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For those who misunderstood my joke today, here's my quest for forgiveness... Last week my joke at the Conservative Political Action Conference generated laughter and media attention. Today on Andrea Mitchell's show, my aspirin joke bombed as many didn't recognize it as a joke but thought …
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Foster Friess Doubles Down — So on his “Campfire Blog,” which is apparently how he communicates with the world when he's not on our television screens, Santorum Super-PAC heavy and all-purpose spokesman Foster Friess apologized to the poor dumb humorless people who didn't get his “joke” …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Mediaite, Blog for Choice and Balloon Juice

GOP candidate says she wants to kick Santorum ‘in the jimmy’ — Republican congressional hopeful Martha McSally, who is running for the House seat recently vacated by Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), said Rick Santorum's remarks about women in combat made her want to “kick him in the jimmy.”
Discussion:
Politico and The Raw Story


Santorum dodges Friess ‘bad joke’
Discussion:
Politics, News Desk, Shakesville, Mediaite, Balloon Juice, Campaign 2012 and National Review

Santorum accuses media of double standard on Obama and Jeremiah Wright
Discussion:
Politico

Foster Friess: In my day, women “used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives”
Discussion:
Mediaite, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos


Exclusive: Feds arrest man allegedly heading to U.S. Capitol for suicide mission after sting investigation — Authorities have arrested a man allegedly on his way to the U.S. Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack on one of the nation's most symbolic landmarks, Fox News has learned exclusively.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Times, Atlas Shrugs, Gawker, Weasel Zippers, The Jawa Report, RedState, NO QUARTER, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler and Associated Press
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Federal agents arrest man who allegedly planned suicide bombing on U.S. Capitol — The FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man Friday after a lengthy investigation into an alleged plot to carry out a suicide attack on the Capitol. — In a cryptic news release …
Discussion:
The Heritage Foundation, Arlington, Va. and emptywheel


Top GOP Senator Says ‘If Romney Loses Michigan, We Need a New Candidate’ — A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can't win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, GOP 12 and Outside the Beltway


Gingrich to get another $10 million from casino backer - sources — Sheldon Adelson, left, and Newt Gingrich, right — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's faltering campaign is about to get another shot in the arm, CBS News has learned. — Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson plans …
Discussion:
Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog and Political Insider
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Republican donor expected to shell out $10 million to Gingrich super PAC
Discussion:
GOP 12, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Taegan Goddard's …, Wonkette, The PJ Tatler and Ballot Box

Mike DeWine Switches Endorsement From Mitt Romney To Rick Santorum — ABC News' Michael Falcone and Shushannah Walshe report: — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has had a change of heart. — The prominent Buckeye State Republican threw his support behind presidential candidate Rick Santorum …
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog and Outside the Beltway
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Ohio AG Mike DeWine switches backing from Romney to Santorum before GOP presidential primary
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Plain Dealer and HotAirPundit

Romney: Rombo ad is “most negative ad I've seen”
Discussion:
National Review

The Jeremy Lin Problem — Jeremy Lin is anomalous in all sorts of ways. He's a Harvard grad in the N.B.A., an Asian-American man in professional sports. But we shouldn't neglect the biggest anomaly. He's a religious person in professional sports. — We've become accustomed …
Discussion:
Feministing, The Atlantic Online, Weasel Zippers, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Maddow Blog and Gothamist


Maine GOP: Results went to spam — Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster has admitted that the state party made numerous clerical errors in counting the state's caucus results — even omitting some votes because emails reporting tallies “went to spam” in an email account.
Discussion:
Portland Press-Herald, MaineGOP.com, CNN, Daily Kos, Frontloading HQ, Slate, Bangor Daily News and Swampland
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Romney's Victory in the Maine Caucuses Is at Risk
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Washington Wire and Politico


The Myth of Runaway Health Spending — The growth rate of national health expenditures has been declining for a decade, driven by better medical care and consumer choice. — New data show that health spending over the past several years has been normalizing toward the rate of general inflation …
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler
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Entitlements Hysteria — Wall Street Journal , Federal Budget …
Discussion:
Economist's View

Blacklisted, But Not Beaten — My days as a political analyst at MSNBC have come to an end. — After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Associated Press, Mediaite, Politico, Washington Monthly, 24Ahead, Booman Tribune, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, Media Decoder, Taylor Marsh, NewsBusters.org, The Daily Dish, The PJ Tatler, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, Speakeasy, Colorlines, Daily Pundit, YID With LID, Gawker, Deadline.com, Daily Kos, Liberal Values and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, more at Mediagazer »


A Syllabus for the ‘Occupy’ Movement — Conservatives are wrong to deride college courses on the anti-Wall Street protests. Here's a lesson plan and possible reading list. — Schools from New York's Columbia to Chicago's Roosevelt University are offering courses on the “Occupy” movement.
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, Belmont Club, Hit & Run and Ed Driscoll


Al Sharpton's SUV impounded at La Guardia Airport — Can I get a witness? — The Rev. Al Sharpton tried to move heaven and earth yesterday to keep his SUV from being towed at La Guardia Airport — but no amount of preaching could stop Port Authority cops from impounding the vehicle.
Discussion:
iOwnTheWorld.com, Washington Free Beacon and Gothamist

Google's iPhone Tracking — Web Giant, Others Bypassed Apple Browser Settings for Guarding Privacy — Google Inc. and other advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple Inc.'s Web browser on their iPhones and computers …
Discussion:
Politico, The Heritage Foundation, CNET, Washington Post, VentureBeat, Mashable!, Big Journalism, The Daily Caller and Slashdot, more at Techmeme »


Ethics panel members recused in Maxine Waters case — Six members of the House Ethics Committee - including all five Republicans on the secretive panel - have recused themselves from the long-running case involving Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), an unprecedented move that raises …
Discussion:
The Raw Story

U.S. Unemployment Increases in Mid-February — Underemployment also up, to 19.0% — PRINCETON, NJ — The U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 9.0% in mid-February, up from 8.6% for January. The mid-month reading normally reflects …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway and The Lonely Conservative


Charles Koch, employees reveal e-mailed threats from past year — Charles Koch, his brother and employees have in recent months been getting death threats, hundreds of obscenity-laced hate messages, and harassment from some far left-wing groups, Koch said on Thursday.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and ThinkProgress


At Work in Syria, Times Correspondent Dies — Anthony Shadid, a prize-winning newspaper correspondent whose graceful dispatches for both The New York Times and The Washington Post covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil, died, apparently of an asthma attack …
Discussion:
Politico, Washington Post, ABCNEWS, News Desk, Capital New York, ThinkProgress, The BLT, Media Decoder, Gawker, Gothamist and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »


Over-regulated America — The home of laissez-faire is being suffocated by excessive and badly written regulation — AMERICANS love to laugh at ridiculous regulations. A Florida law requires vending-machine labels to urge the public to file a report if the label is not there.
Discussion:
FreeEnterprise.com, The Atlantic Online, Politico, americanthinker.com and The Heritage Foundation


Obama's White Whale — How the campaign's top-secret project Narwhal could change this race, and many to come. — On Jan. 22, a young woman in a socially conservative corner of southwestern Ohio received a blast email from Stephanie Cutter, a deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and americanthinker.com

Is birth control fight a Terri Schiavo moment? — The respected Dem firm Democracy Corps has just published an important polling memo that gets right to the heart of why the birth control battle could matter so much in this year's elections. — The firm's poll finds that one of the most …