Top Items:
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.
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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, Another Black Conservative, Commentary, YID With LID, The Washington Independent, The Caucus, The Swamp, Emptywheel, Daily Kos, Politics Daily, The Page, The Corner on National …, The Plum Line, The Hill, New York Magazine, Main Justice, And So it Goes in Shreveport and Ezra Klein
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, Washington Post, OpenSecrets.org, The Daily Caller, New York Times, FiveThirtyEight, Left Coast Rebel, Raw Story, QandO, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Glittering Eye, Michelle Malkin, The Lonely Conservative, Commentary, Washington Wire, Prairie Weather, Wake up America, The Hill, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The White House, Newsweek Blogs and Open Left
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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Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blog:
Ford's NBC contract suspended — When Harold Ford Jr. appears on NBC's “Meet the Press” this Sunday, it'll be as chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, according to a network release. On the show's website, he's listed as a “political insider.” — But when he's more recently appeared …
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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 …
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, GOP 12, Taylor Marsh, The Corner on National …, Mediaite, Newshoggers.com, Ben Smith's Blog, The Hill, The Note, 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 Warren / Esquire:
Tim Pawlenty: The Esquire Interview — The Minnesota governor, whom many expect to run for president in 2012, on bailouts, health care, whether Obama is a socialist, and where Republicans go from here — In his first major interview since launching his political-action committee …
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Tim Pawlenty offers a stinging critique of GOP
Tim Pawlenty offers a stinging critique of GOP
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
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.
Discussion:
The Caucus, The New Republic, The Politico, Washington Monthly, Emptywheel, Prairie Weather, Swampland, Dennis the Peasant and Open Congress
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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, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and The Hill
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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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.
Washington Post:
75% back letting gays serve openly — Three-quarters of Americans say that they support openly gay people serving in the U.S. military, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, a finding that could lend momentum to the Obama administration's effort to dismantle the policy known as “don't ask, don't tell.”
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, PostPartisan, ACS Blog, The Swamp, This ain't Hell …, AMERICAblog News, Truthdig and CBS News
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Jennifer Agiesta / Behind the Numbers:
Post-ABC Poll: Views on gay marriage steady, more back civil unions
Post-ABC Poll: Views on gay marriage steady, more back civil unions
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, The Caucus, Politics Nation, RHRealityCheck.org, The Agitator, Advocate and The Atlantic Politics Channel
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 …
Discussion:
Power Line, Hot Air, Commentary, The Strata-Sphere, The Corner on National … and Weekly Standard
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Stuart Taylor Jr / National Journal Online:
More Miranda Idiocy — RATIONALIZATIONS BY ERIC HOLDER …
More Miranda Idiocy — RATIONALIZATIONS BY ERIC HOLDER …
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
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
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.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, JustOneMinute, Balkinization, Commentary, No More Mister Nice Blog and Sadly, No!
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, Daily Kos, Open Congress, Open Left, The Page, MyDD, TPMDC, The Politico and The Hill
Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
A RUTHLESS BILL MAHER RETURNS — They once said, if you lose Walter Cronkite, you lose the nation. — But what happens if you lose Bill Maher? — The liberal comedian has surprised friends and foes alike by adding President Barack Obama to his list of usual targets, such as conservatives and the religious right.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
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 …
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
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.
Joe / Joe. My. God.:
NH Rep. Nancy Elliott Doesn't Do Anal — New Hampshire state Rep. Nancy Elliott wants to repeal same-sex marriage because “we're talking about taking the penis of a man and putting it in the rectum of another man and wriggling it around in excrement. And you have to think, would I want that to be done to ME?”
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Cantor To Obama And Dems: Um, You're In Power, Remember? — One funny thing about GOP obstructionism is that it does more than just block the Dem agenda in the short term. It also works politically for Republicans in the long run: The public isn't tuned into procedural details and only sees …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
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.