Top Items:
Jon Ward / The Huffington Post:
John McCain: Getting Back To Maverick, With An Eye On Retirement — WASHINGTON — Last August, a few minutes before GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan took the stage at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., I was hurrying down a flight of stairs to get to the floor to watch.
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Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Newt Gingrich: John McCain attacks on Rand Paul ‘sad’ — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is slamming Sen. John McCain for criticizing Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, saying it's “sad” for someone who was once known as a maverick in Congress. — “What I find sad about Sen. McCain's recent comments …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Moe Lane, BuzzFeed, Washington Wire, The Huffington Post and Hot Air
Lois Romano / Politico:
Rand Paul: ‘Seriously’ weighing 2016 bid — Before Thursday, Rand Paul — tea party firebrand — hadn't vaulted into the top tier of Republican power players. — But all that seemed to change this week. The Kentucky Republican senator showed serious clout by holding a 13-hour filibuster …
NationalJournal.com:
Inside the Rand Paul Filibuster — Eleven days before he spent nearly 13 hours filibustering on the Senate floor, Sen. Rand Paul floated his idea to block the president's pick for CIA director to one of Sen. Mitch McConnell's top political strategists over a Saturday night dinner of lasagna …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly and david-frum
Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Paul fires back: Sens. McCain, Graham think the ‘whole world is a battlefield’
Paul fires back: Sens. McCain, Graham think the ‘whole world is a battlefield’
Discussion:
NO QUARTER USA NET, Politico and Weasel Zippers
Rush Limbaugh:
Senator Rand Paul Calls the Show
Senator Rand Paul Calls the Show
Discussion:
Althouse, PoliticusUSA and The Gateway Pundit
Bill Clinton / Washington Post:
It's time to overturn DOMA — In 1996, I signed the Defense of Marriage Act. Although that was only 17 years ago, it was a very different time. In no state in the union was same-sex marriage recognized, much less available as a legal right, but some were moving in that direction.
Discussion:
Politico, Firedoglake, Washington Wire, AMERICAblog, The Caucus, PostPartisan, Mediaite, The New Civil Rights Movement, Daily Kos, The Plum Line, News Desk, The Week, Capital New York, Taylor Marsh, Power Line, CNN, Post Politics, The Raw Story, msnbc.com, The Maddow Blog, Shakesville, The Hill, Telegraph, Joe. My. God., The PJ Tatler and Gawker
Annalyn Kurtz / CNNMoney.com:
Unemployment rate falls to lowest level since 2008 — Hiring picked up in February, helping to bring the unemployment rate down to its lowest level since December 2008. — The U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in February, according to a Labor Department report released Friday.
Discussion:
AEIdeas, Taylor Marsh, Patterico's Pontifications, The Political Carnival and Hot Air
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Nelson D. Schwartz / New York Times:
Unemployment at 4-Year-Low as U.S. Hiring Gains Steam — Bolstered by a healthier private sector, the United States economy gained 236,000 jobs in February, well above what had been expected, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, its lowest level since December 2008.
Bill McBride / Calculated Risk:
February Employment Report: 236,000 Jobs, 7.7% Unemployment Rate
February Employment Report: 236,000 Jobs, 7.7% Unemployment Rate
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Hit & Run, Daily Kos, Guardian, The PJ Tatler and Business Insider
Politico:
How the GOP forced President Obama's hand — President Barack Obama used to want a grand deficit deal because he philosophically believed it was best for the country, and politically believed it was best for him. — Now he needs it because he has no choice.
Discussion:
CNN, Hullabaloo and p m carpenter's commentary
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Talking Points Memo:
Fox News Host Offer To Pay For One Week Of White House Tours
Fox News Host Offer To Pay For One Week Of White House Tours
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit and NewsBusters
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Obama sets end-of-July goal for bipartisan agreement on deficit
Obama sets end-of-July goal for bipartisan agreement on deficit
Discussion:
First Read
Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:
Obama on His Heels — In January, pretty much all of respectable …
Obama on His Heels — In January, pretty much all of respectable …
Discussion:
PJ Media
Tim McDonnell / Mother Jones:
The Scariest Climate Change Graph Just Got Scarier … Back in 1999, Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann released the climate change movement's most potent symbol: The “hockey stick,” a line graph of global temperature over the last 1,500 years that shows an unmistakable …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, jobsanger and Hullabaloo
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Gautam Naik / Wall Street Journal:
In Study, Past Decade Ranks Among Hottest
In Study, Past Decade Ranks Among Hottest
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Maddow Blog, NBCNews.com and MarketBeat
Wonkette:
Wonket Sexclusive: Totally Blameless Crime-Stopper James O'Keefe To Pay $100,000 To ACORN Criminal — James O'Keefe—the blonde bombshell who set the conservative world of hidden-camera YouTube movies ablaze—has just agreed to a $100,000 settlement to calm down the unjustly fired …
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John Hinderaker / Power Line:
New Study Finds Firearms Laws Do Nothing to Prevent Homicides — That's the headline you should be seeing, but won't. Instead, you will see headlines like this one, on CNN: “Study links gun laws and lower gun mortality.” Or this one, from the Chicago Tribune: “States with strict gun laws found to have fewer shooting deaths.”
Discussion:
archinte.jamanetwork.com, The Mahablog, Reuters, Clayton Cramer's Blog and CNN
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Nicole Flatow / ThinkProgress:
States With Most Gun Laws Have Fewest Gun Deaths, Study Finds
States With Most Gun Laws Have Fewest Gun Deaths, Study Finds
Discussion:
The Political Carnival, Prairie Weather and NBCNews.com
Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Noonan: The Anti-Confidence Man — Just when America needs a boost, we're stuck with Dr. Doom in the White House. — It's not a debt and deficit crisis, it's a jobs crisis. The debt and the deficit are part of it, part of the general fear that we're on a long slide and can't turn it around.
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Rand Paul Praises Horrendous Supreme Court Decision, Would Let Employers Ruthlessly Exploit Workers — Lochner v. New York is widely viewed as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in American history. It is taught in law schools, alongside decisions upholding segregation …
Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:
Juan Williams' plagiarism problem — EXCLUSIVE: Fox News pundit blames researcher for word-for-word similarities. “Unacceptable,” says Hill editor — In a case of apparent plagiarism, Fox News pundit Juan Williams lifted — sometimes word for word — from a Center for American Progress report …
Discussion:
American Prospect and Politico, more at Mediagazer »
Des Moines Register:
Priebus: GOP needs new strategy — He says party must look beyond early caucuses, primaries. — If the GOP is going to win presidential elections, candidates can't compete just in Iowa and the seven other early states, the party's national chairman said during a visit here Thursday.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Politico
CBS New York:
Officials: Most NYC High School Grads Need Remedial Help Before Entering CUNY Community Colleges — NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — It's an education bombshell. — Nearly 80 percent of New York City high school graduates need to relearn basic skills before they can enter the City University's community college system.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, Betsy's Page, Twitchy and Jammie Wearing Fools
BBC:
North Korea says it ends peace pacts with South — North Korea says it is scrapping all non-aggression pacts with South Korea, closing its hotline with Seoul and the crossing point between the countries. — The announcement follows a fresh round of UN sanctions against Pyongyang over its controversial nuclear programme.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
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Joe Battenfeld / Boston Herald:
Markey who? GOP: Poll ‘speaks volumes’ … Massachusetts GOP leaders say they are encouraged by a new UMass Lowell/Boston Herald poll showing Democratic front-runner U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey remains largely unknown by most voters despite a 36-year career in Congress.
Discussion:
Ballot Box and Taegan Goddard's …
David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:
Syrian Rebels In Jordan Trained In U.S.-Led Effort — Exclusive: UK and French instructors involved in US-led effort to strengthen secular elements in Syria's opposition, say sources — Western training of Syrian rebels is under way in Jordan in an effort to strengthen secular elements …
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Guardian
Lee Smith / Weekly Standard:
Samira Ibrahim Speaks — Yesterday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD first reported that the State Department was about to bestow an International Woman of Courage Award on an anti-Semite and 9/11 fan. Egypt women's rights activist Samira Ibrahim had left a record on her Twitter feed of statements quoting Hitler …
Mark Gongloff / The Huffington Post:
Elizabeth Warren: Banks Get Wrist Slaps While Drug Dealers Get Jail — Sen. Elizabeth Warren unloaded on bank regulators Thursday about the fact that British bank HSBC is still doing business in the U.S., with no criminal charges filed against it, despite confessing to what one regulator called “egregious” money laundering violations.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, msnbc.com, Business Insider and The Baseline Scenario