Top Items:
Washington Post:
McDonnell's Confederate History Month proclamation irks civil rights leaders — RICHMOND — Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, reviving a controversy that had been dormant for eight years, has declared that April will be Confederate History Month in Virginia, a move that angered civil rights leaders Tuesday …
Discussion:
FrumForum, The Note, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Post Now, PostPartisan, Think Progress, Politics Daily, The Huffington Post, Sister Toldjah, TPMMuckraker, Firedoglake, Top of the Ticket, Balkinization, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Nation, NPR Topics, Taylor Marsh, The Plum Line, Grasping Reality …, Achenblog, Below The Beltway, Crooks and Liars, Shakesville, TPM LiveWire, Ben Smith's Blog, MLive.com, The Caucus, The Huffington Post, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, Obsidian Wings, This Just In, Virginia Politics Blog, Little Green Footballs, Harry's Place, PoliBlog, DownWithTyranny!, Riehl World View, Outside The Beltway, Betsy's Page, The Confluence, Guardian and Anti-Neo-Confederate
RELATED:
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
McDonnell apologizes — After a defensive first reaction, Bob McDonnell realizes that there's little upside to this fight for him: — The proclamation issued by this Office designating April as Confederate History Month contained a major omission. The failure to include any reference …
Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:
Proud Of Being Ignorant — A lot of you have e-mailed me to note that Virginia governor Bob McDonnell has decided to honor those who fought to preserve, and extend, white supremacy. I don't really have much to say. The GOP is, effectively, the party of willfully unlettered Utopians.
Discussion:
Newshoggers.com, Balkinization, Little Green Footballs, The Impolitic and Prairie Weather
Rachel Slajda / TPM LiveWire:
Apologetic McDonnell Adds Slavery Clause To ‘Confederate History Month’ Proclamation
Apologetic McDonnell Adds Slavery Clause To ‘Confederate History Month’ Proclamation
Paul / Power Line:
The wrong proclamation in Virginia
The wrong proclamation in Virginia
Discussion:
Think Progress, PostPartisan, Pam's House Blend, Virginia Politics Blog, The Daily Dish and NPR Topics
CNN:
Reporter's notebook: What really happens at Tea Party rallies — (CNN) — When it comes to the Tea Party movement, the stereotypes don't tell the whole story. — Here's what you often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: offensive posters blasting President Obama and Democratic leaders …
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Scott Shane / New York Times:
U.S. Approves Targeted Killing of American Cleric — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks …
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David Freddoso / Washington Examiner:
Five things we learned about Obamacare after it passed — “[W]e have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., famously said that about President Obama's health care reform package. She was right.
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Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
Harry Reid Won't Announce Stops On Bus Tour Out of Fear of Protesters
Harry Reid Won't Announce Stops On Bus Tour Out of Fear of Protesters
Discussion:
Pajamas Media
Devlin Barrett / Associated Press:
AP sources: FBI arrests man for threatening Pelosi — WASHINGTON — The FBI arrested a northern California man Wednesday for allegedly making threatening phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over health care reform, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
Mark Murray / msnbc.com:
FIRST THOUGHTS: THE GOP'S VOID — The GOP's leadership void... The hits keep on coming for Steele, though the RNC reported raising $11.4 million in March... But that is less than the $13 million-plus the DNC is reporting... Is Bart Stupak going to call it quits?... Obama heads to Prague this evening …
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Matt Cover / CNSNews:
Rep. Wasserman Schultz Insists Health Care Law Doesn't Require Individuals to Buy Insurance — (CNSNews.com) - Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D.-Fla.) is insisting that the new health care law she voted for last month does not mandate that individuals buy health insurance, despite language in the law that plainly says otherwise.
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Obama weighs new peace plan for the Middle East — Despite recent turbulence in U.S. relations with Israel, President Obama is “seriously considering” proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict, according to two top administration officials.
RELATED:
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Weighing an Obama Plan to End a Mideast Logjam
Weighing an Obama Plan to End a Mideast Logjam
Discussion:
Commentary
Dick Morris / The Hill:
GOP will win House, Senate — Stanley Greenberg and James Carville claim that the Republican Party has peaked too soon. — Stanley Greenberg and James Carville claim that the Republican Party has peaked too soon. Incredibly, Greenberg says that “when we look back on this, we're going to say Massachusetts is when 1994 happened.”
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Voters Issue Strong Rebuke of Incumbents in Congress — Fewer than half (49%) would re-elect own member, 28% for most members — PRINCETON, NJ — A record-low percentage of U.S. voters — 28% — say most members of Congress deserve to be re-elected. The previous low was 29% in October 1992.
Associated Press:
Nearly half of US households escape fed income tax — Recession, new tax credits have nearly half of US households paying no federal income tax — FILE - In this April 5, 2010 file photo, Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman gestures while speaking at the National Press Club in Washington.
Clifford J. Levy / New York Times:
Upheaval in Kyrgyzstan as Leader Flees — MOSCOW — The president of Kyrgyzstan was forced to flee the capital, Bishkek, on Wednesday after bloody protests erupted across the country over his repressive rule, a backlash that could pose a threat to the American military supply line into nearby Afghanistan.
Discussion:
BBC, The Lede, Newsweek Blogs, The Agonist, New Atlanticist, Laura Rozen's Blog, NPR Topics and Truthdig
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Garry Wills / New York Times:
Behind Obama's Cool — In 2004, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois attended a White House event wearing the campaign pin of her state's candidate for the United States Senate. When she saw President Bush do a double take at the one word on her pin, she assured him that it spelled “Obama,” not “Osama.”
Richard Thaler / Cato Unbound:
Fear of Falling — There are a lot of things out there to be afraid of, and there seem to be phobias named for each one. For example, you may not be familiar with bathmophobia, which is an abnormal and persistent fear of stairs or steep slopes, or a fear of falling.
Discussion:
EconLog
Anne Schroeder Mullins / The Politico:
STORMY STUNT IRKS GOP — Stormy Daniels and her team may not have come to a conclusion about her Senate candidacy over the past few months (and we'd be surprised if they ever do!), but she's nonetheless managed to be a thorn in the side of Louisiana Republicans.
Discussion:
Beltway Confidential
New York Times:
Greenspan Rejects Criticism of Federal Reserve at Hearing — WASHINGTON — The committee examining the causes of the financial crisis heard a strong defense of the Federal Reserve from its former chairman on Wednesday as the panel began three days of hearings 0n the failure to rein in Citigroup …
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, ProPublica, Matthew Yglesias and Truthdig
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
For the wealthy, less in taxes is not always more — You thought only conservatives got mad about taxes? — Tea partiers, eat your hearts out: A group of liberals got together Tuesday and proved that they, too, can have a tax rebellion. But theirs is a little bit different: They want to pay more taxes.
Discussion:
USA Today, PostPartisan, Don Surber, Big Government, The Atlantic Online, Moonbattery and The Lonely Conservative
Margaret Talev / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Health care overhaul spawns mass confusion for public — WASHINGTON — Two weeks after President Barack Obama signed the big health care overhaul into law, Americans are struggling to understand how — and when — the sweeping measure will affect them. — Questions reflecting confusion …
Rasmussen Reports:
55% Say Media Bias Bigger Problem in Politics Than Big Contributions — Voters agree that big money talks in politics but apparently not as loudly as big media. — Fifty-five percent (55%) of U.S. voters continue to think that media bias is a bigger problem in politics today …
FIRE:
New Duke Policy Renders Students Unwitting Rapists; Removes Protections for Those Accused of Sexual Misconduct — Duke University has instituted a new “sexual misconduct” policy that can render a student guilty of non-consensual sex simply because he or she is considered “powerful” on campus.
New York Post:
Spitzer acknowledges he has toyed with political comeback — For the first time, Eliot Spitzer is acknowledging in an interview with Fortune what The Post first reported last year — that he is itching for a way back into politics and, even at this late date, hasn't totally closed the door on a race this year.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Gawker, The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air, JammieWearingFool and The Page