Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Romney's Taxes: $3 Million — Candidate Paid a 14% Effective Tax Rate for 2010 on $21.7 Million in Income — WASHINGTON—GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid a 14% effective income tax rate in 2010 after making $3 million in tax-deductible charitable donations and drawing …
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Washington Post:
Mitt Romney's tax returns shed some light on his investment wealth — Mitt Romney offered a partial snapshot of his vast personal fortune late Monday, disclosing income of $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million last year — virtually all of it profits, dividends or interest from investments.
Reuters:
Romney reports tax bill of $6.2 million for 2010-11 — (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released tax records on Tuesday indicating he will pay $6.2 million in taxes on a total of $42.5 million in income over the years 2010 and 2011.
Discussion:
Guardian, NewsBusters.org blogs, Zandar Versus The Stupid, TBogg, ThinkProgress, Washington Wire and msnbc.com
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Newt up 5 in Florida — PPP's first post-South Carolina poll in Florida finds Newt Gingrich with a small lead. He's at 38% to 33% for Mitt Romney, 13% for Rick Santorum, and 10% for Ron Paul. — Gingrich has gained 12 points since a PPP poll conducted in Florida a week ago. Romney has dropped 8 points.
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Debate Winner: Mitch Daniels — I've got to think Monday night's debate further swelled the groundswell of support for Mitch Daniels. The liveliest part of the debate was at the beginning, when Mitt went after Newt—and Republicans all over America watched with fascinated horror at the thought that these are the two GOP frontrunners.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and New York Times
The Caucus:
Romney Tax Returns Show 2-Year Income of $45 Million — Mitt Romney's campaign released details of his federal tax returns on Tuesday morning, showing that he is likely to pay a total of $6.2 million in taxes on $45 million in income over the two tax years of 2010 and 2011. (View full returns here)
Discussion:
News Desk, David Cay Johnston, Swampland, Mediaite, Althouse, Gawker, Prairie Weather and DealBook
Richard Rubin / Bloomberg:
Romney Paid 13.9% Tax Rate on $21.6 Million in 2010 — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney earned $21.6 million in 2010 and paid 13.9 percent of that amount in income taxes, using the preferential rate on investment income and charitable deductions to pay a smaller share of his earnings than top wage earners typically do.
Discussion:
Washington Post, ThinkProgress, American Prospect and ABCNEWS
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Gingrich's former firm releases Freddie Mac contract — GOP candidate Newt Gingrich, who has said he never lobbied on behalf of his consulting clients, reported to a top lobbyist with Freddie Mac as part of a $25,000-a-month contract, according to records released late Monday.
Discussion:
New York Times, Hot Air, ThinkProgress and Naked Politics
Ross Douthat:
Calling Mitch Daniels — For months now, even as the rest of the conservative commentariat has gradually resigned itself to the existing presidential field, the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol has continued to pine — publicly, unstintingly, immune to either embarrassment or fatigue— for another candidate to jump into the race.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, Balloon Juice, Salon.com, FiveThirtyEight, The Atlantic Online, National Review, A plain blog about politics, Eunomia, Hot Air, Rod Dreher, COURAGE IN AMERICA, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Outside the Beltway, Whiskey Fire and The Daily Caller
Catalina Camia / USA Today:
Mitt Romney to pay $6.2M in taxes for 2010-2011
Mitt Romney to pay $6.2M in taxes for 2010-2011
Discussion:
Tax Foundation and The Reaction
Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
‘Super PAC’ for Gingrich to Get $5 Million Infusion
‘Super PAC’ for Gingrich to Get $5 Million Infusion
Discussion:
Vox Popoli, Campaign 2012, Media Decoder, The Other McCain, News Desk and The Caucus
Simon Tomlinson / Daily Mail:
The classiest telling off in concert hall history? Witty musical response of violinist who was interrupted mid-solo by mobile phone ringtone — It is the most infuriating addition to any performance for artist and audience alike. — While engrossed in a captivating piece of theatre …
William Galston / The New Republic:
Five Things To Watch For In the State of the Union — Given the blizzard of White House briefings to eager reporters in recent days, we already have some sense of what the president will say in tonight's State of the Union address. But in considering the speech, we shouldn't forget to judge …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online
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Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:
Popularity Swings Sharply for GOP Field
Bryan Bender / Boston Globe:
John Kerry, on the right wing, breaks nose — Senator John Kerry sported a broken nose and two black eyes at a White House event today honoring the Stanley Cup champs, the Boston Bruins. He suffered the injuries in a pickup hockey game. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)
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Wall Street Journal:
The GOP Deserves to Lose — That's what happens when you run with losers. — Let's just say right now what voters will be saying in November, once Barack Obama has been re-elected: Republicans deserve to lose. — It doesn't matter that Mr. Obama can't get the economy out of second gear.
Discussion:
Eunomia, The Enterprise Blog and Ricochet Conversations Feed
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Gingrich won't ‘allow’ moderators to silence crowd at future debates — Newt Gingrich says he won't “allow” the moderators of future GOP presidential debates to keep the crowd out of it. — Speaking on Tuesday to Fox News, Gingrich took the opportunity that was denied him at Monday night's debate, and blasted the media.
Discussion:
The Politico and Political Insider
Telegraph:
Barack Obama attacked Hillary Clinton in negative campaign leaked memos show — Barack Obama agreed to using character assassination tactics against Hillary Clinton during his 2008 presidential campaign, White House memos show, despite a pledge to steer away from negative electioneering.
Discussion:
Don Surber and Weasel Zippers
Declan McCullagh / CNET:
Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops — American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case.
Discussion:
The Verge, Gizmodo, msnbc.com and Vox Popoli, more at Techmeme »
Byron Tau / The Politico:
Buffett's secretary to join Obama — Billionaire Warren Buffett's longtime secretary will be joining first lady Michelle Obama in her box at tonight's State of the Union, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer announced on Twitter. — Debbie Bosanek, who has worked for Buffett …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Greg Miller / Washington Post:
Former CIA officer charged in alleged leaks — The Justice Department on Monday charged a former CIA officer with repeatedly leaking classified information, including the identities of agency operatives involved in the capture and interrogation of alleged terrorists.
Discussion:
The Politico, UrbanGrounds, Big Journalism, RedState, Weasel Zippers, msnbc.com, Atlas Shrugs and The Talking Dog, more at Mediagazer »
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
From Gingrich To Palin To Gingrich — Let us now play the tiniest violin for what is called the “Republican Establishment”. I'm not sure what this phrase means or represents any more - the Chamber of Commerce? John Boehner? The Bush family? But the concept of a responsible, sane …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, driftglass, Eunomia, Washington Examiner, A plain blog about politics and Enik Rising
Ryan Lizza / News Desk:
The Summers Memo — In a piece this week on Barack Obama's shift from idealism to pragmatism, I describe an important fifty-seven-page document from Lawrence Summers to President-elect Barack Obama dated December 15, 2008: … This document is the ur-text of economic policymaking for the Obama Administration.
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, Political Mojo, Connecting.the.Dots, Jared Bernstein, The Atlantic Online, DealBook, ThinkProgress and Firedoglake
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James Pethokoukis / The Enterprise Blog:
11 stunning revelations from Larry Summers's secret economics memo to Barack Obama
11 stunning revelations from Larry Summers's secret economics memo to Barack Obama
Discussion:
American Power, Pirate's Cove, Doug Ross, The Politico, Washington Post, Weasel Zippers, Politics, New Yorker, The PJ Tatler and Paul Krugman
Elizabeth Mendes / Gallup:
More Americans Uninsured in 2011 — However, more adults aged 18 to 26 now covered … WASHINGTON, D.C. — More American adults lacked health insurance coverage last year than in any year since Gallup and Healthways started tracking it in 2008. The uninsured rate has been increasing since 2008, climbing to 17.1% in 2011.
Discussion:
The Politico
Reuters:
What exactly would President Obama do in a second term? — Take this quiz: If President Barack Obama wins a second term, he has promised that he will do ... what exactly? — There are people who follow the president closely who couldn't answer that question.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Jim Efstathiou Jr / Bloomberg:
Buffett's Burlington Northern Among Winners From Keystone Denial — Warren Buffett's Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration's decision to reject TransCanada Corp. (TRP)'s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Big Government
Jill Fitzsimmons / Media Matters for America:
Media Matters Goes Light Bulb Shopping — Few things exemplify the ongoing right-wing, media-fueled campaign against reality as well as the hysteria surrounding implementation of light bulb efficiency standards, which gather the low-hanging fruit of energy conservation by inciting manufacturers to improve their technology.
Discussion:
pandagon.net