Top Items:
Tucker Reals / CBS News:
Obama: GOP tried to “sneak” agenda into budget — In what he thought was a private chat with campaign donors Thursday evening, President Obama offered the most revealing behind-the-scenes account to date of his budget negotiations with GOP leaders last week.
Discussion:
CBS News, The Hill, New York Times, Political Punch, Washington Post, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, Swampland, The Lonely Conservative, Pajamas Media, The Gateway Pundit, The Raw Story, Mediaite, The New Republic, The Caucus, JammieWearingFool, Little Green Footballs, Weasel Zippers, The Moderate Voice, TPMDC, Washington Wire, The Impolitic, Lynn Sweet, Moe Lane, FrumForum and Associated Press
RELATED:
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Pandemonium! Dems Jam Republicans With Even More Conservative Budget — What was supposed to be a routine vote in the House — to knock down an amendment authored by conservative Republicans — turned into pandemonium on the House floor Friday, as Democrats tried to jam the plan through, and hang it around the GOP's necks.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Guardian, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, Weigel, The Impolitic, The Awl and Balloon Juice
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Drama erupts on House floor as conservative budget goes down — House lawmakers defeated a proposal by conservative Republicans to make deeper cuts to spending and tax rates than those proposed in the Republican budget, but only after last-minute maneuvering by Democrats on the House floor.
Political Punch:
Obama Uncensored: President Caught on Open Mic at Fundraiser — President Obama had a candid, private conversation with campaign donors last night in Chicago. — Except, as it turns out, it wasn't so private. The microphone in the room that was on for the part of his remarks that reporters …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Hill, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Daily Kos, Washington Post and Wonkette
Ed Hornick / CNN:
Political Circus: Barney Frank in Playboy — Washington (CNN) — Politics is serious business — but not all the time. — He's baring it all — in interview — Rep. Barney Frank, the openly gay Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, is featured in the May edition of Playboy.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Mediaite
Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
Chaos on House floor as Democrats try to unsettle GOP budget
Chaos on House floor as Democrats try to unsettle GOP budget
Discussion:
TPMDC
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Boehner responds to Obama's ‘hot mic’ jab
Washington Post:
House passes GOP budget plan for 2012
House passes GOP budget plan for 2012
Discussion:
The Hill, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, FrumForum and EconomistMom.com
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Trump takes the lead — Only 38% of Republican primary voters say they're willing to support a candidate for President next year who firmly rejects the birther theory and those folks want Mitt Romney to be their nominee for President next year. With the other 62% of Republicans- 23% of whom …
RELATED:
Mira Oberman / Agence France Presse:
Republicans will make US ‘Third World’ nation: Obama
Republicans will make US ‘Third World’ nation: Obama
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Ironic Surrealism and Vox Popoli
Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:
The Cook Report: Trump's a Joke
The Cook Report: Trump's a Joke
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and Pundits Blog
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Foolish poll finding of the day
Foolish poll finding of the day
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and Wake up America
Jon Terbush / TPMDC:
Poll: Donald Trump Beating Entire GOP Field By 9 Points
Poll: Donald Trump Beating Entire GOP Field By 9 Points
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, Towleroad News #gay, Fox Nation, Weasel Zippers, Swampland, DownWithTyranny! and Fox News
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Who's Serious Now? — Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, sounds upset. And you can see why: President Obama, to the great relief of progressives, has called his bluff. — Last week, Mr. Ryan unveiled his budget proposal, and the initial reaction of much of the punditocracy …
Discussion:
The New Republic, NewsBusters.org, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, neo-neocon and Connecting.the.Dots
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Benjy Sarlin / TPMDC:
Will Anyone Even Insure Seniors if Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan Passes? — At first glance, Paul Ryan's plan to send millions of seniors into the free market with dwindling vouchers in hand might seem a boon to the private insurance industry. But would companies even want to participate?
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Yglesias and FrumForum
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
The GOP Proposes ‘Obamacare’ For Seniors — Just Don't Tell Democrats Or Republicans That
The GOP Proposes ‘Obamacare’ For Seniors — Just Don't Tell Democrats Or Republicans That
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Hit & Run and Daily Kos
David Brooks / New York Times:
Ultimate Spoiler Alert — President Obama and Paul Ryan are two of the smartest, most admirable and most genial men in Washington. It is sad, although not strange, that in today's Washington they have never had a serious private conversation. The president has never invited Ryan over even for lunch.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Washington Post, The New Republic, National Review, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice and Shakesville
RELATED:
CEPR:
Brooks Bemoans the Lack of a Free Lunch for Representative Ryan — That would be at the White House of course. Brooks is upset that: — “It is sad, although not strange, that in today's Washington they have never had a serious private conversation. The president has never invited Ryan over even for lunch.”
Discussion:
Firedoglake, TalkLeft and Hullabaloo
Roger Ebert / Chicago Sun Times:
Atlas Shrugged — I feel like my arm is all warmed up and I don't have a game to pitch. I was primed to review “Atlas Shrugged.” I figured it might provide a parable of Ayn Rand's philosophy that I could discuss. For me, that philosophy reduces itself to: “I'm on board; pull up the lifeline.”
Discussion:
Reason, Time, Wake up America, Weigel, Dean's World, Ideas Market, Outside the Beltway, TalkLeft, Shakesville, Hit & Run, The Huffington Post, American Power and Althouse
RELATED:
Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:
Atlas Winced — Ayn Rand's work has been described as …
Atlas Winced — Ayn Rand's work has been described as …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
The Hill:
House passes Ryan's '12 budget; conservatives want more cuts — The House on Friday approved a fiscal year 2012 budget resolution from Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that seeks to drastically limit government spending next year and in years to follow.
Discussion:
National Review, The Hill, Ballot Box and Cubachi
RELATED:
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
House Passes G.O.P. Budget Plan With No Democratic Votes
House Passes G.O.P. Budget Plan With No Democratic Votes
Discussion:
Wonk Room
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: House Republicans Overwhelmingly Vote To Phase Out Medicare
BREAKING: House Republicans Overwhelmingly Vote To Phase Out Medicare
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and cbpp.org
The Daily Caller:
Jon Huntsman's love letters — Jon Huntsman, President Obama's outgoing ambassador to China, is considering running against his boss in 2012 as a Republican. — But two handwritten letters from Huntsman obtained by The Daily Caller raise the question of why he's not campaigning for Obama instead.
Wall Street Journal:
Obama Is Likely to Lose — But Republican unseriousness may be his trump card. — Suppose everything we think we know about the president's political position is wrong? That's what I think became clear this week. — You know the conventional wisdom.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Don Surber and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama Job Approval at 41%, Tying His Low — Independents' approval rating down to 35% — PRINCETON, NJ - The latest Gallup Daily tracking three-day average shows 41% of Americans approving of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. That ties his low as president …
Discussion:
The Hill, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media, Mediaite, The Atlantic Online, theblogprof, JammieWearingFool and The TrogloPundit
RELATED:
CNN:
Security griping a red flag for TSA — Washington (CNN) — Don't like the way airport screeners are doing their job? You might not want to complain too much while standing in line. — Arrogant complaining about airport security is one indicator Transportation Security Administration officers consider …
Discussion:
The Consumerist, Runnin' Scared, Shakesville, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Pajamas Media and Ron Paul 2012
Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. / The Jawa Report:
FBI: Samir Khan Inspired Homegrown Jihadis “Most Serious Threat to Homeland”; Will Democrats Apologize to Rep. King? — An image made by AQAP's Samir Khan for The Jawa Report — In an official “statement for the record” to the The Washington Institute for Near East Policy yesterday …
Jeffrey Kluger / Ecocentric:
How the Ice in Your Drink is Imperiling the Planet — Want to save the Earth? Easy, just buy a couple of ice trays. To the long list of human inventions that are wrecking global climate—the internal combustion engine, the industrial era factory—add the automatic ice maker.
Discussion:
Don Surber and Pirate's Cove