Top Items:
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
McConnell: ‘Not clear’ if GOP can block partisan tactic on healthcare — It's “not clear” whether enough Democrats will defect on a majority-vote procedure on health legislation to stop it, the Senate's top Republican said Sunday. — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) …
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Peter Nicholas / Los Angeles Times:
White House adjusts strategy on Republicans — The Obama administration aims to put members of the GOP on the spot, forcing them to compromise on issues or be portrayed as obstructionists. — Reporting from Washington - As voters lose patience with political gridlock …
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Washington Post:
Republicans ‘ready to participate’ in Obama's health care summit — The Senate's top Republican promised Sunday morning that he and his members will attend President Obama's health care summit on Thursday “ready to participate” but said the Democrats are being “arrogant” by refusing to scrap their legislation and start over.
Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
With his health-care summit, Obama could make partisanship worse — The White House health-care summit on Thursday is supposed to mark a return to politics as it should be practiced — the president leading the legislative process, the two parties talking things out, bipartisanship flowering, order restored.
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
The Fat Lady Has Sung — A small news item from Tracy, Calif., caught my eye last week. Local station CBS 13 reported: “Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 911 for a medical emergency. But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year …
Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:
Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs — BUENA PARK, Calif. — Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Confluence, The Baseline Scenario, Big Brass Blog, Stop The ACLU, Liberty Street and Eschaton
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David Bellavia:
Our Mission is Finally Accomplished... Anyone Care? … I am not naive. I understand that there are individuals who opposed the war in Iraq from the very beginning and I believe their passion, although misguided at times, is rooted in a deep desire for peace.
Evan Bayh / New York Times:
Why I'm Leaving the Senate — BASEBALL may be our national pastime, but the age-old tradition of taking a swing at Congress is a sport with even deeper historical roots in the American experience. Since the founding of our country, citizens from Ben Franklin to David Letterman have made fun of their elected officials.
Discussion:
TalkLeft, his vorpal sword, Washington Monthly, USA Today, Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hill, The Reaction, Althouse, James Fallows, TBogg, The Page and Gawker
Jacob Heilbrunn / Los Angeles Times:
The GOP's ‘tea party’ dance — Will the movement sink or save the conservatives? — In September 1960, several dozen young conservative intellectuals descended on National Review editor William F. Buckley Jr.'s estate in Sharon, Conn., to draft a manifesto.
Discussion:
The Washington Note
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The Note:
Schwarzenegger: Tea Party ‘Not Going To Go Anywhere’ — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was dismissive of the Tea Party movement in a “This Week” exclusive interview with Terry Moran. “The Tea Party is not going to go anywhere,” Schwarzenegger told Moran.
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Jared Allen / The Hill:
Schwarzenegger: GOP stimulus attacks, then praise of projects hypocritical
Schwarzenegger: GOP stimulus attacks, then praise of projects hypocritical
Discussion:
The Note
Heather / Crooks and Liars:
Beck: Stop Teaching My Children Everyone Gets a Trophy, What is This, the Nobel Prize? — Part of Glenn Beck's rambling speech at CPAC where he spent the better part of his forty minutes throwing red meat to the crowd, trashing progressives as the root of all evil, revising history …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
msnbc.com:
Feb. 21: Petraeus, Pawlenty, roundtable — MR. DAVID GREGORY: This Sunday, facing down the threats to America across the globe. A top Taliban leader is captured in Pakistan amid a large allied push against insurgents in Afghanistan. How will it impact the war?
CNN:
CNN Poll: Majority think government is broken — Washington (CNN) - Americans overwhelmingly think that the government in this country is broken, according to a new national poll. But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Sunday morning, also indicates that the public overwhelmingly holds …
Uzi Mahnaimi / Times of London:
Meir Dagan: the mastermind behind Mossad's secret war — IN early January two black Audi A6 limousines drove up to the main gate of a building on a small hill in the northern suburbs of Tel Aviv: the headquarters of Mossad, the Israeli secret intelligence agency, known as the “midrasha”.
Discussion:
Power Line
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