Top Items:
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.
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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, Wake up America, Hot Air, Betsy's Page, James Pethokoukis, Wizbang and The Other McCain
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 $94,900. Douthat warned that if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire in 24 years the median family would be paying …
Discussion:
Eschaton
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
ABOUT THAT DOUTHAT COLUMN.... The New York Times' Ross Douthat …
ABOUT THAT DOUTHAT COLUMN.... The New York Times' Ross Douthat …
Discussion:
Yahoo! Finance and The New Republic
The Politico:
What's Donald Trump really after? — Despite an almost universal refusal by Republican establishment figures and the press to take him seriously, Donald Trump is taking very concrete steps toward forming - and announcing - a presidential campaign. — He has interviewed at least two people …
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Rasmussen Reports:
Obama 49%, Trump 34% — President Obama leads Donald Trump by 15 percentage points in a hypothetical 2012 match-up, but the president is unable to top the 50% level of support even against an opponent some are deriding as a joke. — The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Outside the Beltway and Pundit Press
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Let's Not Be Civil — Last week, President Obama offered a spirited defense of his party's values — in effect, of the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society. Immediately thereafter, as always happens when Democrats take a stand, the civility police came out in force.
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William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
It's Now Patriotic to Call Paul Krugman a ! @%$#%@ Hypocrite — For almost the entire two and one-half years I've been blogging I've had to put up with Paul Krugman accusing Republicans, conservatives and Tea Party supporters of inciting violence through heated rhetoric over policy differences, particularly Obamacare.
Discussion:
Rumproast, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Althouse, RedState and Don Surber
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:
HyperVocal, TPMDC, The Gateway Pundit, Moonbattery, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Pajamas Media, Vox Popoli and Don Surber
RELATED:
washpost.bloomberg.com:
Standard & Poor's Puts ‘Negative’ Outlook on U.S. AAA
Standard & Poor's Puts ‘Negative’ Outlook on U.S. AAA
Discussion:
The Curious Capitalist, The Right Sphere, Washington Post, Free exchange 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, Paul Krugman, Speaker, James Pethokoukis, Don Surber, Real Time Economics, FrumForum and Gawker
Jay Carney / White House.gov Blog:
President Obama and Vice President Biden's Tax Returns and Tax Receipts — Today, the President released his 2010 federal income and gift tax returns. He and the First Lady filed their income tax return jointly and reported an adjusted gross income of $1,728,096.
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Post, Fox News, The Page and Gawker
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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 …
Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Dem lawmaker warns GOP on debt-ceiling ploys — Standard & Poor's Rating Services newly released “negative” outlook on the U.S.'s long-term debt makes clear that lawmakers opposed to raising the debt ceiling without other reforms are “really playing with fire,” Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) said Monday.
Discussion:
The Politico, The Note and The Hill
RELATED:
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
How Nancy Pelosi Can Save The Day, And Regain Power, In Debt Ceiling Fight
How Nancy Pelosi Can Save The Day, And Regain Power, In Debt Ceiling Fight
Discussion:
Yglesias
Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
As debt ceiling vote nears, the pressure's on House Republican freshmen
As debt ceiling vote nears, the pressure's on House Republican freshmen
Discussion:
Firedoglake, AMERICAblog News, Left Coast Rebel, New York Times, FrumForum and Balloon Juice
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, Weasel Zippers, AmSpecBlog and The Jawa Report
RELATED:
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, Washington Post, Just-A-Small-Town-Country-Boy, Sky Dancing, Daily Kos, Firedoglake and The Hill
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/*, msnbc.com and Swampland
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
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
Gautham Nagesh / The Hill:
Rep. Frank: Administration ‘wasting time’ with online poker crackdown — The Obama administration is wasting time and resources by targeting online poker sites, according to Rep. Barney Frank (Mass.), the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.
Discussion:
FrumForum
Timothy Devine / Newsweek:
Hey, Cancer: Go Stand in the Corner — NEWSWEEK's executive chairman received a dire diagnosis. In his own words, here's how he faced it. — Sidney Harman at the Newsweek Office, 2010. … I have just learned that I have acute myeloid leukemia, or AML.
Discussion:
Mediaite and Media Decoder, more at Mediagazer »
E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
E.J. Dionne Jr. — America's elites have a duty to the rest of us — The American ruling class is failing us — and itself. — At other moments in our history, the informal networks of the wealthy and powerful who often wield at least as much influence as our elected politicians accepted …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Monthly, Connecting.the.Dots and Corrente
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Sarah Palin's website sparks White House buzz — Sarah Palin rolled out a new website for her PAC on Monday with significantly more content and features, along with a vehicle for Palin to start gathering email addresses and information from her supporters. — The new site, sarahpac.com …
Discussion:
Cubachi, CNN and Liberty Pundits Blog
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:
Bloomberg, Firedoglake, Poll Watch Daily, Hotline On Call, Real Time Economics and Orange County Register
Thom Shanker / New York Times:
Pentagon Inquiry Into Article Clears McChrystal and Aides — WASHINGTON — An inquiry by the Defense Department inspector general into a magazine profile that resulted in the abrupt, forced retirement of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal has cleared the general, his military aides and civilian advisers of all wrongdoing.
Discussion:
FrumForum and The Raw Story