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2012 and the Republican rescue fantasy — Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork — COLUMBIA, S.C. - Talk to enough people around this key primary state and you'll learn two lessons, over and over again. One is that there is absolutely, positively no unity among Republicans …
Discussion:
Hot Air, JustOneMinute, The Other McCain, Red Dog Report, Associated Press and Taylor Marsh
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OPINION: Ron Paul driving Republicans' White House campaign — Here's a news bulletin — it is becoming increasingly clear that we are living in a time when Republican politics are being shaped by a 75-year-old, 12-term Texas congressman with a son in the Senate.
Discussion:
Don Surber, The Moderate Voice, JammieWearingFool and The Wire

Newt Gingrich Previews 2012 Announcement: ‘My Run For President Of The United States’
Discussion:
Guardian, Gothamist, Washington Wire and Right Wing Watch

Romney's GOP Supporters Tilt Upscale; Palin's, Downscale
Discussion:
USA Today, Mediaite, Wonkette, CNN, National Review, Balloon Juice and GOP 12

Gingrich will announce presidential campaign Wednesday
Discussion:
Cubachi, Ballot Box, Crooks and Liars, The Politico, Liberty Pundits Blog, Indecision Forever and Outside the Beltway

Osama bin Laden mission agreed in secret 10 years ago by US and Pakistan — US forces were given permission to conduct unilateral raid inside Pakistan if they knew where Bin Laden was hiding, officials say — The US and Pakistan struck a secret deal almost a decade ago permitting …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and HotAirPundit
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Leak of C.I.A. Officer Name Is Sign of Rift With Pakistan — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — For the second time in five months, the Pakistani authorities have angered the Central Intelligence Agency by tipping the Pakistani news media to the identity of the C.I.A. station chief in Islamabad …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Firedoglake, Reuters, Guardian, democracyarsenal.org, Pajamas Media, CANNONFIRE, Outside the Beltway, Yglesias and New York Magazine


Pakistan PM Warns of ‘Full Force’ Response to Future U.S. Raids
Discussion:
Algemeiner.com and Fire Andrea Mitchell!

Osama Bin Laden wasn't on kidney dialysis, took herbal Viagra while living in compound
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers


NBC's Three-Hour ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Down 23% … A supersized edition of Donald Trump's competition series Celebrity Apprentice spanned three hours, going head-to-head against the rest of primetime on Sunday. — But, NBC's three-hour telecast — which saw Star Jones and LaToya Jackson fired …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Don Surber and Ben Smith's Blog
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Trump: ‘I Am The Least Racist Person There Is’ Because A Black Guy Won The Apprentice Six Years Ago — Potential presidential candidate Donald Trump has often found himself in hot water for making racially-tinged comments — saying in the span of a single press conference, for example …
Discussion:
Ballot Box, Daily Kos, Shakesville, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh and Ben Smith's Blog


Former Apprentice Contestant: Trump 'Doesn't Like Educated African-Americans Very Much' — A former contestant on The Apprentice, whose harsh treatment by Donald Trump drew accusations of racism in 2004, suggested to TPM on Monday that the billionaire Republican businessman's attacks …
Discussion:
Mediaite, News Hounds, Indecision Forever, Talking Points Memo, FrumForum, National Review and Wonkette

Why I Will Not Support Jon Huntsman. Ever. [UPDATED] — “I cannot tolerate a man serving as our ambassador to our chief strategic adversary in the world plotting, while in that capacity, to run against the President of the United States.” — Ambassador Jon Huntsman is gearing up now to run for President of the United States.
Discussion:
Riehl World View, The Daily Caller, Ben Smith's Blog, Eunomia, The Page, GOP 12, National Review and AmSpecBlog


John Boehner: Cut ‘trillions’ as debt limit nears — NEW YORK — Speaker John Boehner will call on Congress to offset a debt ceiling hike with spending cuts of a greater amount, an ambitious proposal that puts House Republicans on a collision course with Democrats who want much more modest spending restrictions attached to the vote.
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In praising Tea Party, Bachmann swipes at Boehner's leadership
Discussion:
Cubachi, National Review and Liberty Pundits Blog


Home Market Takes a Tumble — Turnaround More Distant After 3% Drop, Steepest Quarterly Decline Since 2008 — The U.S. housing market's 1Q 2011 decline was the steepest in three years. Additionally, a Zillow.com survey indicates nearly 30% of borrowers owe more than their homes are worth.
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‘Underwater’ Homeowners Rise to 28 Percent, Zillow Says
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!, Wonk Room, Pajamas Media and The Gateway Pundit

The Hill Poll: Voters see president's ratings bounce vanishing soon — Most voters believe the popularity boost President Obama has received following the killing of Osama bin Laden will disappear quickly, according to a new poll conducted for The Hill. — Almost three in five likely voters think the …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and AMERICAblog News
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Attorney General vows to close Guantanamo
Discussion:
Pajamas Media and Weasel Zippers

Whose Foreign Policy Is It? — For those with eyes to see, the daylight between the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama has been shrinking ever since the current president took the oath of office. But last week made it official: When the story of America's post-9/11 wars is written …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, National Review, The Daily Dish, The Mahablog, Oliver Willis, Daily Kos and Lawfare
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Gunter Sachs, the playboy who married Brigitte Bardot, kills himself at 78 — Millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs, the German-born former husband of Brigitte Bardot, has killed himself at the age of 78. — He is reported to have shot himself at his home in the Swiss resort of Gstaad.

Support for Third U.S. Party Dips, but Is Still Majority View — Fifty-two percent believe a third political party is needed — PRINCETON, NJ — Fifty-two percent of Americans believe the Republican and Democratic parties do such a poor job of representing the people that a third party is needed.
Discussion:
Hot Air
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Gallup poll sees growing support for third party in GOP, Tea Party
Discussion:
The Hill, Left Coast Rebel and Weasel Zippers

NY-26: Dem Kathy Hochul in the lead in new DK/SEIU poll
Discussion:
Public Policy Polling, TPMDC, Washington Post, The New Republic and Ballot Box


Navy Authorizes Chaplains to Perform Same-Sex ‘Marriages’ in Naval Chapels — (CNSNews.com) - Anticipating the elimination of the military ban on homosexuality, the Office of the Chief of Navy Chaplains has decided that same-sex couples in the Navy will be able to get married in Navy chapels …
Discussion:
Doug Ross, Atlas Shrugs, Mother Jones and LewRockwell.com Blog
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US Navy Gives OK for On Base Same-Sex Marriages
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend, Shakesville, Wonk Room and Towleroad News #gay

The Unwisdom of Elites — The past three years have been a disaster for most Western economies. The United States has mass long-term unemployment for the first time since the 1930s. Meanwhile, Europe's single currency is coming apart at the seams. How did it all go so wrong?

South Carolina Taking Light Bulb Ban into Its Own Hands — Fed up with the federal government's ban of the traditional incandescent light bulb, state representatives in South Carolina are pushing for the state to produce and use incandescents solely for its state.
Discussion:
Moe Lane

Unspoken Truths — Until cancer attacked his vocal cords, the author didn't fully appreciate what was meant by “a writer's voice,” or the essential link between speech and prose. As a man who loved to talk, he turns to the masters of such conversation, both in history and in his own circle.


Brooklyn, NY - After Outrage Hasidic Newspaper Issues Statement On Altered White House Photo — Brooklyn, NY - Much has been written about a controversial altered photograph of the White House situation room published by Der Tzeitung, a Chareidi newspaper, based out of Brooklyn.


Heller takes Senate oath — Republican Dean Heller of Nevada was sworn into the Senate Monday by Vice President Joe Biden, replacing embattled Sen. John Ensign who resigned last week over a sex scandal involving a former aid. — Heller was joined at the dais by Majority Leader Harry Reid …
Discussion:
CNN
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Is Olympia Snowe feeling the heat?
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Hot Air and Moe Lane