Top Items:
Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:
Nikki Haley Dismisses SOTU Response Backlash: ‘I Stand By What I Believe’ — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said Wednesday that she stands by her GOP response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, in response to criticism from real estate mogul Donald Trump and some conservative pundits.
Discussion:
Mother Jones and Mashable
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Eliza Collins / Politico:
Nikki Haley walks back attacks on Bush and Rubio — Nikki Haley said late Wednesday that she had misspoken when she said that Marco Rubio was for “amnesty” and that Jeb Bush had passed Common Core, the controversial educational standards. — The South Carolina governor had to do some damage control …
Discussion:
RedState, The Hill and Talking Points Memo
Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Carly Fiorina Slams Nikki Haley's Speech: “It Was The Wrong Note”
Carly Fiorina Slams Nikki Haley's Speech: “It Was The Wrong Note”
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Politico, Mediaite, The Resurgent and Washington Post
Jordyn Phelps / ABC News:
Nikki Haley Tells Trump 'You Shouldn't Take These Things Personally'
Nikki Haley Tells Trump 'You Shouldn't Take These Things Personally'
Discussion:
Steyn Online, The Resurgent, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, Politico, Hot Air and The Daily Caller
Mike McIntire / New York Times:
Ted Cruz Didn't Disclose Loan From Goldman Sachs for His First Senate Campaign — As Ted Cruz tells it, the story of how he financed his upstart campaign for the United States Senate four years ago is an endearing example of loyalty and shared sacrifice between a married couple.
Streiff / RedState:
Ted Cruz Is Breaking Through the Establishment Firewall — Several times on RedState we've commented on how the GOP establishment seems to be poised to support and accept a Donald Trump candidacy if the alternative is Ted Cruz (here | here). What we are hearing comes mostly from the consultant/bottomfeeder class.
Discussion:
New York Times, Booman Tribune and Washington Post
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Katie Glueck / Politico:
Why Cruz decided to take on Trump — DORCHESTER, S.C.—For months, Ted Cruz has laughed off Donald Trump's barbs, berated reporters who mentioned him and gone to near-comic lengths to publicly express enthusiasm for the real estate mogul's rival candidacy. — Cruz isn't laughing anymore.
Discussion:
BizPac Review, addictinginfo.org, RedState, Yahoo Politics, Business Insider, Betsy's Page, Washington Post and Mediaite
Dara Doyle / Bloomberg Business:
Trump New Favorite to Take Republican Nomination, Betfair Says
Trump New Favorite to Take Republican Nomination, Betfair Says
Discussion:
The Resurgent, Politico and The Week
Joe Pompeo / Politico:
Al Jazeera America shutting down — Al Jazeera, which made a massive investment in covering the United States less than three years ago, is slamming the brakes on its American operation. — Al Jazeera America, a cable news channel that debuted in August 2013, is shutting down.
RELATED:
John Koblin / New York Times:
Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April
Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April
Discussion:
USA Today, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, ProFootballTalk, Pamela Geller, The Verge, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Althouse
Ezra Klein / Vox:
This is what makes Republicans and Democrats so different — MSNBC asked Benjy Sarlin, its reporter on the Republican race, and Alex Seitz-Wald, its reporter on the Democratic race, to flip jobs for a week and write up what they learned. Their conversation is worth reading in full, but something Sarlin wrote caught my eye:
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh and The Moderate Voice
RELATED:
CNN:
Bernie Sanders may break health care pledge — Keene, New Hampshire (CNN)Bernie Sanders could break his pledge to release details on how he would pay for his health care plan before the Iowa caucuses, according to a top aide. — His campaign released details Wednesday of how Sanders …
Discussion:
ABC News, Politico, TaxVox, Bloomberg Business, New York Times and RedState
MSNBC:
Hello from the other side: When 2016 reporters swapped beats — To start the year, MSNBC.com tried something different: We assigned our reporter who covers Republican presidential candidates to follow the Democrats and our Democratic beat reporter to follow the Republicans.
RealClearPolitics:
Trump: Germans Are Going To Riot, Overthrow Merkel; Syrian Migrants Could Be “Trojan Horse” — At a rally Tuesday night, dubbed the ‘prebuttal’ to President Obama's final State of the Union address, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump predicted the German people are going to riot …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
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OPB:
Militants Use Government Computers To Create Own Website — Editor's note: This story contains offensive language. — Among the militant members who have accessed government computers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, one is an Islamic State sympathizer and Adolph Hitler acolyte.
Discussion:
Oregonian, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, addictinginfo.org, Raw Story and NPR
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Luke Hammill / Oregonian:
Rancher: 'I didn't know anything' about Bundy entering property, destroying fence
Rancher: 'I didn't know anything' about Bundy entering property, destroying fence
Discussion:
Guardian, Talking Points Memo and Associated Press
David French / National Review:
Iran's Propaganda Victory in One Illegal Image — Here it is: — This photograph violates international law. Article 13 of the Geneva Convention (III), governing the treatment of prisoners of war, requires Iran to protect prisoners against “insults and public curiosity.”
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Carol Morello / Washington Post:
Obama administration to expand number of refugees admitted to U.S.
Obama administration to expand number of refugees admitted to U.S.
Discussion:
Breitbart, Mother Jones, Slantpoint, New York Times and ThinkProgress
Arlette Saenz / ABC News:
Why the White House Is Tweeting Photos of Fake Cheese — It's officially the cheesiest day of the year at the White House. — As part of its post-State of the Union push, the White House is hosting the third annual “Big Block of Cheese Day,” an opportunity for Americans to take to social media …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and National Review
RELATED:
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
White House pledges ‘audacious’ executive action in 2016
White House pledges ‘audacious’ executive action in 2016
Discussion:
Washington Post, Towleroad, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, RedState and Shakesville
Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:
Anatomy of a moment in macho foreign policy posturing — In thinking about U.S. foreign policy, it's always best to count to 10 slowly before speaking. — An ongoing theme of Spoiler Alerts' foreign policy coverage is that a lot of allegedly smart people don't say terribly smart things when a foreign policy crisis is occurring.
Betsy McCaughey / New York Post:
Looming setback for public unions would be a political earthquake — With Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court took on the outcome of one election. But the case heard by the Supreme Court on Monday could affect elections for many years. — The justices' remarks during arguments …
CNN:
Heart doctors outraged Florida dumps hospital standards after big gifts to GOP — (CNN)The state of Florida is putting thousands of children with heart defects at risk, a group of cardiac doctors say, because of a change in policy that came after Tenet Healthcare contributed $200,000 to Florida Republicans.
Discussion:
addictinginfo.org, Raw Story and WWLP-TV
Jonathan Swan / The Hill:
Upset Republican donors: Have we wasted our money? — Major GOP donors and fundraisers are wondering whether they're wasting their money on super-PACs. — They say they're not ready to abandon the super-PACs, but they're starting to look for ways to make them more effective during …