Top Items:
Joshua Green / Businessweek:
The Secret Gingrich-Santorum ‘Unity Ticket’ That Nearly Toppled Romney — It's one of the great untold stories of the 2012 presidential campaign, a tale of ego and intrigue that nearly upended the Republican primary contest and might even have produced a different nominee …
Discussion:
CNN, Yahoo! News, Washington Monthly, The Hill, The Week, First Read, msnbc.com and Prairie Weather
Nolan Finley / detroitnews.com:
Detroit native Carson could break barriers in Senate race — Dr. Ben Carson is a Black History month staple. Each February, schoolchildren hear the story of the impoverished African-American boy from Detroit, a struggling student whose mother made him read two books a week until he bloomed into a scholar.
Discussion:
National Review and americanthinker.com
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Josh Gerstein / Politico:
In Israel, Obama draws race parallel
In Israel, Obama draws race parallel
Discussion:
Israel Matzav and Weasel Zippers
Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Senate to take up gun control after break — Gun control will be the first order of business in the Senate when lawmakers return in April from their two-week holiday break. — Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) formally moved a package of gun-related bills onto …
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USA Today:
Congress turns to domestic policy after budget battles
Congress turns to domestic policy after budget battles
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and NationalJournal.com
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Reid to bring gun bill to floor with expanded background checks
Reid to bring gun bill to floor with expanded background checks
Discussion:
The Hill, CNN, Politico, Mediaite, americanthinker.com, ABCNEWS, Mother Jones and The Reaction
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Harry Reid To Introduce Gun Control Bill With Universal Background Checks
Harry Reid To Introduce Gun Control Bill With Universal Background Checks
Discussion:
The Daily Banter, Twitchy, The Week and Weasel Zippers
Ronald Brownstein / NationalJournal.com:
The Man Who Could Turn Texas Blue: Rick Perry — By opposing Medicaid expansion, the governor could hurt the GOP in a must-win state. — AUSTIN, Texas—Big in all things, Texas leads the nation in failing to provide health insurance. About one in four Texans are uninsured, the highest percentage in any state.
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First Read
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Michael Catalini / NationalJournal.com:
Rick Perry: The Presidential Candidate Ahead of His Time
Rick Perry: The Presidential Candidate Ahead of His Time
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, FishbowlDC, The Spectacle Blog and UrbanGrounds
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Treasure Island Trauma — A couple of years ago, the journalist Nicholas Shaxson published a fascinating, chilling book titled “Treasure Islands,” which explained how international tax havens — which are also, as the author pointed out, “secrecy jurisdictions” where many rules don't apply — undermine economies around the world.
Discussion:
msnbc.com and Prairie Weather
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Cynthia Johnston / Reuters:
Marine kills two at Quantico base, takes own life — (Reuters) - An active-duty Marine shot dead two fellow service members at a base at Quantico, Virginia, then barricaded himself in a building and killed himself, prompting a brief lockdown of the base, the Marines said on Friday.
Discussion:
The Week and The Gateway Pundit
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Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Noonan: Can the Republican Party Recover From Iraq? — The war almost killed the GOP. Whether it can come back is yet to be seen. — The air has been full of 10th-anniversary Iraq war retrospectives. One that caught my eye was a smart piece by Tom Curry, national affairs writer for NBC News …
Politico:
Why Republicans still run K Street — Democrats control the White House and the Senate, but you wouldn't know it by looking down K Street. — Republicans hold more than 30 of the 50 highest-profile, in-house lobbying jobs in town, a POLITICO analysis found.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Ryan's budget rejected in Senate on 40-59 vote — The Senate rejected House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget Thursday night. — Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) forced Senate Republicans to vote on Paul's plan through an amendment she offered, which failed on a 40-59 vote.
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, Yahoo! News and The Hill
Alison Flood / Guardian:
Novelist Chinua Achebe dies, aged 82 — Nigerian author recognised for key role in developing African literature has died in Boston, where he was working as a professor — Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian novelist seen by millions as the father of African literature, has died at the age of 82.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Reuters, The Awl, Gawker and The Week
Sorourke / nation.foxnews.com:
Wasserman-Schultz: My Aides on Brink of Starvation — WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: MY AIDES CAN'T AFFORD GOOD MEALS … On Tuesday, FL Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her colleague VA Rep. Jim Moran openly whined about the impacts of spending cuts on their personal office budgets.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard and Weasel Zippers
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Priebus slams ‘idiotic statements’ by Republicans as reason for losses — Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Friday said the party played into a “caricature” of itself in the 2012 election cycle, citing “idiotic statements” and “biologically stupid things” said by Mitt Romney and other GOP candidates.
Discussion:
Politico
Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:
Is Hillary Clinton Too Conservative To Become President? — While she was at the State Department — and out of politics for four years — Clinton's party was moving to the left, and fast. “Now that she's unshackled by the boundaries of her office, she'll step up the mic,” says Singer.
David S. Bernstein / thephoenix.com:
Mrs. Warren goes to Washington — Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren's credentials, support, and savvy make her almost untouchable — and she knows it. — Elizabeth Warren was the only senator on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, aside from the chair and ranking minority …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Simple Plan — Of all the vast literature on the current plight of the Republican Party, this fairly simple statement from Rich Lowry makes the most sense to me: … Now to be sure, Jack Kemp's reputation as an idea man is being considerably inflated by Lowry. But it's the right idea.
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Rich Lowry / Reuters:
Where is today's Jack Kemp?
Where is today's Jack Kemp?
Discussion:
Ricochet Conversations Feed and AEIdeas
David Dayen / American Prospect:
Banks Are Too Big to Fail Say ... Conservatives? — Members of the Federal Reserve don't usually make the rounds at partisan gatherings. But amid the tri-cornered hats and “#StandWithRand” buttons of last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)—the largest annual gathering …
Discussion:
The Week, Mother Jones, Washington Monthly, Economix and The National Memo
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Democracy Now:
Phil Donahue on His 2003 Firing from MSNBC, When Liberal Network Couldn't Tolerate Antiwar Voices … In 2003, the legendary television host Phil Donahue was fired from his prime-time MSNBC talk show during the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The problem was not Donahue's ratings …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, The BRAD BLOG and Informed Comment
Sapna Maheshwari / Bloomberg:
Lululemon Sheer Yoga Pants Undetected Until Bend-Over Test — Wall Street analysts from Robert W. Baird & Co. to Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. peppered Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) executives today with questions about how the yoga-wear retailer is handling a recall of women's pants for being too transparent.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Bloomberg and The Daily Caller
Alisa Wiersema / ABCNEWS:
Yoko Ono Tweets John Lennon's Bloody Glasses — Yoko Ono joined the U.S. gun debate when she tweeted a picture of the blood-stained glasses her husband, John Lennon, was wearing when he died. Lennon, one of the Beatles, died in 1980 after being shot in the back four times at the couple's New York City apartment by a crazed stalker.
Discussion:
Twitchy, Weasel Zippers, Yahoo! News, BuzzFeed, TheBlaze.com, nation.foxnews.com and euronews
Adam Winkler / The Daily Beast:
Did the Assault-Weapons Ban Kill Gun Control? — The Democrats' likely failure to reinstate the assault-weapons ban is a blow to gun-control efforts, writes Adam Winkler. And that's not because the ban was effective or necessary. — Sen. Harry Reid announced Tuesday that he would not be including …
Discussion:
NewsBusters
Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
Behold the Hatred, Resentment, and Mockery Aimed at Anti-Iraq War Protesters — Reflecting on the apologetic Iraq War retrospectives many writers have published in recent days, Freddie deBoer observes that “one of the most obvious and salient aspects of the run up to the war” is being ignored …
Discussion:
A plain blog about politics and ABCNEWS
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Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
What Needless, Xenophobic Panic Looks Like
What Needless, Xenophobic Panic Looks Like
Discussion:
Eschaton