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Newt Gingrich: I crossed the line — SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Newt Gingrich signaled Wednesday that he believes his criticism of Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital is a mistake — and that he's created an impression that he was echoing Democratic rhetoric. — Gingrich conceded the problem …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Politico, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, The Gateway Pundit, The Caucus, Hullabaloo, YID With LID, Sky Dancing, Wonkette, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Page, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Weasel Zippers, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Indecision Forever, Swampland, FiveThirtyEight, GOP 12, The Impolitic, Campaign 2012, Fox News Insider and RedState
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A bigger problem than Bain? — The New York Times picks up where I left off, reporting on Team Romney's reaction to the attacks from Mitt's rivals on his tenure at Bain Capital. The news is not particularly reassuring: … They should be concerned, given that New Hampshire and Iowa …
Discussion:
The Politico, CNN and The Caucus


BREAKING: Palin Urges Romney to Release Tax Returns, Provide Proof of 100,000 Jobs Created at Bain Capital
Discussion:
The Politico, Conservatives4Palin and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Shaken by Attacks on Romney's Past Work, Campaign Tries to Douse Flames
Discussion:
CNN, The Politico, Reuters, The Caucus, New York Times, National Review, Washington Post, Hot Air, Campaign Stops, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Daily Kos

Romney likens work at Bain Capital to Obama's auto industry bailout
Discussion:
Rush Limbaugh, Hot Air, Big Government, The Strata-Sphere, CNN and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Perry: Bain Attacks Will Help Romney Prepare
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Hot Air and National Review

Wonkbook: Moderation is winning in the Republican primary
Discussion:
Political Mojo, Wall Street Journal, Washington Monthly, The Hill, New York Times, Washington Wire and The New Republic

Gingrich Touts War Against Christianity, Gay Adoption In South Carolina
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Washington Post, Little Green Footballs and AKSARBENT

Santorum Casts Himself as the Romney Alternative
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh


James O'Keefe's Group Appears To Commit Voter Fraud In Order To Gin Up Hysteria Over Non-Existent Fraud Problem — James O'Keefe's latest video features surrogates appearing to commit voter fraud in yesterday's New Hampshire primary election, all in an attempt to highlight voter fraud …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Indecision Forever
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NH poll workers shown handing out ballots in dead peoples' names [VIDEO] — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Video footage provided exclusively to The Daily Caller shows election workers in New Hampshire giving out ballots in the names of dead voters at multiple voting precincts during the state's primary election on Tuesday.


Warren Buffett Ready to Take Republicans' Tax Challenge — Warren Buffett is ready to call Republicans' tax bluff. Last fall, Senator Mitch McConnell said that if Buffett was feeling “guilty” about paying too little in taxes, he should “send in a check.” The jab was in response …
Discussion:
The Hill, Reuters, Weasel Zippers, The Politico, Don Surber, ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Page and Saint Petersblog


Justices Recognize ‘Ministerial Exception’ to Job Bias Laws — WASHINGTON — In what may be its most significant religious liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws …
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Hot Air, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Truthdig and ACS Blog
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Supreme Court sides with church on decision to fire employee on religious grounds
Discussion:
The Stir By CafeMom, Applesauce and The PJ Tatler

High Court Reverses Conviction in Killings
Discussion:
Political Mojo, Outside the Beltway, Washington Monthly, TBogg and Washington Post

Bolton to Back Romney — Former U.N Ambassador John Bolton is set to endorse Mitt Romney and will join his top team of foreign-policy advisers, according to people close to the campaign. — The move is a blow to Newt Gingrich, who is close to Mr. Bolton and said recently that he would nominate …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, The Right Scoop and Campaign 2012
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John Bolton endorses Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential run — John Bolton, the hawkish former ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, endorsed Mitt Romney Wednesday night. — “I think Gov. Romney is the person who can best lead the party, best articulate our conservative principles …
Discussion:
CNN and Weasel Zippers

The Fantastical Crackpot Cult of Ron Paul — During Tuesday night's New Hampshire Primary election coverage, Lawrence O'Donnell hilariously and saliently described Ron Paul as “not a candidate,” therefore Jon Huntsman was the realistic second place winner, though not technically since he placed third on paper.
Discussion:
Alas, a Blog
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Haven't We Lived Through This Primary Before?
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Other McCain and The Mahablog


Homeland Security watches Twitter, social media — (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks and news and gossip sites including the Huffington Post and Drudge Report, according to a government document.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and The Volokh Conspiracy, more at Techmeme »
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Homeland Security Is Monitoring The Drudge Report, The New York Times — It's unclear exactly why, but the Department of Homeland has been operating a “Social Networking/Media Capability” program to monitor the top blogs, forums and social networks online for at least the past 18 months.
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Lonely Conservative and Maggie's Farm


NH turnout dropped 16% among actual Republicans — Over at Townhall, Guy Benson has defended the strength of Mitt Romney's victory in New Hampshire, and I don't think there's any disputing that it was a solid win. But I think there's one important point worth clarifying.
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Five Myths About Romney's New Hampshire Win
Discussion:
The Week and The Enterprise Blog

Correction on the Mankiw Model — I have to apologize. I made a mistake in a post from last week in calculating the interest rate based on Professor Greg Mankiw's interest rate model. — His model for where the Fed funds rate ought to be is: … In my original post …
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, Modeled Behavior and Free exchange
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El Che: The Crass Marketing of a Sadistic Racist … There's something about Che Guevara that convinces older European men that they will become cooler through association with his “brand.” We saw that again yesterday when Mercedes-Benz Chairman Dieter Zetsche launched a new car under a banner picture of Guevara.
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy and Ricochet Conversations Feed
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Mercedes channels Che Guevara for car tech
Discussion:
National Review and Weasel Zippers


Rising Share of Americans See Conflict Between Rich and Poor — The Occupy Wall Street movement no longer occupies Wall Street, but the issue of class conflict has captured a growing share of the national consciousness. A new Pew Research Center survey of 2,048 adults finds that about two-thirds …
Discussion:
The Politico, The Raw Story, Washington Post, New York Times and msnbc.com

Voting in Plain Sight — Of all the domestic policy differences between the Bush and Obama administrations, just about the sharpest and most telling may be their opposite responses to the drive by Republican-dominated states to require voters to present photo identification at the polls.
Discussion:
Election Law Blog, TEXAS REDISTRICTING and southernstudies.org


W.H. guests bail, Biden gets a seat — Dozens of journalists packed into the East Room at the White House today for the president's remarks on “in-sourcing,” at least 60 of them lining the press risers and walls. — But what many couldn't see in press coverage of the event …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers


TPM2012 — CNN Apparently Waives Its Own Debate Rules To Let Rick Perry In — CNN now says that Rick Perry is being invited to their debate in South Carolina on January 19, two days before the big primary in which he hopes to make his last stand. This despite the fact that he has not met …
Discussion:
The Hill, Applesauce, Guardian, Wonkette, The Daily Caller and National Review

Obama's Peculiar Re-Election Strategy — I know we're all supposed to think that the primaries are poised to turn out a weak Republican nominee and that President Obama will swoop in this fall and carry the day with some brilliant pincer move that simultaneously dubs the Republican too extreme, too moderate, too boring, and too weird.
Discussion:
Political Mojo, The Lonely Conservative and The Enterprise Blog