Top Items:
Washington Post:
Obama joins Wisconsin's budget battle, opposing Republican anti-union bill — MADISON, WIS. - President Obama thrust himself and his political operation this week into Wisconsin's broiling budget battle, mobilizing opposition Thursday to a Republican bill that would curb public-worker benefits …
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Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Wis. governor: GOP won't be ‘bullied’ by union bill protesters — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) says his party has been emboldened by massive protests against his controversial budget plan. — Walker said demonstrators who filled the state Capitol building in Madison and the boycott …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Vox Popoli and Political Punch
Wall Street Journal:
Athens in Mad Town — A seminal showdown between public unions and taxpayers. — For Americans who don't think the welfare state riots of France or Greece can happen here, we recommend a look at the union and Democratic Party spectacle now unfolding in Wisconsin.
Discussion:
New York Times, Booman Tribune, Pajamas Media, GayPatriot, Betsy's Page, Conservatives4Palin and dallasmorningviewsblog …
Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
BREAKING: Wisconsin Dems Hiding At Best Western in Rockford, IL ...Update: TEA PARTY WINS! Chases WI Dems Out of Rockford ...Update: WI Dem Says They're Still in IL (Video) — The Wisconsin senate democrats fled the state today rather than vote on a budget repair bill.
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Breitbart.tv, Big Government, The Jawa Report, POWIP, Scared Monkeys, Classical Values, theblogprof, The Sundries Shack, WKOW 27, Marathon Pundit, Hot Air, Grim's Hall, Pirate's Cove, All American Blogger, Riehl World View, No More Mister Nice Blog, ABCNEWS, Doug Ross, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Daily Caller, GayPatriot and Da Techguy's Blog
Mary Katharine Ham / The Daily Caller:
AWOL Wisconsin Democrat calls CNN with list of demands — State Senator Mark Miller, a member of the missing band of Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers who fled Madison Thursday to avoid a vote on a budget bill, called into CNN with the group's list of demands for Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
Discussion:
laborunionreport's Diary, Weasel Zippers and Pajamas Media
Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Pawlenty to court Tea Party at Arizona summit — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) will be the featured speaker at a Tea Party summit in Arizona next weekend. — The likely 2012 GOP presidential hopeful is headlining an event hosted by the group Tea Party Patriots, one of the nation's leading Tea Party groups.
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Ben Smith's Blog
Ann Althouse / Althouse:
After all those efforts to paint Tea Partiers as using violent images and rhetoric, these pictures from Madison have got to hurt. — The Wisconsin GOP made a nice montage: — And here's a picture I took today: — I asked the woman if she thought Scott Walker was like Hitler, and she said “Yes.”
Discussion:
The Other McCain, National Review, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, The Blast, The Atlantic Online and TigerHawk
Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
Scott Walker vs. Public Sector Unions — When Wisconsin governor Scott Walker looked out the window of his office at the Capitol in Madison Wednesday he saw more than 10,000 people gathered to protest his decision to require public employees to contribute more to their pensions and health care.
Discussion:
Power Line, AmSpecBlog, National Review, Da Techguy's Blog, NewsBusters.org and JSOnline
Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Politics of Wisconsin Labor Fight Spread to Washington — President Obama and his political rivals in Washington have jumped into the epic battle in Wisconsin between organized labor and the state's newly elected Republican governor over the rights and benefits of state workers.
Kevinliptak / CNN:
Pawlenty to keynote large tea party event — (CNN) - Tim Pawlenty will headline an inaugural policy summit being put on by one of the largest national tea party groups in the U.S. — Tea Party Patriots announced Friday morning that the former Minnesota governor and probable 2012 GOP presidential candidate …
John / Power Line:
One More Thing About Wisconsin — A common theme of the union demonstrators in Madison today was that Governor Walker is a “dictator.” This showed up on sign after sign. It sheds light, I think, on how public union members in particular, and liberals in general, think.
Discussion:
Althouse
Michelle Malkin:
Watch Wisconsin, Part IV: Salary info Big Labor doesn't want you to see; statewide strike looms …
Discussion:
Doug Ross and laborunionreport's Diary
Fox News:
Wis. Governor to AWOL Senate Democrats: Come Home and Get Back to Work | On the Record
Discussion:
JSOnline and National Review
Jay Nordlinger / National Review:
Re ‘To Be a Republican Lawmaker in Madison’
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog and Pundit & Pundette
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
DNC playing role in Wisconsin protests
Discussion:
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JSOnline:
Assembly to convene as protesters return to Capitol
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, ABCNEWS, WisPolitics Budget Blog, National Review, The Moderate Voice, Michelle Malkin, Crooks and Liars, Hit & Run, WISN Milwaukee's Channel 12, TPMDC, Biased BBC, The Plum Line, Sister Toldjah, Swampland, Althouse, Associated Press, Firedoglake, Taylor Marsh, Weekly Standard, Chicago Boyz, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and msnbc.com
Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:
GOP votes to defund Obama's policy ‘czars’ — The House GOP approved an amendment to a government-spending bill that would block funding for the Obama administration's so-called policy “czars,” appointed advisers to the president that have been much-criticized by Republicans. — The vote was 249-171.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Nice Deb, Weasel Zippers, The Sundries Shack and UrbanGrounds
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Jennifer Liberto / CNNMoney.com:
Boehner: ‘Read my lips,’ GOP will cut spending
Discussion:
The Politico, Weasel Zippers, AMERICAblog News, Outside the Beltway and The Hill
Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Karl Rove: Birther rumors discredit GOP
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Reaction, New York Magazine, NewsReal Blog, Right Wing Nut House and FrumForum
Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
On Long Island, Palin Opens Up and Plays Coy — WOODBURY, N.Y. — Sarah Palin did not visit Iowa or New Hampshire on Thursday, and she did not drop by South Carolina or Nevada. But inside a country club ballroom here, as she logged another stop as a paid speaker, she said she could not wait much longer to decide her future.
Discussion:
The Caucus, A plain blog about politics, PostPartisan, Politics Daily, Taegan Goddard's …, Hot Air and City Room
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Katrina Trinko / National Review:
Palin Talks 2012, Birthers, and Government Shutdown
Discussion:
Conservatives4Palin
Amie Parnes / The Politico:
Sarah Palin slams Michelle Obama over nursing
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway and FrumForum
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Willie Sutton Wept — There are three things you need to know about the current budget debate. First, it's essentially fraudulent. Second, most people posing as deficit hawks are faking it. Third, while President Obama hasn't fully avoided the fraudulence, he's less bad than his opponents …
Discussion:
The Confluence, Paul Krugman, Sky Dancing, Balloon Juice, Washington Post and The Politico
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
GOP activists in Iowa divided on whether Palin can carry 2012 banner — WEST DES MOINES, IOWA - A group of Republican activists was sorting out the field of prospective 2012 presidential candidates on a cold night here recently when talk turned to Sarah Palin.
Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Kaine to decide on Senate run by early next month — Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine won't make a decision on a bid for the seat of retiring Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) until later this month or early next. — Kaine is speaking Saturday at the Virginia Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner …
Discussion:
www2.timesdispatch.com and The Page
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Sen. Conrad worries Democrats by calling to revisit the healthcare debate — Unshackled by the need to get reelected, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) suggested Thursday that Democrats reopen the bitter healthcare debate, arguing that the reform law's provisions could yield opportunities to cut the federal deficit.
Discussion:
ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*
The Huffington Post:
Facebook Adds ‘Civil Union,’ ‘Domestic Partnership’ To Relationship Status Options … Facebook has added two new relationship status options users can include in their online profiles: “in a civil union” and “in a domestic partnership.” — The new fields are being rolled out in the U.S …
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, Towleroad News #gay and Gawker, more at Techmeme »
Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Dem Rep Receives Threat Over NASCAR Proposal (DOCUMENT) — Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) alerted Capitol Police Thursday after a threatening fax arrived at her office attacking her proposal to strip Pentagon sponsorship from NASCAR teams. — McCollum's staff tells TPM this is the first time they've alerted …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, The Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Salon, Hullabaloo and Booman Tribune
Stephen Lowman / Political Bookworm:
Rand Paul on Sarah Palin, Dostoevsky and dad — Rand Paul may still be green to the ways of the U.S. Senate (he only assumed office in January) but he's got a lot to say about the political state of the country. Most of his new book, “The Tea Party Goes to Washington,” …
Discussion:
Conservatives4Palin
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