memeorandum: Don't raise the debt limit - reform entitlement spending (Tim Pawlenty/Washington Post)

2:50 PM ET, January 21, 2011

Top Items:

Matt Viser / Boston Globe:

Romney keeps away from Tea Party — Possible presidential contender isn't courting activists — Tea Party activists in New Hampshire say the former Massachusetts governor has been largely inaccessible to them. (Mary Schwalm/Associated Press) — WASHINGTON — New Hampshire Tea Party …

Discussion: Daily Kos, TPMDC and Hotline On Call

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Huckabee ahead nationally — For the first time in PPP's national polling for the 2012 Republican nomination there's a clear leader: Mike Huckabee. Huckabee's at 24% to 14% for Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, 11% for Newt Gingrich, 8% for Tim Pawlenty, 7% for Ron Paul, 4% for Mitch Daniels, and 1% for John Thune.

Discussion: GOP 12 and Taegan Goddard's …

ABCNEWS:
Republican Presidential Contenders for 2012

Discussion: CNN, The Politico, Reuters, Ben Smith's Blog, The Note and The Numbers

Erin McPike / Real Clear Politics:
Arizona GOP to Vote on Earlier Presidential Primary

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and TPMDC

Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Presidential buzz surrounds Bachmann

Discussion: Firedoglake

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
New Hampshire GOP faces Tea Party takeover

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and GOP 12

Abby Phillip / The Politico:

White House reboots on economic advice — Signaling a shift to a new phase of the administration's response to the nation's economic woes, President Barack Obama will sign an executive order Friday establishing a new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that will be lead by General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt.

Discussion: The Note, CNN, ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Pirate's Cove, Wonkette, msnbc.com, Right Wing News and Pajamas Media

Jeffrey R. Immelt / Washington Post:

A blueprint for keeping America competitive — President Obama has asked me to chair his new President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. I have served for the past two years on the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and I look forward to leading the next phase of this effort …

Discussion: New York Times, The Note, Emptywheel, Online NewsHour, The Daily Caller, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, AmSpecBlog, Sweetness & Light and Balloon Juice

Bloomberg:
Obama Taps GE's Immelt to Head Economic Advisor Panel

Discussion: Wonk Room, Shakesville and The Page

Brad Friedman / The BRAD BLOG:

Glenn Beck in June 2010: 'You're Gonna Have to Shoot Them in the Head' — But, of course, “both sides do it!”... sigh... [via Stephen Webster at RAW STORY]... The video above was from June 10, 2010. — “You need to go back to June — June of this year, 2010,” …

Discussion: Raw Story, Patterico's Pontifications, CANNONFIRE, Alas, a blog, Informed Comment, The Huffington Post and Eschaton

Patterico's Pontifications:

No, Charles Johnson, Glenn Beck Did Not Tell His Viewers to Shoot Anyone in the Head — On Twitter, Charles Johnson excitedly says: — He links to a post, evidently written by an LGF user, which provides no context for the clip, but simply embeds it. Here is a screenshot of the entire post:

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Crooks and Liars, The Diary of Daedalus, The Mahablog, The Other McCain, NewsBusters.org blogs, Questions and Observations, Nice Deb, RedState, News Hounds, Wake up America, No More Mister Nice Blog and Zandar Versus The Stupid

ccrjustice.org:

CCR Appeals to Fox News President for Help in Silencing Glenn Beck Misinformation Campaign Against Progressive Professor — Repeated Branding of 78-Year-Old Professor Frances Fox Piven as “Enemy of the Constitution” Incites Death Threats — Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights …

Discussion: NewsReal Blog, Open Left and News Hounds

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Everything starts with repeal — Suppose someone - say, the president of United States - proposed the following: We are drowning in debt. More than $14 trillion right now. I've got a great idea for deficit reduction. It will yield a savings of $230 billion over the next 10 years …

Discussion: The New Republic, Washington Monthly, RedState, Don Surber, Right Turn, Betsy's Page and Pajamas Media

Ezra Klein:
Column: The Republican war on the CBO

Discussion: The New Republic, The Atlantic Online and The Nation

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Sen. Murkowski questions approach to health repeal — Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski on Thursday cast doubt on the manner in which Republicans have attempted to repeal the healthcare law. — Murkowski (Alaska) said that she would vote to repeal the law if a vote was held in the Senate …

Discussion: The Note, Washington Monthly, Weasel Zippers, KTVA-TV, Wonk Room and Daily Kos

Budget Committee:
Chairman Paul Ryan to Deliver Republican Address to the Nation on January 25

Discussion: Hot Air and National Review

David Weigel / Weigel:
Paul Ryan is Your 2011 State of the Union Responder

Discussion: Wonk Room and The Page

Mary Williams Walsh / New York Times:

A Path Is Sought for States to Escape Their Debt Burdens — Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, AmSpecBlog, The Enterprise Blog, Pirate's Cove, Felix Salmon, Hit & Run, The Foundry, Prairie Weather, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Sweetness & Light, Weasel Zippers, New York Magazine, Concurring Opinions and The Big Picture

Lbentzterp / CNN:

President Obama is taking your questions — Washington (CNN) - If you have lingering questions after hearing President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, you may get the chance to ask them. — The president will participate in a live streamed YouTube interview on Thursday January 27th …

Discussion: The Page

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
‘Mr. President, Say This on Tuesday Night’

Discussion: The New Republic, The Impolitic and Towleroad News #gay

Political Correction RSS:

Rep. Broun: Mixed Seating At SOTU Is “A Trap” To “Silence Republicans” When “Barack Obama Spews Out All His Venom” — 1 hour and 16 minutes ago — Matt Finkelstein — The tragic shootings in Tucson prompted calls for civility from politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Mark Udall's …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Mediaite

Tim Pawlenty / Washington Post:

Don't raise the debt limit - reform entitlement spending — Five years ago, a freshman senator made a case against allowing the federal government to go deeper into debt. — “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure,” he said.

Discussion: The Hill and The Page

New York Times:

Poll Finds Wariness About Cutting Entitlements — As President Obama and Congress brace to battle over how to reduce chronic annual budget deficits, Americans overwhelmingly say that in general they prefer cutting government spending to paying higher taxes, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

At Houston hospital, Giffords faces arduous rehabilitation — HOUSTON - She will get a bed in the most private wing of the hospital, and U.S. Capitol Police will provide added security. But when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords arrives at TIRR Memorial Hermann hospital here Friday afternoon …

Discussion: AOL News, Online NewsHour, George's Bottom Line, Prairie Weather and CNN

CNN:
Giffords heads to Houston hospital

Discussion: The Hill and This Just In

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

I'm declaring February a Palin-free month. Join me! — Though it is embarrassing to admit this in public, I can no longer hide the truth. I have a Sarah Palin problem. — I have written about her in 42 columns since Sen. John McCain picked her as his presidential running mate in 2008.

Discussion: Ross Douthat, Mediaite, Classical Values, The Impolitic, Poynter and Talking Points Memo

Jason Brudereck / Reading Eagle:

Woman who fell into fountain faces theft charges, has criminal record — The Reading woman who became an Internet sensation by falling into a fountain while sending a text on her cell phone was in Berks County Court on Thursday for a status hearing on theft-by-deception and related charges.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, iOwnTheWorld.com, AOL News, ABCNEWS, Pajamas Media, theblogprof, JammieWearingFool and Moonbattery

Jason Mattera / Human Events:

Are We In Bill Clinton's Third Term? — Jacob Lew was tapped by Barack Obama last July to lead the Office of Management & Budget. Most recently, William Daley accepted a request to serve as BHO's chief of staff. — Both Lew and Daley also had prominent positions within the Clinton administration …

Discussion: CNN

msnbc.com:

Mass bird die-off: Feds poisoned them — South Dakota birds were eating from cattle feed lots, leaving waste on equipment — Below: — NBC News and msnbc.com — YANKTON, S.D. — When birds started falling dead in Yankton on Monday, there was understandable alarm.

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, AOL News and New York Magazine

PZ Myers / Pharyngula:

I get email — Lately I've been receiving a flood of messages from the anti-choice zealots. They've got one thing in common: they all contain lots of images of aborted fetuses, a common tactic used by these creatures to intimidate with horrible images. I'm not impressed.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Sister Toldjah, Vox Popoli and The Other McCain

Kerry Eleveld / Washington Post:

Next up for Obama: Marriage equality for gay Americans — Less than a month after President Obama repealed “don't ask, don't tell,” his Justice Department filed its latest brief defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act - the law that makes gay Americans second-class citizens …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, AMERICAblog News and Pam's House Blend

Valerie Richardson / Washington Times:

Outspoken Tucson sheriff faces recall bid — Tea party group wants Dupnik out — Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has never lost an election, but that was before his remarks assigning blame for the deadly Tucson, Ariz., shooting to political “vitriol” and calling Arizona “a mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Wonkette, Pajamas Media and iOwnTheWorld.com

Joe Coscarelli / Runnin' Scared:

Nick Summers Out at New York Observer, Returning to Newsweek For Tina Brown — Just one big, local item on this slushy Friday for the reincarnated Press Clips column: New York Observer media reporter Nick Summers, on the job less than three months after the departure of John Koblin …

Discussion: Gawker and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Jeff Schogol / Stars & Stripes:

McChrystal denies claims of secret military crusade against Islam — WASHINGTON — Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal says he is not part of a religious order waging war on Islam despite recent assertions by acclaimed journalist Seymour Hersh. — Speaking in Qatar earlier this week …

Discussion: Raw Story and Jihad Watch

Justin McCurry / Guardian:

Eight Somali pirates killed as South Korea rescues freighter crew — Navy commandos storm ship hijacked in Arabian Sea, and officials say all 21 crewmembers safe after operation — South Korean navy commandos today rescued the crew of a freighter hijacked in the Arabian Sea last week …

Discussion: AOL News and The Jawa Report