Top Items:
Peter Baker / New York Times:
The Limits of Rahmism — AS A DOZEN or so top White House officials gathered in Rahm Emanuel's corner West Wing office one morning in early January, the president's political director, Patrick Gaspard, reported on the latest poll numbers in Massachusetts. With less than two weeks until …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Ezra Klein, Lynn Sweet, ATTACKERMAN, Politics Daily, Gawker, Michael Calderone's Blog, The Politico, msnbc.com and DISSENTING JUSTICE
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Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:
Massa Implicates Emanuel, Dem Leaders — Embattled Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) lashed out in an emotional radio appearance Sunday, accusing Dem leaders of what he suggested was an orchestrated campaign to force his resignation. — “There's a reason that this has all happened …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, CNN, TPMMuckraker, RedState, The Confluence, American Power, NO QUARTER, YID With LID, QandO, Taylor Marsh, Open Left, The Rachel Maddow Show, Swampland, Left Coast Rebel, Sister Toldjah, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Gawker, Daily Kos, AmSpecBlog, neo-neocon and Moonbattery
Jennifer Yachnin / Roll Call:
Massa Hints He Could Rescind Resignation — Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) suggested on a New York radio station Sunday that he could rescind his resignation — scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. Monday — after asserting that an ethics investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed …
RealClearPolitics Video Log:
Massa: Rahm Emanuel “Would Sell His Own Mother” For Votes — “Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil's spawn, Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) said. ” He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive.
Jennifer Yachnin / Roll Call:
Massa Details Ethics Case Against Him, Blames Democratic Leaders — Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) told a New York radio station Sunday that an ethics investigation into his behavior focused on sexually-charged comments he made to an aide at a New Year's Eve celebration, but claimed he was unaware …
Tim Grieve / The Politico:
Massa: Dems ousted me for ‘no’ vote — He says leaders “got rid of” him so that health care reform would pass.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, CNN, cityhallnews.com, RealClearPolitics Video Log, theblogprof, Confederate Yankee and Joe. My. God.
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Eric Massa to Rip Democrats on Glenn Beck's Fox News Show — Rep. Eric Massa's (D-N.Y.) scorching attack on Democrats — while a lot of attention is going to a silly story about Rahm Emanuel, he accuses his party of trying to “shove the [health care] bill down our throats” …
drop.io:
PLEASE DON'T QUIT — We were promised HOPE AND CHANGE but what we got is more of the dirtiest — politics in history. Please don't let them get away with running you off. — Stay and do your part to save America from ruin. — Judy Niedzwiecke — 541-389-6012 — Total Agreeement
Discussion:
The Hill, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, The Daily Politics, Ben Smith's Blog, Politics Daily, TPMMuckraker and Dr. Melissa Clouthier
Jason Markusoff / Inside Alberta Politics:
Sarah Palin heads north. Er, south. Er, to Calgary. - UPDATED — It was little surprise that Sarah Palin's first visit to our home and native land (of public health care and gay marriage) would be in Calgary. It also shouldn't be surprising that she was able to curry favour …
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Palin, as a child, went to Canada for care [CORRECTED] — Sarah Palin told a Canadian audience Saturday that, as a child in Alaska, her family brought her across the border for medical care under the single-payer Canadian system. — “We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada …
Discussion:
The Note, TPM LiveWire, BuzzFlash.org, The Mudflats, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Daily Caller
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Palin: Growing Up, I ‘Hustled Over the Border’ For Health Care
Palin: Growing Up, I ‘Hustled Over the Border’ For Health Care
Benjamin Wittes / Brookings Institute:
Statement on Justice Department Attorney Representation of Guantánamo Detainees — Legal Architecture for the War on Terror, Guantánamo, Justice and Law, Terrorism — The past several days have seen a shameful series of attacks on attorneys in the Department of Justice who …
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Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
Cheneyites Lose Stimson, Rivkin, Casey in al-Qaeda Shark-Jump
Cheneyites Lose Stimson, Rivkin, Casey in al-Qaeda Shark-Jump
Discussion:
Democracy in America
Mark Halperin / Time:
Obama-Bush Same Mistakes: President Repeats Stumbles — Who would have thought that one of Barack Obama's biggest missteps as President would be repeating some of the bad habits of George W. Bush? No single factor was more instrumental in Obama's 2008 victory than his pledge to completely reverse …
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Washington Bulls**t Watch — No one does it better than Mark Halperin. Every single thing he cites in his latest brain-dead critique is, I believe, tangibly false, and the moronic attempt to grab some pageviews by a counter-intuitive and utterly dumb analogy - Obama is like Bush, guys!
Denis / GayPolitics.com:
Conservative California state senator comes out — California State Sen. Roy Ashburn, a conservative Republican with a solidly anti-gay voting record, came out as gay today on a Bakersfield radio station talk show. Ashburn's sexual orientation had been the talk of Sacramento since …
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Kerry Lauerman / Salon:
The story behind Oscar's “Kanye moment” — We talk to the two filmmakers whose personal fight became one of the ceremony's weirdest moments … People are already saying you “pulled a Kanye.” What happened? — BURKETT: What happened was the director and I had a bad difference …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, New York Times, Don Surber, Mediaite, WalletPop Blog, The Washington Independent and PopEater
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
CONCERN TROLLING GONE AWRY (AGAIN).... You know who's really looking out for congressional Democrats' electoral fortunes? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). While you and I might think, “Wait, isn't that the guy trying to destroy Democrats as part of his drive for power?” …
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obama To Dems: Reform Will Kick In This Year. This Year. This Year. — One striking thing about the speech Obama just gave at the big health care rally in Pennsylvania is how many times he stressed that if reform passes, voters will begin enjoying the benefits this year.
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Wendell Goler / Row 2, Seat 4:
Obama's “Closing Argument” on Health Care Reform
Obama's “Closing Argument” on Health Care Reform
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama warns staff: Ignore palace intrigue — The spate of news stories delving into West Wing palace intrigue has become so relentless that President Barack Obama warned his team against fueling the blaze. — “Don't get absorbed in the Washington finger-pointing and intrigue,” …
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Jackson Diehl / Washington Post:
Where are Obama's foreign confidants? — I recently asked several senior administration officials, separately, to name a foreign leader with whom Barack Obama has forged a strong personal relationship during his first year in office. A lot of hemming and hawing ensued.
Jonathan D. Salant / Bloomberg:
Business Lobbyists Push to Revive Estate Tax They Tried to Kill — Lobbyists for small businesses, construction companies, manufacturers and other trade groups are racing the clock to convince Congress to reinstate the federal estate tax they've fought for years to abolish.
Left Coast Rebel:
Updated: Dan Rather Said that Obama 'couldn't sell watermelons'? UPDATED, Video with Audio UPDATED Again: Transcript, Dan Rather/Watermelon Statement — Rush Limbaugh just mentioned that he has audio of Dan Rather saying that Obama 'couldn't sell watermelons' or some such thing.
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
House liberals want to tie on Senate health bill to vote on fixes — House liberals want to tie a series of fixes to the Senate healthcare bill to a vote for the actual bill, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) suggested Monday. — Weiner, an informal leader of a bloc of House Democrats …
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
Alabama Dem lawmaker will break from campaign trail to oppose health reform — Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who opposed the House version of the healthcare reform bill last year, will make sure to take a break from his campaign for governor to travel to Washington to vote against the final version of the bill.
Ezra Klein:
Health-care reform is progressive — Reading Chris Bowers's excellent list of the progressive priorities fulfilled or partially fulfilled by the health-care bill's sidecar amendments is a reminder of how peculiar the framing of this debate has been. There's no doubt that progressives …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, Open Left, Matthew Yglesias, The Corner on National …, Democratic Strategist and Dean's World