Top Items:
Paul Krugman:
The Budget Speech — Style: I liked the way Obama made a case for government at the beginning. I liked the way he accused Republicans of pessimism, of abandoning a hopeful vision of America. Good that he went after the Ryan plan — and good that he went after the cruelty of that plan.
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Clive Crook / The Atlantic Online:
Obama's Speech Was a Waste of Breath — Obama had a difficult assignment in this speech, partly because of the exaggerated hopes for it (see previous post). Even allowing for that, it was weak both politically and substantively. My instant unguarded reaction, in fact, was to find it not just weak but pitiful.
cbpp.org:
Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on President Obama's Deficit-Reduction Plan — President Obama made an important contribution today to efforts to address the nation's long-term fiscal problems, proposing a plan to reduce deficits by about $4 trillion over the next 12 years and meet …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, American Times, Paul Krugman and AMERICAblog News
Washington Wire:
Text of Obama Speech on the Deficit — Here is the prepared text of President Barack Obama's speech on the deficit, as released by the White House: — Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery — The Country We Believe In — The George Washington University — Washington, D.C.
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New York Times:
Obama's Speech on Reducing the Budget (Text) — Following is a prepared text of President Obama's debt-reduction speech, to be delivered on Wednesday at The George Washington University, as released by the White House: — Good afternoon. It's great to be back at GW.
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama's solution to deficit: spending, ObamaCare, and tax hikes
Obama's solution to deficit: spending, ObamaCare, and tax hikes
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, Democracy in America, Doug Ross, Swampland, The Lonely Conservative and Michelle Malkin
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Paul Ryan rips Obama's speech: “Rather than building bridges, he's poisoning wells”
Paul Ryan rips Obama's speech: “Rather than building bridges, he's poisoning wells”
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, CNN and TPMDC
George Washington / The White House:
Remarks by the President on Fiscal Policy
Remarks by the President on Fiscal Policy
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, White House.gov Blog and SEIU
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THE PRESIDENT'S ROUSING REJECTION OF REPUBLICAN RADICALISM. …
THE PRESIDENT'S ROUSING REJECTION OF REPUBLICAN RADICALISM. …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Colby Hall / Mediaite:
Paul Ryan Is Very Disappointed With The President: ‘Demagoguery Not Solutions’
Paul Ryan Is Very Disappointed With The President: ‘Demagoguery Not Solutions’
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:
Obama's Deficit Speech (Transcript)
Associated Press:
CBO: Budget deal cuts this fiscal year's deficit by just $353 million, not $38 billion touted — WASHINGTON — A new budget estimate released Wednesday shows that the spending bill negotiated between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner would produce less than 1 percent …
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Ben White / The Politico:
Wall Street executives warn John Boehner on debt limit
Wall Street executives warn John Boehner on debt limit
Discussion:
Weigel, Swampland, Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars, Economix, Riehl World View, The Other McCain, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos and Taylor Marsh
Washington Post:
Obama unveils framework for cutting deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years
Obama unveils framework for cutting deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Note, Jamie Dupree Washington …, Associated Press and The Moderate Voice
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Boehner sees ‘hollow targets’ in speech; Ryan calls it ‘hopelessly inadequate’
Boehner sees ‘hollow targets’ in speech; Ryan calls it ‘hopelessly inadequate’
Discussion:
Cubachi and Liberty Pundits Blog
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Pawlenty urges lawmakers to reject 2011 budget deal
Pawlenty urges lawmakers to reject 2011 budget deal
Discussion:
UPI, Erick's blog, The Hill, Washington Post and The Moderate Voice
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama's “bad negotiating” is actually shrewd negotiating — (updated below) — In December, President Obama signed legislation to extend hundreds of billions of dollars in Bush tax cuts, benefiting the wealthiest Americans. Last week, Obama agreed to billions of dollars in cuts …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, TalkLeft, Hullabaloo, Corrente, Washington Post and Paul Krugman
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David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Do-Nothing Congress as a Cure — A trick question: If Congress takes no action in coming years, what will happen to the budget deficit? — It will shrink — and shrink a lot. This simple fact may offer the best hope for deficit reduction. — As federal law currently stands …
Discussion:
CNN, Balloon Juice, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Calculated Risk, PERRspectives, neo-neocon, Poynter, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Dish, No More Mister Nice Blog, Left Coast Rebel, Prairie Weather, Washington Monthly, Lawyers, Guns & Money, msnbc.com, AMERICAblog News, The Washington Independent, Associated Press, Eschaton, Washington Post and Mother Jones
Annie Lowrey / Slate:
How Congress can balance the budget in eight years by literally doing nothing. This is not a joke. — The Simpson-Bowles blue-ribbon deficit commission longs to slash Social Security and defense spending. The Bipartisan Policy Center's Alice Rivlin and Peter Domenici yearn for a value-added tax.
Discussion:
Yglesias, Derek Wallbank, Capital Gains and Games blogs, The Atlantic Online and The New Republic
The Note:
Asleep on the Job: What Was Vice President Joe Biden Doing During Obama's Debt Speech? — ABC's Z. Byron Wolf reports: — Vice President Biden chose an inopportune time for either a nap or some deep reflection today. — As President Obama weighed in on one of the most important issues of the day …
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Lauraklairmont / CNN:
LensCrafters v. Bachmann — Washington (CNN) - The optics don't look great for Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann. That is, if you're talking about her relationship with LensCrafters, the one-stop shop of eye care and eyewear. — The possible GOP presidential candidate supported her belief …
Discussion:
TPMDC
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Emily Heil / Roll Call:
Heard on the Hill: Eye Spy a Bachmann Controversy
Heard on the Hill: Eye Spy a Bachmann Controversy
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and RH Reality Check
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
GOP senators: Raise retirement age to 70 — Three Republican senators on Wednesday will propose a Social Security reform package that would raise the retirement age to 70 and cut benefits for the wealthy. — Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah) …
Discussion:
Cubachi, The Hill, CNN, Hot Air, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Liberty Pundits Blog
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Obama speech to focus on four steps for fiscal reform
Obama speech to focus on four steps for fiscal reform
Discussion:
Reuters, CNN, The Politico, The Hill, Hullabaloo, ABCNEWS, Sky Dancing, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos, Political Punch, George's Bottom Line and AMERICAblog News
Blogger Bob / The TSA Blog:
Screening of 6 Year-Old at MSY — ***Update 4-13-2011 7:07 PM*** Welcome Drudge readers and anyone else who's new to the TSA Blog. Seeing that many of you have never been here before, I wanted to provide links to a couple of posts we've written on pat-downs. They will give you a better idea of why pat-downs are used and when.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller
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Andrew Springer / ABCNEWS:
Parents of 6-Year-Old Girl Pat Down at Airport Want Procedures Changed
Parents of 6-Year-Old Girl Pat Down at Airport Want Procedures Changed
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hot Air, Hit & Run and Weasel Zippers
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Graham vows to bring Senate to standstill over $40K for project — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has vowed to bring the Senate to a standstill unless congressional leaders agree to allocate $40,000 for a federal study on deepening the Port of Charleston. — Graham says one out of five jobs …
Discussion:
InvestmentWatch
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Susan Crabtree / TPMDC:
Graham Vows To ‘Tie Senate In Knots’ Over $50K Left Out Of Budget Deal
Graham Vows To ‘Tie Senate In Knots’ Over $50K Left Out Of Budget Deal
Discussion:
Business Week, ThinkProgress, The Moderate Voice, Booman Tribune, Outside the Beltway and Talking Points Memo
Jake Tapper / Political Punch:
Throw Grandma From the Train — President Obama at the GOP House retreat, January 2010: — “We're not going to be able to do anything about any of these entitlements if what we do is characterize whatever proposals are put out there as, 'Well, you know, that's — the other party's being irresponsible.
Discussion:
Power Line, Hot Air, National Review, YID With LID and RedState
Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Obama, to Curb Deficit, Urges Cuts and More Taxes on Rich — WASHINGTON — President Obama called for cutting the nation's combined budget deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years on Wednesday, countering Republican budget plans with what he said was a more balanced approach that relies …
Discussion:
The Politico, New York Times, Firedoglake, The Daily Dish, Swampland, MyDD, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
J. Bradford DeLong / Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality …:
The Obama Deficit Reduction Framework... Obama's Deficit-Reduction Framework... A process to by the end of June reach a bipartisan deal backed by automatic triggers starting in 2014 to cut spending and raise taxes relative to the current-policy baseline over the next twelve years. The targets are:
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Balloon Juice and The Incidental Economist
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The Politico:
COLBERT KEEPS TWITTER HEAT ON KYL — Sen. Jon Kyl's claim that “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does” is abortion-related is getting a continued skewering from political comedians. — Comedy Central late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart have since Monday laid …
Discussion:
Big Hollywood, MyDD, Jezebel and TPM LiveWire
The Daily Beast:
Sidney Harman 1918-2011 — Sidney Harman died last night of complications from acute myeloid leukemia at the young age of almost 93. He first learned of his illness one month ago and remained vigorously engaged as Executive Chairman of Newsweek, and Chairman of the Academy for Polymathic Study …
Joe Weisenthal / Associated Press:
WHOOPS: AP Falls For Hoax Press Release Saying That GE Will Repay Government $3.8 Billion Tax Break — Original post: The AP just fell for a hoax press release, which claimed that GE would repay the government the $3.8 billion tax loss carryforward it received.
David Weigel / Weigel:
Birther Bill Passes Arizona Senate — A few days after its main sponsor met with Donald Trump, Arizona's “birther bill” has passed the state Senate. The bill requires a sworn statement confirming the candidates residents and... drum roll... (sorry for the caps):
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Raw Story, Mediaite and Wonkette