Top Items:
Adam Clymer / New York Times:
Robert Byrd, Respected Voice of the Senate, Dies at 92 — Robert C. Byrd, who used his record tenure as a United States senator to fight for the primacy of the legislative branch of government and to build a modern West Virginia with vast amounts of federal money, died early on Monday. He was 92.
Discussion:
The Note, The Atlantic Online, The Politico, Crooks and Liars, CNN, Washington Post, NewsBusters.org, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, A plain blog about politics, West Virginia Blue, Facing South, Moonbattery, Power Line, FiveThirtyEight, Flopping Aces, Vanity Fair, Time, Indecision Forever, Outside the Beltway, The Plum Line, The Glittering Eye, Cato @ Liberty, Concurring Opinions, Althouse, Shakesville, Guardian, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers, The Caucus, The Moderate Voice, Wonkette, The Washington Independent, alicublog, Pam's House Blend, Daily Kos, WVPubcast, News Desk, NY Daily News, DISSENTING JUSTICE, JammieWearingFool and Mediaite
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David Broder / The Fix:
Byrd's death triggers special election...but when? — Sen. Robert Byrd's death will trigger a special election. But, when? AP Photo. — The death of West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd (D) will trigger a fierce battle to replace him, although the timing of that race remains an open question.
Joe Holley / Washington Post:
West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd dead at 92 — Robert C. Byrd, a conservative West Virginia Democrat who became the longest-serving member of Congress in history and used his masterful knowledge of the institution to shape the federal budget, protect the procedural rules of the Senate and …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Don Surber, Wall Street Journal, NPR, JustOneMinute, Big Journalism, Think Progress, NewsBusters.org, Hotline On Call, The Washington Note, Cassy Fiano, Scared Monkeys, msnbc.com, Wonk Room, Balloon Juice, Fausta's Blog, Connecting.the.Dots, The Page, Post Mortem, The BLT and The Mahablog
Jonathan Allen / The Politico:
Law murky on succession
Law murky on succession
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Runnin' Scared, msnbc.com, Michelle Malkin, CNN, Taegan Goddard's … and New York Times
Martin Kady II / The Politico:
Senate loses ‘venerable institution’
Senate loses ‘venerable institution’
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Open Left, ABCNEWS, Ben Smith's Blog, Weekly Standard, NewsReal Blog, CNN, Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys and The Other McCain
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Senator Byrd is Ill; A Note on West Virginia's Vacancy Laws
Senator Byrd is Ill; A Note on West Virginia's Vacancy Laws
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, Public Policy Polling, The Note, Guardian, TPMDC, Salon, Questions and Observations, Washington Monthly, PostPartisan, Open Left, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, Betsy's Page, The Reality-Based Community, Associated Press, The Hill, Wizbang, Big Government, Talking Points Memo, Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, National Review, The Eye, Washington Wire and The Caucus
Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
A West Virginian Remembers Senator Robert Byrd as Master of Senate …
A West Virginian Remembers Senator Robert Byrd as Master of Senate …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, www.thetakeaway.org, Charleston Gazette, The Note and skippy the bush kangaroo
Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Gun rights extended by Supreme Court — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court held Monday that the Constitution's Second Amendment restrains government's ability to significantly limit “the right to keep and bear arms,” advancing a recent trend by the John Roberts-led bench to embrace gun rights.
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Lee Ross / Liveshots:
High Court's Big Ruling For Gun Rights — In its second major ruling on gun rights in three years, the Supreme Court Monday extended the federally protected right to keep and bear arms to all 50 states. The decision will be hailed by gun rights advocates and comes over the opposition of gun control groups …
The Politico:
GOP plans attack on Kagan — Republicans, who decided early on that they stood little chance of defeating Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, settled instead on making her confirmation process a “teachable moment” to highlight the dangers of liberal judicial activism.
Washington Post:
As Kagan confirmation hearings begin, Republicans struggle for line of attack — For weeks leading up to the start of Elena Kagan's Senate confirmation hearings Monday, Republicans have struggled to find a compelling line of attack to take against the Supreme Court nominee.
Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Kagan: Court must be ‘properly deferential’ to Congress, voters
Kagan: Court must be ‘properly deferential’ to Congress, voters
Discussion:
The Politico
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Third Depression — Recessions are common; depressions are rare. As far as I can tell, there were only two eras in economic history that were widely described as “depressions” at the time: the years of deflation and instability that followed the Panic of 1873 and the years of mass unemployment …
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David Weigel / Big Government:
Hubris and Humility: David Weigel Comes Clean on Washington Post, the D.C. Bubble, & the ‘Journolist’ — In the first (and still best) “Austin Powers” film, a United Nations representative makes a faux pas and calls the film's villain “Mr. Evil.” — “It's Dr. Evil,” he huffs.
Boston Globe:
Brown outpolls Kerry, Obama — US Senator Scott Brown, who only months ago was a little-known figure even within the tiny band of Republicans in the state Senate, not only catapulted to national stature with his upset US Senate victory, but is today the most popular officeholder in Massachusetts, according to a Boston Globe poll.
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Do I Have Anything Interesting to Say? — Kartik Athreya, a self-described “rank-and-file PhD economist operating within a central banking system” who by his own admission has “contributed no earth-shaking ideas to Economics and work fundamentally as a worker bee chipping away with known tools …
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Phil Rogers / NBC Chicago:
Blagojevich Considered Oprah for Senator — As if she weren't powerful enough, Rod Blagojevich seriously considered asking Chicago heavyweight Oprah Winfrey to take over the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. — “Nobody would assail this pick,” he says in tapes recorded on Nov. 21, 2008.
John Monk / The State:
U.S. Sen. race: Greene's finances subject of SLED investigation — State agency wants to know how U.S. Senate candidate could afford filing fee — SLED and the 5th Circuit solicitor's office are investigating the finances of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene to see whether …
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Most Approve of Obama Decision to Remove Gen. McChrystal — Those following story closely back Obama by roughly 2 to 1 — PRINCETON, NJ — A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds a majority of Americans approving of President Obama's decision to remove Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq! — It's worth reading President Obama's two answers on Afghanistan at the press conference yesterday at the conclusion of the G-20 summit in Toronto. The second, reproduced below , is especially striking.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
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John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
Why I Denied David Frum's Website A Spot In The Blogads Conservative Hive — It's no surprise that a guy like David Frum would be defending Dave Weigel, who resigned from the WAPO after his private comments mocking conservatives went public and proved exactly what conservatives have been saying all along …