Top Items:
Shawn Boburg / NorthJersey.com:
Emails link top Christie aide to GWB lane-closing controversy — Private messages between Governor's Christie's deputy chief of staff and two of his top executives at the Port Authority reveal a vindictive effort to create “traffic problems in Fort Lee” by shutting lanes to the George Washington Bridge …
Discussion:
Liberaland, Politico, CNN, New Jersey Online, No More Mister Nice Blog, Little Green Footballs, Close Read, Wonkblog, Firedoglake, The Federalist, Hit & Run, PostPartisan, Mashable, The Hinterland Gazette, crooksandliars.com/user/7228, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Business Insider, National Review, Daily Kos, Booman Tribune, Taylor Marsh, Guardian, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, susiemadrak.com, Hot Air, Gothamist, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Riehl World News, Taegan Goddard's …, Balloon Juice and Prairie Weather
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Big Trouble — As I've written several times, this Christie Bridge Scandal is far more potentially damaging for Christie that it might seem on its face because its fits so perfectly with the negative view (as opposed to the positive view) of Chris Christie. That is, that he and his crew are thugs and bullies.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog and The Impolitic
Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Top Christie Staff Sought Lane Closings as Revenge — A series of newly obtained emails and text messages shows that Gov. Chris Christie's office was closely involved with lane closings on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge in September, and that officials closed the lanes …
Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:
N.J. Senate Majority Leader Says Criminal Charges May Come In Bridge Scandal — New Jersey State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D) said Wednesday she thinks criminal charges may come in the growing scandal over last September's lane closures on the George Washington Bridge.
Discussion:
National Review and Riehl World News
Wall Street Journal:
CONNECT — A top aide to Gov. Chris Christie told an executive …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and CNN
Politico:
Emails tie Chris Christie staff to bridge flap
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Power Line, New Jersey Online, Business Insider, Mediaite, Daily Kos and Liberaland
Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:
Christie Aide: ‘Time For Some Traffic Problems In Fort Lee’
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, AMERICAblog News, Balloon Juice and National Review
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Record-High 42% of Americans Identify as Independents — Republican identification lowest in at least 25 years — PRINCETON, NJ — Forty-two percent of Americans, on average, identified as political independents in 2013, the highest Gallup has measured since it began conducting interviews by telephone 25 years ago.
RELATED:
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Why is the GOP launching a new anti-poverty campaign?
Discussion:
Ross Douthat, AEIdeas, The Plum Line, Washington Post and New York Times
Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:
Strict Obstructionist — MITCH MCCONNELL IS A MASTER MANIPULATOR AND STRATEGIST—THE UNHERALDED ARCHITECT OF THE REPUBLICAN RESURGENCE. NOW THAT HIS RELENTLESS TACTICS HAVE MADE HIS PARTY VICTORIOUS, HE IS POISED TO TAKE DOWN THE PRESIDENT AND WIN THE SENATE MAJORITY HE COVETS …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
RELATED:
Joan Walsh / Salon:
GOP is losing on unemployment insurance — and running scared
Discussion:
New York Times, The Mahablog and Post Politics
Gabrielle Giffords / New York Times:
The Lessons of Physical Therapy — TODAY, the anniversary of the shooting in Tucson that put a bullet through my head and killed six of my constituents, is when I make my annual resolutions. — Many may look at me and see mostly what I have lost. I struggle to speak, my eyesight's not great …
Discussion:
Political Capital, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Business Insider, CNN and Guardian
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Politico:
Carolyn McCarthy, Mike McIntyre to retire — North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre and New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy will not seek reelection this year, according to multiple Democratic sources familiar with their plans - marking a blow to Democratic efforts to win control of the House.
Discussion:
CNN, Business Insider and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:
In Defense of Obama on the Gates Memoir — The president questioned the generals? Good. That's his job. — Robert Gates (left) and President Barack Obama cover their hearts during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner during Gates' Armed Forces Farewell Tribute on the River Parade Field …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, American Prospect, Guardian, The Dish and crooksandliars.com/user/91
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
How Bob Gates's memoir could haunt Hillary in 2016
Discussion:
NBCNews, The Daily Beast, PostPartisan, Washington Post, NewsBusters, Mediaite, Washington Wire, WorldViews, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway, Post Politics, The Daily Caller, The Hugh Hewitt Show, BizPac Review, The Week, The Heritage Foundation, Betsy's Page, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Moderate Voice, JustOneMinute, Hot Air, Ed Driscoll, Yahoo! News and Liberal Values
ThinkProgress:
West Virginia Lawmaker Wants To Make It A Felony To Enforce Obamacare — Nullificationist Senator John C. Calhoun — CREDIT: (AP Photo/National Portrait Gallery) — At least 82,000 West Virginia residents are signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion alone.
Discussion:
Liberaland and Martinsburg Journa
RELATED:
Lisa Demer / Anchorage Daily News:
GOP targets Begich over Affordable Care Act - with ad that airs just once
Discussion:
The Fix, The Hill and Talking Points Memo
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
It's Obamacare all the time for Republicans — “We've promised that in 2014 we'd continue to pound away at Democrats and Obamacare and that's how we're starting the year,” the chairman told reporters on a conference call. “Democrats are eager to change the subject, but Republicans aren't going to let that happen,” he added.
Discussion:
VodkaPundit, Hullabaloo, The Plum Line, The Fix and Balloon Juice
RELATED:
Jenn Taylor / Twitchy:
‘Oh COME ON’: The Guardian's description of pro-abort Wendy Davis is beyond absurd; Update: Guardian issues correction — Here's how the sane see abortion booster Wendy Davis: … And here's The Guardian's description of the Texas Dem, courtesy of National Review fellow Betsy Woodruff:
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, TheBlaze.com and Weasel Zippers
Keith Edwards / Portland Press-Herald:
LePage says children should have work option — Not allowing children to work is ‘causing damage to our economy,’ the governor says. — AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage told attendees of the 73rd annual Maine Agricultural Trades Show on Tuesday that 12-year-olds should be allowed to work in Maine.
Discussion:
Shakesville, Talking Points Memo and The Reaction
New York Times:
Biography Casts Critical Light on Fox News Chief — Roger Ailes was so eager to influence national politics that in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, he told fellow Fox News executives point-blank: “I want to elect the next president.” — In the corporate thicket of News Corporation …
CBS News:
Survey: Reported Christian “martyr” deaths doubled in 2013 — Shares - — Tweets - Stumble — LONDON — Reported cases of Christians killed for their faith around the world doubled in 2013 from the year before, with Syria accounting for more than the whole global total in 2012, according to an annual survey.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and National Review
Paul Krugman:
On Fighting the Last War (On Poverty) — Sorry about radio silence — I've been on the road, and busy. And I still am. — I wanted, however, to say something about the 50th anniversary of Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. — By 1980 or so, as the linked CBPP piece says, there was widespread consensus that the WoP had failed.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos and Taylor Marsh
Jamie Stiehm / US News:
The Catholic Supreme Court's War on Women — Et tu, Justice Sonia Sotomayor? Really, we can't trust you on women's health and human rights? The lady from the Bronx just dropped the ball on American women and girls as surely as she did the sparkling ball at midnight on New Year's Eve in Times Square.
Discussion:
Hot Air, National Review and Mirror of Justice
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