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Trump Not Running for President: ‘Decision Does Not Come Easily Or Without Regret’ — ABC News' Michael Falcone, Jennifer Wlach, Sara Just and Devin Dwyer report: — After a roller-coaster flirtation with a presidential bid, Donald Trump bowed out of the 2012 contest in true Trump fashion on Monday …
Discussion:
The Caucus, Speakeasy, The Daily Beast, msnbc.com, Crooks and Liars, TPMDC, Washington Post, Wonkette, The Atlantic Online, Balkinization, Salon, Taylor Marsh, Runnin' Scared, Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Gateway Pundit, CNN, The Reality-Based Community, GOP 12, Politics, FrumForum, The Democratic Daily, Michelle Malkin, The Atlantic Wire, The Lonely Conservative, Gawker, Simply Left BehindThe …, Left Coast Rebel and The Page
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What Trump can teach the GOP field — Wealthy businessman Donald Trump's Icarus-like rise and fall in the 2012 presidential race is likely to wind up as no more than a footnote in the story of this election. — But, that doesn't mean the Trump saga — and, it was a saga …
Discussion:
Dean's World

Democratic analysis: GOP's 2010 win short-lived
Discussion:
Yglesias, Booman Tribune and Daily Kos

Trump won't run for president in 2012
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Nation, Jack & Jill Politics and Variety

Donald Trump: I'm fired
Discussion:
The Huffington Post and Media Decoder

Full release: — “After considerable deliberation and reflection …
Discussion:
National Review, Weasel Zippers, No More Mister Nice Blog and Hot Air

Not a Good Sign for Donald Trump
Discussion:
New York Post, The Daily Caller, The Note and Taylor Marsh


Judge Denies Bail to I.M.F. Chief in Sexual Assault Case — Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the leader of the International Monetary Fund, was ordered on Monday to be held without bail over allegations that he had sexually assaulted a maid in a $3,000-a-night suite at a Midtown hotel.
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French Shocked by I.M.F. Chief's ‘Perp Walk’ — As our colleagues Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold report, “The arrest in New York of one of France's leading global figures and a possible next president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on charges of attempted rape produced an earthquake of shock …
Discussion:
Philly.com and Yglesias


French gals burned by pol ‘in heat’ — He's un animal. — IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn acted like a “chimpanzee in heat” during a creepy previous grab-and-grope with a French journalist — an incident with eerie similarities to his alleged attack on a Manhattan hotel maid Saturday, according to an explosive interview.
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool and Weasel Zippers


IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn Charged With Rape, Sexual Abuse, Unlawful Imprisonment — International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn allegedly forced a New York City hotel housekeeper to perform oral sex and submit to anal sex, in addition to allegedly attempting to rape her …
Discussion:
RedState, Mediaite, TVNewser, The Gateway Pundit, FrumForum, Guardian, The Other McCain, Capital Tonight and Associated Press


IMF chief to remain jailed, defense says alleged sex assault ‘not consistent with a forcible encounter’
Discussion:
Law Blog, Above the Law, ProPublica, Gothamist, EconomicPolicyJournal.com and New York Times

Filing Details Alleged Attack By IMF Chief
Discussion:
Reuters, Guardian, Patterico's Pontifications, Pajamas Media and New York Times

GOP Rep. Ryan swipes at Gingrich: ‘With allies like that, who needs the left?’ — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) took a swipe Monday at Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich after the former House Speaker criticized hiss proposed Medicare reforms. — “With allies like that, who needs the left?”
Discussion:
The Politico, TPMDC, Swampland, Conservatives4Palin, Healthwatch, Mother Jones, Ballot Box, Sister Toldjah, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Hot Air, Crooks and Liars, CNN, The Gateway Pundit, Gawker, New York Times, Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard, theblogprof, The Note, Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller, Pirate's Cove, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos and FrumForum
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Ryan telling GOPers he's unlikely to run — Rep. Paul Ryan is reaching out to potential Senate candidates in Wisconsin, informing them he's unlikely to run for Herb Kohl's seat next year, according to two sources familiar with the conversations. — The House Budget Committee chairman …
Discussion:
National Review, Hot Air and The Raw Story


Scott Brown: ‘Thank God’ Paul Ryan Laid Down Medicare Privatizing Budget (VIDEO)

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — Gingrich reaction: Republicans livid …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Mediaite, National Review, Pajamas Media, The Apothecary and The Gateway Pundit

Santorum slams Gingrich, defends Ryan
Discussion:
The Politico, The Lonely Conservative, RealClearPolitics Video Log, theblogprof and National Review

Ryan Defends Medicare Privatization As Strengthening ‘Welfare For Those Who Need It’

Newt: I oppose the Obamacare mandate. Period.
Discussion:
National Review, Hot Air, GOP 12, Taylor Marsh, msnbc.com, Pajamas Media and Ballot Box


As Debt Limit Reached, Agreement Still Far Off — The U.S. government is expected to hit the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling Monday, setting in motion an uncertain, 11-week political scramble to avoid a default. — The Treasury Department plans to announce Monday it will stop issuing …
Discussion:
TPMDC, Yglesias, Outside the Beltway, Open Congress, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Gawker, theblogprof, New York Magazine, Free exchange, News Desk, Patterico's Pontifications, Confederate Yankee, Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, Hullabaloo, The TrogloPundit, ThinkProgress, NewsBusters.org, Prairie Weather, The Lonely Conservative, New York Times and The Page, more at Mediagazer »
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WWRD (What Would Reagan Do) on the debt limit
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and Philly.com

Geithner tells Congress the US has reached $14.3T debt limit
Discussion:
The Politico, AmSpecBlog and Vox Popoli


Why do one-in-five American voters now believe Osama bin Laden is still alive? — Here we go again. — It's been only two weeks since President Obama reported on national television that an American commando team in four military helicopters had killed Osama bin Laden in his Pakistan bedroom.
Discussion:
The TrogloPundit, The Jawa Report, The Daily Caller and Right Wing News
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Obama's Post-Bin Laden Bounce Disappears In Gallup Poll — The bump President Obama received after the killing of Osama bin Laden more than two weeks ago in Pakistan has vanished completely, according to the latest Gallup Tracking poll released Monday. — At National Journal:
Discussion:
Runnin' Scared, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and Taegan Goddard's …

Romney: One-day money haul brings in over $10 million — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) announced a one-day haul of over $10 million to support his presidential campaign. — Romney's team said the former governor had brought in $10.25 million in a daylong event …
Discussion:
The Note, The Politico and Wonkette
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In effort to let money show his might, Team Romney raises $10.25 million in a single day
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Hot Air and Pundit Press

Tea Party Express backs Jane Corwin in 26th District — GREECE — Members of the national Tea Party Express visited the Rochester area this morning to publicly throw their support behind Republican Assemblywoman Jane Corwin's bid for Congress and to excoriate her opponent Jack Davis for co-opting the “Tea Party” moniker as his own.
Discussion:
Ballot Box and The Lonely Conservative
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New York 26: Move to Toss-Up/Tilt Democratic
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative

Debt and Taxes — So, today we banged our head against the current debt ceiling for the first time. Think of the country like a tall person who has just moved into an unusually cheap and small basement apartment. The first bang is the most surprising, but it's not catastrophic.
Discussion:
Viking Pundit
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Dems' thuggery knows no bounds — Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah, didn't mince words the other day on Hugh Hewitt's national radio show. The Democrats, he said, “play politics very, very tough, they play it well, and they don't give a damn about what's right and what's wrong.”
Discussion:
National Review

Exclusive: Private letter from CIA chief undercuts claim torture was key to killing Bin Laden — CIA chief Leon Panetta has written a private letter to Senator John McCain that offers the most detailed answer yet to questions about the relationship between torture and Osama Bin Laden's death …

Stephen Hawking: 'There is no heaven; it's a fairy story' — In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the cosmologist shares his thoughts on death, M-theory, human purpose and our chance existence — A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a “fairy story” for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said.
Discussion:
newsfeed.time.com, Boing Boing, Outside the Beltway, The Huffington Post, theblogprof, Althouse and TMZ.com

Justices Allow Search if Police Hear Evidence Being Destroyed — WASHINGTON — The police do not need a warrant to enter a home if they smell burning marijuana, knock loudly, announce themselves and hear what they think is the sound of evidence being destroyed, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in an 8-to-1 decision.
Discussion:
LewRockwell.com Blog, The Agitator and Prairie Weather


M-Bone's life in photos. — At about 10:30 p.m. PT Sunday night, police were called to the 400 block of North La Brea in Inglewood. When police arrived on the scene, they found Talbert seated in the driver's seat of a black unspecified vehicle with at least two gunshot wounds to the head.
Discussion:
newsfeed.time.com, The Stir, Washington Post, Michelle Malkin and BuzzFeed