Top Items:
PolitiFact:
Lie of the Year 2011: ‘Republicans voted to end Medicare’ — Republicans muscled a budget through the House of Representatives in April that they said would take an important step toward reducing the federal deficit. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the plan kept Medicare intact …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, American Prospect, Washington Wire, ThinkProgress, The Heritage Foundation, Indecision Forever, New York Magazine, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Pulp, Swampland, CBS News, Don Surber, The Other McCain, The New Republic, American Power, Daily Kos, Lawyers, Guns & Money, National Review, The Lonely Conservative, INSTAPUTZ and JSOnline, more at Mediagazer »
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Paul Krugman:
Politifact, R.I.P. — This is really awful. Politifact, which is supposed to police false claims in politics, has announced its Lie of the Year — and it's a statement that happens to be true, the claim that Republicans have voted to end Medicare. — Steve Benen in the link above explains it, but let me just repeat the basics.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
PolitiFact ought to be ashamed of itself — The fact-checking website PolitiFact has announced its “Lie of the Year” for 2011. It made a poor, credibility-killing choice. … This is simply indefensible. Claims that are factually true shouldn't be eligible for a Lie of the Year designation.
Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
Politifact's Bizarre “Lie of the Year” … - Lithwick: Newt Gingrich's Insanely Stupid Attack on the Judicial Branch — What I Learned From Coaching a Women's Basketball Team in Qatar — True Fact: Greeks and Italians Work Way Harder Than Germans Do — Can We Please Start Calling Kesha a Rapper?
Discussion:
The New Republic, Political Mojo, National Review and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*
Jonathan Martinand Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Will Ron Paul kill the caucuses? — SIOUX CITY, IOWA -The alarms are sounding in Iowa. — Conservatives and Republican elites in the state are divided over who to support for the GOP nomination, but they almost uniformly express concern over the prospect that Ron Paul and his army …
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Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:
Ron Paul's Shaggy Defense — The Times notes that Ron Paul's racism newsletters are, again, becoming an issue. The standard defense has generally been Paul didn't write the newsletters. I think an honest reckoning with that defense would have someone question the faculties of an adult …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Little Green Footballs and The Daily Dish
Rich Lowry / National Review:
Paul, the Fringe Frontrunner — Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is in a bid to make history in Iowa. Can he become the first marginal, conspiracy-minded congressman with an embarrassing catalog of racist material published under his name to win the caucuses?
Discussion:
Washington Post, Eunomia, Campaign 2012, The Daily Dish, Bloomberg and Rush Limbaugh
New York Times:
Bias in Ron Paul's Newsletters Draws New Attention
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Slate, The Raw Story, Latest Open Salon Blog, Townhall.com, FrumForum, The Politico, Campaign 2012 and The Huffington Post
James Hohmann / The Politico:
Paul's new ad calls him The One …
Discussion:
CNN, The Humble Libertarian, American Prospect, Washington Wire and The Gateway Pundit
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
House Republicans Find Smarmiest Way Possible to Reject Payroll Tax Deal — Speaker Boehner weeps over payroll tax cut (Image: DonkeyHotey) — The procedural wizards in the House Republican caucus stayed up late last night to concoct this scheme, a way to dispose of the Senate's payroll tax deal by voting affirmatively.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Open Congress and The Hill
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Josh Dorner / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: House Republicans Walk Away From Bipartisan Compromise on Payroll Tax Cut, Jobless Benefits
Discussion:
American Prospect, The Politico and New York Magazine
Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Schumer predicts GOP will fold in payroll fight
Discussion:
The Politico, CNN, ABCNEWS and Weasel Zippers
Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:
House rebuffs Senate payroll tax cut extension, calls for conference
Discussion:
Ballot Box, Hot Air and Outside the Beltway
The Politico:
House rejects Senate payroll tax deal
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway and CNN
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Reid Won't Appoint Negotiators To Hammer Out Payroll Tax Cut Deal
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Naked Politics and Daily Kos
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Mr. Speaker, your weakness is showing
Discussion:
Washington Post, Prairie Weather and Balloon Juice
Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
GOP Sen. Brown slams House for ‘playing politics’ with tax vote
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
CNN Poll: President's approval nearing 50% — Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama's approval rating, a crucial indicator of his reelection chances, is on the rise, according to a new national survey. — A CNN/ORC International Poll out Tuesday also indicates that the partisan battle …
Discussion:
American Prospect, Guardian and Balloon Juice
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Frank Newport / Gallup:
Congress Ends 2011 With Record-Low 11% Approval — Annual average for 2011, 17%, also lowest in Gallup history — PRINCETON, NJ — A new record-low 11% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, the lowest single rating in Gallup's history of asking this question since 1974.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Politico, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, USA Today, Weasel Zippers, Booman Tribune and Slate
Washington Post:
Obama's job-approval rating is highest since summer, Post-ABC poll finds
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, 2012 Decoded, Hot Air, The Daily Dish and Outside the Beltway
Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Is Republican Infighting Helping Obama?
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots and Washington Post
The Caucus:
Vander Plaats Endorses Santorum — Bob Vander Plaats, speaking in Iowa in March, endorsed Rick Santorum on Tuesday. — 12:51 p.m. | Updated CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Two weeks before the Republican nominating contest opens at the Iowa caucuses, former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania …
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Newt Gingrich / Washington Post:
2. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Obama is handling [ITEM]? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat? — NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opinion a. The economy 41 17 24 56 13 43 2 b.
Discussion:
Pundits Blog, ThinkProgress, News Desk, Firedoglake, Clemson University, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Fox News, Ballot Box, americanthinker.com, ABCNEWS, Donklephant, Hot Air and CBS News
Max Abelson / Bloomberg:
Bankers Seek to Debunk ‘Imbecile’ Attack on Top 1% — Jamie Dimon, the highest-paid chief executive officer among the heads of the six biggest U.S. banks, turned a question at an investors' conference in New York this month into an occasion to defend wealth.
Mj Lee / The Politico:
Bill Clinton: Newt Gingrich tall tale on the budget — Former President Bill Clinton called out Newt Gingrich on Tuesday for claiming more credit than he deserves, saying the Republican presidential candidate actually led the opposition to efforts in 1993 to balance the nation's budget.
Discussion:
CNN
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Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Romney: ‘Get rid of these super PACs’
Discussion:
Political Mojo and CNN
New York Post:
Ugly inside & out — His face horribly charred from his alleged gasoline attack on a beloved Brooklyn mom, Jerome Isaac was jailed without bail yesterday, as the woman's devastated family pressed the DA to lock him up for life. — “I know this is the defendant's first offense …
Discussion:
Gothamist and CBS New York
Mj Lee / The Politico:
Blogs bash Obama's historic claim — NewsBusters calls Obama's statements made during his ‘60 Minutes’ interview ‘laughable.’ — Newt Gingrich isn't the only one on the campaign trail who sees himself as a towering historical figure. President Barack Obama has just joined the club.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, The Gateway Pundit and The PJ Tatler
New York Times:
In Kim's Death, an Extensive Intelligence Failure — Televisions at an electronics store in Seoul, South Korea, featured reports on Monday about the death of Kim Jong-il, the North Korean Leader. North Korea said Mr. Kim, 69, died on Saturday. More Photos »
Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Instead Of Extending Tax Cut For 160 Million Americans, House Commissioned Bust Of Winston Churchill — While House Republicans couldn't get their act together to approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits last night, they were able to do something far more frivolousness …
Discussion:
The Hill, Gawker, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Politico
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