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:
ATTACKERMAN, Gawker, The Politico, Michael Calderone's Blog, 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, Swampland, Left Coast Rebel, The Rachel Maddow Show, Sister Toldjah, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Gawker, Daily Kos, AmSpecBlog, neo-neocon, Moonbattery, National Review Online and The Page
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.
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:
Talking Points Memo, The Hill, The Hill, The Daily Politics, Ben Smith's Blog, Politics Daily, TPMMuckraker and Dr. Melissa Clouthier
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” …
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
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 …
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
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Republicans scold Liz Cheney — A group that includes leading conservative lawyers and policy experts, former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and several senior officials of the last Bush Administration, is denouncing as “shameful” Republican attacks on lawyers who came to the Obama Justice Department …
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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,” …
Discussion:
CNN, Politics Daily, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Lynn Sweet, Michael Calderone's Blog and The Note
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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 is 'couldn't sell watermelons' or some such thing.
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
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.
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Illinois Democrat Lipinski Will Switch from Yes to No if Health Bill Lacks Stupak Amendment — Add Congressman Dan Lipinski of Illinois to the coalition of pro-life Democrats standing firmly with Bart Stupak in the fight over taxpayer-funding of abortion in the health care bill.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THE GOP STILL JUST DOESN'T LIKE THE UNEMPLOYED.... It's astounding, but in the midst of an unemployment crisis, prominent Republicans continue to castigate those struggling to find jobs. — Yesterday, for example, disgraced former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) argued that unemployment benefits …
Discussion:
CNN, Confederate Yankee, Rumproast, Media Matters for America, Corrente and Paul Krugman
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?” …
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Mass-Market Epiphany — Mysticism is dying, and taking true religion with it. Monasteries have dwindled. Contemplative orders have declined. Our religious leaders no longer preach the renunciation of the world; our culture scoffs at the idea. The closest most Americans come …