memeorandum: Finger-pointing begins on Egypt (The Politico)

3:20 PM ET, February 4, 2011

Top Items:

Joan Vennochi / Boston Globe:

Kerry's sharp eye on the secretary spot — AS EGYPT battles over its future, Senator John Kerry is negotiating his own. — The Bay State's senior senator is running an unofficial campaign to become the next secretary of state. For once, he looks artful, as well as ambitious.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Liberal Values, Sister Toldjah, Swampland and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

White House and Egypt Discuss Plan for Mubarak's Exit — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials a proposal for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately and turn over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman …

Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times:

We Are All Egyptians — Inside Tahrir Square on Thursday, I met a carpenter named Mahmood whose left arm was in a sling, whose leg was in a cast and whose head was being bandaged in a small field hospital set up by the democracy movement. This was the seventh time in 24 hours …

Discussion: Aljazeera, Firedoglake, The Other McCain, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Prairie Weather, The Confluence, Eunomia, Newshoggers.com, Jay Bookman and Daily Kos

New York Times:

Egyptian Government Figures Join Protesters — CAIRO — With signs of fracturing within Egypt's ruling elite, hundreds of thousands of people packed Cairo's central Tahrir Square on Friday, chanting slogans, bowing in prayer and waving Egyptian flags to press a largely peaceful campaign for the removal of President Hosni Mubarak.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, EA WorldView, Spiegel Online, The Atlantic Online, Gawker, Sky Dancing, World Blog, The Maddow Blog, AOL News and FrumForum

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Toward a soft landing in Egypt

Discussion: Power Line, Wonk Room, Betsy's Page, RubinReports, Guardian, PostPartisan and The Daily Dish

Ben Dimiero / Media Matters for America:

Attention Fox Nation: There Is More Than One Version Of The Bible — Conservatives have spent the last several years trying to cast doubt on President Obama's Christianity, often by suggesting he is a secret Muslim or claiming that he is a non-believer pretending to be Christian for political benefit.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice and Ben Smith's Blog

Romalley / Fox Nation:

Obama Botches Bible Verse at Prayer Breakfast — President Obama misquoted a familiar Bible verse during a faith-based address at the National Prayer Breakfast. — “Those who wait on the Lord will soar on wings like eagles, and they will run and not be weary, and they will walk and not faint …

Discussion: The White House, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers, The Mahablog, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Grim's Hall, CNN and The Gateway Pundit

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Obama's Approval Ratings More Polarized in Year 2 Than Year 1 — Ranks as fourth-most-polarized year for a president since 1953 — PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama's job approval ratings were even more polarized during his second year in office than during his first …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Moonbattery, Pajamas Media, Hotline On Call, Ballot Box, Raw Story, Cubachi, Commentary, Conservatives4Palin, HillBuzz.org and Instapundit

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Poll reveals striking divide on Obama

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Weasel Zippers

Julia A. Seymour / Media Research Center:

Santelli Slams CNBC Panelists for Spinning Jobs Report — CNBC's floor reporter criticizes ‘kool-aid drinkers’ for trying to find good news in the ‘disappointing.’ — Jobs are heading up and down at the same time. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the morning of Feb. 4 …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Yglesias, FT Alphaville, Instapundit and AMERICAblog News

Calculated Risk:
January Employment Report: 36,000 Jobs, 9.0% Unemployment Rate

Discussion: Free exchange, The Atlantic Online, Firedoglake, Hot Air, Brookings Institute, Daily Kos, Weasel Zippers and Economist's View

Laura Conaway / The Maddow Blog:
Republicans totally, totally focused on jobs

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Politico

Motoko Rich / New York Times:
In a Snowy January, Job Numbers Fail to Take Off

Discussion: Economix, New Deal 2.0, Calculated Risk, Los Angeles Times, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Felix Salmon, Washington Monthly, TalkLeft and The Awl

Shira Toeplitz / The Politico:

Rand Paul sole GOP holdout on laser pointer bill — In his first few weeks in office, newly elected Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) could quickly be stealing his colleagues' reputation as “Dr. No.” — Paul, an ophthalmologist, was the sole vote Thursday against an amendment supported by 96 …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Rand Paul: End ‘welfare’ to Israel — Tea party-backed Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) isn't sure that congressional Republicans have the guts to make the big budget cuts they've promised and, he said, members of the movement are becoming frustrated. — “There's a disconnect between Republicans …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Commentary, FrumForum and Ben Smith's Blog

Jonathan Karl / ABCNEWS:
Rand Paul: GOP Not ‘Brave Enough’ to Hit Deficit

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Wire, The Hill, The Plum Line and Raw Story

The Politico:

Finger-pointing begins on Egypt — The debate over who “lost” Egypt seems to have begun. — Critics are openly questioning the quality of information and analysis given to President Barack Obama by U.S. intelligence agencies in the days leading up to the dramatic uprising against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Discussion: UrbanGrounds, Right Wing News and The Gateway Pundit

Associated Press:
Obama “Disappointed” by Intel on Arab Unrest

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air and SpyTalk

Chris Bowers / Open Left:

Open Left is closing — I have some sad news. After nearly four years in operation, today will be the final day Open Left publishes new content. — The site will not disappear, and all published content will remain online, but after today we will cease producing new content.

Discussion: Donklephant and Ben Smith's Blog

New York Observer:

Elizabeth Spiers Taking Over As Editor In Chief of The New York Observer — Elizabeth Spiers is taking over as Editor-in-Chief of The Observer today, overseeing both the print and digital content. — “I am very excited to be working with Elizabeth to further build on the great progress we have made over the past few years.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Mediaite, Media Decoder, The Wire and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Justice Scalia, Not Kennedy, Eyed As Key Vote In Support Of Health Care … WASHINGTON — Observers of the legal drama surrounding President Obama's health care reform legislation have reached two broad conclusions: that it will ultimately be ruled on by the Supreme Court, and that Justice Anthony Kennedy will be the deciding vote.

Discussion: The Plum Line, The New Republic, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and FrumForum

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Obama Administration Scores Legal Victory On Health Care

Discussion: ACS Blog, ThinkProgress, Raw Story and Daily Kos

Reuters:

Special report: Jamie Dimon wants some R-E-S-P-E-C-T — Jamie Dimon, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co, answers a question during an interview in his office in New York December 22, 2010. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson — NEW YORK (Reuters) - What's eating Jamie Dimon?

Discussion: Yglesias

Paul Krugman: Another Kind of Financial Fragility

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:

Newt Gingrich haul far outpaces other 2012 hopefuls — Newt Gingrich's political groups raised more than $4.2 million in the last three months of 2010, bringing the former House speaker's total to $14.5 million for the year - a sum that far eclipses his potential rivals for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel and HotAirPundit

Kevinliptak / CNN:
Gingrich 527 pulls in big money

Discussion: The Page

Aaron David Miller / Washington Post:

Why Israel fears a free Egypt — Having dealt with the Israelis for the better part of 40 years, I have learned never to dismiss or trivialize their foundational fears. As both former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and current premier Binyamin Netanyahu reminded me on different occasions …

Discussion: Simply Left BehindThe …

Aljazeera:
Khamenei hails ‘Islamic’ uprisings

Discussion: Jihad Watch and The Gateway Pundit

Bruce Siceloff / Raleigh News & Observer:

Citizen activist grates on state over traffic signals — RALEIGH — David N. Cox says he was merely exercising his right to petition the government, but a state Department of Transportation official has raised allegations that Cox committed a misdemeanor: practicing engineering without a license.

Discussion: Right Wing News, Yglesias and Instapundit

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Christie won't rule out running — in 2016 — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Thursday evening that he hadn't ruled out running for president — in 2016. — Christie, the Garden State governor who's popular with Republicans but denied interest in running for president in 2012 …

Discussion: CNN, Taegan Goddard's …, The Daily Caller and The Note

Steven Ertelt / LifeNews.com:
New Jersey Gov. Christie Vetoes Planned Parenthood Funding Bill

Discussion: Fausta's Blog, Weasel Zippers, RedState, NewsBusters.org blogs and The Blast

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

The Bad Faith of Mandate Critics, Part 2 — Read part 1 of this argument here. — The conservative legal brief against the Affordable Care Act rests heavily on a simple proposition. Government can't make us obtain private insurance because, as the argument goes, that would be forcing us to buy a private product.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Enterprise Blog, A plain blog about politics, The Incidental Economist and AmSpecBlog

Wall Street Journal:

ObamaCare's Repeal Has Begun — This week's Senate vote to scrap an IRS reporting requirement is the start of a piece by piece approach. — Mark this date: On Feb. 2, 2011, a Democratic Senate killed the first piece of the health-care law it passed less than a year ago.

Discussion: Betsy's Page and The New Republic

John Sexton / Hot Air:

Report: Political Correctness Prevented FBI, DoD from Stopping Maj. Hasan — Today the Senate Homeland Security Committee released an independent report on the Ft. Hood shootings. The 91 page report is titled A Ticking Time Bomb: Counterterrorism Lessons from the US Government's Failure to Prevent the Fort Hood Attack.