Top Items:
Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Obama ‘amused’ by Tea Party rallies — President Barack Obama struck a hyperpartisan note Thursday, telling Democrats that he was “amused” by the Tax Day Tea Party rallies. — Obama, addressing a Democratic National Committee (DNC) fundraiser in Miami, did little to endear himself …
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Washington Post:
How the Democrats can avoid a November bloodbath — Media reports suggest that President Obama is turning his attention toward the midterm congressional elections. There are a few things it is imperative he understand if he is to, at the least, minimize Democratic losses in November.
Discussion:
Moe Lane, McClatchy Washington Bureau, naked capitalism, Commentary, USA Today, POWIP, Grand Rants and Eunomia
Matea Gold / Show Tracker:
Fox News yanks Sean Hannity from Cincinnati Tea Party rally he was set to star in — Angry Fox News executives ordered host Sean Hannity to abandon plans to broadcast his nightly show as part of a Tea Party rally in Cincinnati on Thursday after top executives learned that he was set to headline the event …
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, Crooks and Liars, The Huffington Post, Instapundit, WLWT-TV, Cincinnati.com, Another Black Conservative, The Moderate Voice, Hullabaloo, Mediaite, Media Matters for America, Media Decoder, HotAirPundit, Newshoggers.com, The Huffington Post, Liberal Values, Wonkette, Don Surber, WXIX-TV and New York Times
Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
Racist Leftist Infiltrators Driven From Tea Party Rallies (Video) ...Updates
Racist Leftist Infiltrators Driven From Tea Party Rallies (Video) ...Updates
Robert J. Samuelson / Newsweek:
Today Is the Best Tax Day of Your Life
Today Is the Best Tax Day of Your Life
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Lonely Conservative, Pajamas Media, LewRockwell.com Blog and National Review Online
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Obama orders hospitals to grant same-sex couples visitation rights — President Obama on Thursday signed a memorandum requiring hospitals to allow gays and lesbians to have non-family visitors and to grant their partners medical power of attorney. — The president ordered the Department …
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The White House:
Presidential Memorandum - Hospital Visitation — There are few moments in our lives that call for greater compassion and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the hospital. In these hours of need and moments of pain and anxiety, all of us would hope to have a hand to hold …
Discussion:
Wonk Room, Box Turtle Bulletin, Pam's House Blend, AMERICAblog Gay, Donald Marron, Balloon Juice and Advocate
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Obama Widens Medical Rights for Same-Sex Partners — WASHINGTON — President Obama on Thursday ordered his health secretary to issue new rules aimed at granting hospital visiting rights to same-sex partners. — The White House announced the rule changes, which will also make it easier …
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
White House complains about CBS News blog post saying that possible Supreme Court nominee is gay — The White House ripped CBS News on Thursday for publishing an online column by a blogger who made assertions about the sexual orientation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, widely viewed as a leading candidate for the Supreme Court.
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Eric Liu / The Politico:
Right uses Liu to frame court debate
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Fire Next Time — On Tuesday, Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, called for the abolition of municipal fire departments. — Firefighters, he declared, “won't solve the problems that led to recent fires. They will make them worse.” The existence of fire departments …
Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:
C.I.A. Document Details Destruction of Tapes — WASHINGTON — Porter J. Goss, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, in 2005 approved of the decision by one of his top aides to destroy dozens of videotapes documenting the brutal interrogation of two detainees, according to an internal C.I.A. document released Thursday.
Brent Kallestad / MiamiHerald.com:
Former Sen. Mack withdraws as Crist campaign chair — TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Charlie Crist's political mentor, former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, resigned Thursday as Crist's campaign chairman in his race for the U.S. Senate. — Mack wrote a terse, two-paragraph letter to his one-time protege …
Discussion:
TPMDC, DownWithTyranny!, RedState, Talking Points Memo, Riehl World View and Balloon Juice
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Endgame: Jeb Bush slams Crist, Connie Mack resigns as campaign chairman
Endgame: Jeb Bush slams Crist, Connie Mack resigns as campaign chairman
Discussion:
msnbc.com, NewsReal Blog, The Fix, Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico, The Other McCain and Ruby Slippers
The Rothenberg / The Rothenberg Political Report:
New House Ratings: 44 Seats Moved Toward GOP — We are still seven months until the midterm elections, so there is at least some possibility that the landscape could shift or that Democratic attacks on the GOP could keep Republican gains down to a minimum. — Substantial Republican gains …
Discussion:
National Review Online
Clark Hoyt / The Public Editor's Journal:
Dueling Columnists — A surprising disagreement has broken out between two Times columnists, with Paul Krugman demanding an apology from Andrew Ross Sorkin and Sorkin so far refusing to back down. — The argument is over what approach Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who writes …
Laura Myers / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
U.S. SENATE RACE: Poll: Reid loses full ballot test — Third-party, nonpartisan candidates have little impact — U.S. Sen. Harry Reid must pick up far more support from crossover Republicans and independents to win re-election, according to a new poll that shows him losing to the GOP front-runner …
The Note:
DNC Pledges $50 Million for Midterms — ABC News' Teddy Davis reports: A Democratic Party official confirms that the DNC will contribute over $50 million in cash and services for the midterm elections (House, Senate, and gubernatorial races). — In making this announcement about the DNC's plans …
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell lacks support to block Wall Street reform bill
McConnell lacks support to block Wall Street reform bill
Discussion:
The Hill, TPMDC, The Politico, Washington Monthly, The New Republic, ABCNEWS, The Huffington Post and The Washington Independent
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Recalling '95 Bombing, Clinton Sees Parallels — WASHINGTON — With the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing approaching, former President Bill Clinton on Thursday drew parallels between the antigovernment tone that preceded that devastating attack and the political tumult of today …
John P. Martin / Philly.com:
Lawyer: Laptops took thousands of images — The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes, Web sites they visited, and excerpts of their online chats …
William D. Cohan / Fortune:
Merrill Lynch's $50 billion feud … (Fortune) — For Stan O'Neal, late August 2007 was a period of great anxiety. The chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch was vacationing at his home on Martha's Vineyard and, as the world would later learn, playing a lot of golf.
Discussion:
Clusterstock, Deal Journal, Dealbreaker, Credit Writedowns, DealBook, FT Alphaville and New York Magazine
Washington Post:
‘Tea party’ protesters gather in Washington to rally against taxes, spending — Thousands of conservative “tea party” activists streamed into the nation's capital Thursday to protest Obama administration policies and denounce what they regard as excessive taxation and government spending.
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Caucus, Hullabaloo, New York Times, Firedoglake, CBS News and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
New York Times:
Fighting Foreclosures — From the start, the central concern about President Obama's antiforeclosure effort has been that it would postpone foreclosures but ultimately not prevent enough to ease the economic strain from mass defaults. That concern seems increasingly justified.
Eliott C. McLaughlin / CNN:
Experts: Angry rhetoric disturbing but protected — (CNN) — Letting disgruntled citizens vent is important to national security, experts say, but some messages emanating from angry Americans in recent weeks have pressed the boundaries of free speech. — Politicians have reported slurs as well as threatening letters and phone calls.
Discussion:
Hot Air
Stu Burguiere / Washington Post:
What Glenn Beck meant about social justice — executive producer, The Glenn Beck Program> — Like everyone else in America, Glenn Beck thinks “social justice” — if its defined as charitable outreach to the poor— is a good idea. He supports it, he believes in it, he does it.
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Obama's nuclear strutting and fretting — There was something oddly disproportionate about the just-concluded nuclear summit to which President Obama summoned 46 world leaders, the largest such gathering on American soil since 1945. That meeting was about the founding of the United Nations …
Discussion:
Commentary
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
The New Senate Energy Bill: A Preview — Despite the odds, Senate Democrats are determined to pass a comprehensive energy bill by year's end. Their best vehicle is likely to debut on April 26, when Sens. John Kerry, Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham unveil their long-awaited legislation.