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, 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, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hullabaloo, The Impolitic, Weigel, 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
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
Ed Hornick / CNN:
Political Circus: Barney Frank in Playboy
Political Circus: Barney Frank in Playboy
Discussion:
Washington Post and Mediaite
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Boehner responds to Obama's ‘hot mic’ jab
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
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:
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
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
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
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
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:
Time, Dean's World, Weigel, Outside the Beltway, TalkLeft, Shakesville, Hit & Run, The Huffington Post, Althouse and American Power
RELATED:
Kurt Loder / Reason:
Atlas Shrugged Part I
Atlas Shrugged Part I
Discussion:
Democracy in America, Ideas Market and Hit & Run
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, Gothamist, TPM LiveWire, AOL News, Boing Boing, Reuters, nancynall.com and National Review
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