memeorandum: Obama CIA Nominee John Brennan Wrong for the Job (The Investigative Project on Terrorism)

10:05 AM ET, February 7, 2013

Top Items:

Congress to See Memo Backing Drone Attacks on Americans — WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday directed the Justice Department to release to the two Congressional Intelligence Committees classified documents discussing the legal justification for killing, by drone strikes and other means …

Discussion: Firedoglake, CBS News, The Atlantic Online, msnbc.com, The Week, Politico, News Desk and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Carlo Muñoz / The Hill:

Liberals to interrogate Obama's CIA pick — President Obama's nominee for CIA director will be bombarded with questions Thursday in a Senate hearing that could bring new revelations about the targeted killings of U.S. citizens overseas. — Opposition to the nomination of John Brennan …

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Politico:

Obama yields on drones — President Obama has reversed course and agreed to provide the congressional intelligence committees with classified Justice Department legal advice authorizing the use of drones to kill U.S. citizens abroad, two administration officials said Wednesday evening.

Discussion: CNN, Taylor Marsh, PERRspectives and The Democratic Daily

Washington Post:

Obama will allow lawmakers to see secret memo on targeted killings — President Obama yielded Wednesday to congressional demands that he provide access to a secret legal memo on the targeted killing of American terrorism suspects overseas, avoiding a confrontation that threatened the confirmation …

Discussion: The Plum Line and Hot Air

Becky Bratu / NBCNews.com:
White House: Congress to get classified drone info

Discussion: First Read, The Maddow Blog, Business Insider, Taegan Goddard's …, NPR, American Thinker, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, BBC and Gawker

Humberto Sanchez / Roll Call: Wyden Hints at Brennan Filibuster

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

Southern Poverty Law Center website triggered FRC shooting … The Family Research Council shooter, who pleaded guilty today to a terrorism charge, picked his target off a “hate map” on the website of the ultra-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center which is upset with the conservative group's opposition to gay rights.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Right Wing News, BREITBART.COM, Jammie Wearing Fools, Patterico's Pontifications, Power Line, Poor Richard's News, Washington Free Beacon, The Lonely Conservative, his vorpal sword, The Daily Caller, NewsBusters, Ed Driscoll and CNN

Crimesider / CBS News:

Floyd Lee Corkins pleads guilty in Family Research Council shooting — (CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - A Virginia man pleaded guilty Wednesday to wounding a security guard at the Washington headquarters of a conservative Christian lobbying group, a shooting that made headlines in part because the man was carrying 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Jihad Watch and americanthinker.com

Steven Ertelt / LifeNews.com:
Shooter at Pro-Life Office Pleads Guilty, Used Liberal Site to Target

Discussion: RedState, Conservative Hideout 2.0, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Clayton Cramer's Blog and The Other McCain

WJLA-TV:
Floyd Corkins pleads guilty to Family Research Council shooting

Discussion: Twitchy, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, iOwnTheWorld.com, Bob Owens, NewsBusters and Joe. My. God.

Ann E. Marimow / Washington Post:
Family Research Council shooter pleads guilty to three felonies, including terrorism charge, in federal court

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, The Daily Caller, Nice Deb and nation.foxnews.com

Washington Post:

Sen. Menendez contacted top officials in friend's Medicare dispute — Sen. Robert Menendez raised concerns with top federal health-care officials twice in recent years about their finding that a Florida eye doctor — a close friend and major campaign donor — had overbilled the government …

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air and Jammie Wearing Fools

The Daily Caller:
FBI sources: Menendez investigation moved to Newark, NJ

Discussion: The Other McCain and Fire Andrea Mitchell!

Politico:
Robert Menendez fights back

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

Obama's Apparent Pick for Commerce Secretary Has a History of Shady Commerce — As he continues to fill out his cabinet, a report emerged late Wednesday that President Obama is “close to choosing” Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker as America's next Secretary of Commerce. There's only one problem.

Discussion: First Read

Bloomberg:
Obama Is Said Close to Choosing Pritzker for Commerce

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Report: Obama close to nominating Penny Pritzker for Commerce

Discussion: Poor Richard's News

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Rubio to deliver GOP response to Obama's State of the Union — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) will deliver the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address on February 12. — Rubio's response will be delivered in both English and Spanish, according to Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) office.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Politico, CNN, Hot Air, Poor Richard's News and The Reaction

Tim Mak / Politico:
Hagel committee vote delayed

Discussion: alan.com, BuzzFeed, CNN and Pat Dollard

Chris Cillizza / The Fix: Meet Marco Rubio, the new leader of the Republican party

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Biden delivers impassioned plea to House Democrats on gun control — LEESBURG, Va. - Vice President Joe Biden delivered an impassioned and at times emotional plea to House Democrats to rally around the Obama administration's gun-control proposals, telling lawmakers they can't rely on political excuses for inaction.

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Russell Berman / The Hill:
House Democrats unimpressed by Cantor's support of DREAM Act

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Politico:

The GOP, Fox political purge — Republicans and Fox News are moving to purge the controversial political creatures they created. — Both were damaged badly in 2012 by loud, partisan voices that stoked the base — but that scared the hell out of many voters.

Discussion: CNN, First Read, Slate and Truthdig

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

4th Annual TV News Trust Poll — PPP's annual poll on TV news finds that there's only one source more Americans trust than distrust: PBS. 52% of voters say they trust PBS to only 29% who don't trust it. The other seven outlets we polled on are all distrusted by a plurality of voters.

Discussion: Truthdig, Wonkette, Liberal Values, msnbc.com, Business Insider, The Dish, Outside the Beltway and TheBlaze.com

Michael Sneed / Chicago Sun Times:

SNEED EXCLUSIVE: Pending Jesse Jackson Jr. plea deal includes ‘significant jail time,’ source says — Sneed has learned a plea deal is now on the table between former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and federal authorities probing allegations of campaign fund misuse.

Discussion: Hot Air, americanthinker.com and The Daily Caller

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:

Obama Plans Fund-Raising Trips to Aid Senate and House Candidates — President Obama may have run his last political campaign, but that does not relieve him of his obligations to the Democratic Party. — The president, who has a vested interest in Democrats retaining their Senate majority …

Discussion: Ballot Box and The Reaction

Spokesman.com:

Bill requires all Idaho kids to read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ — BOISE - Coeur d'Alene Sen. John Goedde, chairman of the Idaho Senate's Education Committee, introduced legislation Tuesday to require every Idaho high school student to read Ayn Rand's “Atlas Shrugged” and pass a test on it to graduate from high school.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Talking Points Memo, Mock, Paper, Scissors, The Week, Washington Monthly, Taegan Goddard's …, The Raw Story, Wonkette and Joe. My. God.

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

Fox News' Latest Sexist Attack Against Hillary: ‘Face Lift, Perhaps?’ — Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy took a shot at outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday morning, speculating that she underwent a face lift in the last two weeks. In a quick headline roundup …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, NewsHounds blog and Business Insider

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

Thanks To Congressional Incompetence, Saturday Mail Delivery Is History — The U.S. Postal Service announced on Wednesday that it will discontinue first class Saturday mail delivery, marking another milestone in the decline of the once-ubiquitous government service.

Discussion: Salon, The Week, Esquire, The Atlantic Online, Felix Salmon, Wonkblog and UrbanGrounds

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Michigan Republicans Introduce Bill Mandating Transvaginal Ultrasound Before An Abortion — Michigan Republicans have introduced a bill requiring all women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before obtaining an abortion, a move that rekindles last year's firestorm when other GOP-led states were considering similar measures.

Discussion: Tennessean.com and The Raw Story