Top Items:
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
GOP reality check: Obama looking tougher to beat in 2012 — Just four months after posting historic election gains, Republicans are experiencing a reality check about 2012: President Barack Obama is going to be a lot tougher to defeat than he looked late last year.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Jay Bookman
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Obama talks up ‘RomneyCare’ amid GOP criticism of plan — President Obama pointedly praised on Monday the healthcare program Republican Mitt Romney installed as governor of Massachusetts. — Obama singled out Romney for praise over his state's healthcare plan, which shares similarities …
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Weasel Zippers
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Sen. Graham: Republicans waiting for 2016 should run in 2012
Kevinliptak / CNN:
Obama gives props to Romney on health care
Paul Duggan / Washington Post:
Last U.S. World War I veteran Frank W. Buckles dies at 110 — Frank W. Buckles died early Sunday, sadly yet not unexpectedly at age 110, having achieved a singular feat of longevity that left him proud and a bit bemused. — In 1917 and 1918, close to 5 million Americans served in World War I …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, protein wisdom, AOL News, Patterico's Pontifications, New York Magazine, TigerHawk, Moe Lane, Swampland and Pundit Press
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Dennis McLellan / Los Angeles Times:
Frank Buckles, last American veteran of World War I, dies at 110 — Frank Buckles, one of more than 4 million Americans to serve in World War I, drove ambulances in France and was later a civilian prisoner of war during Japan's invasion of the Philippines in WWII.
Discussion:
Maggie's Notebook, UrbanGrounds, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller and The Mahablog
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
THE HILL POLL: On shutdown, more voters would blame Dems — Twenty-nine percent of likely voters would blame Democrats for a government shutdown, compared to 23 percent who would hold Republicans responsible, according to a new poll conducted for The Hill. — The results are surprising …
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Rasmussen Reports:
58% Favor Government Shutdown Until Spending Cuts Are Agreed Upon
58% Favor Government Shutdown Until Spending Cuts Are Agreed Upon
Discussion:
Weigel, Guardian, Hot Air and Pajamas Media
Jonathan Allen / The Politico:
Republicans win round one of budget fight
Republicans win round one of budget fight
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Guardian
Tina Brown / The Daily Beast:
Andrew Sullivan Joins The Daily Beast! — In exciting news for the two-year-old Daily Beast, the blogging trailblazer is moving his influential Daily Dish to our site. His blog will occupy a new channel starting in early April, and he will become a Newsweek contributor.
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Home News — The Dish is moving! In April, we'll be joining The Daily Beast. — For me, it's a strange mixture of excitement and sadness. Sadness because the Atlantic has been a very special home for me and all the interns and staffers who have worked at the Dish.
David Brody / The Brody File:
Speaker Boehner tells Brody File President Obama's DOMA Decision is “Raw Politics” — Speaker of the House John Boehner says President Obama's decision to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court strikes him as “raw politics” and says Obama is “pandering to the other side on this issue.”
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, TPMDC, AMERICAblog Gay, Towleroad News #gay and New York Times
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David Brody / The Brody File:
Speaker Boehner to Brody File on Hill Fight to Defund Planned Parenthood: Let's “win the war not just win a battle.”
Speaker Boehner to Brody File on Hill Fight to Defund Planned Parenthood: Let's “win the war not just win a battle.”
Discussion:
CNN, LifeNews.com and Weasel Zippers
Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
GOP spending plan would cost 700,000 jobs, new report says — A Republican plan to sharply cut federal spending this year would destroy 700,000 jobs through 2012, according to an independent economic analysis set for release Monday. — The report, by Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi …
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Swampland and Balloon Juice
Becky Schlikerman / Chicago Breaking News:
Farrakhan: Mideast uprisings will come to US — Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan predicted on Sunday that America faces imminent uprisings that mirror those in the Middle East. — “What you are looking at in Tunisia, in Egypt ... Libya, in Bahrain ... what you see happening there …
Discussion:
This Just In, Weasel Zippers, Right Wing News, Pajamas Media, JammieWearingFool and iOwnTheWorld.com
The Note:
Politics at the Oscars — Union Support — ABC News' Chris Marderosian reports: — At the Academy Awards tonight, best cinematography winner Wally Pfister made a point during his acceptance speech of thanking his union crew on “Inception.” — Backstage he went further …
Kevin Sack / New York Times:
Obama Set to Ease Health Law Requirements — Seeking to appease disgruntled governors, President Obama plans to announce on Monday that he supports amending the 2010 health care law to allow states to opt out of its most burdensome requirements three years earlier than currently permitted.
Discussion:
Swampland, Wonk Room, msnbc.com, Washington Post and Pajamas Media
Michael R. Bloomberg / Bloomberg:
Limit Pay, Not Unions — IN Ohio, Wisconsin and other states facing budget deficits, some elected officials assert that closing those gaps requires achieving labor savings and weakening labor unions. They are half-right. — Across the country, taxpayers are providing pensions …
Discussion:
The Politico, New York Times, The Reaction, Daily Kos and The Future of Capitalism
Steve Fishman / New York Magazine:
The Madoff Tapes — One evening, my home phone rang. “You have a collect call from Bernard Madoff, an inmate at a federal prison,” a recording announced. And there he was. — Bernard L. Madoff is in therapy. Each week, he waits for the signal that prisoners are allowed to leave their housing units …
Discussion:
Felix Salmon, Runnin' Scared, The Raw Story, Guardian and Raw Replay
Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:
Demonstrators Can Continue Overnight Stays in Wisconsin Capitol — MADISON, Wis. — In a victory — at least a symbolic one — for Wisconsin's public employee unions, the Capitol authorities announced on Sunday that demonstrators could continue their all-night sleepovers in the building and would not be forcibly ejected or arrested.
Maamoun Youssef / Associated Press:
Al-Qaida's No. 2 Urges Tunisians, Egyptians to Create Islamic States — Cairo (AP) - Osama bin Laden's deputy sought to co-opt the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia in a new message, urging the countries' peoples to create Islamic states and warning that the United States is trying to manipulate …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch
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Robert Barro / Wall Street Journal:
Unions vs. the Right to Work — Collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty. — How ironic that Wisconsin has become ground zero for the battle between taxpayers and public- employee labor unions.
Discussion:
Sister Toldjah, The Reality-Based Community and The Lonely Conservative
Washington Post:
Ohio, Wisconsin shine spotlight on new union battle: Government workers vs. taxpayers — COLUMBUS, OHIO - Across Ohio last week, the legislative push to restrict the union rights of government workers was greeted again and again by noisy protests. — But in this state dotted …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Projo 7 to 7 News Blog, Hot Air and RedState
Newt Gingrich / Facebook:
Happy Birthday to the Tea Party Movement — Two years ago today, Americans from all across the nation and from all walks of life began a movement on a national scale. — That movement was similar to one that was started by patriots centuries ago; so much so that it became known as the Tea Party movement.
Discussion:
Instapundit and GayPatriot
Joe Hagan / New York Magazine:
Goddangit, Baby, We're Making Good Time — With a new master plan for the GOP, Karl Rove is revving up for a comeback. — Karl Rove is driving through Central Texas with his girlfriend, on the way to a weekend quail hunt. — “I've been called up by my emergency Texas militia unit …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and Weasel Zippers
Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Former GOP Sen. Bennett: Reagan Held Views That Were ‘Absolutely Anathema’ To The Tea Party — Former GOP Sen. Bob Bennett (UT), who lost his seat to a far-right primary challenger after holding it for over a decade, slammed the tea party in an interview with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren Friday.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Weasel Zippers
BBC:
Study says green sector costs more jobs than it creates — The study claimed 3.7 jobs were lost for every one created in the UK renewables sector — Government support for the renewable sector in Scotland is costing more jobs than it creates, a report has claimed.
Discussion:
Biased BBC and AmSpecBlog
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
‘Anonymous’ takes down Americans for Prosperity website — The online activist group “anonymous,” which has used coordinated denial of service attacks — a crude but effective Internet weapon — to temporary disable sites belonging to foes ranging from Scientology to WikiLeaks foes …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, AlterNet, The Impolitic, TPMDC, Runnin' Scared, The Nation and The Raw Story
Clarion-Ledger:
Gov.'s memories of King may be inaccurate — Gov. Haley Barbour recalled hearing Martin Luther King Jr. speak at the old fairgrounds in his hometown of Yazoo City in 1962. — “I was there with some of my friends,” Barbour told the Weekly Standard. “We wanted to hear him speak.”
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Ben Smith's Blog, TPMDC and The New Republic
Nada Bakri / New York Times:
Protests in Oman Spread — In the northeast port city of Sohar, where the protests originated demonstrators blocked roads to the port, Oman's second biggest, and an industrial area that includes a refinery and aluminum factory, according to two witnesses in Sohar and news agencies.
Discussion:
Shakesville
Myglesias / Yglesias:
The Dual Oil Threats — When people talk about the risk posed to the economy by oil price spikes it's worth keeping in mind the fact that there are really two separate threats here. — One is that expensive oil is a negative “real” shock to the American economy.
Discussion:
New York Times