Top Items:
Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Does Obama have a plan? A conversation with David Brooks — David Brooks (David Burnett/Random House) … Ezra Klein: In the column, you said that the Obama administration doesn't have a plan to replace the sequester. I feel like I've had to spend a substantial portion of my life reading …
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Bob Woodward / Washington Post:
Obama's sequester deal-changer — Bob Woodward (woodwardb@washpost.com) is an associate editor of The Post. His latest book is “The Price of Politics.” Evelyn M. Duffy contributed to this column. — Misunderstanding, misstatements and all the classic contortions of partisan message management surround …
David Brooks / New York Times:
The D.C. Dubstep — On July 26, 2011, Jack Lew, then the White House budget director, went to Harry Reid's office for a budget strategy session. According to Bob Woodward's book, “The Price of Politics,” Lew told the Senate majority leader that they had come up with a trigger idea to force a budget deal.
Reuters:
Is Obama overplaying sequester hand?
Is Obama overplaying sequester hand?
Discussion:
Associated Press, NationalJournal.com, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Balloon Juice, Politico, Right Wing News, The Hill, The Democratic Daily, Taylor Marsh, msnbc.com and Hot Air
Steven T. Dennis / Roll Call:
White House Open to Two-Month Sequester Deal
White House Open to Two-Month Sequester Deal
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
Donovan Slack / Politico:
Obama meets with African American leaders
Obama meets with African American leaders
Discussion:
Weekly Standard and Weasel Zippers
Numbers / Pew Research Center for the People …:
As Sequester Deadline Looms, Little Support for Cutting Most Programs — OVERVIEW — As the March 1 deadline for a possible budget sequester approaches, a new national survey finds limited public support for reducing spending for a range of specific programs, including defense, entitlements, education and health care.
Discussion:
Economix, Politico, Hot Air, The Plum Line, Firedoglake, Bloomberg, The National Memo, The Fix, The Hill, Campaign for America's Future, Outside the Beltway, CNN and The Week
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Sequester of Fools
Sequester of Fools
Discussion:
TIME, Politico, Prairie Weather and Campaign for America's Future
Jane Mayer / News Desk:
Is Senator Ted Cruz Our New McCarthy? — Last week, Texas Senator Ted Cruz's prosecutorial style of questioning Chuck Hagel, President Obama's nominee for Defense Secretary, came so close to innuendo that it raised eyebrows in Congress, even among his Republican colleagues.
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First Read / NBCNews.com:
First Thoughts: Hagel appears to have the votes for confirmation
First Thoughts: Hagel appears to have the votes for confirmation
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Plain Dealer, The Hill, First Read and The Hill
Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:
Ann Coulter Battles Stossel, Calls Libertarians ‘Pussies,’ And Gets Booed By Room Full Of Students — What do you get when you invite outspoken conservative firebrand Ann Coulter to debate outspoken libertarian John Stossel in front of an audience of 1,000+ libertarian students? — Fireworks, that's what.
Discussion:
Salon, BuzzFeed, Crooks and Liars, Hot Air, American Power, The Hinterland Gazette, The Raw Story and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:
See Cartoon Instructions For How To Stone Adulterers — 122 Facebook likes, 500 Facebook shares. A very sanitized treatment of a bloody practice. (Updated) — WASHINGTON — An Islamist Facebook page uploaded a cartoon explaining how to stone adulterers on Wednesday that is getting …
Discussion:
Doug Ross
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Oscar Predictions, Election-Style — Twice before, in 2009 and 2011, I sought to predict the Academy Award winners in six major categories based on a mix of statistical factors. My track record? Nine correct picks in 12 tries, for a 75 percent success rate.
Discussion:
Wired, Pressing Issues, Towleroad News #gay and Poynter
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Not Larry Sabato:
Fairfax County's Nightmare Is Over!!! — Great news breaking in Fairfax County this morning. Electoral Boards are split 2-1 in Virginia, one Republican, one Democrat and one member of the Governor's party. When Bob McDonnell was elected, the Fairfax GOP placed noted voter-fraud conspiracy …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post and Blue Virginia
Jen Wieczner / MarketWatch:
Why your boss is dumping your wife — Companies are dropping health coverage for spouses to cut costs … Companies have a new solution to rising health-insurance costs: Break up their employees' marriages. — By denying coverage to spouses, employers not only save the annual premiums …
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Top Dems Reject House GOP's Violence Against Women Act: ‘Simply Unacceptable’ — Top Senate Democrats excoriated the competing House Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act hours after it was unveiled Friday. — Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the author of VAWA …
Discussion:
Booman Tribune
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Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
House GOP Unveils Competing Violence Against Women Act
House GOP Unveils Competing Violence Against Women Act
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog
Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:
Indiana Bill Would Force Women To Undergo Two Transvaginal Probes To Take A Pill (UPDATED) — An abortion pill, officially known as RU-486, is the earliest available abortion option for a woman. A patient could be as little as one week pregnant and take the pill to terminate.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars and WBAA
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Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Obama Administration Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down DOMA — “The Constitution ... requires that Section 3 be invalidated,” Obama's Supreme Court lawyer argues. — Edith Windsor — Image by Richard Drew / AP — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court to strike …
Discussion:
Back2Stonewall and Daily Kos
Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
The Republican Party needs a reality check — In the summer of 1999, George W. Bush chose the first major policy speech of his presidential campaign to pick a fight with Grover Norquist. Bush flatly rejected the “destructive” view “that if government would only get out of our way …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Slate, Booman Tribune, Pundits Blog and PostPartisan
Kurt Badenhausen / Forbes:
Detroit Tops 2013 List Of America's Most Miserable Cities — Forbes put Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on its cover in 2011 for a story with the optimistic headline: “City of Hope.” The premise was that the city had hit rock bottom and was poised for a turnaround. — “Right now, it's all about survival,” Bing told Forbes.
Discussion:
Rush Limbaugh, U.S. News, WFPL, Washington Examiner and CBS Chicago
John Myers / KXTV:
Democrats lose supermajority as Fresno senator resigns — Sen. Michael Rubio, D-Shafter, cited the need to spend time with his family in a statement announcing his resignation. — “My wife and I have been blessed with two beautiful daughters, from whom we have learned a great deal,” said Rubio in a written statement.
Tom Jackman / Washington Post:
Today is ‘Gun Owners Support Starbucks Day,’ for Virginians who openly carry guns in public — The challenge coin minted by Ed Levine alters the Starbucks logo to declare the holder's support for, well, guns and coffee. A national day of support for Starbucks, and its willingness …
Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Noonan: Government by Freakout — Obama's scare tactics aren't much of a long-term strategy. — The president's sequester strategy is like Howard Beale in “Network”: “Woe is us. . . . And woe is us! We're in a lot of trouble!” — It is always cliffs, ceilings and looming catastrophes with Barack Obama.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Ed Driscoll and No More Mister Nice Blog
McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:
The Sequester Is Terrible For Traffic — Editors despair, but we can't stop writing about it. Desperation breeds Kate Upton, cute animals, and the “spendocalypse.” — Traffic for a recent BuzzFeed story on the sequester. — Not since Mitt Romney ran for president has a national political story …
Discussion:
Gawker, The Atlantic Wire, The Fix and Washington Wire
Bill Hoffmann / NewsMax.com:
Teddy Turner: Jane Fonda Turned My Dad Into a Liberal — More ways to share... Mixx — Stumbled — LinkedIn — Vine — Buzzflash — Newstrust — Technocrati — Forward Article — Ted Turner was transformed from a staunch conservative into a bleeding-heart liberal …
Discussion:
Examiner, nation.foxnews.com and The Daily Caller
Jacqueline Armendariz / Monitor:
DPS changes helicopter policy after immigrants shot near La Joya — McALLEN — The head of the Texas Department of Public Safety denied its new policy prohibiting troopers in helicopters from shooting, unless they've been fired upon first, is connected to the fatal chase near La Joya nearly four months ago.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars
Austin Wright / Politico:
F-35 grounding latest setback for troubled program — Defense officials have grounded Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II over an engine problem, POLITICO learned Friday, in the latest setback for the world's most expensive weapons program one week before automatic, across-the-board budget restrictions are set to take their bite.
Discussion:
New York Times