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, Political Punch, Hot Air, Swampland, Patterico's Pontifications, Little Green Footballs, Washington Post, Pajamas Media, The Caucus, The New Republic, The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, The Raw Story, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, JammieWearingFool, TPMDC, Washington Wire, The Impolitic, Moe Lane, FrumForum and Associated Press
RELATED:
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.
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, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, The Impolitic, Weigel, The Awl and Balloon Juice
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
Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
Chaos on House floor as Democrats try to unsettle GOP budget — The House floor erupted into a chaotic scene Friday as House Democrats tried to upset Republican plans to pass their 2012 budget resolution. — Democrats unsettled Republicans by voting “present” in a vote on a more conservative budget …
Discussion:
TPMDC
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Boehner responds to Obama's ‘hot mic’ jab
Ed Hornick / CNN:
Political Circus: Barney Frank in Playboy
Political Circus: Barney Frank in Playboy
Discussion:
Washington Post and Mediaite
The Note:
DCCC Chair Steve Israel Says Ryan Budget, Medicare Will Cost Republicans the House
DCCC Chair Steve Israel Says Ryan Budget, Medicare Will Cost Republicans the House
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Hot Air and National Review
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Unruly G.O.P. Puts Boehner to a Test in Budget Vote
Unruly G.O.P. Puts Boehner to a Test in Budget Vote
Discussion:
The Politico, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Daily Kos and AMERICAblog 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, Outside the Beltway, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather, Daily Kos, neo-neocon and Connecting.the.Dots
RELATED:
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, Washington Monthly, The New Republic, National Review, Balloon Juice and Shakesville
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
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
Myglesias / Yglesias:
The David Brooks Lunch Date Plan For Solving America's Hard-Fought Fiscal Policy Dilemmas
Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:
Ellison Stumps Republican On House Floor By Asking Him When Paul Ryan's Plan Would Balance The Budget
Ellison Stumps Republican On House Floor By Asking Him When Paul Ryan's Plan Would Balance The Budget
Discussion:
News Hounds, Daily Kos, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The Huffington Post
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The grand compromise
The grand compromise
Discussion:
Sadly, No!, Don Surber, Betsy's Page and Bloomberg
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:
Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:
The Cook Report: Trump's a Joke
The Cook Report: Trump's a Joke
Discussion:
Pundits Blog and The Atlantic Online
Jon Terbush / TPMDC:
Poll: Donald Trump Beating Entire GOP Field By 9 Points
Poll: Donald Trump Beating Entire GOP Field By 9 Points
Discussion:
Mediaite, Towleroad News #gay, Fox Nation, Weasel Zippers, Swampland, DownWithTyranny! and Fox News
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
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:
Time, Dean's World, Weigel, Outside the Beltway, TalkLeft, Shakesville, Hit & Run, The Huffington Post, Althouse and American Power
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:
Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Pajamas Media, theblogprof, JammieWearingFool and The TrogloPundit
RELATED:
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:
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.
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:
Cubachi
RELATED:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
White House to Gang of Six: Wrap up work on deficit-reduction plan
White House to Gang of Six: Wrap up work on deficit-reduction plan
Discussion:
Washington Post, Associated Press, Fox News, Right Wing News, FrumForum and New York Times
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:
Runnin' Scared, Shakesville, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Pajamas Media and Ron Paul 2012
New York Times:
This Lady Liberty Is a Las Vegas Teenager — As if further proof were needed that New York is not the center of the universe. — The United States Postal Service has issued a new stamp featuring the Statue of Liberty. Only the statue it features is not the one in the harbor …
Discussion:
The Consumerist, TPM LiveWire, Gothamist, AOL News, Boing Boing, Reuters, nancynall.com and National Review
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
Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Kyl Aide: My ‘Not Intended To Be A Factual Statement’ Statement Was Not Intended To Be A Factual Statement — Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has been lampooned in recent days after his office clarified his wildly inaccurate comments about Planned Parenthood on the Senate Floor last week …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Arizona Republic, The Politico and Daily Kos