Top Items:
The Politico:
Reid's about-face stuns Dems, W.H. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid led colleagues and the White House to believe he supported a bipartisan jobs bill — only to scuttle the plan as soon as it was released Thursday over concerns it could be used to batter Democratic incumbents, according to Senate sources.
Discussion:
New York Times, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, OpenSecrets.org, New York Times, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, FiveThirtyEight, Left Coast Rebel, QandO, The Glittering Eye, Michelle Malkin, The Lonely Conservative, Washington Wire, Commentary, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Prairie Weather, Wake up America, The Hill, Newsweek Blogs, Open Left, CNN and Ezra Klein
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The Politico:
Family feud: Pelosi at odds with Obama — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's increasingly public disagreements with President Barack Obama are a reflection of something deeper: the seething resentment some Democrats feel over what they see as cavalier treatment from a wounded White House.
Paul Blumenthal / Sunlight Foundation:
The Legacy of Billy Tauzin: The White House-PhRMA Deal — More than a million spectators gathered before the Capitol on a frosty January afternoon to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama, who promised in his campaign to change Washington's mercenary culture of lobbyists, special interest influence and backroom deals.
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
So Much For That! Bipartisan Jobs Agreement Falls Apart Almost Instantly
So Much For That! Bipartisan Jobs Agreement Falls Apart Almost Instantly
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, Guardian, Firedoglake, Dennis the Peasant and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!
Rep. Tom Price / Congress Blog:
Now Obama discovers GOP healthcare proposals?
Now Obama discovers GOP healthcare proposals?
Discussion:
Prescriptions
Zachary Roth / TPMMuckraker:
Man Charged With Stockpiling Weapons Was Tea Partier, Palin Fan — The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent “Armageddon” appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a …
Discussion:
Riehl World View, Hullabaloo, No More Mister Nice Blog, Talking Points Memo and The Political Carnival
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Zachary Roth / TPMMuckraker:
‘Warning: Tea Party In Danger’: Leader Slams Palin As 'Wolf In Sheep's Clothing' — A prominent Tea Party leader from Texas is warning that the movement “is becoming nothing more than a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party,” and slamming Sarah Palin as representing “a growing insider's attack to the heart of the Tea Party.”
Ezra Klein:
A deal on nominations that even a Republican could love — The administration scored a big victory last night, or at least it thinks it did. After President Obama finally threatened to make recess appointments if Senate Republicans didn't let some of its nominees through the confirmation process …
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama in nominee showdown
Obama in nominee showdown
Discussion:
New York Times, The Moderate Voice, Osborne Ink, CNN, The White House, Commentary, TPMDC, The Daily Caller, Washington Monthly, The Hill, The Caucus and Think Progress
The Politico:
Why the MSM loves Palin — Fox News has been making a serious charge about mainstream political reporters: They hate Sarah Palin. — This is not just wrong, it's absurd. The reality is exactly the opposite: We love Palin. — And if Palin does not exactly love us …
Discussion:
The Hill, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, GOP 12, The Hill, Newshoggers.com, Ben Smith's Blog, msnbc.com and The Huffington Post
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Jamison Foser / Media Matters for America:
Politico : We're part of the Palin problem ...
Politico : We're part of the Palin problem ...
Discussion:
American Power
Mark Arsenault / rimonthly.com:
His Father's Son — As the youngest child of Ted Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy has become the heir apparent to a political dynasty. But six months after his father's death, he reveals what that watershed moment taught him and why he won't run for Congress again this November. — Patrick Kennedy talked for hours
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The Politico:
Patrick Kennedy to retire
Patrick Kennedy to retire
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, PoliBlog, Jules Crittenden, Michelle Malkin, Riehl World View, New York Times, The Other McCain, The Fix, Hot Air, Wake up America, American Power, DC Agenda, Scared Monkeys, Fausta's Blog, Gateway Pundit, No Sheeples Here, Gawker, Confederate Yankee, The Moderate Voice and The Democratic Daily
John Cook / Gawker:
Harold Ford's Tennessee Tax Dodge — When it comes to his shadow run for Senate, Harold Ford is a New Yorker through and through. When it comes to paying taxes, though, he's still a Tennessean — he's never filed a New York return. — Ford claims to have moved to New York three years ago …
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Washington Post:
Obama will help select location of Khalid Sheik Mohammed terrorism trial — President Obama is planning to insert himself into the debate about where to try the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, three administration officials said Thursday, signaling a recognition …
Discussion:
Josh Gerstein's Blog, Daily Kos, Politics Daily, Another Black Conservative, Commentary, YID With LID, The Washington Independent, The Caucus, The Swamp, Emptywheel, The Hill, The Page, The Corner on National …, The Plum Line, New York Magazine, Main Justice, And So it Goes in Shreveport and Ezra Klein
Washington Wire:
Corker: Willing to Be Sole GOP Vote on Financial Overhaul — GOP Sen. Bob Corker said he “absolutely” would be willing to buck his party to pass a bill cracking down on financial market abuses and creating new rules to prevent firms from becoming “too big to fail.”
Discussion:
The Page
Ezra Klein:
Iron Man was right — Spencer Ackerman's adjudication of the dispute between Captain America and Iron Man is some of the most relevant punditry you'll read today. And, incidentally, I agree with Spencer entirely: Iron Man was unequivocally right in the argument over superhero registration.
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Spencer Ackerman / ATTACKERMAN:
Captain America Has a Civil-Libertarian Bent But Iron Man Was Right
Captain America Has a Civil-Libertarian Bent But Iron Man Was Right
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Republicans and Medicare — “Don't cut Medicare. The reform bills passed by the House and Senate cut Medicare by approximately $500 billion. This is wrong.” So declared Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, in a recent op-ed article written with John Goodman, the president of the National Center for Policy Analysis.
Michael B. Mukasey / Washington Post:
Where the U.S. went wrong on the Christmas Day bomber — It seems to me unlikely that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will be known to future generations of lawyers for generating any groundbreaking legal principle or issue. But when it comes to illuminating our public discourse about the …
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Dick Durbin Throws Weight Behind Effort To Reform Filibuster — Okay, this could be significant: Senator Dick Durbin is now throwing his weight behind a new effort to reform the filibuster, a move that could give it a boost, given Durbin's clout as a senior member of the Dem leadership.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Political Punch, Open Left, Daily Kos, Open Congress, The Page, The Politico, MyDD, TPMDC and The Hill
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Shocking True Tales of Media Bias — I don't begrudge anyone their living, so if people get attractive job offers to go work at Pete Peterson's new Fiscal Times more power to them. But as we move into a world where more-and-more journalism will be financed on a non-profit basis …
David Brooks / New York Times:
What's Next, Mr. President? — By 2008, Americans were disgusted with their government. They were sick of partisan gridlock and general incompetence. Along came Barack Obama offering to usher in a new era. It was time, he said, to put away childish things. — There were actually two elements to the Obama campaign.
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: O'Donnell meltdown on Morning Joe — Anyone who recalls Lawrence O'Donnell's meltdown with John O'Neill over the latter's opposition to John Kerry in 2004 won't be surprised at O'Donnell's inability to behave himself with Marc Thiessen on today's Morning Joe.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Tim Pawlenty offers a stinging critique of GOP — Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty criticized his party in an interview with Esquire magazine. Photo by Jay Premack/Bloomberg News — In the upcoming issue of Esquire magazine, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) offers a harsh rebuke …
Jason Embry / Austin American-Statesman:
Is Medina a birther? — After ducking questions yesterday about whether the Bush administration aided in the Sept. 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, then saying she has never believed the government was involved, Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina gave a series of interviews late in the day.
Discussion:
The Washington Independent, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Ben Smith's Blog and msnbc.com
Sam Dillon / New York Times:
Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall — VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).
mda.mil:
Airborne Laser Testbed Successful in Lethal Intercept Experiment — The Missile Defense Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Quayle son running for Congress in Arizona — Ben Quayle, the son of Vice President Dan Quayle, has filed papers to enter the race for the Phoenix congressional seat being vacated by Republican John Shadegg, an aide said. — Quayle, a lawyer and principal at a local venture capital firm …
Discussion:
The Swamp