Top Items:
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Wow, This is Pretty Epic — Generally, once partisan, tendentious sources leak information that turns out to be wrong, nothing's ever done about it. That's for many reasons, some good or somewhat understandable, mostly bad. But on CBS Evening News tonight, Major Garrett did something …
Discussion:
CBS News, Taking Note and Shakesville
RELATED:
Major Garrett / CBS News:
WH Benghazi emails have different quotes than earlier reported — (CBS News) WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama called Thursday for tighter security for U.S. diplomatic facilities to prevent an attack like the one in Benghazi, Libya, last year that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, Business Insider, The Week, AMERICAblog, NationalJournal.com, The Raw Story and Althouse
Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
The scandals are falling apart — Things go wrong in government. Sometimes it's just bad luck. Sometimes it's rank incompetence. Sometimes it's criminal wrongdoing. Most of the time you never hear about it. Or, if you do hear about it, the media eventually gets bored talking about it (see warming, global).
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
It's Official: Those Bogus Email Leaks Came From Republicans — It's not as if we didn't know this already, but today Major Garrett made it official: last week's leaks that misquoted the Benghazi emails came directly from Republicans. Here's the report on the CBS Evening News:
Discussion:
All Things Democrat
Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
Benghazi auditors Mullen, Pickering refuse meeting with Issa
Benghazi auditors Mullen, Pickering refuse meeting with Issa
Discussion:
Politico, New York Times and Washington Monthly
Donna Cassata / Associated Press:
GOP Not Satisfied With Benghazi Email Release, Demand More From White House
GOP Not Satisfied With Benghazi Email Release, Demand More From White House
Discussion:
Associated Press and Crooks and Liars
John Parkinson / ABCNEWS:
IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Health Care Office — The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, First Read, Right Turn, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler, The Fix, Right Wing News, Betsy's Page, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers, Politico, The Volokh Conspiracy, Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, LifeNews.com, The Lonely Conservative, National Republican …, The Hill, CNN, Power Line, Shot in the Dark and The Right Scoop
RELATED:
David Weigel / Slate:
IRS Commissioner of Non-Profits During Scandal Years Now Runs IRS Affordable Care Act Office, Of Course — Inspired by ABC News, a drama in three acts. … Whatever happened to Sarah Hall Ingram? We have to go back in time for the third act, to March 29, 2013: … Of course.
Discussion:
National Review and ABCNEWS
Townhall.com:
The Woman Behind the IRS/ObamaCare Nightmare
The Woman Behind the IRS/ObamaCare Nightmare
Discussion:
Riehl World News, Hot Air and The Gateway Pundit
Associated Press:
Second IRS Official To Leave After Targeting Scandal
Second IRS Official To Leave After Targeting Scandal
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and The Impolitic
Abby D. Phillip / ABCNEWS:
Obama Names OMB Official as Acting IRS Commissioner
Obama Names OMB Official as Acting IRS Commissioner
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, ABCNEWS and Hot Air
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Americans' Attention to IRS, Benghazi Stories Below Average — Most Americans, however, say both deserve continuing investigation — PRINCETON, NJ — Slim majorities of Americans are very or somewhat closely following the situations involving the Internal Revenue Service (54%) …
Discussion:
The Hill, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Taegan Goddard's … and Weasel Zippers
John Cook / Gawker:
For Sale: A Video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Smoking Crack Cocaine — Rob Ford, Toronto's conservative mayor, is a wild lunatic given to making bizarre racist pronouncements and randomly slapping refrigerator magnets on cars. One reason for this is that he smokes crack cocaine.
Discussion:
Boing Boing and Blazing Cat Fur
RELATED:
New York Times:
Russia Sends More Advanced Missiles to Aid Assad in Syria — WASHINGTON — Russia has shipped an advanced antiship cruise missile to Syria, a move that illustrates the depth of its support for the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, American officials said on Thursday.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, BBC, IHT Rendezvous, Israel Matzav, Business Insider and NPR
Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
This Is No Ordinary Scandal — Political abuse of the IRS threatens the basic integrity of our government. — We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate. The reputation of the Obama White House has, among conservatives, gone from sketchy to sinister, and, among liberals, from unsatisfying to dangerous.
Discussion:
Sky Dancing, Hullabaloo, Doug Ross and The Dish
James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
What Would Bulworth Do? — Barack Obama's bizarre movie idol. — A New York Times story on President Obama's plague of scandal contains this eyebrow-raising revelation: — Yet Mr. Obama also expresses exasperation. In private, he has talked longingly of “going Bulworth,” …
Discussion:
Power Line and National Review
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
G.O.P., Energized, Weighs How Far to Take Inquiries — WASHINGTON — The investigations ensnaring the White House have unified the Republican Party, energized a political base shattered by election losses and given common purpose to lawmakers divided over a legislative agenda.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
Washington Post:
FBI seeks source of prostitution, corruption allegations against Sen. Robert Menendez — A pair of FBI agents met on a recent weekday morning with brothers Alfonso “Alfy” and Jose “Pepe” Fanjul in the Palm Beach headquarters of their sugar and real estate empire.
Discussion:
The BLT
Andrew Ramonas / The BLT:
At D.C. Circuit, Contractor Case Merits Take Backseat — Lawyers for the Federal Election Commission and government contractors on Thursday argued in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit over a law that forbids the contract holders from making federal campaign donations.
RELATED:
Tal Kopan / Politico:
Second appeals court invalidates Obama's NLRB recess appointments
Second appeals court invalidates Obama's NLRB recess appointments
Discussion:
Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon and ThinkProgress
Politico:
Why the GOP thinks it could blow it — Republicans are worried one thing could screw up the political gift of three Obama administration controversies at once: fellow Republicans. — Top GOP leaders are privately warning members to put a sock in it when it comes to silly calls for impeachment …
Discussion:
NPR
Wall Street Journal:
To Buy Bonds or Not to Buy: Fed Hawks, Doves Air Views — Federal Reserve officials are deeply engaged in debating when to begin dialing back an $85 billion-a-month bond buying program, but don't appear near consensus on when to pull the trigger. — The presidents of the Dallas …
Discussion:
Calculated Risk
Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Fight Over Obama Appointees May Spur Senate Rule Change — Washington — The escalating Senate fight over President Obama's cabinet appointments moved closer to a showdown on Thursday as two nominees headed to the floor with no Republican support. — Gina McCarthy, Mr. Obama's choice …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, The Caucus and The Plum Line
Melissa Russo / nbcnewyork.com:
Exclusive: Anthony Weiner Spotted Shooting Campaign-Style Video at Childhood Home — Anthony Weiner was spotted shooting a campaign-style video on the stoop of his childhood home in Brooklyn Thursday as he weighs whether to run for mayor, NBC 4 New York reports exclusively.
Discussion:
Politicker, Politico, Yahoo! News, Post Politics, Gothamist and New York Times
Snejana Farberov / Daily Mail:
‘Dumb’ house burglar shot after locking homeowner inside his own GUN CLOSET — The victim of an armed home invasion in Houston has turned the tables on the brazen intruders after they stuffed him into a closet that turned out to be the place where he stores his gun.
Discussion:
Riehl World News and The Right Scoop
AllThingsD:
Will Yahoo Try to Get Its “Cool Again” by Doing a Deal for Tumblr? — Earlier this week, Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman spoke at JP Morgan's Global Technology conference and underscored the need for the aging Silicon Valley Internet giant to attract more users from the coveted 18-to-24-years-old age bracket.
Discussion:
Mashable, Business Insider, GigaOM, TechCrunch and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »
Ina Fried / AllThingsD:
Congress Wants Answers From Google on Privacy Impact of Glass — A group of Congress members has sent a letter to Google seeking answers to a range of questions about the privacy implications raised by its Google Glass project. — The letter, addressed to CEO Larry Page and signed …