Top Items:
David Sanger / The Caucus:
On Iran, Hagel Muddles the Message — Dealing with Iran is complicated, but President Obama's policy on the question of whether a nuclear-armed Iran could be successfully “contained” - the way the Soviet Union was during the cold war - is simple. — His answer is no.
Discussion:
Lawfare, Daily Pundit, The PJ Tatler, Right Turn, Weasel Zippers, Politico and Wired
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Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:
TODAY IN HAGEL BASHING — Former Senator Chuck Hagel testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday in what can only be described as nothing more than a show. — There really shouldn't be as much low farce in confirming a Cabinet appointment than was on display today …
Discussion:
The Impolitic, LA Progressive, Crooks and Liars, The Reaction, The Right Scoop, Prairie Weather, The Plum Line and Power Line
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Any Profiles in Courage? — On October 3, 2005, President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate his White House counsel, Harriet Miers, to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. On October 27, after vigorous statements of opposition …
Discussion:
TBogg
Winslow Wheeler / TIME:
Hagel's Hearing: Profoundly Depressing — Chuck Hagel at his confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. — Watching the Senate Armed Services Committee interact Thursday with former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel—President Obama's candidate to be secretary of defense …
Discussion:
Guardian, The Hill, The Atlantic Online, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, New Atlanticist, WorldViews and American Prospect
David Weigel / Slate:
The Hagel Vote: Counting to 51 or Counting to 60?
The Hagel Vote: Counting to 51 or Counting to 60?
Discussion:
The Fix, Hot Air, Washington Examiner, Washington Monthly and The Daily Caller
Drew Brees / CBS News:
Schieffer: Hagel's nomination “may be in trouble”
Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:
Mark Levin Explodes: 'The Muslim Brotherhood Has Infiltrated Our Gov't — It's Called Barack Obama'
Mark Levin Explodes: 'The Muslim Brotherhood Has Infiltrated Our Gov't — It's Called Barack Obama'
Discussion:
Mock, Paper, Scissors and The Right Scoop
John Podhoretz / New York Post:
Hagel was so bad ... Chuck just stunk up Senate
Hagel was so bad ... Chuck just stunk up Senate
Discussion:
Right Turn, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Weekly Standard, Betsy's Page, Power Line and The Other McCain
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Edward I. Koch | 1924-2013: Edward I. Koch, Mayor as Brash as His City, Dies at 88 — Edward I. Koch, the master showman of City Hall, who parlayed shrewd political instincts and plenty of chutzpah into three tumultuous terms as New York's mayor with all the tenacity …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Gawker, The Daily Dish, Speakeasy, Truthdig, Twitchy, Algemeiner.com, Addicting Info, Capital New York, Vanity Fair, AMERICAblog, Outside the Beltway, Poynter, New York Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Fix, Taylor Marsh, msnbc.com, Shakesville, The Reaction, New York Sun, The Week, Capitol Confidential, ABCNEWS, Discourse.net, First Read, Scared Monkeys, Runnin' Scared, The PJ Tatler, Deadline.com, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Post Politics, Althouse, Conservatives4Palin, The Hill, Washington Wire, alan.com and The Other McCain, more at Mediagazer »
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Julie Moos / Poynter:
Ed Koch's grave marker is inscribed with journalist Daniel Pearl's last words — Former New York City mayor Ed Koch died Friday morning at the age of 88. He plans to be buried in Manhattan, the three-term mayor said in 2008. His headstone and a memorial bench, placed at Trinity Church Cemetery in 2009 …
Post Politics:
Scott Brown won't run for Senate — Former Massachusetts Republican senator Scott Brown will not run in the special election for outgoing Democratic Sen. John Kerry's seat, according to a Republican source familiar with his plans. Brown's decision means Kerry's seat is very likely to remain in Democratic hands.
RELATED:
Boston Globe:
Scott Brown will not run for US Senate
Scott Brown will not run for US Senate
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com, neo-neocon, The Raw Story and Ricochet Conversations Feed
Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:
Brown Decides Against Massachusetts Senate Bid
Brown Decides Against Massachusetts Senate Bid
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Maddow Blog and The Fix
Matt Cover / CNSNews:
IRS: Cheapest Obamacare Plan Will Be $20,000 Per Family — (CNSNews.com) - In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.
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Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Conservatives Shocked to Discover Healthcare in America is Really Expensive — “Can you respond to this?” asks a reader via Twitter. “Conservative friends are posting it all over.” It turns out that “this” is a headline from CNS: … Apparently conservatives are outraged by this …
Discussion:
Shakesville and americanthinker.com
Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Hillary Clinton: ‘I am more optimistic today’ — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said goodbye to the nation's diplomatic corps and aid workers on her last day on the job, and said she was more upbeat about the fate of the world than she had been at the start of her tenure.
Discussion:
ABCNEWS and Taylor Marsh
RELATED:
Michael Tomasky / The Daily Beast:
Hillary Clinton Exits Politics: Her Enduring Legacy
Hillary Clinton Exits Politics: Her Enduring Legacy
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite and The PJ Tatler
Matthew Lee / Associated Press:
AP Interview: Clinton raps Benghazi critics
AP Interview: Clinton raps Benghazi critics
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, The Week, Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh, Jammie Wearing Fools and Twitchy
Dan Merica / CNN:
Opt out option expected for religious insurers who oppose contraceptives — Washington (CNN) — Religiously affiliated organizations will be able to opt out of providing their employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives under updates to an Obama administration mandate that the Department …
Discussion:
National Review, LifeNews.com, The Confluence, Business Insider, Hot Air, Washington Monthly and Weekly Standard
RELATED:
Sarah Kliff / Wonkblog:
The White House's contraceptives compromise
The White House's contraceptives compromise
Discussion:
Hit & Run, BuzzFeed, Mother Jones, The Maddow Blog, The National Memo and Say Anything
Twitter Blog:
Keeping our users secure — As you may have read, there's been a recent uptick in large-scale security attacks aimed at U.S. technology and media companies. Within the last two weeks, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have chronicled breaches of their systems …
Suzan Fraser / Associated Press:
POLICE: SUICIDE BOMBING AT US EMBASSY, 2 DEAD … ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A suspected suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the entrance of the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital on Friday, killing himself and one other person, officials said. — U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardione …
RELATED:
Sebnem Arsu / New York Times:
2 Dead in Suicide Bombing at U.S. Embassy in Turkey
2 Dead in Suicide Bombing at U.S. Embassy in Turkey
Discussion:
Associated Press, BBC, News Desk, The Week and Gawker
Alexis Simendinger / Real Clear Politics:
2nd Oval Office Readied in White House Rehab Project — This summer there will be two Oval Offices in the White House complex, and it won't be a case of double vision. — In preparation for a major, two-year renovation of the West Wing, the government is undertaking extensive work to complete …
Discussion:
CNN, Weasel Zippers and Politico
Julie Watson / bigstory.ap.org:
APNEWSBREAK: MARINES ISSUE SURVEY ON WOMEN'S ROLE — You are here — Home » James F. Amos » APNewsBreak: Marines issue survey on women's role — SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Marine Corps survey found about 17 percent of male Marine respondents who planned to stay in the service …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Say Anything and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:
Hannity Explodes After Being Confronted By ThinkProgress About Previous Offer To Be Waterboarded For Charity — Fox News host Sean Hannity is so adamant that waterboarding is not torture that he once offered to be waterboarded at a charity event and donate the proceeds to soldiers' families.
Discussion:
Booman Tribune, NewsHounds blog and Mediaite
Lee Fang / The Nation:
Meet Jason Rapert, the Koch-Backed Evangelical Steering Arkansas's Radical Abortion-Restriction Effort — On Wednesday, the Arkansas legislature lurched forward with a radical measure to ban most abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected within six weeks of a pregnancy …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and The Maddow Blog
RELATED:
Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:
GOP Lawmaker Behind Abortion Ban: 'We're Not Going To Allow Minorities To Run Roughshod'
GOP Lawmaker Behind Abortion Ban: 'We're Not Going To Allow Minorities To Run Roughshod'
Discussion:
Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns & Money
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Easy Problem — Over here in the department of punditry, we deal with a lot of hard issues, ones on which the evidence is mixed and the options are all bad. But the immigration issue is a blessed relief. On immigration, the evidence is overwhelming; the best way forward is clear.
Discussion:
Balkinization and The Daily Dish
Martin Fletcher / The Times:
Iran's space monkey triumph exposed as a fake … Iran enjoyed rare triumph on Monday — the successful launch of a monkey into space. — The regime proclaimed it as proof that Iranian scientists could match their Western counterparts, evidence that international sanctions were ineffectual, and a stepping stone to a manned flight.
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, Gawker and Running Chicken
Energy.gov:
Letter from Secretary Steven Chu to Energy Department Employees Announcing His Decision Not to Serve a Second Term — U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu during an online town hall to discuss President Obama's clean energy and innovation agenda on January 11, 2011. Photo by Charles Watkins, Contractor, Energy Department
Discussion:
New York Times, The Daily Caller, Wonkblog, Twitchy, Washington Wire and Post Politics
Sam Baker / The Hill:
White House adviser: Obama willing to cut Medicare, but not Medicaid — Sperling said the White House is no longer willing to make even the Medicaid cuts it had previously supported, but acknowledged that puts more pressure on Medicare. — “We are not willing to accept even the Medicaid savings …
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Political Watch
Ronald Brownstein / NationalJournal.com:
Why Obama Is Giving Up on Right-Leaning Whites — For decades, Democrats shaped their policies around fears of the culturally conservative white voters to the GOP. But Obama's winning coalition has altered that calculus. — With his suddenly aggressive second-term agenda …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and American Prospect