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Koch Whore — Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker answers his master's call — “David Koch”: We'll back you any way we can. What we were thinking about the crowd was, uh, was planting some troublemakers. — Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: You know, well, the only problem with that—because we thought about that...
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, The Caucus, Ballot Box, host.madison.com, The Moderate Voice, Salon, Wonkette, The New Republic, The Atlantic Online, AOL News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, Little Green Footballs, Sky Dancing, The Raw Story, One Wisconsin Now, blue cheddar, AMERICAblog News, CANNONFIRE, The Right Sphere, Ben Smith's Blog, WisPolitics Budget Blog, Pajamas Media and Daily Kos
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Did Scott Walker Get Crank-Call Pwned? (AUDIO) — Is that really Scott Walker? A New York-based alt-news editor says he got through to the embattled Wisconsin governor on the phone Tuesday by posing as right-wing financier David Koch...then had a far-ranging 20-minute conversation about the collective bargaining protests.

What a prank call proves about Wisconsin — Gonzo journalist Ian Murphy noticed one of Wisconsin's Senate Democrats complaining that Gov. Scott Walker was impossible to reach on the phone. So Murphy came up with a prank call: He posed as right-wing financier David Koch and called Walker's receptionist.
Discussion:
Yglesias and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Governor Walker's office confirms prank Koch call — The Internet is burning up with the news that Governor Scott Walker may have been pranked by a caller claiming to be David Koch, and a spokesman for the Governor, Cullen Werwie, emails a statement confirming the call is legit:
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Althouse, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, Crooks and Liars and New York Magazine

Top Six Revelations in the Call Between Fake David Koch and Governor Scott Walker … The call made by a Buffalo blogger pretending to be billionaire right-wing activist David Koch to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is quickly making an impact on the news cycle. (You can listen to the call on YouTube: Part 1 |
Discussion:
campaignmoney.org, msnbc.com, JSOnline, Verum Serum, The Blaze and Booman Tribune


The Howard Stern-ing of the Wisconsin showdown — A left-wing website that specializes in pranking celebrities, pundits, and politicians — a la Howard Stern — is doing a Snoopy dance over a fake call its operatives made to GOP Gov. Scott Walker. — The hoaxer pretended to be David Koch, the progs' favorite capitalist target.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, GayPatriot, BizTimes Daily, WFRV-TV and Ben Smith's Blog

Did Scott Walker Reveal His Crisis-Ending Ruse to a Prank Caller?
Discussion:
CNN, Associated Press, Nice Deb, AmSpecBlog, The Hill, Salon and Wonkette

Wis. Gov. Duped by Impostor Reporter
Discussion:
The Hill, The Politico, ThinkProgress, The Note, No More Mister Nice Blog and Prairie Weather

Milwaukee County — Caller posing as major GOP contributor dupes Walker
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Mediaite, The Nation and Salon

Walker On ‘Koch’ Phone Call: ‘I Take Phone Calls All The Time’
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker, Ezra Klein and Hullabaloo

Statement of the Attorney General on Litigation Involving the Defense of Marriage Act — WASHINGTON - The Attorney General made the following statement today about the Department's course of action in two lawsuits, Pedersen v. OPM and Windsor v. United States, challenging Section 3 of the Defense …
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Salon, PostPartisan, msnbc.com, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Huffington Post, Balkinization, The Daily Caller, The Bilerico Project, AMERICAblog Gay, Crooks and Liars, Pam's House Blend, Jay Bookman, Daily Kos, ACS Blog, New York Magazine, PointOfLaw Forum, Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Online, Ben Smith's Blog, Sky Dancing, The Right Sphere, Mother Jones, Wonkette, Booman Tribune, Hit & Run and AOL News
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Obama Won't Go to Court Over Defense of Marriage Act — An opponent of California's Prop 8 holds an American flag and gay pride flag during a demonstration outside of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 6, 2010 in San Francisco. — President Obama believes that the Defense …
Discussion:
Salon, Box Turtle Bulletin, National Review, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Emptywheel and Indecision Forever

U.S., in Shift, Sees Marriage Act as Violation of Gay Rights — WASHINGTON — President Obama, in a major legal policy shift, has directed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act — the 1996 law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages — against lawsuits challenging it as unconstitutional.

Breaking: Obama to abandon DOMA defense
Discussion:
National Review, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, Breitbart.tv and theblogprof

Letter from the Attorney General to Congress on Litigation Involving the Defense of Marriage Act
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, National Review, The Foundry, JONATHAN TURLEY, Balkinization, Box Turtle Bulletin and Runnin' Scared

Gov't drops defense of anti-gay marriage law
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Box Turtle Bulletin and Maryland Politics


Boehner Spox: It's Not The Appropriate Time To Nix DOMA Defense
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker and Wonk Room

BREAKING: Obama DOJ Announces It Will Not Defend The Constitutionality Of DOMA
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Daily Caller


Fox Reverses Results Of Gallup Poll To Claim Americans Oppose Union Collective Bargaining Rights — Yesterday, USA Today and Gallup released a new poll that found that a whopping 61 percent of Americans oppose efforts like those of Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) to strip public sector unions of collective bargaining rights.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Balloon Juice and AFL-CIO NOW BLOG
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Gov. Walker Informed That Bill Targeting Unions May Cost State $46 Million In Federal Funds
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Outside the Beltway and Daily Kos


Indiana Official: “Use Live Ammunition” Against Wisconsin Protesters — A conservative deputy AG let his emotions get out of hand. It wasn't the first time. — Post Comment — On Saturday night, when Mother Jones staffers tweeted a report that riot police might soon sweep demonstrators …
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Indiana Senate leader says right-to-work bill is dead — Daniels clarifies statements on pending legislation — Gov. Mitch Daniels this morning toughened his words about House Democrats who have fled the state is protest of Republican legislative proposals.
Discussion:
theblogprof, Washington Monthly, Ben Smith's Blog, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, USA Today and The Daily Caller
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Indiana kills ‘right-to-work’ bill
Discussion:
The American Independent and Politics


Newt Gingrich confronted over affair — PHILADELPHIA — Newt Gingrich's speech at the University of Pennsylvania Tuesday night quickly took a turn for the dramatic when the first student to question him brought up his admitted extra-marital affair and accused him of being “hypocritical” for espousing moral values.
Discussion:
CNN, Outside the Beltway, nancynall.com, Right Turn, The Other McCain, Salon, Firedoglake, Wonk Room, The Moderate Voice and New York Magazine


Republicans float $2 billion a week in cuts — House Republicans plan to pass a two-week stopgap spending bill next week that would keep the government running past March 4 at reduced levels, GOP aides told POLITICO Wednesday. — The measure comes on the heels of last week's seven-month appropriation bill …
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Government Shutdown? Don't Count on It
Discussion:
Swampland and Taegan Goddard's …

How the GOP Can Win the Budget Battle
Discussion:
Liberty Pundits Blog, The New Republic and National Review

Video: The Daily Show Tortures a Camel in Madison — Madison, Wisc. — No joke: The Daily Show brought a camel to the protests in Madison the other day, presumably to help make fun of the Cairo/Madison comparisons. As this video shows, the gag didn't turn out so well:
Discussion:
JSOnline, iOwnTheWorld.com and Breitbart.tv


Santorum hits left on Crusades — Rick Santorum launched into a scathing attack on the left, charging during an appearance in South Carolina that the history of the Crusades has been corrupted by “the American left who hates Christendom.” — “The idea that the Crusades and the fight …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers


Video: CWA union thug strikes young female FreedomWorks activist — This is Tabitha Hale, a young conservative activist/original Tea Party organizer/blogger who works for Washington, D.C.-based FreedomWorks. I know her from her great grass-roots work with Smart Girl Politics when the Tea Party movement was just emerging.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit

Huckabee, Palin, Romney Tie for Lead in GOP '12 Preferences — Huckabee's support up six points since September — PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans and Republican-leaning independents have no clear favorite for the party's 2012 presidential nominee at this point, with Mike Huckabee (18%) …
Discussion:
GOP 12, The Hill, Politics Daily, CNN and Mediaite

PROVIDENCE — The school district plans to send out dismissal notices to every one of its 1,926 teachers, an unprecedented move that has union leaders up in arms. — In a letter sent to all teachers Tuesday, Supt. Tom Brady wrote that the Providence School Board on Thursday will vote …
Discussion:
AOL News, HazZzMat, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Greenroom, JONATHAN TURLEY, msnbc.com and Sweetness & Light

All Your Thoughts Are Belong To U.S. — That seems to be the import of the ruling by federal Judge Gladys Kessler in upholding the Obamacare mandate in a suit brought by a group of private plaintiffs in Mead v. Holder (pg. 45, emphasis mine): … Our thoughts are now actions.
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications, Hot Air, Common Sense Political Thought, New York Times and The BLT


Iron Dogs Roarin' — It's no secret I'm cheering for Team #11 in this year's Iron Dog race! Todd and his racing partner Eric Quam are doing very well and helping lead the pack as they'll soon be near the 1000-mile half-way point in Nome. They've been breaking trail through three feet of new snow!
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Daily Dish, Wonkette, Big Government and AOL News

Dem Rep to unions: Time to get ‘bloody’ — A Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts is raising the stakes in the nation's fight over the future of public employee unions, saying emails aren't enough to show support and that it is time to “get a little bloody.”
Discussion:
The Hill, Hot Air, The Other McCain, Michelle Malkin, Cold Fury, Pundit & Pundette, The Daily Caller, Shot in the Dark, theblogprof and protein wisdom

D.C., Hawaii Still Most Approving of Obama; All States Decline — Approval is higher than average in 12 states plus D.C., lower than average in 18 states — PRINCETON, NJ — Residents of Hawaii gave native son President Barack Obama the highest average 2010 job approval rating (66%) …
Discussion:
The Note, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Politics Daily, CNN, Ballot Box, Wake up America, The Daily Caller, The Moderate Voice and The Politico