Top Items:
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Is Romney More Electable Than Santorum? — Which one of these men would you rather vote for? Now pretend you're an unemployed machinist in Youngstown, Ohio. — As happens every time a non-Romney Republican surges into the national lead, liberals are giddy over the possibility …
Discussion:
The Spectacle Blog, GOP 12, Jay Bookman, Political Insider, Truthdig, AlterNet, americanthinker.com and The Reaction
RELATED:
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Romney's electability argument weakening? — One thing that has remained constant in the ever changing GOP Presidential race is that Mitt Romney is the strongest candidate against Barack Obama...at least until now. PPP's newest national poll finds Romney trailing Obama by 7 points at 49-42 …
Paul Krugman:
The Internal Contradictions of Mitt Romney — And by “internal”, I mean in the same paragraph: … Yep, Obama has failed to resolve the problem of excessive entitlement spending; furthermore, he's cutting entitlement spending! — It gets even better when you bear in mind that Romney …
Discussion:
Boston Globe, The Maddow Blog, The Moderate Voice, Taegan Goddard's … and A plain blog about politics
CBS News:
Poll: Rick Santorum takes slight lead in GOP race — CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto. — Rick Santorum has pulled slightly ahead of Mitt Romney in Republican primary voters' preference for the presidential nomination …
Alyssa Rosenberg / ThinkProgress:
Roseanne Barr Pulls 6 Percent Against Obama And Romney In National Presidential Poll
Roseanne Barr Pulls 6 Percent Against Obama And Romney In National Presidential Poll
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, American Prospect and The Political Carnival
Dalia Sussman / The Caucus:
Santorum Catches Up With Romney in New Poll
Santorum Catches Up With Romney in New Poll
Discussion:
Roll Call, seattlepi.com, Seattle Times, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, News Desk, Political Insider, msnbc.com, Towleroad News #gay, Swampland, Hot Air, New York Times, Advocate, Pew Research Center …, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Outside the Beltway, The Maddow Blog, USA Today, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Connecting.the.Dots, GOP 12, ABCNEWS and Gallup
Justin Sink / The Hill:
Surrogates for Romney paint Rick Santorum as liberal on fiscal issues
Surrogates for Romney paint Rick Santorum as liberal on fiscal issues
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, CNN, Campaign 2012 and Hot Air
Rasmussen Reports:
59% of Catholics Disapprove of Obama's Job Performance — Catholics strongly disapprove of the job President Obama is doing as the debate continues over his administration's new policy forcing Catholic institutions to pay for contraception they morally oppose.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, Wake up America and Campaign 2012
RELATED:
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Catholics' Approval of Obama Little Changed — Down three percentage points amid birth-control controversy — PRINCETON, NJ — Catholics' views of President Obama were little changed during a week in which the administration battled publicly with Catholic leaders over whether church-affiliated employers …
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Despite birth control controversy, Obama suffers no erosion among Catholics — Since the birth control controversy broke, it has been an article of faith among even some neutral commentators that the battle would cause Obama to lose crucial support among Catholic swing voters.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Mitt Romney / detroitnews.com:
Romney op-ed: Taxpayers should get GM shares' proceeds — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns in Portland, Maine. The candidate contends that the Obama administration should sell its ownership in GM and return the money to taxpayers. (Robert F. Bukaty / Associated Press)
RELATED:
emptywheel:
Mitt Advocates Taking Healthcare from Retirees to Give Money to Bailed Out Banks
Mitt Advocates Taking Healthcare from Retirees to Give Money to Bailed Out Banks
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Lawyers, Guns & Money
Rick Santorum / CNN:
‘I am a son of Detroit,’ Romney says
‘I am a son of Detroit,’ Romney says
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Reuters and Democracy in America
Tucker Carlson / The Daily Caller:
Media Matters memo called for hiring private investigators ‘to look into the personal lives’ of Fox employees — A little after 1 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2009, Karl Frisch emailed a memo to his bosses, Media Matters for America founder David Brock and president Eric Burns.
RELATED:
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:
Public Divided Over Birth Control Insurance Mandate — Religious, Partisan and Gender Differences — OVERVIEW — About six-in-ten Americans (62%) have heard about the proposed federal rule that would require employers, including most religiously affiliated institutions …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and ABCNEWS
RELATED:
Michael Scherer / Swampland:
Rick Santorum Wants to Fight ‘The Dangers Of Contraception’
Rick Santorum Wants to Fight ‘The Dangers Of Contraception’
Discussion:
GOP 12, Outside the Beltway and Political Insider
Jason Koebler / US News:
CDC Warns Untreatable Gonorrhea is On the Way — A new strain of gonorrhea is resistant to one of the last known effective treatments — Gonorrhea, one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the United States, is increasingly showing resistance to one of the last known effective …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Shakesville, The Atlantic Online and Clayton Cramer's Blog
Eric Russell / Bangor Daily News:
Pressure mounting for GOP caucus reconsideration — AUGUSTA, Maine — Pressure is on the Maine Republican Party to reconsider its weekend declaration that Mitt Romney won the state's caucuses. — The Maine GOP announced Saturday that Romney narrowly edged Ron Paul, 39 percent to 36 percent …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog and American Spectator
Keach Hagey / Reuters:
Fox News ‘course correction’ rankles some — As a white, male, middle-aged conservative talk radio host from Virginia, John Fredericks is something close to the Platonic ideal of a Fox News fan. — And until last year, he was one. But then Fox's treatment of the Republican primary race …
Discussion:
Wonkette, American Prospect, Washington Monthly and No More Mister Nice Blog, more at Mediagazer »
Agence France Presse:
Oliver Stone's son converts to Islam in Iran — US filmmaker Sean Stone, son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, converted to Islam on Tuesday in Iran, where he is making a documentary, he told AFP. — “The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, The Jawa Report, Weasel Zippers, Babalú Blog, Atlas Shrugs and Clayton Cramer's Blog
Dr. Melissa Clouthier:
CPAC: The Jersey Shore-ification Of Our Young People — UPDATED — Erick Erickson wrote a must-read piece to the young men of the conservative movement. It's good stuff and especially important considering men are to be future leaders at home, at church, etc.
Discussion:
Erick's blog, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Wonkette and Riehl World View
Michael Cavna / Washington Post:
VALENTINE'S DAY GOOGLE DOODLE: Today's charming musical animation makes for one sweet gift — SOMETIMES, not even Google keywords can navigate the search for love. — Today, Google is celebrating Valentine's Day the world over with a charming animated “Doodle” that is free of dialogue — yet is all heart.
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, TechCrunch, alicublog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Boing Boing and newsfeed.time.com
WSFA-TV:
Coach resigns over nude photo on Facebook … High school football coach, Paul Withee, resigned after accidentally posting a naked picture on Facebook. (Source: WMTW/CNN) — SOUTH PARRIS, ME (WMTW/CNN) - A high school football coach in Maine has resigned after accidentally posting a naked picture on his Facebook page.
Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
Obama's epic blunder on birth-control mandate — Before Barack Obama can defeat his opponents, he must first be rescued from his friends. — Some of them are now suggesting that his contraceptive mandate on religious institutions was a skilled political stratagem.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Daily Dish, Riehl World View, National Review, The Week and Nebraska Radio Network
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Materialist Fallacy — The half-century between 1912 and 1962 was a period of great wars and economic tumult but also of impressive social cohesion. Marriage rates were high. Community groups connected people across class. — In the half-century between 1962 and the present …
Discussion:
Economist's View and Modeled Behavior
Martin Ssebuyira / Daily Monitor:
Ethics Minister shuts down gay rights conference — There was drama at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe today when State Minister for Ethics and Integrity Simon Lokodo broke up a secret gay rights activists conference. — The two week conference organised by Freedom and Roam Uganda …
Discussion:
Box Turtle Bulletin, ThinkProgress, Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Christie's Valentines Message To Gays In New Jersey: Your Marriages Are ‘A Good Bunch Of Theater’ — New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R) described yesterday's vote in favor of marriage equality in the state Senate as “a good bunch of theater” and predicted that the legislature …
Paul Krugman:
People Are Human — David Brooks is unhappy with the turn the conversation over the white working class has taken; that's his right, although I think he's caricaturing my position. But I do want to make a point about the nature of social explanation. — David says, … True enough.
Discussion:
EconLog
Manu Rajuand Jake Sherman / Politico:
Payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits: Congress nears deal — House and Senate leaders are nearing a sweeping deal on jobless benefits, the payroll tax cut and the Medicare reimbursement rate for physicians, according to several sources familiar with the talks.
Discussion:
The Hill
Russell / Single Payer Action:
FIFTY MEDICAL DOCTORS FOR SINGLE PAYER URGE SUPREME COURT TO STRIKE DOWN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE — Fifty medical doctors who favor a single payer health insurance system today urged the US Supreme Court to strike down the individual mandate. — In a brief filed with the Court …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Underground and Seeing the Forest
Aliyah Shahid / NY Daily News:
Newt Gingrich reveals sexy Valentine's Day plans for wife Callista while stumping in California — The intimate remarks come as Team Gingrich tries to rev up Callista's public presence on the campaign trail — Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich …
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Moderate Voice and The Raw Story
Sean Gardiner / Wall Street Journal:
Stop-and-Frisks Hit Record in 2011 — New York City police officers stopped and questioned 684,330 people last year, a record number since the department started producing yearly tallies of the tactic. — The total marked a 14% increase over 2010, according to statistics viewed by The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
Discussion:
Hit & Run, New York Magazine and Capital New York
Michael Gordon / The Charlotte Observer:
Music director's marriage leads to his firing from St. Gabriel Catholic Church — The last five months have been eventful for Steav Bates-Congdon. — First he got married. Then he got fired. — The popular music director at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in south Charlotte lost his job …
Discussion:
Stinque, ataxingmatter, ThinkProgress and Joe. My. God.
Sherif Girgis / Public Discourse:
Morals and Mandates — On January 20, the Obama administration proposed a federal regulation that was promptly denounced, in the strongest terms, by voices from across the political and religious spectrum. Critics of every persuasion condemned it as a gross violation of religious liberty and the rights of conscience.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish and dotCommonweal
Mj Lee / Politico:
Christie plans tribute to Whitney Houston — With a funeral service for the late Whitney Houston scheduled to take place in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, Gov. Chris Christie says he is planning to order flags to be flown at half-staff in the singer's honor.
Discussion:
Big Hollywood