Top Items:
Devlin Barrett / Associated Press:
Obama pick for Justice post withdraws — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has withdrawn her bid for confirmation, after several Republicans objected to her criticism of the Bush administration's terrorist interrogation policies.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Think Progress, ACS Blog, Michelle Malkin, Weekly Standard and The American Pundit
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Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens retiring — WASHINGTON (AP) - Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, the court's oldest member and leader of its liberal bloc, says he is retiring. President Barack Obama now has his second high court opening to fill.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Justice Stevens' retirement and Elena Kagan — Justice John Paul Stevens, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gerald Ford in 1975 and then became the leader of its “liberal” wing, told the White House today that he was retiring in the Summer. I had been planning to write …
Ezra Klein:
Pick a politician for the Supreme Court — My first thought on hearing that Justice Stevens was retiring was that it'd be nice to see him replaced by a legislator with legal training rather than another lawyer. As Matt Yglesias writes, “this is one of these things that pundits …
Discussion:
Riehl World View
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Justice Stevens to Retire After 34 Years — WASHINGTON — Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, the leader of the liberals on the Supreme Court, announced on Friday that he will retire at the end of this term, setting up a confirmation battle over his replacement that could dominate the political scene this summer.
Discussion:
The Politico, Opinionator, CBS News, The Ninth Justice, The Note, Grist, Above the Law, Wall Street Journal, NPR, The New Republic, CNN, Swampland, GayPatriot, Newsweek Blogs, Ezra Klein, Politics, Politics Daily, City Room, The Rachel Maddow Show, RaceWire, Hotline On Call, Below The Beltway, msnbc.com, MyDD, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Concurring Opinions, Feministe and Liberty Pundits dot net
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Outside the Box SCOTUS Idea — As a connoisseur of American conservatism's problematic relationship with race, I had a lot of fun during the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation fight. Thus in that sense, I'm a bit saddened that the leading names being bandied about to fill the vacancy left by John Paul Stevens are all white people.
Daniel Foster / The Corner on National Review Online:
SCOTUS Short-List: from Left to Lefter — By: Daniel Foster
SCOTUS Short-List: from Left to Lefter — By: Daniel Foster
The Huffington Post:
Stephanopoulos Defends Asking Obama About Palin Critique — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — ABC News' George Stephanopoulos is defending his decision to ask President Barack Obama to respond to Sarah Palin's criticism of his nuclear non-proliferation policy, after several observers questioned …
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Taylor Marsh / The Huffington Post:
Where's the Left's Sarah Palin?
Where's the Left's Sarah Palin?
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, Taylor Marsh, Gateway Pundit, TPM LiveWire, Michelle Malkin, Top of the Ticket, neo-neocon and Balloon Juice
Matthew Continetti / Weekly Standard:
Sarah Palin on the Obama Doctrine: Advance Copy
Sarah Palin on the Obama Doctrine: Advance Copy
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Right Now, The Lonely Conservative, Wonkette, American Power, Mediaite and Conservatives4Palin.com
Jason / Tea Party Patriots Live:
VIDEO: Alan Grayson Interrupts Republican District Meeting — On Thursday, April 8th, 2010, Congressman Alan Grayson, Democrat in Florida's 8th district, interrupted a district meeting of the local Orange County Republican Executive Committee. The meeting was being held at Perkins, a family restaurant.
Discussion:
Hot Air, YID With LID, NewsReal Blog, Left Coast Rebel, JammieWearingFool and Pajamas Media
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David Damron / Orlando Sentinel:
Grayson crashes local GOP meeting, tells Orange mayoral critic “take a walk” — U.S. Rep Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, walked in on an Orange County Republican Executive Committee meeting Thursday night at a Perkins restaurant and got into a confrontation with county mayoral candidate Matthew Falconer …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
A “Seditious Rant” — Yes, the right gets nuttier and nuttier. From Liz Cheney's favorite Arab (Pushtun Karzai) to Gingrich's latest attempt to portray a responsible center-left president as some kind of radical socialist, it's a nuthouse. But the nuthouse is not resisted by the establishment.
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Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Gingrich Pledges Government Shutdown If GOP Wins Back House And Senate — On Wednesday night, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Sean Hannity that he's been tasked by the House Republican leadership to “to organize an effort over the next four or five months to develop a [new] compact or contract [with America].”
Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Jindal: ‘It Hurts Our Feelings’ To Be Called The ‘Party of No’ — Today in his speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) complained that characterizations of the GOP as the “Party of No” are hurtful: … Yet in the very next breath …
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
Breaking: Stupak Will Retire — Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) plans to announce his retirement today, Democrats briefed on his decision said. Stupak, the leader of a pro-life faction within his party, had received death threats and was under intense political pressure after he agreed to support …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Hot Air, NO QUARTER, RedState, The Hill, Political Byline, Newsweek Blogs, E2-Wire, TalkLeft, NPR Topics, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Taylor Marsh and MLive.com
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Fox News:
AP: Rep. Bart Stupak Retiring After 18 Years in Congress
AP: Rep. Bart Stupak Retiring After 18 Years in Congress
Discussion:
The Fix, CBS News, Beltway Confidential, Outside The Beltway, Gateway Pundit, Commentary, Scared Monkeys, Althouse and YID With LID
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Generic Ballot Points Toward Possible 50+ Seat Loss for Democrats — A couple of weeks ago, we examined the potential upside case for Democrats in November's midterms. If the party were able to limit their losses to about 20 House seats and 3-4 Senate seats, it might not have as deleterious …
The Huffington Post:
Dawn Johnsen, Key Obama Justice Nominee, Withdraws Her Nomination — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Dawn Johnsen, the president's appointment to the Office of Legal Counsel whose nomination has lingered in Congressional limbo for more than a year, has officially withdrawn her candidacy for the post …
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Roger Hickey / ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*:
URGENT: Stop CNN From Airing Deficit Propaganda — This weekend, CNN is giving four hours of free airtime to the leading propagandist fanning the flames of deficit hysteria, Pete Peterson, along with his lackeys. Bloggers and online activists are joining today to promote this action:
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Tim Reid / Times of London:
George W. Bush ‘knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocent’ — George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq …
Jonathan Rauch / National Journal Online:
David Frum, A Buckley For Our Time — FRUM IS ON A MISSION TO PENETRATE FOX WORLD WITH A MESSAGE FROM REALITY. — In October 1965, William F. Buckley made it possible for American conservatives to come in from the wilderness and govern. In his magazine, National Review, he published a 12-page …
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
A New Buckley? — Jon Rauch gushes over David Frum.
A New Buckley? — Jon Rauch gushes over David Frum.
Discussion:
Change of Subject
Anne Flaherty / Associated Press:
Republicans expected to line up behind New START — WASHINGTON - Despite near gridlock in the Senate, Republicans were expected to swing behind a new arms control treaty with Russia that President Barack Obama said they will like, even though some are reserving judgment until Obama can assure …
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
QUOTE OF THE DAY.... I appreciate the role a nuclear arsenal can play in serving as a deterrent against adversaries. But Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota may not appreciate the notion of a proportionate response. … There are obviously a lot of errors of fact and judgment in that quote …