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A number of the House GOP's leading conservative members on Thursday will announce legislation that would cut $2.5 trillion over 10 years, which will be by far the most ambitious and far-reaching proposal by the new majority to cut federal government spending.
Discussion:
The Hill, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America and AmSpecBlog
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REPUBLICAN STUDY COMMITTEE LAYS DOWN A RADICAL ‘MARKER’ ON SPENDING.... The new House GOP majority suffered some embarrassment a couple of weeks ago when party leaders backed off a promise to cut $100 billion from the budget in their first year. — This week, a leading right-wing contingent within …

Can't reduce federal spending? Here's a plan to cut $2.5 trillion by 2021
Discussion:
Cubachi, Whiskey Fire, The Foundry, Liberty Pundits Blog and Big Government

House GOP Lists $2.5 Trillion in Spending Cuts
Discussion:
Don Surber and Hit & Run

House Conservatives Introduce Spending Cuts: $2.5 Trillion Over Ten Years
Discussion:
RSC, AmSpecBlog and FrumForum

Michelle Obama's ‘Get Moving’ Program Linked to Pedestrian Deaths — WASHINGTON — The Governors Highway Safety Association says pedestrian deaths increased in the first half of 2010 and the First Lady's program to get Americans to be more active could be partly responsible.
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First Lady's anti-obesity campaign could be causing more pedestrian deaths — Pedestrian deaths increased sharply during the first half of 2010, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). The reason may be First Lady Michelle Obama and her “Let's Move” campaign.
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker, GHSA, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, Guardian, Wonkette and FrumForum

Exercise, iPods could be causing pedestrian deaths
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Washington Monthly, Gawker, The Atlantic Online, TBD All News, The Incidental Economist and FrumForum

Michelle Obama “Linked” to Pedestrian Deaths
Discussion:
Hot Air, Detroit News, JustOneMinute, Mediaite, USA Today and The Atlantic Online

A three-way pileup atop 2012 GOP presidential race — Former Govs. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), Sarah Palin (Alaska) and Mitt Romney (Mass.) make up the top tier of the 2012 Republican presidential field, according to a new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News.
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Obama looking stronger
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Sabato's Crystal Ball, Firedoglake, msnbc.com, GOP 12, The Politico, Taegan Goddard's … and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Social conservatives launch Iowa series, without Romney for now [UPDATED]
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Right Wing Watch

First Thoughts: Are the political winds changing?
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, GOP 12 and The Other McCain

Huckabee's book tour lavishes attention on Iowa, South Carolina
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, GOP 12, Ben Smith's Blog and The Page

GOP Can Force a Senate Vote on Repeal — While the health care repeal that the House passed Wednesday has little chance of passage in the Senate, Republicans will probably succeed in eventually forcing a vote on the measure — albeit with at least a 60-vote threshold.
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, Salon and AmSpecBlog
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How Should Dems Manage the Healthcare Repeal Circus? — It's a slow day, so let's do some political strategizing. Here's what the LA Times has to say about yesterday's vote in the House to repeal healthcare reform: … Here's my take: Democrats are nuts to take this attitude.
Discussion:
Yglesias, A plain blog about politics, Ezra Klein and Prairie Weather


Rick Santorum plays race card on President Obama — In eye-brow raising comments, possible presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is questioning how President Barack Obama - as an African-American - can support abortion rights. — Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, NJDC Blog, Taylor Marsh and FrumForum
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Rick Santorum Responds to Brody File on Comment About President Obama's Race and Abortion — EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: RICK SANTORUM HAS JUST SENT THE BRODY FILE A STATEMENT ON THE STORY BELOW: … Abortion is a toxic subject. Race is a toxic subject. And soon to be GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Salon, NewsBusters.org, CNN, LifeNews.com, AmSpecBlog, TPMDC, GOP 12 and Right Wing Watch

Santorum Plays Race Card Against Obama
Discussion:
Politics Daily, TPMDC, Good As You, Washington Post, AOL News, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post and PoliticsPA


SPOTTED: Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan Waiting for Jury Duty — ABC News' Devin Dwyer reports: If you thought Supreme Court justices are exempt from jury duty in their local courts, think again. — Justice Elena Kagan was spotted among a crowd of prospective jurors huddled in a waiting lounge this morning at D.C. Superior Court.
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Fox News Poll: Most Say Prayer Helped Save Congresswoman Giffords — Nearly 8 in 10 American voters say they believe prayers helped Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survive the Tucson shooting, according to a Fox News poll (Reuters). — Nearly 8 in 10 American voters say they believe prayers helped Arizona …
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared and Weasel Zippers


Palinoia, the Destroyer — What's behind the left's deranged hatred. — Why does their hatred of her burn so hot? — Ask them, and they'll most likely tell you: Because she's a moron. But that is obviously false. To be sure, her skills at extemporaneous speaking leave much to be desired.
Discussion:
Don Surber, The Mahablog, The Other McCain, Mediaite, Conservatives4Palin, Classical Values and Power Line

Goodbye to a Guy Named Joe — On Wednesday, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced that he won't be a candidate for re-election in 2012. Normally people look particularly appealing when they're promising to go away. This time, not so much. — “I can't help but also think about …


If Obama wants to be bold, he should be bold — Peter Baker has a lot of juicy tidbits about the frequent infighting and petty spats that split the White House economic team over the past two years, but the individual who comes off worst in the article is not Larry Summers or Christina Romer or Peter Orszag or Rahm Emanuel.

Delusions of world-historical grandeur — One thing that is endlessly amusing about the contemporary right is their comical lack of historical proportion, their frequent tendency to compare their current situation to the plight endured by history's leading victims of oppression, persecution, and genocide.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog and TPMDC
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Ted K's son may be eyeing Lieberman's seat in Conn. — The late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's son, Ted Jr., is among the names being floated as potential candidates for Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman's seat in 2012. — Kennedy, the middle child of the late senator and his former wife …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and Weigel

F.B.I. and Police Arrest More Than 100 in Mob Sweep — In a blanket assault against seven mob families in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, the F.B.I. and local authorities began arresting more than 100 people on Thursday on charges including murder, racketeering and extortion, people briefed on the arrests said.
Discussion:
Gothamist, New York Magazine, AOL News, Mediaite, Prairie Weather and Eschaton
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FBI Rounding Up 100 Mobsters in Biggest Mafia Bust in New York History
Discussion:
newsfeed.time.com, Left Coast Rebel, TPMMuckraker and Gawker


An update from the Chairman — When I joined Google in 2001 I never imagined—even in my wildest dreams—that we would get as far, as fast as we have today. Search has quite literally changed people's lives—increasing the collective sum of the world's knowledge and revolutionizing advertising in the process.

Palin Putting Out Presidential Feelers in Iowa — DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has tasked her aides with quietly gauging her level of support for a potential presidential campaign by making inquiries to a select pool of likely allies and grassroots activists in Iowa, RealClearPolitics has learned.
Discussion:
The Caucus, Des Moines Register, USA Today, The Politico, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, The Note, Conservatives4Palin, GOP 12, TPMDC and National Review

Obama to Close Political Office and Start 2012 Campaign — WASHINGTON — President Obama will close the office of political affairs at the White House, aides said, restructuring his organization to prepare for his re-election campaign, which is to start building a fund-raising and grassroots operation based in Chicago by late March.
Discussion:
The Politico, The Fix, Lynn Sweet, CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, Political Punch, Taegan Goddard's … and msnbc.com

Hubris heading for a fall — It takes a worried man to sing a worried song, and in a recent speech that seemed like Larry Summers's swan song, the president's now-departed economic adviser warned that America is “at risk of a profound demoralization with respect to government.”
Discussion:
ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*


Petraeus Team: Taliban Made Us Wipe Village Out [Updated] — Expect more Afghan villages to be destroyed by American rockets and bombs — if, that is, the Taliban “saturate” them with homemade explosives and kick out the villagers. But the U.S.-led coalition isn't going to destroy populated areas …
Discussion:
Salon, Foreign Policy, Swampland, Registan.net and Gawker


A Racy Show With Teenagers Steps Back From a Boundary — MTV executives have a new hit drama on their hands, featuring the sexual and drug-fueled exploits of misfit teenagers. They also have something else — a fear that coming episodes of the show may break the law.
Discussion:
Feministing, From Inside the Box, The Wire, Law Blog, TMZ.com, Gawker, PopEater, Runnin' Scared, Mediaite and Gothamist, more at Mediagazer »