Top Items:
The Mount Vernon Statement:
Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century — We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence …
Discussion:
Right Wing Watch, The Moderate Voice, OneNewsNow.com, FrumForum, Pajamas Media, The Greenroom, TPMDC, GayPatriot, Balkinization, Little Green Footballs, The Washington Independent, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Hit & Run, The New American, TPM LiveWire, Hot Air, Another Black Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Taylor Marsh, BuzzFlash.org, Gawker, Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Foundry, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Main Justice, Jay Bookman, Erick's blog, AMERICAblog Gay and Wonkette
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Capitol Confidential / Big Government:
Clinton Plotting Tea Party Counterattack — Last week, former President Clinton was rushed to the hospital in New York for an emergency heart operation. Medical experts said the procedure was “relatively routine” and predicted Clinton would make a full recovery and be back to his regular schedule soon.
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Scott Conroy / CBS News:
Palin: Tea Partiers “Have to Pick a Party” — In Arkansas, Former Alaska Governor Heaps Praise on Movement, But Says U.S. Has A Two-Party System — (CBS) In front of a crowd of Republican Party activists and the tea-party movement's rank and file here on Tuesday night …
CNN:
CNN Poll: Who are the Tea Party activists
CNN Poll: Who are the Tea Party activists
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Open Left, Pollster.com All Content, Hullabaloo and Ben Smith's Blog
Colby Hall / Mediaite:
Exclusive: Hot Air Acquired By Salem Communications — CPAC hasn't even officially started and already its making news. Mediaite has learned that leading center-right web site Hot Air has been acquired by Salem Communications for an undisclosed sum. Sources close to the deal claim that Michelle Malkin …
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Max Fisher / The Atlantic Wire:
Sale of ‘Hot Air’ Shakes Up Conservative Blogosphere — Conservative blog Hot Air has been sold by conservative pundit Michelle Malkin to a company called Salem Communications, Mediaite reports. Hot Air is known for the blogging team Ed Morrissey and the pseudonymous “Allahpundit.”
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Open thread: Hot Air acquisition — Many Hot Air readers have begun responding to the following Mediaite story: … I'm going to open a thread on this in order to keep the rest of our comment threads on topic. Neither Allahpundit nor I will have any official comment on this until tomorrow …
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Dodd: Changing filibuster rules would be ‘foolish’ — Diluting the Senate's filibuster rules would be “foolish,” Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) suggested Wednesday. — Dodd, who has served in the Senate since 1981 and is the sixth most senior Democrat in the chamber, rejected some colleagues' efforts …
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David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Judging Stimulus by Job Data Reveals Success — Imagine if, one year ago, Congress had passed a stimulus bill that really worked. — Let's say this bill had started spending money within a matter of weeks and had rapidly helped the economy. Let's also imagine it was large enough …
Discussion:
Think Progress, Ezra Klein, Washington Post, The Agenda on National …, Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Media Matters Action Network, Cafe Hayek, The Huffington Post, CNN, Matthew Yglesias, ABCNEWS, The Big Picture, Newsweek Blogs, The New Republic, Bloomberg, Ben Smith's Blog, Political Punch, ProPublica, White House.gov Blog Feed, BuzzFlash.org, Raw Story, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Taylor Marsh, Outside The Beltway, AmSpecBlog, Wonk Room, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Plum Line, New West Notes, Firedoglake, Guardian, The Greenroom, MyDD, Open Congress and Swampland
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
“May The Judgement Not Be Too Heavy Upon Us” — To have lived in an America where its former vice-president can boast of supporting the torture of human beings is tragic and terrifying enough. For me and many others, this is not America. As a former president said of the abuse and torture at Abu Ghraib,
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Poll: Large majority opposes Supreme Court's decision on campaign financing — Americans of both parties overwhelmingly oppose a Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and unions to spend as much as they want on political campaigns, and most favor new limits on such spending, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Discussion:
The Numbers, NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, Jay Bookman, Cato @ Liberty, John Stossel, Democratic Strategist, The Huffington Post, ACS Blog and Daily Kos
Kate Oczypok / The Hill:
Conservatives will take a ‘whack’ at Pelosi piñata — Attendees at a conservative conference in town this week will have the opportunity to whack a pinata of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). — Conservative Political Action Conference “CPAC” begins Thursday here in D.C. and will feature …
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Newsweek Blogs:
Exclusive: Another Taliban Leader Captured in Pakistan — By Sami Yousafzai and Mark Hosenball — Another leader of the Afghan Taliban has been captured by authorities in Pakistan working in partnership with U.S. intelligence officials. Taliban sources in the region and a counterterrorism officials …
Ezra Klein:
Selling insurance across state lines: A terrible, no good, very bad health-care idea — The big Republican idea to bring down health-care costs is to “let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines.” Jon Chait has some commentary here, but I want to simplify a little bit.
Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Gibbs calls Cantor a ‘hypocrite’ on stimulus — White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called the number two House Republican a ‘hypocrite’ for criticizing the use of stimulus funds while at the same time requesting them for his district. — Democrats have been defending the $787 billion program Wednesday, its one-year anniversary.
Discussion:
CNN
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Michael Scherer / Swampland:
Gibbs: President Obama “Would Love” To Appear On Daily Show, But Not Colbert Report — On Tuesday afternoon, I caught up with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in his office, and the conversation turned to President Obama's decision last year to appear on both The Tonight Show …
Sam Dillon / New York Times:
Plan Would Allow for Early College — Dozens of public high schools in eight states will introduce a program next year allowing 10th graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college. — Students who pass but aspire to attend …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Business Channel, The New Republic, The Other McCain and www.thetakeaway.org
Steven E. Levingston / Short Stack:
The secret behind the hot sales of “The Road to Serfdom” by free-market economist F. A. Hayek — Friedrich Hayek, Nobel-prize winning economist and well-known proponent of free markets, is having a big month. He was last seen rap-debating with John Maynard Keynes in the viral video above …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Cheney's Washington Post — First Hiatt fired the only opinion writer who really held Cheney to account for war crimes, Dan Froomkin. Then he hires a mediocre writer, and proud Catholic-for-torture, and Cheney's former speech-writer, Marc Thiessen, for a weekly column.
Discussion:
The Reality-Based Community
Wall Street Journal:
Another Liberal Crackup — The real reason Evan Bayh wants out of Washington. — The political retirement of Evan Bayh, at age 54, is being portrayed by various sages as a result of too much partisanship, or the Senate's dysfunction, or even the systemic breakdown of American governance.
US News:
Huckabee Gets Michelle Obama on Fox — Michelle Obama and Fox News are sort of going to break bread this weekend. That's because former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has wooed the obesity-fighting first lady onto his weekend show to talk about food, fat, and kids.
Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
2009- Global Warming Causes Foggy Days in San Francisco... 2010- Global Warming Causes Fog-less Days in San Francisco — You just can't make this stuff up. — Global warming blamed on foggier days in San Francisco: — SFGate reported this seven months ago:
Nathaniel Frank / The Huffington Post:
Life Support for “Don't Ask, Don't Tell”: Are Democrats the Problem? — To a degree that has caught even longtime advocates off guard, the substantive debate about whether to end “don't ask, don't tell” has rather suddenly been resolved. The impassioned statement by Adm. Mike Mullen …
Adam Fogle / The Palmetto Scoop:
Bill would ban federal currency in SC — Legislation by SC Rep. Mike Pitts would replace paper money with gold and silver coinage — PITTS INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO REPLACE PAPER MONEY WITH GOLD, SILVER COINS — South Carolina will no longer recognize U.S. currency as legal tender, if State Rep. Mike Pitts has his way.
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
Nowhere Man — The vain search for Harold Ford's principles. — “Southern voters are interested in solutions,” said Harold Ford Jr. in 2003. “They can spot a fake.” Perhaps this explains Ford's subsequent decision to decamp from the South in search of a more gullible electorate.
John Koblin / New York Observer:
The Accidental Plagiarist — Five days ago, Robert Thomson, the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, wrote a letter to The Times' executive editor, Bill Keller, about “apparent plagiarism” on The Times' DealBook blog, in a post by Zachery Kouwe, a 31-year-old business reporter.
Zachary Roth / TPMMuckraker:
Lobby Firm Tells Clients How To Sway Elections While Avoiding ‘Public Scrutiny’ — In the wake of last month's Citizens United ruling, a powerhouse Washington lobbying firm is informing its corporate clients on how they can use middlemen like the Chamber of Commerce to pour unlimited amounts …
Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Party Gridlock in Washington Feeds Fear of a Debt Crisis — WASHINGTON — Senator Evan Bayh's comments this week about a dysfunctional Congress reflected a complaint being directed at Washington with increasing frequency, and there is broad agreement among critics about Exhibit A …
Discussion:
New Deal 2.0, Wonk Room, democracyarsenal.org, Hit & Run, The Huffington Post, NewsBusters.org, Associated Press and Washington Post