memeorandum: Axelrod Says U.S. Will Push Egypt for Reforms (Transcript) (Bloomberg)

11:35 AM ET, January 29, 2011

Top Items:

Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising — The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned. — Protesters and army on the streets of Cairo

Heather Hurlburt / The New Republic:

Five Things to Understand About the Egyptian Riots — It takes some hubris to write about events unfolding as fast as the protests in Egypt, especially when it's clear that nobody saw this coming. Mubarak is preparing to address the nation, and it's unclear what will follow.

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Mahablog, Crooks and Liars and Rortybomb

Marc Lynch:

Obama's handling Egypt pretty well — After President Obama spoke last night about the situation in Egypt, my Twitter feed and inbox filled up with angry denunciations, with lots of people complaining bitterly that he had endorsed Mubarak's grim struggle to hold on to power …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Daily Dish and News Desk

New York Times:

Egypt Protests Continue as Military Stands By — CAIRO — Egypt was engulfed in a fifth day of protests on Saturday but an attempt by President Hosni Mubarak to salvage his 30-year rule by firing his cabinet and calling out the army appeared to backfire as troops and demonstrators fraternized …

Discussion: CNN, Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain, Washington Post, The Jawa Report and The Lede

Bloomberg:

Axelrod Says U.S. Will Push Egypt for Reforms (Transcript) — White House adviser David Axelrod said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend, that the Obama administration will push Egypt “very hard” to make democratic reforms in response …

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, Weasel Zippers and Sky Dancing

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:

Egypt's Military Is Seen as Pivotal in Next Step — Even as armored military vehicles deployed around important Egyptian government institutions on Friday for the first time in decades, it remained difficult to predict what role the armed forces might play in either quelling the disturbances …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Outside the Beltway, The Nation, The Reality-Based Community and Guardian

Elliott Abrams / Washington Post:

Egypt protests show George W. Bush was right about freedom in the Arab world — For decades, the Arab states have seemed exceptions to the laws of politics and human nature. While liberty expanded in many parts of the globe, these nations were left behind, their “freedom deficit” …

Discussion: This Just In, TPMCafe, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Gateway Pundit, Firedoglake, Wonk Room, Commentary, Elliott Abrams and Instapundit

Jesse Lee / White House.gov Blog:

President Obama on the Situation in Egypt: “All Governments Must Maintain Power through Consent, Not Coercion” — From an overnight memo from his National Security Advisor, to a Presidential Daily Briefing that was 40 minutes in length and focused entirely on Egypt, and on through the day …

Discussion: Human Events, New York Times, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Blue Virginia and The Daily Dish

Robert F. Worth / New York Times:

Al Jazeera Covers Protests Despite Hurdles — WASHINGTON — As street protests raged across Egypt on Friday, with the future of the Arab world seeming to hang in the balance, rapt viewers across the region — and the globe — watched it unfold on Al Jazeera, which kept up an almost continuous …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Suburban Guerrilla, The Daily Beast, Big Peace, The Atlantic Online and Poynter

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Obama ‘willing’ to play golf with Boehner — President Obama is willing to play golf with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to help improve their relationship, a top White House adviser said Saturday. — Outgoing White House senior adviser David Axelrod said that the chances are “good” …

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
‘Whose Bright Idea Was It to Send Joe Biden Out to Talk About Egypt?’

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Don Surber, Hot Air and Opinionator

Griff Witte / Washington Post:
Cairo falls into near-anarchy; army warns it will treat protesters as criminals

Discussion: Associated Press, Mish's Global Economic … and Prairie Weather

President Barack Obama / Time:
Transcript: President Obama's Remarks on Egypt

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog, Political Language, Reuters and L.A. Times Tech Blog, more at Techmeme »

CNN:
GOP Conference chairman: America must stand with Egypt

Discussion: Latest Media Releases …, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Politico

Political Punch:
Axelrod: President Obama Has “On Several Occasions Directly …

Discussion: Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, ABCNEWS, Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media, Verum Serum, Firedoglake and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Why Would an American President Tout Mubarak's Regime?

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Gil Yaron / Spiegel Online:
Israel Fears Regime Change in Egypt

Discussion: Salon, Newshoggers.com and The Daily Beast

Caroline Glick:
The pragmatic fantasy — Today the Egyptian regime faces …

Discussion: Power Line, NY Daily News, Wall Street Journal, Pajamas Media and Commentary

Wall Street Journal:
Obama Asks Mubarak to Refrain From Violence

Discussion: Reuters, Pajamas Media, The Huffington Post, Babylon & Beyond, Weekly Standard, The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Dispatch

Justin Elliott / Salon:
Who's doing Mubarak's bidding in Washington?

Discussion: Time, New York Times, The Hill, Newshoggers.com, Marc Lynch, The Agonist, The Lede and Firedoglake

Brian Katulis / Center for American Progress:
Time to Rethink U.S.-Egyptian Relations

Discussion: Yglesias, The Politico, Associated Press and TechCrunch

Anne Penketh / Pundits Blog:
Tightening the screws on Mubarak

Discussion: The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog and FrumForum

CNN:
Unrest in Egypt: President Mubarak dissolves Cabinet after night of protests

Discussion: Mondoweiss, Firedoglake, Examiner, Pajamas Media, Opinion L.A. and Patterico's Pontifications

The Politico:

Right takes refuge in Constitution — The federal lawsuits against last year's health care overhaul were greeted with eye-rolling and snickers from many conventional legal scholars. — Nobody's laughing now. — A federal judge in Virginia ruled late last year that a key underpinning …

Discussion: Althouse and Right Wing News

Paul Krugman:

The Wal-Mart Decade — I've been putting some material together for textbook revision, and found myself looking at European versus US productivity performance over the past couple of decades. I sort of knew the facts here, but this recent paper by Bart van Ark (pdf) seemed …

Joe Nocera / New York Times:

Inquiry Is Missing Bottom Line — There was something almost comical about the way the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission released its report on Thursday morning. — About a week ago, reporters were told they would get a sneak preview of the report the morning of its release. The location was undisclosed.

Discussion: TPMCafe, The Big Picture, naked capitalism and Prairie Weather

Mark Perry / Foreign Policy:

Not worth the paper they're printed on — This week's release of the Palestine Papers by Al Jazeera television might well be a classic example of “burying the lede.” While the revelations sparked revulsion among Palestinians about how much their leadership conceded in talks with Israel …

Discussion: Salon, Babylon & Beyond, The Huffington Post, Mondoweiss and Suburban Guerrilla

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:

Dennis Kucinich Settles Olive Pit Case — Not sure if this qualifies as a Friday news dump, but we now know more than I, for one, ever expected to about what went on in Dennis Kucinich's mouth. In announcing today he was settling the lawsuit he launched against the operators …

Discussion: FrumForum