Top Items:
Lee Enterprises / Lincoln Journal Star:
Exclusive: Hagel says critics distort his views on Israel, Iran — Chuck Hagel said Monday an accurate assessment of his record will demonstrate “unequivocal, total support for Israel” and endorsement of tough international economic sanctions against Iran. — Critics have “completely distorted” …
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Fred Kaplan / Slate:
The Real Reason Republicans Hate Hagel — It has more to do with President Obama than the former senator from Nebraska. — It's good news that President Obama will nominate Chuck Hagel as his secretary of defense, despite the frantic campaign against him that's been mounted by certain Republicans.
Hayes Brown / ThinkProgress:
FLASHBACK: Bill Kristol Wanted Chuck Hagel To Be Vice President — The lead-up to today's nomination of former GOP senator from Nebraska Chuck Hagel to be the next Secretary of Defense has been marked by an aggressive smear campaign by neoconservatives determined to scuttle the bid.
Discussion:
Salon, Talking Points Memo, The Maddow Blog, msnbc.com and Little Green Footballs
Dovid Efune / Algemeiner.com:
Ed Koch on Chuck Hagel Nomination: Obama's Reneging on His Conveyed Support for Israel Has Come Earlier Than I Thought — Chuck Hagel in Kuwait. — In an interview with The Algemeiner, former Mayor of New York, Ed Koch, a lifelong Democrat who supported President Obama's recent re-election …
Discussion:
Foreign Policy, Washington Free Beacon, Israel Matzav, The PJ Tatler and National Review
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Why Hagel Matters — According to various reports, Obama will nominate Chuck Hagel for defense secretary. Beinart puts the nomination in context: … To my mind, this is his core qualification. Unlike so many of the lemmings and partisans of Washington DC, Hagel actually called out the catastrophe of the Iraq War as it happened.
Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:
Bill Kristol's big plans start with Hagel nomination — In the weeks since Election Day — as Mitt Romney faded into obscurity, John Boehner lost control of the House GOP and tea partiers turned on one another — Bill Kristol has been busy charting the future of the Republican Party.
Discussion:
New York Times, CNN, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo and msnbc.com
Lanny J. Davis / The Hill:
Hagel must address ‘Jewish lobby’ comment
Discussion:
Daily Dot and Firedoglake
Bryan Bender / Boston Globe:
Still a potent gay rights voice, Barney Frank dials back opposition to Chuck Hagel nomination
Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
AIPAC's Uncertain Role in the Upcoming Hagel Nomination
Discussion:
Business Insider, News Desk, The Daily Caller, Hot Air and The Back Channel
Valerie Jarrett / White House.gov Blog:
Hagel for Secretary of Defense
Discussion:
AMERICAblog, BuzzFeed and The Democratic Daily
Kevin Bohn / CNN:
White House officials reach out to Jewish community to answer Hagel concerns
Discussion:
Politico, The Hinterland Gazette, Business Insider, ABCNEWS, JustOneMinute and Israel Matzav
Paul Krugman:
Be Ready To Mint That Coin — Should President Obama be willing to print a $1 trillion platinum coin if Republicans try to force America into default? Yes, absolutely. He will, after all, be faced with a choice between two alternatives: one that's silly but benign, the other that's equally silly but both vile and disastrous.
Discussion:
Power Line, JustOneMinute, MarketWatch, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hot Air, Angry Bear, Truthdig, The Week, Business Insider, Wonkblog, Via Meadia, The Plum Line, Vodkapundit, The Informer, Daily Kos, Mother Jones, Marginal Revolution, Economist's View, Althouse, Gawker, Post Politics, Capital New York and The Hill
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Josh Barro / Bloomberg:
Why Platinum Coin Opponents Are All Wrong — This morning, Joe Weisenthal and I took our message in favor of minting a trillion-dollar platinum coin to “Bloomberg Surveillance,” where we were met with the usual shock and horror from hosts Tom Keene and Sara Eisen.
Discussion:
Free exchange, The Plum Line, Business Insider, Quartz and Balloon Juice
This Just In:
Hillary Clinton back at work - with a football helmet — Hillary Clinton went back to work as secretary of state this morning and was greeted by colleagues showing off their sense of humor. — First off, we got the official State Department photo of her hosting the weekly meeting of assistant secretaries of state.
Discussion:
Mediaite, MyFOX8.com, Sense of Events, The Immoral Minority, Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay
Numbers / Pew Research Center for the People …:
Obama Viewed as Fiscal Cliff Victor; Legislation Gets Lukewarm Reception — OVERVIEW — Barack Obama is viewed as the clear political winner in the fiscal cliff negotiations, but the legislation itself gets only a lukewarm reception from the public: As many disapprove as approve …
Discussion:
CNN, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, The Hill and Texas on the Potomac
Rasmussen Reports:
Just 8% Now Say They Are Tea Party Members — Views of the Tea Party movement are at their lowest point ever, with voters for the first time evenly divided when asked to match the views of the average Tea Party member against those of the average member of Congress.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Outside the Beltway and Mediaite
Christine Haughney / New York Times:
After Pinpointing Gun Owners, Paper Is a Target — WHITE PLAINS — Local newspapers across the country look for stories that will bring them national attention, but The Journal News, a daily nestled in a wooded office park in a suburb north of New York, may have gotten more than it bargained for.
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John Fund / National Review:
Guns for Me but Not for Thee — The Journal News hires armed guards …
Discussion:
Hot Air
Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:
Politico Lays Off Staffers Amid Restructuring … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Jim VandeHei, John Harris, Dave Catanese, Jay Westcott, Jess Kamen, Politico, Politico Cult, Politico Cutbacks, Politico Layoffs, Calderone: The Backstory, Media News — Editor-in-chief John Harris and executive editor Jim VandeHei
Discussion:
Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »
Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:
Mexican Restaurant In South Carolina Under Fire For Racist ‘How To Catch An Illegal Immigrant’ T-Shirt — A Mexican restaurant in Columbia, South Carolina is being criticized for its racist T-shirts showing a wooden trap using tacos as bait with the caption “HOW TO CATCH AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT”.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Gawker and The Raw Story
Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:
John Brennan's extremism and dishonesty rewarded with CIA Director nomination | Glenn Greenwald — Obama's top terrorism adviser goes from unconfirmable in 2008 to uncontroversial in 2013, reflecting the Obama legacy — (updated below - Update II) — Prior to President Obama's …
Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Dick Cheney Apparently Didn't Mind The Term “Jewish Lobby” — When Cheney was Secretary, the Defense Department published a pamphlet using the phrase Hagel has gotten in trouble for uttering. It also instructed soldiers to downplay America's alliance with Israel. — Source: imgc.allpostersimages.com
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
DealBook:
In Deal, Bank of America Extends Retreat From Mortgages — Correction Appended — Bank of America bought Countrywide in 2008. — Updated — Bank of America is continuing a large-scale retreat from its costly expansion into the home mortgage market, a shift that concentrates more power …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Week and Capital New York
Kyle Olson / EAGnews.org:
Crowd laughs as Chicago Teachers Union president talks about killing the rich — CHICAGO - The Chicago Teachers Union is not just about looking out for its members' interests. The union wants to fundamentally change America, too. — That shift occurred when the radical Karen Lewis was elected as its president two years ago.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, FreedomWorks, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit
Peggy Fikac / Texas on the Potomac:
Rick Perry for president? Legislative session gives him chance to burnish credentials — The legislative session that opens Tuesday will give Gov. Rick Perry a chance to burnish his credentials if he chooses to make another run for president in 2016. — But some are hard-pressed to imagine …
Discussion:
Ricochet Conversations Feed and Politico
Steven Hayward / Power Line:
Hagel the Kyoto-Slayer — So far most of the critical discussion about Chuck Hagel for SecDef is that he said mean things about homosexuals, or is hostile to Israel, if not in fact anti-Semitic. So far I'm curious that people on the Left in particular are forgetting Hagel's key role …
Denver Post:
James Holmes preliminary hearing: Witnesses told police shooter was “very calm” — CENTENNIAL — Afternoon testimony in the preliminary hearing for Aurora theater shooting suspect James Holmes included surveillance video that showed staff dropping to the floor and dozens of people rushing to exit the chaos.
Discussion:
The Raw Story and LewRockwell.com Blog
Alex Pareene / Salon:
The conservative movement is still an elaborate moneymaking venture — The story of FreedomWorks' big Glenn Beck payout encapsulates the right-wing media — The conservative media movement exists primarily as a moneymaking venture. As Rick Perlstein explained in the Baffler …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Liberal Values, The Impolitic, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Immoral Minority
Bobby Cervantes / Politico:
Group holds pre-inaugural ‘gun day’ — Calling for a “Gun Appreciation Day” two days before President Barack Obama's Inauguration, gun rights activists are urging gun owners to turn “out en masse at gun stores, ranges and shows from coast to coast” on Jan. 19.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Strange Bedfellows
Jenna Mullins / E! Online:
NEWS/NBC Bosses Admit to Talking Donald Trump Out of Presidential Race — How close were we to seeing Donald Trump try to run for President? Close enough for NBC to have to talk him out of it! — NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt took the stage with NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke …
Discussion:
Breaking News … and Crooks and Liars
Paul Krugman:
The Outside Man — Yes, I've heard about the notion that I should be nominated as Treasury Secretary. I'm flattered, but it really is a bad idea. — Part of the reason is that I am indeed the World's Worst Administrator — and that does matter. Someone else can do the paperwork …
Discussion:
Politico, Ballot Box, The Plum Line, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, The Week, Weekly Standard and Economist's View
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