washington …
John Feehery / Pundits Blog:
John Murtha — John Murtha was one of those guys whose influence …
John Murtha — John Murtha was one of those guys whose influence …
Discussion:
Washington Wire
Ezra Klein:
The six Republican ideas already in the health-care reform bill — At this point, I don't think it's well understood how many of the GOP's central health-care policy ideas have already been included as compromises in the health-care bill. But one good way is to look at the GOP's …
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Cantor: Only Route To Bipartisan Cooperation Is If Dems Fully Embrace GOP Plan — Eric Cantor's office responds to Obama's announcement of a bipartisan summit on health care with the most explicit and direct assertion I've seen yet that the only way Dems can win bipartisan cooperation …
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Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Hullabaloo, DownWithTyranny!, Washington Monthly, TPMDC, Daily Kos and The Political Carnival
Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Obama to Convene Summit on Health Care — President Obama said Sunday that he will convene a half-day, bipartisan health care summit at the White House on Feb. 25 to be broadcast on television, so Americans can see Democrats and Republicans try to break the deadlock on health care legislation.
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
REFUSING TO TAKE ‘YES’ FOR AN ANSWER.... OK, so Republicans want health care reform to be shaped entirely by their ideas. But would they tolerate a plan that includes some of their ideas? Apparently not — the existing proposal already does that. — Ezra Klein highlights an often-overlooked point …
Lisa Lerer / The Politico:
Jobs bill gets snowed under
Jobs bill gets snowed under
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Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Obama invites Republicans to summit on health care
Obama invites Republicans to summit on health care
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Sarah Palin Needs Help — There's something which, if you've ever been in the business of trying to sell consulting services, you've probably grown accustomed to. It's what I call the “consulting paradox”. Namely, it's the idea that the people who are most in need of help are often the least aware of it.
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
America Is Not Yet Lost — We've always known that America's reign as the world's greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic. — What we're getting instead is less a tragedy than a deadly farce.
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Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
Times Paterson ‘Exposé’ Will Be ‘PG-13, Not XXX’ — For days now, buzz has been building that the New York Times was prepping an explosive exposé that would lead to Governor Paterson's swift resignation. The blog hysteria peaked over the weekend, when Business Insider reported …
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Media Matters / Media Matters for America:
CNN contributor Erick Erickson: “Ugly feminists return to their kitchens” after Tebow Super Bowl ad — From Erick Erickson's Twitter feed: — EXPAND ALL EXPAND 1ST LEVEL COLLAPSE ALL
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At-Largely
Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:
Google to Make Gmail ‘Social’ — Google Inc. is taking a swipe at Facebook Inc. with a new feature that makes it easier and faster for users of Gmail to view media and status updates shared by their friends. — Google could announce the new Gmail feature as soon as this week, said people familiar with the matter.
Rasmussen Reports:
75% Are Angry At Government's Current Policies — Voters are madder than ever at the current policies of the federal government. — A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 75% of likely voters now say they are at least somewhat angry at the government's current policies …
Marist Poll:
2/8: Obama Approval Rating Below 50% ... Disapproval Among Majority of Independents — Fewer registered voters nationwide — 44% — currently approve of President Barack Obama's job performance than disapprove — 47%. When Marist last asked about the president's approval rating in December …
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Jay Cost / HorseRaceBlog:
America is Not Ungovernable — Recently, some analysts have suggested that the lack of major policy breakthroughs in the last year is due to the fact that America has become ungovernable. Ezra Klein argued that it was time to reform the filibuster because the government cannot function with it intact anymore.
Ezra Klein:
There's something new under the sun — I've been racking my brain all morning, but I really can't come up with another example of a president gambling major legislation on a televised, hyped showdown with the leadership of the minority party. Congressional Democrats have been begging Obama …
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A plain blog about politics
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Obama Approval on Economy Down, on Foreign Affairs Up — Obama does best on education, foreign affairs; worst on the economy, healthcare, and the deficit — PRINCETON, NJ — At 36%, Americans give President Barack Obama his lowest job approval rating yet on his handling of the economy.
Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
BREAKING: Mike Pence Endorses Marco Rubio — The steady drumbeat for Marco Rubio keeps going on and on. Today he is picking up the endorsement of Congressman Mike Pence. — Congressman Pence said, “I am proud to endorse Marco Rubio for the United States Senate.
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The Atlantic Politics Channel
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
A US Soldier Waterboards His Own Child — The British Daily Mail - a populist right-wing paper - reports: … Horrifying. No doubt Marc Thiessen will object that since she wasn't strapped to an actual board and only dunked three or four times, rather than 183, and her father wasn't in the CIA …
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Villainous Company, Mudville Gazette, Boing Boing, Confederate Yankee, The Corner on National …, Don Surber and Raw Story
Thomas Beaumont / Des Moines Register:
Iowa Poll: 33% of Iowans support ‘tea party’ movement — A Des Moines Sunday Register exclusive — A third of Iowans from across the political spectrum say they support the “tea party” movement, sounding a loud chorus of dissatisfaction with government, according to The Des Moines Register's new Iowa Poll.
Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:
George Stephanopoulos on the celebrity beat — The co-host of ‘Good Morning America’ talks about his new job duties. — George Stephanopoulos' move to “Good Morning America” has meant a shift from politics to an array of topics. (Jennifer S. Altman) — Reporting from New York …
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Michael Calderone's Blog