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The Politico:
Hoyer knew of Massa allegations — First-term Rep. Eric Massa announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection, saying his doctors have told him that he can't continue to “run at 100 miles an hour.” — But several House aides told POLITICO that the House ethics committee has been informed …
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
House Democrats approach danger zone with retirements — 1. The political import of New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa's surprising retirement on Wednesday was largely eclipsed by the controversy surrounding why he decided to depart Congress after a single term. It shouldn't be.
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Exclusive: RNC document mocks donors, plays on ‘fear’ — The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack Obama and a promise to “save the country from trending toward socialism.”
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Tom Watson / My Dirty Life & Times:
A Death in the Blogging Family — The great Jon Swift has died. That's the “blogging” angle to a personal tragedy. In reality, the voice of Jon Swift - the hilarious faux conservative blogger whose talent and passion were evident in every post - belonged to Al Weisel …
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James Wolcott / Vanity Fair:
Life Is Unfair, Death Even More So (Updated) — Comes the terrible, saddening news that Al Weisel, who blogged under the name Jon Swift (an homage to the author of A Modest Proposal and the tip-off that Swiftian irony was his gambit, though newcomers to his site often missed the joke*) …
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The Reaction
Mike Levine / Liveshots:
Exclusive: Unknown DOJ Lawyers Identified — A day after a conservative group released a video condemning the Justice Department for refusing to identify seven lawyers who previously represented or advocated for terror suspects, Fox News has uncovered the identities of the seven lawyers.
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Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Senator Proposes Deal on Handling of Detainees — WASHINGTON — Senator Lindsey Graham wants to make a deal on detainees with President Obama. If the White House agrees to the bargain, it would be a defining moment for the administration — and could transform how the government deals with terrorism suspects.
New York Times:
The Democrats' Choice — Republicans' lock-step opposition to comprehensive health care reform seems to be as much a matter of politics as principle. But either way, they have made clear that there is no dialogue or any possible compromise that will persuade them to change their minds.
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John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Obama Now Selling Judgeships for Health Care Votes? — Obama names brother of undecided House Dem to Appeals Court. — Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he's obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Woman charged with killing husband is lobbyist — A 45-year-old woman, charged with ending a domestic dispute by killing her 26-year-old husband of five days, is a registered lobbyist for a group fighting domestic violence. — Arelisha Bridges was ordered held without bond in the Fulton County Jail.
Mark Steyn / The Corner on National Review Online:
Fringe Benefits — By: Mark Steyn — Gee, prosecuting Geert Wilders for “Islamophobia” in a politically rigged show trial seems to be working out just swell for the Dutch establishment. Local election watch from EuroNews: — Attention is also on Geert Wilders' far-right Freedom Party …
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Peter Baker / New York Times:
Ultimate Bush Insider Lifts Veil on Presidency — WASHINGTON — Karl Rove, the chief political adviser to President George W. Bush and architect of his two successful campaigns for the White House, says in a new memoir that Mr. Bush probably would not have invaded Iraq had he known there were no unconventional weapons there.
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Lynette Rice / Hollywood Insider:
Exclusive: Sarah Palin shopping Alaska TV docudrama with Mark Burnett — Sarah Palin, TV producer? Multiple sources confirm that Palin and uber-reality show producer Mark Burnett have been making the rounds in Hollywood this week to pitch a TV docudrama about Alaska.
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David S. Broder / Washington Post:
The fable of Emanuel the Great — In the space of 10 days, thanks in no small part to my own newspaper, the president of the United States has been portrayed as a weakling and a chronic screw-up who is wrecking his administration despite everything that his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, can do to make things right.
John / Power Line:
Off the Track — In general, I'm not a big fan of right track/wrong track polling, even though some say that it is very useful in predicting election results, since the party perceived as being in power bears the brunt of the “wrong track” sentiment. If that's true, this Rasmussen survey …
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The White House:
Remarks by the President on Health Care Reform East Room — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much, all of you, for joining us today. And I want to thank Julie, Barbara, Roland, Stephen, Renee, and Christopher, standing behind me — physicians, physicians assistants, and nurses who understand …
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Stupak: 12 previous health bill supporters could flip over abortion — The Senate's healthcare bill would lose 12 Democratic votes in the House, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said Wednesday. — Stupak, the sponsor of an amendment to the House healthcare bill which barred federal subsidies …
Sheelah Kolhatkar / Time:
Eliot Spitzer's Mission Impossible — Spitzer has the resources to tackle any challenge — except maybe another campaign — Eliot Spitzer was his usual agitated self. It was a brisk Tuesday evening, and the former governor of New York was bundled in the back of a black sedan …
Ben Geman / The Hill:
Murkowski wants ANWR ‘on the table’ in climate talks — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) suggested Wednesday that the bar for her vote on climate legislation is high indeed: She wants oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the table. — “To secure my vote on a climate bill, we have to develop a good policy.