Top Items:
Naftali Bendavid / Wall Street Journal:
GOP Aim: Cut $4 Trillion — Budget Plan Would Transform Medicare, Reset Budget Debate; Democrats Balk — Republicans will present this week a 2012 budget proposal that would cut more than $4 trillion from federal spending projected over the next decade and transform the Medicare health program …
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Myglesias / Yglesias:
Will Paul Ryan Propose a Giant Tax Hike To Make Tax Cuts For the Rich Affordable? — Based on Carl Hulse's reporting from yesterday it's clear that Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI) intends to go through with his plan to replace Medicare with vouchers to buy private health insurance, and then cut spending on the vouchers.
Discussion:
New York Times, The New Republic, Guardian and Marginal Revolution
Paul Krugman:
Privatizing Medicare — So they're really going to propose it. — More when we have some details. But two key points: — 1. Privatizing and voucherizing Medicare does nothing whatsoever to control costs. We've seen that from the sorry history of Medicare Advantage.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Incidental Economist and AMERICAblog News
Fox News:
(CROSSTALK) — WALLACE: Are we talking 20 percent?
(CROSSTALK) — WALLACE: Are we talking 20 percent?
Discussion:
msnbc.com and The New Republic
First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: He's in — In email and video to supporters …
First Thoughts: He's in — In email and video to supporters …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, The New Republic, Pat Dollard, Washington Post, Fox News and Maggie's Notebook
Michael Muskal / Los Angeles Times:
Obama launches reelection campaign with e-mail, web video — The president pledges to focus on his job, but will pick up the tempo of campaigning this month with several fundraisers. The campaign is hoping to raise a record $1 billion. — President Obama speaking in March (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images))
Discussion:
The Hill, OpenSecrets.org, The Reaction, Mediaite, Washington Post, Politics and NewsBusters.org blogs
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William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
L.A. Times Announces Obama's New Campaign Website - http://www.latimes.com — If ever there were a Freudian slip, it is in this article at the L.A. Times announcing the start of Obama's 2012 election campaign: — At the close of the article, the LA Times made sure to point readers to Obama's campaign website:
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit
Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Obama launches reelection campaign with video
Obama launches reelection campaign with video
Discussion:
CNN, American Power, Another Black Conservative, FrumForum and The Lonely Conservative
Michael Scherer / Swampland:
Four Hidden Messages In Obama's 2012 Reelection Launch
Four Hidden Messages In Obama's 2012 Reelection Launch
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and The New Republic
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Clinton: Shutdown would hurt GOP but might not be ‘traumatic’ for economy — A government shutdown might not have a “traumatic” effect on the economy, former President Bill Clinton said Monday. — Clinton, who faced a shutdown during his 1995 budget negotiations with congressional Republicans …
Discussion:
The Politico, Pat Dollard, The Moderate Voice, Connecting.the.Dots and FrumForum
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Sean J. Miller / The Hill:
The Hill Poll: GOP seen as more reasonable in spending-cut debate — A plurality of likely voters believes Republicans have been more reasonable than Democrats in the negotiations over spending cuts. — A new poll conducted for The Hill showed 41 percent polled said the GOP had been …
Discussion:
Hot Air and National Review
Suzan Clarke / ABCNEWS:
EXCLUSIVE: Bill Clinton Calls ‘Birther’ Doubts About Obama's Citizenship ‘Ludicrous’
EXCLUSIVE: Bill Clinton Calls ‘Birther’ Doubts About Obama's Citizenship ‘Ludicrous’
Discussion:
Ballot Box
Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
A Tea Party Star Stirs Iowans, and She Isn't Palin — WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Sarah Palin, the reigning heroine of many social conservatives, has given few signals that she will make a presidential bid. Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 on the strength of his appeal …
Discussion:
Ballot Box, CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Last Tradition, msnbc.com, The Note, The Politico and American Power
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Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
Will Media Give Monday's Nationwide Union Rallies As Much Coverage As Tiny Tea Party Event?
Will Media Give Monday's Nationwide Union Rallies As Much Coverage As Tiny Tea Party Event?
Discussion:
The Right Sphere and Eschaton
Russell Berman / The Hill:
GOP freshman class faces its big shutdown decision: Fight or fall in line
GOP freshman class faces its big shutdown decision: Fight or fall in line
Discussion:
ABCNEWS and Associated Press
Stephanie Condon / CBS News:
KSM to be tried by military commission at Gitmo; Holder set to make announcement today — Attorney General Eric Holder today will announce that self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad will be tried in a military commission, CBS News has learned.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Don Surber, CBS New York, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post and Emptywheel
Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
Now Libya steps on President Obama's message — President Barack Obama's decision to intervene in Libya has presented him with a whole new set of political problems with members of both parties. But its most worrisome effect for the White House is the way it's undermining his efforts …
Discussion:
Questions and Observations, The Other McCain and Right Wing News
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Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:
Obama re-election launches with email, website
Obama re-election launches with email, website
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
John Phillips: Why Hillary Clinton must run in 2012 — If Hillary Clinton's primary voters and President Obama had their relationship status listed on their Facebook pages, it would change from “Married” to “It's complicated.” — To be fair, Hillary voters never fell in love with Obama, they just fell in line.
Discussion:
The Radio Patriot, Wizbang, Don Surber and Sipsey Street Irregulars
Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:
MONEY TALKS — Eight of the current Supreme Court Justices are known for their zeal in questioning lawyers. That tendency was on display last week during the oral argument over the constitutionality of an Arizona law known as the Citizens Clean Elections Act, a law that attempts …
Discussion:
Law Blog
RELATED:
Matt Welch / Hit & Run:
It Doesn't Get Any Clearer Than That: “Free speech is a great idea, but we're in a war” — Here's what Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said today about Florida pastor Terry Jones' burning of a Koran, which has been used an excuse by Afghanis to murder 22 people, including seven United Nations workers:
Discussion:
NewsReal Blog, National Review, Pajamas Media, Wonkette, NY Daily News, Breitbart.tv, Vox Popoli and Mediaite
RELATED:
Mark Steyn / National Review:
Re: Lindsey Graham and the First Amendment
Re: Lindsey Graham and the First Amendment
Discussion:
Diana West, RedState, Althouse, Cold Fury, The Lonely Conservative and Instapundit
Myglesias / Yglesias:
The Case For Freshman Ineligibility — Secretary of Education Arne Duncan took the opportunity of “March Madness” to note the scandalously poor academic performance of the unpaid professional basketball players who NCAA schools pretend are student athletes.
Discussion:
Get Schooled and Eschaton
The Politico:
Jon Huntsman, the rock ‘n’ roll years — Jonny Huntsman didn't quite make it through his senior year of high school, and the cause was pretty plain to his classmates. One recalled the long-haired, diffident Salt Lake City high schooler sitting next to him in history class “hitting his desk as if it were a piano.”
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and Ben Smith's Blog
Paul Krugman:
Diminished Individualism Watch — A few weeks back I commented on a George Will column in which he said that … So I think that it is my civic duty to report that yesterday, as I got off Amtrak 161 from Trenton to Washington — having spent 2 1/2 hours being made more amenable to collectivism …
Discussion:
Grist
Steve Chapman / Real Clear Politics:
Obama's ‘Bloodbath’: Can We Believe the Hype? — Remember when a crusading president, acting on dubious intelligence, insufficient information and exaggerated fears, took the nation into a Middle Eastern war of choice? That was George W. Bush in 2003, invading Iraq. But it's also Barack Obama in 2011, attacking Libya.
Discussion:
Eunomia, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and AmSpecBlog
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
41 Senate Dems oppose GOP Planned Parenthood cuts — A group of 41 Senate Democrats say they oppose a House-passed measure that cuts federal funding for family planning programs, including Planned Parenthood. — The proposal passed as an amendment to the House GOP's government funding plan …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Wall Street Journal:
Inside the Massacre at Afghan Compound — MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan—Officials are painting the weekend killings at the United Nations mission in northern Afghanistan's largest city—which sparked cascading violence across the nation—as the handiwork of a small band of insurgents that used …
Discussion:
The AfPak Channel, Weasel Zippers, The Jawa Report and Global Spin
Fortune:
The truth about GE's tax bill — Did GE pay U.S. income taxes in 2010? The company known for minimizing its tax bill made a muddled situation worse responding to a New York Times report suggesting it might get a refund. GE now says it has a small tax liability for 2010.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Felix Salmon, Washington Post and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »