Top Items:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
There Will Be Blood — Former Senator Alan Simpson is a Very Serious Person. He must be — after all, President Obama appointed him as co-chairman of a special commission on deficit reduction. — So here's what the very serious Mr. Simpson said on Friday: “I can't wait for the blood bath in April. ...
Ben Smith / The Politico:
View from Middle East: President Obama is a problem — JERUSALEM — Vowing to change a region that has resisted the best efforts of presidents and prime ministers past, Barack Obama dove head first into the Middle East peace process on his second day in office. — He was supposed to be different.
Discussion:
Israel Matzav, Right Wing News, Ruby Slippers and Left Coast Rebel
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Jackson Diehl / Washington Post:
Obama's foreign policy needs an update — For help understanding the foreign policy headlines of the past week, let's return, briefly, to the spring of 1983, when Barack Obama was a student at Columbia University. What were the burning international issues of that time?
Discussion:
Commentary, Pundit & Pundette and democracyarsenal.org
Blogger Bob / The TSA Blog:
Response to “Young Boy Strip Searched by TSA” — A video is being widely circulated showing a shirtless boy receiving secondary screening from a Transportation Security Officer (TSO). A passenger filmed the screening with their cell phone and posted the video on the web.
Scott Shane / New York Times:
Administration to Seek Balance in Airport Screening — Caught between complaints that airport screening has become too intrusive and threats of new terror attacks on aviation, Obama administration officials say they are sensitive to criticisms that security measures go too far …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Gothamist, Jezebel, CBS New York, The Gateway Pundit, The Other McCain, TPMMuckraker and protein wisdom
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Doug Mataconis / Outside the Beltway:
Obama Politically Tone Deaf On TSA Outrage
Obama Politically Tone Deaf On TSA Outrage
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and CNN
Gautham Nagesh / The Hill:
Jindal blasts Obama administration, calls TSA searches excessive
Jindal blasts Obama administration, calls TSA searches excessive
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys and Samizdata.net
Wall Street Journal:
Some States Weigh Unthinkable Option: Ending Medicaid — Huge budget shortfalls are prompting a handful of states to begin discussing a once-unthinkable scenario: dropping out of the Medicaid insurance program for the poor. — Elected and appointed officials in nearly a half-dozen states …
Discussion:
Colorlines and Hit & Run
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David Lerman / Bloomberg:
Hillary Clinton Says She Won't Run Again for Elective Office
Hillary Clinton Says She Won't Run Again for Elective Office
Discussion:
New York Magazine, The Politico, Macsmind and Raw Story
Suzanne Goldenberg / Guardian:
Sarah Palin drops 2012 presidency hint with staff visit to Iowa — Palin scouts for office space in early voting state, suggesting next week's visit will be ‘more than just a book signing’ — Sarah Palin has dropped another hint of her intention to run for the White House in 2012 …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Ben Smith's Blog, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Political Carnival and ABCNEWS
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Vicki Needham / The Hill:
Anti-earmark amendment cedes lawmakers' powers to White House — Even if the full Senate doesn't pass an earmark moratorium, a refusal by lawmakers to direct funding to their congressional districts will likely give more spending-priority power to the Obama administration and won't do much to chip away at the federal deficit.
Discussion:
The Political Carnival, Prairie Weather and Balloon Juice
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David S. Broder / Washington Post:
The GOP's lame-duck hardball
The GOP's lame-duck hardball
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, No More Mister Nice Blog, DownWithTyranny! and Balloon Juice
Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
'Don't ask, don't tell' study to be released day earlier than planned — Signaling the growing seriousness of the Obama administration's commitment this year to ending the military's ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, the Defense Department said Sunday that it will release …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Politics Daily, ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, ChattahBox News Blog, Jezebel, TPMMuckraker, Advocate, The Page and Federal Eye
Adrian Chen / Gawker:
Special Underwear Makes Your Privates Invisible to TSA Scanners — Citizens, take heart: Even as our country falls under the total domination of our new TSA overlords, capitalism continues unabated. A Colorado man has developed undergarments with special body scanner-blocking fig leafs to hide your privates.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Balloon Juice, Israel Matzav and Outside the Beltway
Felix Salmon:
The underwhelming Irish bailout — Color me underwhelmed by the Irish bailout. By all accounts it's going to be less than €100 billion — probably in the €80 billion to €90 billion range — and that sum has to cover the country's entire borrowing needs for the next three years.
Discussion:
New York Times, Yglesias, FT Alphaville, National Review and DealBook
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Jason Zengerle / New York Magazine:
The Answer Is No — New Jersey governor Chris Christie is denying money to teachers and tunnels, oxygen to Democrats, and intentions to run for president in 2012. Which is only making him more popular. — C — hris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, was trolling for clicks.
John Cassidy / New Yorker:
WHAT GOOD IS WALL STREET? — Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless. — A few months ago, I came across an announcement that Citigroup, the parent company of Citibank, was to be honored, along with its chief executive, Vikram Pandit, for “Advancing the Field of Asset Building in America.”
Discussion:
DealBook
Gerard Wynn / Reuters:
U.S. corn ethanol “was not a good policy"-Gore — * U.S. ethanol consumes about 40 pct corn crop — Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was “not a good policy”, weeks before tax credits are up for renewal.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Moe Lane, Sweetness & Light and OpenMarket.org
Susan M. Cover / Portland Press-Herald:
Snowe: Constitutionality of care law is arguable — and Rebekah Metzler rmetzler@mainetoday.com — Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are co-signing an amicus, or friend of the court, brief to be submitted to the federal court in Florida that will hear a constitutional challenge of the federal health care reform law.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Boston Globe, Taegan Goddard's … and AMERICAblog News
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Poll finds Obama, Romney deadlocked in 2012 matchup — A new poll shows President Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in a statistical dead heat for the White House. — The GOP's Romney edges Obama by one percentage point, 45-44 percent, in a Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters released Monday.
Steve Ranson / Fallon Nevada:
Angle keeps her future options open for 2012 — Sharron Angle, who lost her bid to unseat Democrat Sen. Harry Reid almost three weeks ago, still has a strong desire to serve her fellow Nevadans, whether it's working behind the scenes or eyeing a run at another office in two years.
Discussion:
Ballot Box and Politics Daily
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Reince Priebus weighs RNC bid
Reince Priebus weighs RNC bid
Discussion:
Syracuse Post-Standard, Hotline On Call and JSOnline