Top Items:
National Review:
Winnowing the Field — A hard-fought presidential primary campaign is obscuring the uncharacteristic degree of unity within the Republican party. It has reached a conservative consensus on most of the pressing issues of the day. All of the leading candidates, and almost all of the lagging ones, support the right to life.
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Rasmussen Reports:
Iowa: Romney 23%, Gingrich 20%, Paul 18% — For the fifth straight survey, the GOP field has a new frontrunner in Iowa. — On this first release video, Scott Rasmussen reveals Mitt Romney as the new frontrunner in the Iowa Caucus. — Although this video is available to everyone, most of the content on Rasmussen Reports is not.
Byron York / Campaign 2012:
Poll: Dramatic drop in Gingrich support in Iowa — DES MOINES — A new survey from pollster Scott Rasmussen shows support for Newt Gingrich in Iowa has fallen sharply in recent days. The poll shows the former House speaker with the support of 20 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Althouse and Pundit & Pundette
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Giuliani slams Romney, likens Newt to Reagan — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani slammed Mitt Romney as an unelectable flip-flopper, and said Newt Gingrich, who he compared to Ronald Reagan, offers Republicans the best shot at unseating President Obama.
Discussion:
CNN and nation.foxnews.com
New York Times:
In a Tactical Shift, Romney Trains Sights on Gingrich — Mitt Romney, his presidential aspirations suddenly endangered by Newt Gingrich's rapid resurgence, is employing aggressive new arguments in an effort to disqualify Mr. Gingrich as a credible choice to Republicans, calling him “zany” …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, The Caucus, The Politico, Wall Street Journal, American Spectator, ABCNEWS and CBS News
Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
Pretending That Ron Paul Doesn't Matter Won't Make Him Go Away — Like the mainstream media and Fox News, a dismissive National Review refuses to engage his arguments about non-interventionism on the merits — In a mostly brave, mostly sensible editorial posted Wednesday evening at National Review Online …
Discussion:
GOP 12, Ballot Box and Hit & Run
Tim Mak / The Politico:
Rudy: Mitt is world class flip flopper — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani unleashed a blistering attack Thursday on Mitt Romney, saying he's never seen anyone change positions on core issues as often or as quickly as the ex-Massachusetts governor. — “I ran against him in '07 and '08 …
David Grant / Christian Science Monitor:
Jon Huntsman leapfrogs Ron Paul in New Hampshire, says poll
Jon Huntsman leapfrogs Ron Paul in New Hampshire, says poll
Discussion:
Shakesville, The Daily Dish, CNN and Business Insider
New York Times:
U.S. Officially Ends Its Mission in Iraq — BAGHDAD — The United States military officially declared an end to its mission in Iraq on Thursday even as violence continues to plague the country and the Muslim world remains distrustful of American power. — In a fortified concrete courtyard …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Guardian, Outside the Beltway, Simply Left BehindThe …, Towleroad News #gay, emptywheel and UN Dispatch
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Kevinliptak / CNN:
FIRST ON CNN: Obama, Dems drop millionaire surtax to pay for payroll tax cut — (CNN) - In what would be a major concession, President Obama and Senate Democrats will drop their insistence that a surtax on millionaires pay for extending the payroll tax cut, a Democratic source tells CNN.
Discussion:
Hot Air, iOwnTheWorld.com, Taylor Marsh, The Politico, The Lonely Conservative, Scared Monkeys, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice and The Hill
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Rosalind S. Helderman / Washington Post:
Payroll tax cut and spending bill stall in Senate, raising threat of shutdown — Negotiations over how to extend a payroll tax holiday for 160 million Americans and avoid a government shutdown this weekend ground to a halt Wednesday after a standoff in the Senate over how to proceed.
Jeremy Herb / The Hill:
White House backs down from threat to veto Defense bill over detainee language
White House backs down from threat to veto Defense bill over detainee language
Discussion:
Wonkette
The Politico:
Playbook 2012: The Right Fights Back (Politico Inside Election 2012)
Playbook 2012: The Right Fights Back (Politico Inside Election 2012)
Discussion:
American Spectator
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
President Will Not Veto Defense Authorization Bill, Despite Detention Provisions
President Will Not Veto Defense Authorization Bill, Despite Detention Provisions
Discussion:
Political Mojo and Hullabaloo
Wall Street Journal:
A Bipartisan Way Forward on Medicare — Allowing private plans to compete with traditional Medicare will help lower costs and spur innovation. — Few issues draw more heated partisan rhetoric than the future of Medicare. Seniors are a reliable and powerful voting bloc …
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Wall Street Journal:
The Wyden-Ryan Breakthrough — A better, bipartisan Medicare future.
The Wyden-Ryan Breakthrough — A better, bipartisan Medicare future.
Discussion:
Corrente
Robert Pear / New York Times:
Lawmakers Offer Bipartisan Plan to Overhaul Medicare
Lawmakers Offer Bipartisan Plan to Overhaul Medicare
Discussion:
Hot Air, National Review and Hotline On Call
Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
Paul Ryan to announce new approach to preserving Medicare
Paul Ryan to announce new approach to preserving Medicare
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, msnbc.com, TBogg, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, American Spectator and National Review
Chris McGreal / Guardian:
Americans face Guantánamo detention after Obama climbdown — Defence funding bill allows American citizens to be arrested as terrorists on home soil and held indefinitely without trial — Barack Obama has abandoned a commitment to veto a new security law that allows the military …
Discussion:
CBS News, Indecision Forever, HillBuzz.org, The Lonely Conservative and Prairie Weather
Richard Milne / Financial Times:
Sarkozy plan to prop up sovereigns is worrying — If Albert Einstein's dictum of insanity being the act of doing the same thing again and again expecting different results were applied to the eurozone, political leaders would be well on their way to being institutionalised.
Discussion:
EconLog
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Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Tom Friedman, hitting rock bottom — Today's Tom Friedman's column has set off a firestorm. Now, he says and writes many wrong-headed things, about China and other dictatorial regimes, primarily. But today he hits rock bottom: … You see, in Friedman's eyes, the entire U.S. Congress is bought and paid for by a cabal of Jews.
Discussion:
Power Line, American Power, Mondoweiss, The Mahablog, NewsBusters.org, americanthinker.com, Elliott Abrams, The Week and The Daily Dish
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard / Telegraph:
China's epic hangover begins — China's credit bubble has finally popped. The property market is swinging wildly from boom to bust, the cautionary exhibit of a BRIC's dream that is at last coming down to earth with a thud. — Chinese stocks are flashing warning signs. The Shanghai index has fallen 30pc since May.
Discussion:
New York Times, americanthinker.com and Samizdata.net
BBC:
French ex-President Jacques Chirac guilty of corruption — Mr Chirac did not attend the trial because he suffers from memory lapses — A French court has given former President Jacques Chirac a two-year suspended prison sentence for diverting public funds and abusing public trust.
Discussion:
News Desk
Popular Mechanics:
Distracted Driving or Distracted Policymaking? Why the Proposed Car Cellphone Ban Is Wrong — No, you shouldn't text while you drive. But is talking on a hands-free cellphone just as dangerous? Instapundit blogger and PM contributing editor Glenn Harlan Reynolds doesn't think so …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, The Informer, Instapundit and Fleet Owner
Investor's Business Daily:
Documents Show Justice's Breuer Misled On ‘Furious’ — Ethics In Government: Attorney General Eric Holder insists “nobody at the Justice Department has lied” about the gun-running scandal Fast and Furious. That in itself is a lie, as his deputy's emails prove.
Tom MacDonald / NewsWorks:
Opponents in Philadelphia say bill on Sharia law unfair to Muslims — A bill in Harrisburg that opponents say is targeted against Muslims has followers of that faith upset. — House Bill 2029 would ban Pennsylvania courts from considering any foreign legal code or system that isn't identical with the Constitution.
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, Atlas Shrugs, Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch
Mj Lee / The Politico:
Herman Cain's Cabinet dream: DOD — Herman Cain says that if he could be a Cabinet secretary, he wants to be head of the Department of Defense. — In an interview with Barbara Walters, who chose Cain as one of the “10 Most Fascinating People” of the year, the former presidential hopeful was asked what Cabinet position he would like.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Outside the Beltway and The Hinterland Gazette