memeorandum: Senator Prodded Fed to Aid Ailing Lender (Damian Paletta/Wall Street Journal)

12:05 PM ET, February 9, 2010

Top Items:

Gibbs Responds to Boehner, Cantor — White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just responded to a letter sent today from House Republican Leader John Boehner and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor regarding the proposed bipartisan health care summit: — The President is adamant that we seize …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, New York Times, Jules Crittenden, Real Clear Politics, AMERICAblog News, QandO, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, The Corner on National …, The Hill, Taylor Marsh, Townhall.com, The Page and The Political Carnival

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:

Top House Republicans throw cold water on health-care summit — Leading House Republicans raised the prospect Monday night that they might refuse to participate in President Obama's proposed health care summit if the White House chooses not to scrap the existing reform bills and start over.

Discussion: The Plum Line, Washington Times, The Fix, The Strata-Sphere, Wonk Room, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Prairie Weather, GayPatriot, PERRspectives, Cup o' Joel, Ezra Klein, Progressive Fix and Wonkette

Republican Leader John Boehner:

Boehner, Cantor Question White House on Proposed Health Care Summit — GOP Leaders: “Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people?”

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Ezra Klein, The New Republic, Firedoglake, NPR, Wake up America, PostPartisan, New York Magazine, And So it Goes in Shreveport, TPMDC, Real Clear Politics, Hotline On Call, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit, Althouse, Michelle Malkin and Think Progress

ABCNEWS:

Michelle Obama Responds to Palin Pokes — First Lady: 'Change... Certainly Doesn't Happen in a Year' — Michelle Obama defended her husband against some of his most vocal critics, saying President Obama did a “phenomenal” job this year and that change is a long-term process.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Gateway Pundit and The Note

New York Times:

On Health Bill, G.O.P.'s Road Is a New Map — WASHINGTON — When Republicans take President Obama up on his invitation to hash out their differences over health care this month, they will carry with them a fairly well-developed set of ideas intended to make health insurance more widely available …

Discussion: The Politico, The Note, Associated Press, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Reality-Based Community, Wall Street Journal, The Caucus, The New Republic, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Prescriptions

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Congressional Democrats point finger of blame at Rahm Emanuel

Discussion: Firedoglake, AMERICAblog News, The Washington Note, Hullabaloo and Pundit & Pundette

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WILLING TO TALK — WITH PRECONDITIONS.... When President Obama announced …

Discussion: Democracy in America and The Mahablog

John Brennan / USA Today:

Opposing view: ‘We need no lectures’ — Administration disrupts terrorists' plots, takes fight to them abroad. — Politics should never get in the way of national security. But too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points, instead of coming together to keep us safe.

Discussion: The Hill, Power Line, National Review, Washington Post, The Corner on National …, White House.gov Blog Feed, Hot Air, The Strata-Sphere, Don Surber, Taylor Marsh, The Washington Independent, Emptywheel, The Page, TPMMuckraker and ATTACKERMAN

Wall Street Journal:

Bush Was Right, Says Obama — 'We're not handling any of these cases any different from the Bush administration.' — This weekend, Americans were treated to something new: Barack Obama defending his war policies by suggesting they merely continue his predecessor's practices.

Discussion: Hot Air, Commentary and Betsy's Page

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

White House: People who criticize us are helping al Qaeda — In a brief op-ed in USA Today, White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan charges that critics who question the Obama administration's decision to grant Miranda rights to accused Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are “serv[ing] the goals of al Qaeda.”

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Sister Toldjah, New York Post, The Corner on National … and POWIP

Political Punch:
WH: Some Critics 'Serving the Goals of al Qaeda'*

Discussion: The Hill, USA Today, RedState and TPMMuckraker

Mark Hosenball / Newsweek Blogs:
Terror Prosecution Statistics Criticized by GOP Were Originally Touted …

Discussion: Laura Rozen's Blog, Liveshots and The Washington Independent

Mark Memmott / NPR Blogs:

‘Miss Me Yet?’ Billboard With Photo Of Bush Is Real; Not An Internet Trick — Internet chatter had led to speculation that it might be an urban myth — nothing more than clever digital trickery spreading via the Web. — But our friend Bob Collins at Minnesota Public Radio assures us he's seen it with his own eyes:

Discussion: The Swamp, Gateway Pundit, Another Black Conservative, Ruby Slippers, Power Line, Scared Monkeys, The Lonely Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Confederate Yankee, No Sheeples Here, The American Conservative, THE BIG FEED, Joe. My. God. and Wake up America

Bob Collins / Minnesota Public Radio:
The mystery billboard — It was late at night and I wasn't sure …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, NewsReal Blog, RedState, Althouse, Left Coast Rebel and The TrogloPundit

The Huffington Post:

Ben Nelson To Filibuster Key Obama Labor Nominee — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — In a move that will further irritate his Democratic critics, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced on Monday evening that he would not just oppose but also help filibuster President Barack Obama's nominee to a key labor relations agency

Discussion: The BLT

Manu Raju / The Politico:
Nelson will back GOP filibuster

Discussion: CNN, Washington Monthly, MyDD, RedState, The Hill, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Commentary, Michelle Malkin, PoliBlog and Townhall.com

Ben Nelson, U.S. Senator for Nebraska:
SENATOR NELSON WILL OPPOSE NOMINEE WITH PERSONAL AGENDA

Discussion: Hot Air, AmSpecBlog and Firedoglake

Leon Wieseltier / The New Republic:

Something Much Darker — Andrew Sullivan has a serious problem. — I. — “Trying to explain the doctrine of the Trinity to readers of The New Republic is not easy.” On June 2, 1944, W.H. Auden penned that sentence in a letter to Ursula Niebuhr. On January 26, 2010 …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TPMCafe, Grasping Reality … and AmSpecBlog

Elisabeth Rosenthal / New York Times:

Skeptics Find Fault With U.N. Climate Panel — Just over two years ago, Rajendra K. Pachauri seemed destined for a scientist's version of sainthood: A vegetarian economist-engineer who leads the United Nations' climate change panel, he accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the panel …

Discussion: The Corner on National … and Jay Currie

Adam B. Lowther / New York Times:
Iran's Two-Edged Bomb

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Commentary, Think Progress, SpeakEasy and Ross Douthat

New York Times:
Iran Is Said to Begin Nuclear Enrichment

Discussion: The Page

Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:

Pamela Geller Destroys Ron Reagan Jr. on Joy Behar Show (Video) — The great Pamela Geller from Atlas Shrugs destroyed Ron Reagan Jr., Joy Behar and her other hateful liberal guest on the Behar Show last night. Geller gave Ron Jr. the spanking he never had, but needed.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, Left Coast Rebel, Atlas Shrugs, Examiner, theblogprof, POWIP and American Power

Washington Wire:

Fight Shapes Up for Murtha's Seat — Democrats are mourning the personal loss of their colleague Rep. John Murtha, but his death today at age 77 is doubly troubling for the party that will have to defend his seat in an upcoming special election. — Immediately following the news of his death …

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Jules Crittenden, Washington Post, Gateway Pundit, The Other McCain, American Power, Mudville Gazette, Scared Monkeys and The Caucus

Josh Kraushaar / The Politico:
Pa. seat is latest Democratic worry

Discussion: Politics Daily, New York Times, The Caucus and The Fix

Beat Balzli / Spiegel Online:

How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt — Goldman Sachs helped the Greek government to mask the true extent of its deficit with the help of a derivatives deal that legally circumvented the EU Maastricht deficit rules. At some point the so-called cross currency swaps will mature …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Felix Salmon, FT Alphaville and Marginal Revolution

Lucas van Praag / The Huffington Post:
Goldman's Response to the New York Times

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Deal Journal, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Gawker and The Washington Independent

St. Petersburg Times:

Secret contract, lavish spending push Republican Party of Florida to crisis — As a volatile election season gets under way, the Republican Party of Florida is facing its biggest crisis of confidence in decades. — Donors and party activists are livid over newly revealed records …

Discussion: Riehl World View, The Buzz and Commentary

Louise Radnofsky / Washington Wire:

NOAA: Blizzard Rearranges Climate Change Announcement — As D.C. continued to dig out from Snowmageddon and is keeping an eye on another storm system, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was busy making a climate change announcement. — NOAA, part of the Department of Commerce …

Discussion: theblogprof, Fausta's Blog, Maggie's Farm, The Jawa Report, Don Surber, Betsy's Page, The Lonely Conservative and THE BIG FEED

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Republicans — Not Obama — More Often on Wrong Side of Public Opinion — One of the more commonplace assertions among pundits on the center-right — made rather carelessly by Victor Davis Hanson and more thoughtfully by Jay Cost, is that agenda put forward by Obama and the Democrats …

Discussion: Democratic Strategist, AMERICAblog News and HorseRaceBlog

New York Post:

Furious gov: I've been sexploited — Blasts tales of affairs & drugs — ALBANY — An embattled Gov. Paterson yesterday strongly denied rampant rumors of extramarital affairs and drug use as he blasted the media for printing “callous and sleazy” allegations.

Discussion: Gawker, Gothamist, JammieWearingFool, New York Magazine and msnbc.com

Jacob Gershman / Wall Street Journal:
Paterson to Announce Campaign for Governor

Discussion: msnbc.com, The washington times Blogs and NPR Blogs

John Tierney / New York Times:

Will You Be E-Mailing This Column? It's Awesome — Sociologists have developed elaborate theories of who spreads gossip and news — who tells whom, who matters most in social networks — but they've had less success measuring what kind of information travels fastest. Do people prefer to spread good news or bad news?

Discussion: Gawker, E&P In Exile and Romenesko

Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:

Rep. Cohen: Murtha victim of “malpractice” — I'm a big — and lonely — proponent of the 48-hour rule when it comes to the deaths of politicians. Unless somebody dies under really questionable circumstances, wait a good two, three days before you start factlessly speculating about 1) …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and RealClearPolitics Video Log