Top Items:
Jim Tankersley / Los Angeles Times:
‘Top kill’ effort succeeds in blocking oil leak, Coast Guard admiral says — Thad Allen, who is coordinating the government response, says the well still has low pressure, but cement will be used to cap the well permanently as soon as the pressure hits zero.
Discussion:
WWL, Hot Air, Instapundit, Wall Street Journal, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Matthew Yglesias, Taylor Marsh, Mother Jones, Firedoglake, TPM LiveWire, Outside the Beltway, Ezra Klein, Mediaite, ProPublica, newsfeed.time.com, The Mahablog, Townhall.com, The Consumerist, Michelle Malkin, Corrente, Washington Post, Left Coast Rebel, The Political Carnival, Another Black Conservative, Weasel Zippers, The Oil Drum, Raw Story, The Faster Times, Guardian, The Corner on National …, Sense of Events, Questions and Observations and MyFox Philadelphia
RELATED:
New York Times:
‘Top Kill’ Effort Seems to Be Working, U.S. Says Cautiously — HOUSTON — The latest effort to plug a gushing underwater oil well in the Gulf of Mexico appeared to be working, officials and engineers said on Thursday morning, though definitive word on its success was still hours away.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Time, The Oil Drum, Associated Press, CNN, LA Times Environment Blog, Crooks and Liars, USA Today, NPR, Guardian, Daily Kos, The Confluence, Grist, The Daily Caller, RaceWire, New Orleans Times-Picayune, New York Magazine, Mish's Global Economic …, Mashable!, Vanity Fair, newsfeed.time.com and Fausta's Blog
The White House:
Remarks by the President on the Gulf Oil Spill — THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Before I take your questions, I want to update the American people on the status of the BP oil spill — a catastrophe that is causing tremendous hardship in the Gulf Coast, damaging a precious ecosystem …
New York Times:
Senate Panel Votes to Repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy — WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday voted to let the Pentagon repeal the ban on gay men, lesbians and bisexual people from serving openly in the military, a big step toward dismantling …
Discussion:
The Note, ABCNEWS, The Politico, Hot Air, The Daily Dish, Joe. My. God., The Hill, Mediaite and MyDD
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Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Senate Panel Votes To End Don't Ask, Don't Tell — Equal rights activists scored a major victory today, as the Senate Armed Services committee voted 16-12 to give the Pentagon the power to overturn Don't Ask, Don't Tell—a policy that bans openly gay people from serving in the military.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
GOP PREPARED TO FILIBUSTER TROOP FUNDING OVER DADT.... With Democrats likely to add a provision to the Pentagon appropriations bill to end the “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, Republicans are moving forward with Plan B: blocking the vote on troop funding. … Just so we're clear, consider exactly what Senate Republicans are saying here.
Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:
Rove Finally Admits That Bush Really Blew It During Katrina — Today in the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove pens an op-ed titled: “Yes, the Gulf Spill is Obama's Katrina.” He predictably places blame on Obama for a “lethargic,” “slow,” and “unacceptable” response to the BP oil spill.
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Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Obama: Critics 'don't know the facts' — Tackling an environmental crisis quickly becoming one of the most serious political threats to his presidency, President Barack Obama insisted Thursday that critics of the federal government's response to the oil spill in the Gulf “don't know the facts.”
Gene Fynes / Ezra Klein:
Here comes impeachment — What's at stake in the elections this fall? Energy/climate? Tax cuts? Management of the economy? — Well, sure, all those things. It's worth pointing out, however, that what's also at stake is the impeachment of Barack Obama.
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Jim Meyers / NewsMax.com:
Sestak-gate: White House Offered Romanoff Job, Too
Sestak-gate: White House Offered Romanoff Job, Too
Discussion:
Hot Air, Right Now, Wizbang, Breitbart.tv, Weasel Zippers, Pundit & Pundette and Nice Deb
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Karl Rove: Joe Sestak's lying or he's protecting a felon in Barack …
Karl Rove: Joe Sestak's lying or he's protecting a felon in Barack …
Erick Erickson / RedState:
BREAKING: We Know Who Did It — Who paid Will Folks? He was allegedly offered money. A LOT of money. In fact, RedState now confirms through a whole heap of sources that he's been trying to sell this story for a year. — We know who bit. — We know who didn't bite.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Liberty Pundits Blog, Charleston City Paper, TPMMuckraker, Right Now, The Daily Caller and The Other McCain
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Clinton: ‘The rich are not paying their fair share’ — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a rare foray into domestic politics today, offering her view that — given America's high unemployment — wealthy Americans don't pay enough taxes. — “The rich are not paying their fair share …
Discussion:
Laura Rozen's Blog, Weasel Zippers, The Confluence, Don Surber and The Washington Independent
Daniel Indiviglio / The Atlantic Online:
Kenneth Starr Charged With Running $30 Million Ponzi Scheme — [Somewhere, Bill Clinton is smiling. One-time special prosecutor who uncovered the dirty details of the former President's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky has been engaged in some bad behavior of his own …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, U.S. Securities …, FT Alphaville, The Daily Beast and Pajamas Media
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Palin neighbor sought author as tenant — Sarah Palin's next-door neighbor sought out author Joe McGinniss as a tenant, McGinniss's son said. — “No one is stalking anyone,” Joe McGinniss, Jr., a novelist whose father is the non-fiction writer, wrote in response to an email from a Palin supporter …
Discussion:
PostPartisan, Conservatives4Palin.com, The Plum Line, Swampland, The Political Carnival, The Daily Caller, Wonkette and TBogg
RELATED:
Shannyn Moore / The Huffington Post:
Sarah Palin Takes Up Fencing.
Sarah Palin Takes Up Fencing.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, ABCNEWS, palingates, The Daily Dish, Gretawire, Tim Blair, The Political Carnival and Right Now
David Einhorn / New York Times:
Easy Money, Hard Truths — ARE you worried that we are passing our debt on to future generations? Well, you need not worry. — Before this recession it appeared that absent action, the government's long-term commitments would become a problem in a few decades.
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Kos / Daily Kos:
KY-Sen: A real race in red territory — Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 5/24-26. Likely voters. MoE 4% (5/10-12 results) — Rand Paul (R) 44 (42) — Jack Conway (D) 41 (39) — Undecided 9 — Favorable/Unfavorable — Paul 53/33 (56/27) — Conway 48/43 (46/44)
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
DEFINE ‘SUFFICIENTLY ENRAGED’.... The New York Times's Jeff Zeleny live-blogged President Obama's press conference this afternoon, and wrapped things up asking whether the president demonstrated to the country that he's “in control of the crisis on the Gulf.” … At least he resisted the urge to compare Obama to Spock.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Caucus, New York Times, The Confluence, Wonkette, No More Mister Nice Blog and Balloon Juice
Yuval Levin / The Corner on National Review Online:
'Obama's Katrina' — By: Yuval Levin — I think it's actually right to say that the BP oil spill is something like Obama's Katrina, but not in the sense in which most critics seem to mean it. — It's like Katrina in that many people's attitudes regarding the response to it reveal completely unreasonable expectations of government.
Political Punch:
Justice Scalia Praises Elena Kagan's Lack of Judicial Experience — ABC News' Teddy Davis reports: — Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has been criticized by some Republican senators for lacking judicial experience. But Justice Antonin Scalia, the High Court's most outspoken conservative …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, The Volokh Conspiracy, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Think Progress, New York Magazine and Politics Daily
RELATED:
Fox News:
Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as ‘Legitimate Tenet of Islam’ — White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan speaks to reporters in the White House Jan. 7. (AP Photo) — The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a “legitimate tenet of Islam,” …