Top Items:


Ron Paul remains media poison — I admit I do not fully understand Ron Paul and his beliefs. But I do understand when a guy gets shafted, and Ron Paul just got shafted. — On Saturday, the Ames Straw Poll was conducted in Iowa amid huge media interest and scrutiny.
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, CNN, The Note, Mediaite, Truthdig, The Raw Story, Swampland, Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway and New York Times
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Bachmann skipped family reunion she cited — On her victory lap of Iowa yesterday, Straw Poll winner Rep. Michele Bachmann paid repeated tribute to her local roots, and repeatedly mentioned her family reunion that day, citing it as an excuse for her late arrival at a local party event in Waterloo.
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Impolitic and Iowa Caucuses


A Christian Plot for Domination? — Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry aren't just devout—both have deep ties to a fringe fundamentalist movement known as Dominionism, which says Christians should rule the world. — With Tim Pawlenty out of the presidential race, it is now fairly clear …


The Ten Weirdest Ideas In Rick Perry's Fed Up — Rick Perry's November 2010 book Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington is not a typical “campaign book” from a political candidate. For starters, its forward is written by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, nominally one of Perry's rivals for the nomination.


Bachmann-Perry Overdrive — GOP voters are still searching for a unifying candidate. — The fight for the Republican Presidential nomination is finally getting underway in earnest, with Texas Governor Rick Perry bull-riding his way into the race and Michele Bachmann winning Saturday's straw poll in Iowa.


Rove warns GOP about electability — First, the Wall Street Journal was spooked about the Michele Bachmann/Rick Perry surge, and just now, Karl Rove issued a similar warning. … Earlier today, the WSJ wrote an op-ed that seemed to suggest that neither Michele Bachmann nor Rick Perry were particularly electable.
Discussion:
Gawker, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Daily Kos and Taylor Marsh

Conservatives Whine About Unfairness Of Quoting Rick Perry Accurately — Rick Perry holds a lot of extreme views about American public policy and constitutional law. I know that because I've read Rick Perry's book, Fed Up, which about his extreme views about American public policy and constitutional law.


Fact checking Rick Perry's announcement speech — Well, goodbye Tim Pawlenty, hello Rick Perry. — The Texas governor announced that he is running for president on Saturday, just hours before the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa that ended Pawlenty's presidential aspirations.
Discussion:
Indecision Forever, Daily Kos, Campaign 2012, The Nation, Erica Grieder and Swampland

Will no one rid the GOP of this troublesome congressman?
Discussion:
Campaign 2012, Eunomia, Outside the Beltway, National Review, LewRockwell.com Blog and AmSpecBlog


Daily Beast/Newsweek: Michele Bachmann Has ‘Christian Plot’ for ‘Domination’
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Pirate's Cove

Exit Tim Pawlenty
Discussion:
Swampland, No More Mister Nice Blog, Eunomia, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Dish, Balloon Juice and ThinkProgress

Behind the Michele Bachmann ‘submissive’ question
Discussion:
Salon, CNN, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Right Wing Watch and CBS News

In Texas, Perry Has Ridden an Energy Boom
Discussion:
Pajamas Media


Stop Coddling the Super-Rich — OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched. — While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, International Liberty, National Review, Lynn Sweet, Campaign 2012, The Reaction, Hit & Run, The Atlantic Online, The Wealth Report, Rebuild the Dream, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, The Heritage Foundation, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, ABCNEWS, Crooks and Liars, Outside the Beltway, The Democratic Daily, The Lonely Conservative, Rhymes With Right, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, CBS New York, AMERICAN FUTURE, Newshoggers.com, Questions and Observations, The Politico, War in Context, NewsBusters.org blogs, Forbes.com, Firedoglake, AmSpecBlog, Clusterstock, dallasmorningviewsblog …, Felix Salmon, Guardian, The Moderate Voice, Blue Mass Group, The Impolitic, EconLog, Donklephant, Taylor Marsh, emptywheel, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, TPMDC, Pajamas Media, The Hill, The Raw Story, Mediaite, Liberal Conspiracy, Booman Tribune, New York Magazine, Washington Monthly, TalkLeft, Connecting.the.Dots, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos, Althouse and PointOfLaw Forum
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Obama: Warren Buffett is right on the money
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, CNN and JammieWearingFool

How Much Tax Should The Rich Pay?
Discussion:
Hit & Run, National Review and Modeled Behavior


Bill Clinton: Rick Perry is a ‘Good-Looking Rascal,’ But His Platform ‘Is Crazy’ — Bill Clinton at the IAFF conference in Manahttan on August 15, 2011. (photo credit: azi paybarah / observer) — Bill Clinton said newly announced presidential candidate, Republican Governor Rick of Texas was a …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, TPMDC, The Hill, CNN, GOP 12, Pajamas Media, Gothamist, Althouse and Columbian
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Was Perry packing? — Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a leading advocate of gun rights who likes to boast of having dispatched a coyote on a recent jog, so I asked him during today's walking press conference at the Iowa State Fair whether he was armed. — “I never comment on whether I'm carrying a handgun or not,” he said.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Note, Gawker, New York Magazine and Althouse

Perry and Romney Trade Swipes Over ‘Real Economy’
Discussion:
The Caucus, Public Policy Polling and Hot Air

Obama: I reversed recession until ‘bad luck’ hit — At a town hall meeting on his campaign-style tour of the Midwest, President Obama claimed that his economic program “reversed the recession” until recovery was frustrated by events overseas. And then, Obama said, with the economy …
Discussion:
Power Line, The POH Diaries and Weasel Zippers
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What a president ‘looks like’ — In advance of the 2008 presidential campaign, many high-profile figures in the media described Mitt Romney as someone who “looks like a president.” It was as if news outlets were thinking of central casting, and imagining who looked the part.
Discussion:
Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Atlantic Online and Paul Krugman
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President Obama blasts Republican presidential field
Discussion:
The Note, Weasel Zippers, CNN and And So it Goes in Shreveport

Chris Christie's Cue
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Eunomia, The Political Carnival and The New Republic

ROUBINI: Is Capitalism Doomed? Karl Marx was right, it seems, in arguing that globalization, financial intermediation run amok, and redistribution of income and wealth from labor to capital could lead capitalism to self-destruct. So what can be done to prevent that outcome?
Discussion:
American Power and Truthdig

Obama to automakers: 'You can't just make money on SUVs and trucks' — The country's automakers should ditch their focus on SUVs and trucks in favor of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, President Obama said Monday. — “You can't just make money on SUVs and trucks,” …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media and The Lonely Conservative


A Businessman in Congress Helps His District and Himself — VISTA, Calif. — Here on the third floor of a gleaming office building overlooking a golf course in the rugged foothills north of San Diego, Darrell Issa, the entrepreneur, oversees the hub of a growing financial empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars.


Ed Rendell: Hillary Clinton can't resist White House run — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said on Monday he doesn't believe Hillary Clinton is ready to retire from public life and the possibility of someday becoming the first female president “would probably be too much for her to resist.”
Discussion:
New York Post, Taylor Marsh, Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

U.S. Secret Service gets 2 new buses ahead of Obama tour — The U.S. Secret Service has two new buses in its fleet for President Obama to use on his three-day, three-state Midwestern bus trip that kicked off Monday. — CBS News has learned the buses were purchased in recent months at a cost …
Discussion:
FishbowlDC, Weasel Zippers and White House Dossier

‘Iron my shirt’ — When Texas Gov. Rick Perry took his jacket off for a question-and-answer session in Waterloo last night, he joked about his attire. — “This shirt has a few wrinkles in it; it's not my wife's fault,” he said. — The line seemed very Texas, and a bit less directed …
Discussion:
Slate Magazine


Wall Street big lavished gifts on mistresses in three countries: wife — He's an aging Wall Street fat cat who could put even the most lusty young lothario to shame. — John Duffy, 62, the married CEO of the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods investment bank, has lavished millions of dollars' worth of homes …
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Gothamist, Dealbreaker and New York Magazine

All He Is Saying Is, Give War A Chance — Former Enron advisor Paul Krugman outlined his latest stimulus idea on Fareed Zakaria's Sunday talkie: — It's very hard to get inflation in a depressed economy. But if you had a program of government spending plus an expansionary policy by the Fed, you could get that.
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org blogs, Patterico's Pontifications, nation.foxnews.com, Pajamas Media and Booman Tribune


Immigration Audits Drive Illegal Workers Underground — MINNEAPOLIS—In 2009, Alba and Eugenio were making almost twice the federal minimum wage, plus benefits, cleaning a skyscraper for a national janitorial company. With two toddlers, the Mexican couple enjoyed relative prosperity in a tidy …
Discussion:
National Review and PoliPundit.com