Top Items:
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Holder admits nine Obama Dept. of Justice officials worked for terrorist detainees, offers no details — Attorney General Eric Holder says nine Obama appointees in the Justice Department have represented or advocated for terrorist detainees before joining the Justice Department.
Discussion:
At-Largely, Power Line, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Confederate Yankee, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Corner on National …
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New York Times:
Report Faults 2 Authors of Bush Terror Memos — WASHINGTON — After five years of often bitter internal debate, the Justice Department concluded in a report released Friday that the lawyers who gave legal justification to the Bush administration's brutal interrogation tactics …
Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:
Yoo and Bybee Cleared, Justice Department's Shoddy Investigation Exposed — The Justice Department has finally closed a sorry chapter in its history — the attempt to criminalize the work of Department lawyers who rendered legal judgment on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques …
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Bush lawyers who approved waterboarding to face no discipline
Bush lawyers who approved waterboarding to face no discipline
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Balkinization, Mother Jones, Raw Story, unbossed.com, Hot Air, Firedoglake and Newshoggers.com
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Breaking: Reid Signals Support For Reconciliation Vote On Public Option — In another surprising step forward for the public option, Senator Harry Reid's office says that if a final decision is made to pass health reform via reconciliation, the Majority Leader would support holding a reconciliation vote on the public option.
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Donna Smith / Reuters:
Obama to spell out new healthcare plan — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is expected to publish his healthcare plan as early as Sunday or Monday, combining features of the two Democratic bills passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, congressional aides and healthcare advocates said on Friday.
Discussion:
RedState, New York Times, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Pajamas Media, Gateway Pundit and JOSHUAPUNDIT
Jared Allen / The Hill:
Obama slams Anthem rate increase in pushing healthcare bill — President Barack Obama on Saturday joined the chorus of Democratic lawmakers using news of pending health insurance premium hikes in California as a rallying cry for enactment of a long-stalled comprehensive healthcare reform bill.
Ezra Klein:
The strange politics of the public option revival — Trying to figure out the politics of this public option revival has been a bit of a strange experience. On the one hand, momentum seems to be building: The letter asking Reid to run the public option through the reconciliation process has 18 senators attached.
Anne Gearan / Associated Press:
Alexander Haig, former secretary of state, dies — WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, a four-star general who served as a top adviser to three presidents and had presidential ambitions of his own, died Saturday of complications from an infection, his family said. He was 85.
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CNN:
Alexander Haig dies at 85 — Washington (CNN) — Alexander Haig, the former military officer, secretary of state and adviser to presidents, has died, a Johns Hopkins Medical Center spokesman said. — Haig, 85, was admitted to the Baltimore, Maryland, hospital on January 28 and died at 1:30 a.m. Saturday …
The Huffington Post:
Feds Bullied Kerik Into 4-Year Term, Hurting Us All — What's Your Reaction: … White Plains, NY - The corruption case of former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik shouldn't end with the four-year prison sentence imposed on him Feb. 18 here in a federal courtroom.
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Why Obama needs Rahm at the top — Let us now praise Rahm Emanuel. — No, seriously. — It is the current fashion to blame President Obama's disappointing first year on his chief of staff. “First, remove Rahm Emanuel,” writes Leslie Gelb in the Daily Beast, because he lacks …
Jeff Poor / NewsBusters.org:
Breitbart to NY Times Reporter for Alleging Racial Tones at CPAC: 'You're a Despicable Human Being' — After Barack Obama's election as the first black president of the United States, we were supposed to have entered a new, post-racial era. However, as many feel it has turned out …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Jules Crittenden, The Other McCain, TBogg, iOwnTheWorld.com, Hot Air and Media Blog on National …
The Note:
Far-Right John Birch Society 2010 — ABC's Jonathan Karl reports: This week's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington has a co-sponsor from the far-right fringe of American politics: The John Birch Society. — According to Ian Walters, a spokesman for CPAC …
The Huffington Post:
Bush Official Criticizes Obama For Killing Too Many Terrorists — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Just how unpopular are President Barack Obama's anti-terrorism policies with his Republican critics? Even when he's killing terrorists they find flaws. — At a panel on national security policy …
Macroeconomic Advisers / Macroadvisers:
MA on fiscal stimulus, the definitive answer: it works. MA refutes the demagoguery. — It's the first anniversary of the American Recovery and Re-Investment Act of 2009 (ARRA). Politicians, economists, and the public are either celebrating or bemoaning the event, while the media is delighted to report anyone's viewpoint.
Dave Itzkoff / New York Times:
‘Family Guy,’ Palin and the Limits of Laughter — “Family Guy,” the Fox animated comedy series, is either irreverent or crass, depending on your tolerance for unmannerly humor. Viewers come for its pop-cultural free associations and flatulence gags, not necessarily to debate pressing issues of the day.
Ben Geman / The Hill:
Al Gore slams Exxon's ‘lies’ as advocates seek to regain momentum — Al Gore used Twitter Thursday to allege that oil giant Exxon Mobil has lied about its commitment not to fund organizations that dispute the science behind global warming. — “No surprise.
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Walter Russell Mead / Walter Russell Mead's Blog:
How Al Gore Wrecked Planet Earth
How Al Gore Wrecked Planet Earth
Discussion:
Samizdata.net
Thom Shanker / New York Times:
Afghan Push Went Beyond Traditional Military Goals — WASHINGTON — Before 10,000 troops marched through central Helmand Province to wrest control of a small Afghan town from a few hundred entrenched Taliban fighters, American officials did something more typical of political than military campaigns: they took some polls.
Heather / Crooks and Liars:
Bob Barr shouted down at CPAC for saying waterboarding is torture — Oh what a lovely crowd, huh? Bob Barr is booed and yelled at loudly by the crowd until the moderator, Jay Sekulow, calms them down, for daring to point out that waterboarding is torture.
E.J. Dionne / PostPartisan:
Palin and Brown: Mitt Romney's best friends — Mitt Romney got a rousing reception at the Conservative Political Action Conference. And why not? He was introduced by the new conservative hero, Scott Brown, the Massachusetts senator whose election Romney played an important role in bringing about.
Discussion:
Hot Air
Benjamin Weiser / New York Times:
Top Terror Prosecutor Is a Critic of Civilian Trials — He was the lead prosecutor 15 years ago in one of the country's biggest terrorism trials: a group of men led by a blind Egyptian sheik had plotted to blow up the United Nations, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and other city landmarks.
Scott Shane / New York Times:
F.B.I., Laying Out Evidence, Closes Anthrax Letters Case — WASHINGTON — More than eight years after anthrax-laced letters killed five people and terrorized the country, the F.B.I. finally closed its investigation of the matter on Friday. The bureau released a 92-page report adding eerie …
Discussion:
Politics Daily
The Note:
Ron Paul supporters are taking over CPAC! — ABC News' Bret Hovell reports: Libertarian Texas Congressman Ron Paul - who has a large and occasionally rowdy backing throughout the country - was scheduled to speak here at the Conservative Political Action Conference at 4:30 — Friday afternoon.