memeorandum: Why Obama needs Rahm at the top (Dana Milbank/Washington Post)

2:10 PM ET, February 20, 2010

Top Items:

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: Another Black Conservative, Scared Monkeys, At-Largely, iOwnTheWorld.com, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Lonely Conservative, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Power Line, Confederate Yankee and The Corner on National …

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 …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Prairie Weather, Neptunus Lex, Washington Monthly and Taylor Marsh

Balkinization:

Justice Department Will Not Punish Yoo and Bybee Because Most Lawyers Are Scum Anyway — At long last we have the Department of Justice report on the professional conduct of John Yoo and Judge Jay Bybee in writing the infamous torture memos, along with previous versions of the Office …

Discussion: Grasping Reality …, The Reaction, TalkLeft and NPR

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 …

Discussion: The Corner on National … and Confederate Yankee

Michael O'Brien / The Hill: Judiciary chairmen vow hearings on torture memos report

Justin Elliott / TPMMuckraker:
Top DOJer Overruled Finding Of Misconduct For Torture Memo Authors

Discussion: Open Left, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Mother Jones, Newsweek Blogs, The Reality-Based Community, Raw Story, Firedoglake and Newshoggers.com

Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Bush lawyers who approved waterboarding to face no discipline

Discussion: Politics Daily, unbossed.com, Raw Story, Emptywheel, Grasping Reality …, Mudville Gazette, Hot Air and TPMMuckraker

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.

Discussion: Politics Daily, Flopping Aces, The Page, Scared Monkeys and CNN

James Hohmann / Washington Post:

Alexander Haig, former secretary of state, dies at 85 — Retired Army Gen. Alexander Haig, who held influential positions in the United States military and in politics and who as White House chief of staff shepherded Richard M. Nixon toward peacefully resigning the presidency …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, BBC, Christian Science Monitor and AmSpecBlog

Stephen Miller / Wall Street Journal:

Alexander Haig Dies at Age 85 — Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, a retired four-star Army general who advised three presidents, died Saturday at age 85 of complications from an infection. — Gen. Haig was a prominent figure in American politics for more than a decade …

CNN: Alexander Haig dies at 85

Tim Weiner / New York Times:
Alexander M. Haig Jr. Dies at 85; Commanding White House Aide

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Jules Crittenden and Swampland

BBC:
White House veteran Alexander Haig dies

Discussion: Truthdig

The Hill:

Senate GOP: Dems lack votes to use partisan tactic on health reform — Senate Republicans are claiming Democrats lack the votes to pass healthcare reform through reconciliation rules, but their math appears a bit fuzzy. — Senate Republicans on Friday distributed a press release titled …

Discussion: Hot Air

Donna Smith / Reuters:
Obama to spell out new healthcare plan

Discussion: RedState, New York Times, QandO, Pajamas Media, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Gateway Pundit, JOSHUAPUNDIT and The Corner on National …

Jared Allen / The Hill:
Obama slams Anthem rate increase in pushing healthcare bill

Discussion: CNN and The Politico

Theresa Poulson / Insider Interviews:
Cook: Health Care Is Obama's Iraq

Discussion: The Politico, Commentary and AMERICAblog News

Ezra Klein:
The strange politics of the public option revival

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Matthew Yglesias, Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, Hot Air, The Plum Line, TalkLeft and The Page

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 …

Discussion: Firedoglake, TalkLeft, Ben Smith's Blog, NO QUARTER and Prairie Weather

Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:

SHOCK VIDEO— Obama Caught in a Major ACORN Lie — The brazen dishonesty of this president is a bit concerning to say the least. — A newly discovered video shows Obama lying to the American people about his relationship with ACORN: — Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) …

Discussion: Moonbattery, Left Coast Rebel and The Vail Spot

Jeff Poor / NewsBusters.org:
Breitbart to NY Times Reporter for Alleging Racial Tones at CPAC …

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Jules Crittenden, Riehl World View, JustOneMinute, The Other McCain, TBogg, iOwnTheWorld.com and Hot Air

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.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, Clusterstock, Lawyers, Guns and Money and Conservatives4Palin.com

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.

Discussion: TalkLeft and LewRockwell.com Blog

The Huffington Post:

Santorum Suggest Military Was ‘Indoctrinated’ Into Supporting DADT Repeal — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Former Republican senator Rick Santorum accused military leaders on Saturday of having become so “indoctrinated” with political correctness that they can no longer “see straight.”

Discussion: pandagon.net, AMERICAblog Gay and Towleroad News #gay

Dan Hirschhorn / pa2010.com:

BREAKING NEWS: Welch withdraws from 6th District race — KENNETT SQUARE—Republican Steven Welch abruptly dropped out of the race for Congress in the 6th District Saturday morning, allowing the GOP to avoid an expensive primary fight and dimming Democratic hopes of winning the suburban Philadelphia district.

Discussion: The Hill, Talking Points Memo and TPMDC

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Conservatives Get a Look at Possible Candidates — WASHINGTON — For all the talk of Sarah Palin these days, there are two Republicans who are already laying the groundwork to run for president in 2012 — Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Prairie Weather and Right Pundits