Top Items:
The Politico:
What's Donald Trump really after? — Despite an almost universal refusal by Republican establishment figures and the press to take him seriously, Donald Trump is taking very concrete steps toward forming - and announcing - a presidential campaign. — He has interviewed at least two people …
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Rasmussen Reports:
Obama 49%, Trump 34% — President Obama leads Donald Trump by 15 percentage points in a hypothetical 2012 match-up, but the president is unable to top the 50% level of support even against an opponent some are deriding as a joke. — The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds …
Discussion:
Hot Air, GOP 12, Pundit Press, Outside the Beltway and Michelle Malkin
Wall Street Journal:
Where the Tax Money Is — Obama targets the middle class while pretending to tax only the rich. — A dominant theme of President Obama's budget speech last Wednesday was that our fiscal problems would vanish if only the wealthiest Americans were asked “to pay a little more.”
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air, James Pethokoukis, Betsy's Page, Wizbang and The Other McCain
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Ross Douthat / New York Times:
The Middle-Class Tax Trap — “Let's tell the truth,” Walter Mondale said, accepting the Democratic nomination in 1984. “Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did.” — Three months later, Mondale lost 49 states, and liberal politicians learned a valuable lesson.
CEPR:
Douthat Makes It Up On Median Family Income — Ross Douthat struck another blow against fact-based arguments when he told readers that the median family of four has an income of $94,900. Douthat warned that if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire in 24 years the median family would be paying …
Discussion:
Yahoo! Finance, The New Republic and Eschaton
CNBC:
S&P Affirms US AAA Rating, Cuts Outlook to Negative — Standard & Poor's on Monday downgraded the outlook for the United States to negative, saying it believes there's a risk U.S. policymakers may not reach agreement on how to address the country's long-term fiscal pressures.
Discussion:
TPMDC, ProfessorBainbridge.com, HyperVocal, The Gateway Pundit, Moonbattery, Pajamas Media, Vox Popoli and Don Surber
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washpost.bloomberg.com:
Standard & Poor's Puts ‘Negative’ Outlook on U.S. AAA — Standard & Poor's put a “negative” outlook on the long-term AAA credit rating of the U.S., citing a “material risk” the nation's leaders will fail to deal with rising budget deficits and debt. — “We believe there is a material risk …
Discussion:
The Curious Capitalist, Washington Post, Free exchange, The Right Sphere and The Monkey Cage
Matt Jarzemsky / Wall Street Journal:
S&P Cuts U.S. Ratings Outlook to Negative
S&P Cuts U.S. Ratings Outlook to Negative
Discussion:
Washington Wire, James Pethokoukis, Real Time Economics, Don Surber, Gawker and FrumForum
Matthew Saltmarsh / New York Times:
S.&P. Lowers Outlook for U.S., Sending Stocks Down
S.&P. Lowers Outlook for U.S., Sending Stocks Down
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, Prairie Weather and Balloon Juice
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Let's Not Be Civil — Last week, President Obama offered a spirited defense of his party's values — in effect, of the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society. Immediately thereafter, as always happens when Democrats take a stand, the civility police came out in force.
First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: 2012's high stakes — The high stakes in the 2012 election... One word that summarizes the House GOP's first 100 days: bold... House Republicans head home to sell their votes for the Ryan budget plan... Obama hits the road this week to sell his own plan …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
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Lisa Lerer / Bloomberg:
Ryan Budget Plan Defended as Republicans Return Home to Voters
Ryan Budget Plan Defended as Republicans Return Home to Voters
Discussion:
ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Swampland and msnbc.com
Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:
TheDC Exclusive: Conservatives hit Beck for taking content without attribution — A number of conservative activists and bloggers say they're furious at media magnate Glenn Beck for what they call content theft. Over the past several years, Beck has relied on video, audio and written content …
Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Relieve Pain by Swearing, Study Says — Hey, after all these years, I'm vindicated at last: … And, indeed, some of what we were taught in schools was wrong. — For instance, the story has it Patrick Henry said “Give me liberty or give me death.” He really said: “Wear one of those dreadful Tory hats?
RELATED:
Steve Jones / Telegraph:
Swearing can help relieve pain, study claims
Swearing can help relieve pain, study claims
Discussion:
The Raw Story, newsfeed.time.com and Outside the Beltway
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
GANG OF SIX ‘VERY CLOSE’ TO AN AGREEMENT, INTENDS TO ‘MAKE EVERYBODY MAD’.... Two months ago, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a member of the bipartisan “Gang of Six” deficit-reduction talks, said the group was “getting close” to striking a deal. Two weeks ago, however, the negotiations …
Discussion:
The Politico, Just-A-Small-Town-Country-Boy, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Sky Dancing and The Hill
Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Huntsman team plans South Carolina campaign — Columbia, South Carolina (CNN) - If ambassador to China Jon Huntsman does decide to run for president after returning to the United States in early May, his advisers are planning to make a serious play for South Carolina, the early primary state …
Discussion:
MyDD, GOP 12 and Ben Smith's Blog
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Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Bachmann non-committal on first GOP debate
Bachmann non-committal on first GOP debate
Discussion:
Cubachi, Ballot Box, Liberty Pundits Blog and The Political Carnival
Christian Heinze / GOP 12:
Trump: Rove “devastated” by Romney's performance — On Fox & Friends this morning, Donald Trump fired back at Karl Rove for calling him a “joke candidate.” … Trump then offered another reason for Rove's comments. … Trump's assertion that Romney is doing poorly in the polls is hardly air-tight …
Patrick Poole / Pajamas Media:
(UPDATED) DOJ Source: Gov't Muslim ‘Outreach’ Jeopardized Active Terror Investigations — (UPDATE: Rep. Peter King demands answers following Poole's previous article on this topic.) An explosive, must-read interview brings sunlight to our counterproductive “outreach” programs.
Discussion:
National Review, Big Peace, The Jawa Report, AmSpecBlog and Weasel Zippers
Arthur B. Laffer / Wall Street Journal:
The 30-Cent Tax Premium — Tax compliance employs more workers than Wal-Mart, UPS, McDonald's, IBM and Citigroup combined. — There is a lot more to taxes than simply paying the bill. Taxpayers must spend significantly more than $1 in order to provide $1 of income-tax revenue to the federal government.
Discussion:
Yglesias, The New Republic and Outside the Beltway
Kyle Olson / Big Government:
AFSCME Union Threatens to ‘Weaponize’ Government Jobs — It's becoming clearer that the “public service” mentality is quickly slipping way from government employees, if it didn't hit the exits a long time ago. — Instead of government employees serving the public, it's clear now their belief is that the public exists to serve them.
Discussion:
The Blaze
Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Vandals Break In WI Office - Steal Fleebagger Recall Petitions Hours After It Was Announced Enough Signatures Were Collected (Video) — On Thursday Wisconsin conservatives announced that they had collected enough signatures 15,000 to recall fleebagger Senator Dave Hansen of Green Bay.
Reuters:
Al-Jazeera has fans in Obama W.H. — In the halls of American power, the Arab Spring has brought Al-Jazeera in from the cold. — Seven years after then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the broadcaster's reporting “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable” and President George W. Bush joked …
Discussion:
The Caucus, FrumForum, White House Dossier, JammieWearingFool and Jihad Watch, more at Mediagazer »
Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Sen. Kohl reported no fundraising activity for the first quarter — Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) reported no fundraising activity in the first quarter of this year. — But he loaned his campaign account $1 million late last year, which was seen as a sign that he'll run for a fifth term.
Discussion:
RedState
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Americans Still Split About Whether Their Taxes Are Too High — Majority of wealthy Americans think their taxes are too high and unfair — PRINCETON, NJ — Half of Americans believe the amount they pay in federal income taxes is too high, while 43% consider it about right and 4% too low.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Bloomberg, Poll Watch Daily, Hotline On Call, Real Time Economics and Orange County Register
John Fund / Wall Street Journal:
Wisconsin's Election Snafu Is a National Wake-Up Call — The need for greater transparency grows as we head toward 2012. — It's been over a decade since the Bush-Gore recount in Florida was supposed to spur a wholesale modernization of our election systems.
Discussion:
Betsy's Page