memeorandum: Walker says National Guard is prepared (Associated Press)

6:05 PM ET, February 11, 2011

Top Items:

Mubarak Steps Down, Ceding Power to Military — CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt turned over all power to the military and left the Egyptian capital for his resort home in Sharm el-Sheik, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced on state television on Friday.

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

After Thursday Speech, White House Pushed Mubarak: You Must Satisfy the Demonstrators In the Street — Sources tell ABC News that after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spoke last night, handing over powers to his vice president but not stepping down, the White House and Obama administration …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, ABCNEWS, Nicholas D. Kristof, The Week Magazine, Hot Air, Mudville Gazette, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Need to Know, Indecision Forever, TechCrunch, Ben Smith's Blog, The Plum Line, Media Matters for America, Pajamas Media, Oliver Willis, HotAirPundit and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Doug Stanglin / USA Today:

Mubarak resigns; army to suspend parliament — Update at 1:57 p.m. ET: Essam El Erian, spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood party, which was banned by Mubarak, hails what he calls Egypt's “historic moment of victory.” He tells Al-Jazeera Tv that Egyptians brought about a …

Discussion: Bloomberg, World Blog, The Foundry, Firedoglake, Weasel Zippers, Wake up America, The Democratic Daily, Crooks and Liars, Gates of Vienna and No More Mister Nice Blog

BBC:

Egypt's Mubarak resigns as leader — Mr Mubarak has ruled Egypt for 30 years — Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down as president of Egypt. — In an announcement on state TV, Vice-President Omar Suleiman said Mr Mubarak had handed power to the military.

Discussion: Sydney Morning Herald, TalkLeft, Boing Boing, Wonkette, Newshoggers.com, Gothamist and Pharyngula

Washington Post:

Mubarak resigns; hands power to Egyptian military — CAIRO - President Hosni Mubarak resigned Friday and handed power to the Egyptian military, setting off wild celebrations among protesters across the country who had demanded his ouster for the last 18 days.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Commentary, New York Times, AmSpecBlog, The Huffington Post, PostPartisan, Right Turn, The Democratic Daily, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Suburban Guerrilla, Connecting.the.Dots and Political Ruminations

Guardian:

Cairo erupts in joy as Mubarak finally quits — • Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has resigned — • Vice-president announces the army council holds power — • Cheers and fireworks as protests turn to celebrations — • Read a summary of today's events

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Crooks and Liars, AMERICAblog News, The Moderate Voice and Towleroad News #gay

Ahmed Eleiba / english.ahram.org.eg:
Army and presidency at odds - says former intelligence official

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Daily Dish and The New Republic

Aljazeera:
Egypt's military leadership

Discussion: Online NewsHour, EA WorldView, ProPublica and New York Times

Aljazeera:
Hosni Mubarak resigns as president

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, Guardian, The Agonist, The Awl, Outside the Beltway and AMERICAblog News

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
No one, perhaps not even officers of the Egyptian armed forces …

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Utah Sen. Mike Lee says he won't back Orrin Hatch in GOP Senate primary — Sen. Mike Lee (R) said Friday that he wouldn't endorse fellow Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) for reelection in the 2012 GOP Senate primary. — Lee, a freshman senator allied with the conservative Tea Party movement …

Discussion: CNN, Cubachi, Outside the Beltway, HotAirPundit and FrumForum

Benjy Sarlin / TPMDC:

Meet Olympia Snowe's New Hard Rocking Tea Party Challenger — Maine moderate Olympia Snowe, whose Senate seat has long been considered vulnerable in a Republican primary, has a new Tea Party challenger: Andrew Ian Dodge. — The state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots in Maine …

Discussion: Roll Call and Washington Monthly

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box: Sen. Orrin Hatch tells conservatives he regrets his vote for the bailout

Kevinliptak / CNN:

Pawlenty: Obama appeasing Muslim Brotherhood — Washington (CNN) - Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, an all-but-declared candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, accused the Obama administration Friday of “appeasing” the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt as the country navigates …

Discussion: Yglesias and Ben Smith's Blog

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Pawlenty dismisses ‘birthers’ — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) explicitly distanced himself from “birthers” during a highly anticipated speech before conservatives on Friday. — After one lawmaker made a “birther” joke, alluding to suspicions that President Obama wasn't born in the United States …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Speaking in one voice on Egypt, mostly

Discussion: The Note and ABCNEWS

Massimo Calabresi / Time:
U.S. Preparing Aid Package For Egypt Opposition

Discussion: Voice of America, Blogs and Stories, Pajamas Media, Firedoglake and FrumForum

Myglesias / Yglesias:

Paul Ryan's Limited Imagination — Everyone knows that Ron Paul has some crank notions about monetary economics, but Paul Ryan's own crankitude on this score is badly underrated. Will Wilkinson, for example, flags this alarming quote from Ryan's participation in a recent committee hearing with Ben Bernanke:

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, Examiner, Modeled Behavior and Democracy in America

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Thune jabs Palin, '12ers — John Thune, playing coy, took a little shot at his potential rivals in his remarks at CPAC just now: — I've never had a book signing. — I've been to Iowa plenty of times, but it's usually on the way to South Dakota. — And the closest I've come …

Discussion: CNN and Outside the Beltway

Kevinliptak / CNN:
Thune ‘coming to final stages’ of 2012 decision

Discussion: The Note, Ballot Box, The Politico, PERRspectives and Hotline On Call

Karoli / Crooks and Liars:

ThinkProgress, SEIU and Others Targeted by US Chamber of Commerce for Smears — The next time you hear some lofty conservative twaddle about our freedoms, please point them to this Think Progress post and ask for an explanation. Ask them why they think they're threatened by government …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The ChamberPost, kgosztola's myFDL diary and Discourse.net

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The leaked campaign to attack WikiLeaks and its supporters

Discussion: Firedoglake, Disruptors, ThinkProgress, The Firewall, Climate Progress, Yglesias and Obsidian Wings

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

WHAT HATH FLORIDA WROUGHT?.... Atrios joked the other day that Floridians “elected Lex Luthor as their governor.” That's a good line, in large part because it's hard not to wonder if Florida's new chief executive is some sort of super-villain. … Scott's plan is certainly unique.

Discussion: MiamiHerald.com and Democratic Strategist

U.S. Department of the Treasury:

Administration Plan Provides Path Forward for Reforming America's Housing Finance Market — The Obama Administration delivered a report to Congress that provides a path forward for reforming America's housing finance market. The Administration's plan will wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac …

Discussion: New York Times, Politics Daily, Ezra Klein, Cato @ Liberty, Associated Press, msnbc.com and DealBook

Daniel Indiviglio / The Atlantic Online:
Obama Housing Policy Plan Stronger Than Anticipated

Discussion: EconLog, AmSpecBlog and Online NewsHour

Laura Meckler / Washington Wire:

Mitch Daniels Suggests Re-Examination of End-of-Life Care — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is considering a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, veered from his party's orthodoxy on end-of-life care Friday, suggesting the nation cannot afford to provide every treatment …

Discussion: The New Republic and Hit & Run

George Zornick / ThinkProgress:

Former Bush-Cheney National Spokesman Thinks Muslims Are Incapable Of Democracy: ‘This Is The Middle East’ — This morning on Fox News, anchor Martha MacCallum hosted a panel of three experts that was very hostile towards the idea of backing the protesters in Egypt.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Need to Know and Shakesville

Agence France Presse:

Multiculturalism has failed, says French president — PARIS (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared Thursday that multiculturalism had failed, joining a growing number of world leaders or ex-leaders who have condemned it. — “My answer is clearly yes, it is a failure,” …

Discussion: Cubachi, theblogprof, Hot Air, The Jawa Report, Power Line, Liberty Pundits Blog, Weasel Zippers, Wizbang and Pajamas Media

Mj Lee / The Politico:

Oprah wants ‘respect’ for Obama — Oprah Winfrey (left) and Barack Obama attend a campaign event in Dec. 2007. AP Photo — Oprah called on President Obama's critics on Friday to “show some level of respect.” — “I feel that everybody has a learning curve, and I feel that the reason …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Left Coast Rebel, Babalú Blog, Weasel Zippers and UrbanGrounds

Josiah Ryan / The Hill:

Republicans turn Congress into ‘clogged toilet,’ says Democratic lawmaker — One of the Democrats' fieriest voices on Capitol Hill accused the Republicans of turning Congress into a “clogged toilet.” — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said Friday that House Republicans were blocking …

Discussion: FrumForum

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

From freedom agenda to freedom doctrine — Today, everyone and his cousin supports the “freedom agenda.” Of course, yesterday it was just George W. Bush, Tony Blair and a band of neocons with unusual hypnotic powers who dared challenge the received wisdom of Arab exceptionalism …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, democracyarsenal.org, Eunomia, Washington Monthly, Neptunus Lex, protein wisdom and Don Surber

Investor's Business Daily:

What Egyptians Really Want — Islamofascism: Romantics in Western media expect “democracy” to flower from the anti-Mubarak rioting in Cairo. But polling shows Egyptians actually seek strict Islamic rule. — According to a major survey conducted last year by the Pew Research Center …

Discussion: Eunomia, The Daily Dish and The Jawa Report

Kevinliptak / CNN:

Senate Democrats again warn of government shutdown — Washington (CNN) - Senate Democratic leaders organized a conference call with reporters Friday to pound away at one of their central political messages - Republicans are risking a government shutdown over spending differences.

Associated Press:

Walker says National Guard is prepared — MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond wherever is necessary in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights from state employees.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TPMDC and Daily Kos