Top Items:
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.
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, BuzzFeed, The Week, The Agonist, The Daily Dish, Via Meadia, Right Turn and p m carpenter's commentary
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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.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Mother Jones, Wired, Mondoweiss, Firedoglake and The Atlantic Online
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Crack Pipe — I'm watching a lot of neoconservative policy activists and a lot of people in the press telling me that it's a very up in the air thing whether Chuck Hagel gets confirmed as Secretary of Defense. These folks should stop smoking crack. Because crack isn't good for you.
Discussion:
Politico, Guardian, Balloon Juice and The Hill
Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn:
Topsy-turvy Hagel politics — President Obama wants to get credit for bipartisanship, so he picks a Republican defense secretary who will garner few if any Republican votes. He walks away from a politically loyal African American woman for secretary of state (whose nomination would open …
Discussion:
Politico, NationalJournal.com, Power Line, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, Forbes, neo-neocon and Daniel W. Drezner
Kevin Bohn / CNN:
White House officials reach out to Jewish community to answer Hagel concerns
White House officials reach out to Jewish community to answer Hagel concerns
Discussion:
Politico, ABCNEWS and Business Insider
Peter Beinart / The Daily Beast:
Why Hagel Matters — If the former senator is confirmed …
Why Hagel Matters — If the former senator is confirmed …
Discussion:
PERRspectives, Weasel Zippers, AEIdeas, No More Mister Nice Blog, Crooks and Liars and The Daily Caller
Lee Enterprises / Lincoln Journal Star:
Exclusive: Hagel says critics distort his views on Israel, Iran
Exclusive: Hagel says critics distort his views on Israel, Iran
Discussion:
BuzzFeed and Post Politics
Elliott Abrams / Weekly Standard:
Mr. Hagel and the Jews — During the hearings on Chuck Hagel's …
Mr. Hagel and the Jews — During the hearings on Chuck Hagel's …
Discussion:
Power Line and American Spectator
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
FLASHBACK: GOP Senators Praised Chuck Hagel's Statesmanship, Foreign Policy Expertise
FLASHBACK: GOP Senators Praised Chuck Hagel's Statesmanship, Foreign Policy Expertise
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Little Green Footballs and The Page
Michael Schwirtz / New York Times:
Obama Expected to Pick Chuck Hagel for Defense Post
Obama Expected to Pick Chuck Hagel for Defense Post
Discussion:
American Prospect, Reuters, Politico, JustOneMinute, Washington Examiner, Washington Free Beacon, Algemeiner.com, The Atlantic Online, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Lawfare, The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, msnbc.com, The Week, emptywheel, Mondoweiss, Washington Post, First Read, Taylor Marsh, The BLT, Quartz, The Caucus and ThinkProgress
First Read:
First Thoughts: Hagel — a man without a party
First Thoughts: Hagel — a man without a party
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, ABCNEWS, The Page, The National Memo, New Atlanticist, msnbc.com, Business Insider, Capital New York and CNN
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
John Brennan tapped to lead CIA
John Brennan tapped to lead CIA
Discussion:
CNN, Business Insider, Politics, Power … and Israel Matzav
Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
President Obama Picks Chuck Hagel, Fight Over Defense Secretary
President Obama Picks Chuck Hagel, Fight Over Defense Secretary
Discussion:
Politico, NationalJournal.com, The Huffington Post, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Politicker, The Week and ABCNEWS
Mickey Kaus / The Daily Caller:
Hagel's Mideast blunder-not on Israel
Hagel's Mideast blunder-not on Israel
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and The Week
Stephen Moore / Wall Street Journal:
The Education of John Boehner — Leverage for the next clash: GOP willingness to let the spending sequester take effect. — What stunned House Speaker John Boehner more than anything else during his prolonged closed-door budget negotiations with Barack Obama was this revelation …
Discussion:
Hit & Run, The Plum Line, Los Angeles Times, AEIdeas, Daily Kos, Roll Call, The PJ Tatler, Wall Street Journal Topics, Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Betsy's Page, Outside the Beltway, The Fix, Washington Wire, p m carpenter's commentary, Althouse, National Review, Post Politics, The Gateway Pundit, Our American Constitution, Booman Tribune and Taegan Goddard's …
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Dems look for up to $1T in new revenues — Democrats say they want to raise as much as $1 trillion in new revenues through tax reform later this year to balance Republican demands to slash mandatory spending. — Democratic leaders have had little time to craft a new position …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Political Watch, Hot Air, The New Republic, New York Times, Weasel Zippers, Vodkapundit, The Gateway Pundit and The Reaction
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:
MarketWatch, Mother Jones, The Hill, Mediaite, Economist's View, Gawker, Business Insider, Vodkapundit, Marginal Revolution, The Week, Capital New York and Post Politics
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 Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard and Economist's View
Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:
CASTING VOTES — Here's a safe prediction for 2013: few people will pine for the Presidential campaign of 2012. Even Barack Obama's most ardent supporters acknowledge that his victory provided little of the euphoria of four years ago. Not many Republicans have longed to hear …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
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Sam Baker / The Hill:
Supreme Court to hear arguments in March on same-sex marriage
Supreme Court to hear arguments in March on same-sex marriage
Discussion:
Politico
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, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Liberal Values and The Immoral Minority
Elisabeth Arriero / The Charlotte Observer:
Man ID'd as Rand Paul's son arrested at airport — A teenager identified in several media outlets as the son of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and the grandson of former presidential candidate Ron Paul was arrested Saturday morning at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Discussion:
Townhall.com, ABCNEWS, CNN, Gawker, The Raw Story, Politico and The Hinterland Gazette
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Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:
Rand Paul in Israel: US foreign aid can't be one-way
Rand Paul in Israel: US foreign aid can't be one-way
Discussion:
The Hill and The Daily Caller
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.
Discussion:
Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers, Right Wing News and Capital New York, more at Mediagazer »
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, The Immoral Minority and Sense of Events
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Big Fail — It's that time again: the annual meeting of the American Economic Association and affiliates, a sort of medieval fair that serves as a marketplace for bodies (newly minted Ph.D.'s in search of jobs), books and ideas. And this year, as in past meetings …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, CANNONFIRE, Vox Popoli and Prairie Weather
Scott Shane / New York Times:
Counterterror Adviser to be Named Chief of C.I.A. — President Obama will announce on Monday that John O. Brennan, his counterterrorism adviser and a career Central Intelligence Agency officer, is his choice to head the agency, two months after David H. Petraeus stepped down after admitting …
Discussion:
Guardian, Taylor Marsh, emptywheel, Outside the Beltway and msnbc.com
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Adam Peck / ThinkProgress:
Delaware Town Takes Down Anti-Hispanic Signs After Public Outrage — The small community of Milford, Delaware took swift action over the weekend after a barrage of criticism over signs posted in several public parks that appeared to be anti-Hispanic. — A Daily Kos blogger documented …
Discussion:
Gawker and The Raw Story