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Komen caved. Or did it? — As you may have heard, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation just announced that it was reversing its decision to ban Planned Parenthood from applying for grants to cover breast cancer screenings — after a massive outcry that spread from women's groups to social media to Capitol Hill.
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The Atlantic Online, LifeNews.com, TBogg, GetReligion, emptywheel, Firedoglake, CatholicVote.org, Nation Now, Wonkette, Poynter, LifeSiteNews.com Latest …, Daily Kos, Right Wing Watch, Crooks and Liars, Weasel Zippers, msnbc.com, Little Green Footballs, Wake up America, Outside the Beltway, The Scoop, The Raw Story, The Agonist, Runnin' Scared, Capital New York and The Reid Report, more at Mediagazer »
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Komen apologizes for ‘recent decisions,’ pledges to continue funding Planned Parenthood — UPDATE, 12:32 p.m.Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said during a Friday conference call that her understanding of Komen's announcement is that it's a complete reversal of the decision to bar funding to her group.
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American Prospect, Reuters, The Lede, Mediaite, This Just In, The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly, Salon, ThinkProgress, New York Times, ECHIDNE of the snakes, Political Mojo, Datechguy's Blog, Hot Air, Washington Post, The Impolitic, Gawker, Jammie Wearing Fools, Little Green Footballs, Taylor Marsh, AlterNet, Daily Kos, Feministing, The Loyal Opposition, Democracy in America, Balloon Juice, The Mahablog, Campaign 2012, The Raw Story, Shakesville, Los Angeles Times, NewsBusters.org blogs, Jezebel, Outside the Beltway, LifeNews.com, Pirate's Cove, Business Insider, Flopping Aces and NewsBusters.org


EXCLUSIVE: Ari Fleischer Secretly Helped Guide Komen Strategy On Planned Parenthood — Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for George W. Bush and prominent right-wing pundit, secretly helped guide Komen Foundation's disastrous strategy regarding Planned Parenthood.
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Daily Kos, The Atlantic Online, Balloon Juice and Roger Ailes

National Review Sees “Gangsterism” Behind Komen's Planned Parenthood Shift — Earlier today the Susan G. Komen Foundation released a statement “apologizing” for their decision earlier this week to cease grants to Planned Parenthood to pay for breast cancer screenings.
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Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, Booman Tribune and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Statement from Susan G. Komen Board of Directors and Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker — We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives. The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters …
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Planned Parenthood, New York Times, Associated Press, Nation Now, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, blogs.wsj.com, Mashable!, The Daily Caller, Politico, CBS Philly, Gothamist, Big Government, Epicenter, The Mahablog, Guardian, TIME Ideas, The New Republic, LifeSiteNews.com Latest …, TBogg, National Review, JustOneMinute, Pundit & Pundette and American Power

You Should Find the Anti-Komen Backlash Disgusting, Even If You're Pro-Choice — It's official. The Komen Foundation has “apologized” for its Planned Parenthood decision and appears set to reinstate the funding, thus making our editorial this morning both premature and, in a more profound sense, too late.

Komen Statement on Planned Parenthood is a PR Move, Not A Policy Reversal

Susan G. Komen Foundation Says It Is Not Connected To Pink ‘Hope’ Handgun [UPDATE]
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ThinkProgress, Gothamist, CBS Seattle, Gawker, Runnin' Scared, Religion Dispatches, The Moderate Voice and Daily Kos

DAILY COMMENT — [Update: On Friday, Susan G. Komen …
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pandagon.net, Hullabaloo and Mediaite

Komen Foundation revises funding policy
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Hullabaloo, The Lonely Conservative and Political Mojo

Komen Board Member: Haven't Caved on Planned Parenthood Funding
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Washington Post, RedState, The Gateway Pundit and Nation Now


Record 1.2 Million People Fall Out Of Labor Force In One Month, Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To Fresh 30 Year Low — A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%.
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Why the official 8.3 percent unemployment rate is a phony number—and what it means for Obama's reelection
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RedState and Weasel Zippers

Unemployment Drops to 8.3%; Payrolls in U.S. Jump 243,000
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New York Times, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Truthdig, The Impolitic, ThinkProgress, The Page and Gothamist

Employment Jumps; Rate 8.3%, 243,000 New Jobs Created
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Taylor Marsh, Questions and Observations, Outside the Beltway and The Lonely Conservative

U.S. adds 243K jobs in January; unemployment rate drops to 8.3%
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Felix Salmon, The Democratic Daily, The American Independent, blogs.wsj.com, Brad DeLong, Booman Tribune and Political Mojo


Newt Gingrich's Nevada campaign unraveling — LAS VEGAS — Newt Gingrich is not on TV here. His daily events have slowed to a trickle. He's got a barebones staff working in a tiny space rented just 2 weeks ago. — The most attention he's received since arriving in Nevada came with his snub of the state's popular governor.
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CNN, Campaign 2012, Politico and KLAS-TV 8 News Now
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Gingrich: Romney didn't deserve congrats — Pointing to Romney's post-South Carolina campaign strategy, which turned noticeably negative against the former House speaker, Gingrich said Romney didn't earn any kudos. — Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
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Washington Wire

Faced with good news about economy, Romney dissolves into incoherence — Since Mitt Romney announced his candidacy last June, he has continually made two core claims about Obama's economic record, each of which contradicts the other. Depending on the moment, Romney has said either:
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The Hill, A plain blog about politics, The Maddow Blog, Riehl World View, Political Mojo and The Hill
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Obama campaign plays Trump card against Romney — The Obama campaign is fundraising off of Donald Trump's endorsement of Mitt Romney, calling the New York real estate mogul the “birth certificate conspiracy leader” in an email to supporters. — “Yesterday, Mitt Romney said he was ‘humbled’ to accept Donald Trump's endorsement.
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Guardian
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Mitt Romney, Donald Trump, Ron Paul and the ‘Hope America Fails’ Republicans have a problem: Jobs
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Politico, Daily Kos and PERRspectives

Reid: This year's budget is done — Senate Democratic leaders said they don't expect a fiscal 2013 budget to reach the floor this year because spending levels were set last summer under the debt-ceiling agreement. — “We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year — it's done …
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Politico, Campaign 2012 and The Daily Caller
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Reid: No, I don't plan to bring a budget to the floor this year
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Daily Pundit

GOP lawmaker walked out on Obama's speech at National Prayer Breakfast — Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey (Ga.) walked out of President Obama's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, his spokesman confirmed to The Hill. — Jen Talaber said the five-term lawmaker “left quietly” in the middle of the president's remarks.
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Right Wing Watch, Weasel Zippers and Randy's Roundtable

Senate Republicans to challenge recess appointments in court — Republican senators announced Friday that they plan to challenge President Obama's recent controversial appointments in court. — Thirty-nine GOP senators have signed onto a letter announcing their intention to file …
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What super PAC filings left out — About the only thing more notable than the donor information super PACs this week revealed is the information they didn't. — Super PACs filed reports with the Federal Election Commission that outlined what they raised — and from whom — in the last six months of 2011.
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CNN and United Republic
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Santorum To Gay Man: You Don't Deserve ‘Privilege’ Of Marriage Because Gay Unions Don't ‘Benefit Society’ — Rick Santorum told a gay man in Fulton, Missouri Friday afternoon that he didn't deserve the “privilege” of marriage because his same-sex relationship does not “benefit” society in the same way that opposite-sex marriage does.

A.G. SCHNEIDERMAN ANNOUNCES MAJOR LAWSUIT AGAINST NATION'S LARGEST BANKS FOR DECEPTIVE & FRAUDULENT USE OF ELECTRONIC MORTGAGE REGISTRY — Complaint Charges Use Of MERS By Bank Of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, And Wells Fargo Resulted In Fraudulent Foreclosure Filings
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Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Business Insider and TalkLeft

Santorum Fails to Qualify for Indiana Ballot — Election officials still tallying signatures for Gingrich — Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has failed to qualify for the Indiana ballot. — Listen: — Presidential candidates need 500 signatures in each of Indiana's nine congressional districts.
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CNN, Politico, The Hill, The Caucus and HotAirPundit

Mitt Romney Was A Democrat — It may only have been for a few minutes in 1992. But this is a little-known, true fact: The likely GOP nominee is a former Democrat. — Mitt Romney's 1992 Democratic Primary vote for Paul Tsongas — a technocratic modernizer and reformer, but very much a Democrat …
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Mediaite, RedState and Saint Petersblog

Army Silenced Chaplains Last Sunday — In Catholic Churches across the country, parishioners were read letters from the pulpit this weekend from bishops in their diocese about the mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services giving Catholics a year before they'll be required …
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