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 …
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
RELATED:
Andrew Kohut / Washington Post:
The numbers prove it: The GOP is estranged from America — Andrew Kohut is the founding director and former president of the Pew Research Center. He served as president of the Gallup Organization from 1979 to 1989. — In my decades of polling, I recall only one moment when a party …
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Netanyahu apologizes to Erdogan — AMMAN—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan spoke by telephone Friday, after a prolonged effort by President Barack Obama and his aides to overcome a deep chill that had settled into the relationship between Israel and Turkey.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
RELATED:
Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:
Netanyahu apologizes to Turkey over 2010 Gaza flotilla
Netanyahu apologizes to Turkey over 2010 Gaza flotilla
Discussion:
Reuters, Guardian and National Review
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:
Taylor Marsh, The Week and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
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:
Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and americanthinker.com
RELATED:
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
In Israel, Obama draws race parallel
In Israel, Obama draws race parallel
Discussion:
Israel Matzav 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.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Pundits Blog, Booman Tribune and First Read
Wall Street Journal:
Health Insurers Warn on Premiums — Health insurers are privately warning brokers that premiums for many individuals and small businesses could increase sharply next year because of the health-care overhaul law, with the nation's biggest firm projecting that rates could more than double for some consumers buying their own plans.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and White House Dossier
Aaron Blake / Post Politics:
Obama Twitter account re-tweets John Lennon's bloody glasses — President Obama's Twitter account has re-tweeted a picture of John Lennon's bloody glasses that was originally posted by Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono. — Ono's tweet gained plenty of attention on Twitter after it was posted Thursday morning.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Twitchy and ABCNEWS
RELATED:
Alisa Wiersema / ABCNEWS:
Yoko Ono Tweets John Lennon's Bloody Glasses
Yoko Ono Tweets John Lennon's Bloody Glasses
Discussion:
CNN, Twitchy, Weasel Zippers, BuzzFeed, TheBlaze.com and nation.foxnews.com
Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
Good news for people who like bad news about inequality — So here's some bad news: The rise in wealth inequality? It's permanent. — This graph, which shows wealth inequality is even more severe than income inequality, isn't related to the study. It's just more bad news.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
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:
TheBlaze.com, Weekly Standard, National Republican … and Weasel Zippers
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
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:
The Week and No More Mister Nice Blog
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 …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog
Michael McConnell / Wall Street Journal:
The Constitution and Same-Sex Marriage — Next week the Supreme Court will be asked to decide an issue in an area in which it has said it has no jurisdiction. — For most Americans, the Supreme Court cases being heard on Tuesday and Wednesday next week are about same-sex marriage.
Discussion:
Power Line, National Review and The Volokh Conspiracy
Hayes Brown / ThinkProgress:
GOP Senator Sponsors Measure Calling For U.S. Withdrawal From The U.N. — Senate Republicans are using the debate around the Fiscal Year 2014 budget to push as many of their far-right ideas as possible, including now a move to have the United States completely withdraw from the United Nations.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money
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
Paul Brinkmann / bizjournals:
Jeb Bush to return $270,000 paid by fraudster Osorio — Former Gov. Jeb Bush has agreed to return $270,000 that he was paid as a consultant to convicted fraudster Claudio Osorio and Osorio's companies. — An agreement outlining Bush's settlement payment was filed Thursday in bankruptcy court in Miami.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
Jeryl Bier / Weekly Standard:
Biden's One-Night Paris Hotel Tab: $585,000.50 — As it turns out, Vice President Joe Biden's London stay in February was not the most expensive part of his trip. A government document released on February 14, 2013 shows that the contract for the Hotel Intercontinental Paris Le Grand came in at $585,000.50.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Twitchy
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 to 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
Mary L. Dudziak / New York Times:
Obama's Nixonian Precedent — ON March 17, 1969, President Richard M. Nixon began a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia, sending B-52 bombers over the border from South Vietnam. This episode, largely buried in history, resurfaced recently in an unexpected place: the Obama administration's …
Discussion:
Lawfare
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:
Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog, Yahoo! News and The Hill
Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Gay marriage group puts out new ad — A national coalition backing same-sex marriage is releasing a new ad Friday, leading into next week's Supreme Court debate on the Defense of Marriage Act. — The $150,000 ad buy is the latest step in a $1 million campaign.
Discussion:
Pew Research Center, Freedom to Marry Blog, msnbc.com, Towleroad News #gay and The Fix
Denver Post:
Tom Clements murder probe: Did white supremacist gang order a hit? — Colorado corrections officials are investigating whether a paroled white supremacist prison gang member at the center of the investigation into the execution-style murder of state prison chief Tom Clements was ordered by the gang to do a …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, KDVR.com, Hatewatch, BBC, The Raw Story and New York Times