Top Items:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Clash of Republican Con Artists — So Republicans are going to nominate a candidate who talks complete nonsense on domestic policy; who believes that foreign policy can be conducted via bullying and belligerence; who cynically exploits racial and ethnic hatred for political gain.
Discussion:
The Hill and Shakesville
RELATED:
Frank Bruni / New York Times:
Five Big Questions After a Vulgar Republican Debate — Does the size of Donald Trump's penis matter? — I'm not being cheeky. I'm not being shocking. I'm noting something that we cannot lose track of, should not shrug our shoulders about and must not gloss over: Trump has succeeded …
Discussion:
Washington Post, TIME, The Atlantic, National Review, Althouse, Moon of Alabama and The Moderate Voice
Alex Pareene / Gawker:
Donald Trump Was Set Up — The word came in from our best-sourced Fox News Kremlinologists: Fox News had settled for Donald Trump. Roger Ailes had given up on the hapless Marco Rubio. Megyn Kelly was sounding conciliatory, granting that Trump appeared more and more presidential.
Gregory Krieg / CNN:
Donald Trump defends size of his penis — (CNN)Donald Trump assured American voters Thursday night that despite what Marco Rubio had suggested, there was “no problem” with the size of his hands — or anything else. — “Look at those hands, are they small hands?” the front-runner …
Glenn Thrush / Politico:
5 takeaways from the GOP debate — It might be too late to beat Donald Trump, but it wasn't too late to give Trump a beating. — Two days after Super Tuesday put the billionaire frontrunner on a nearly unstoppable path to his party's nomination, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz …
Discussion:
TheStreet.com, New York Times, Vox, Gawker and Politicus USA
Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:
Blistering attacks upend Trump's pivot to statesman mode — First, Donald Trump attacked former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for being a “failed candidate.” Then he turned to “little” Marco Rubio. He angrily listed his recent wins and poll standings.
Discussion:
Politico
Reid J. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:
On Seventh Try, Cory Gardner Says He'll Back GOP Nominee — DETROIT - How many times must a Republican U.S. senator be asked if he'll back Donald Trump as the party's presidential nominee to admit that he will? — For Colorado's Cory Gardner, the answer is seven.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Eun Kyung Kim / TODAY.com:
Mitt Romney on TODAY Show: I'll do everything within ‘political bounds’ to stop Donald Trump
Mitt Romney on TODAY Show: I'll do everything within ‘political bounds’ to stop Donald Trump
Discussion:
Yahoo Politics, Business Insider, Jezebel, New York Times, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, US News, NBC News and 89.3 KPCC
Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Brags About His Penis Size: ‘I Guarantee You There Is No Problem’
Trump Brags About His Penis Size: ‘I Guarantee You There Is No Problem’
Discussion:
Fusion, Scared Monkeys, Mother Jones, NBC News and Washington Free Beacon
Robert F. Bukaty / Los Angeles Times:
GOP elites have a new strategy to stop Donald Trump, but it carries a big risk
GOP elites have a new strategy to stop Donald Trump, but it carries a big risk
Discussion:
Shakesville
CNN:
First on CNN: Team Romney explores blocking Trump at RNC
First on CNN: Team Romney explores blocking Trump at RNC
Discussion:
Washington Post, Hot Air, Business Insider, The Atlantic, Bloomberg Business, Mitt Romney, The Right Scoop, New York Times, TIME and BuzzFeed
Eli Stokols / Politico:
GOP freakout goes from bad to worse
GOP freakout goes from bad to worse
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Yahoo Politics, Hot Air, National Review and Hinckley Institute
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
One clear loser in Thursday's debate: the Grand Old Party
One clear loser in Thursday's debate: the Grand Old Party
Discussion:
USA Today, Political Insider blog, Politico and Daily Kos
Donald Trump / ABC News:
Best Lines of the Republican Debate in Michigan
Best Lines of the Republican Debate in Michigan
Discussion:
Associated Press, Yahoo Politics, The Right Scoop and Boing Boing
TMZ.com:
O.J. Simpson — Buried Knife Found at O.J.'s Estate — A construction worker found a knife buried on the perimeter of the former O.J. Simpson estate ... and it's currently being tested by the LAPD in a top secret investigation ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ. — The story is incredible.
Discussion:
KFOR-TV, Complex, WGN-TV, Q13 FOX News, FOX31 Denver, Fox News Insider, Fox 59, Jezebel, BizPac Review, KWQC-TV, New York Magazine, New York's PIX11 and Chronicle-Telegram
Jamie Feldman / The Huffington Post:
Whole Foods Sells Peeled Oranges In Plastic Containers, World Revolts — This is pretty bad, any way you peel it. — Whole Foods encourages shoppers to bring their own shopping bags and prides itself on an ability to provide healthy options to shoppers in the best possible way.
Fox News Insider:
Luntz Focus Group's Winner of GOP Debate, Low Point of Night — What did Michigan voters think about tonight's GOP debate in Detroit? — Frank Luntz shared the reactions of his focus group on a special post-debate edition of The Kelly File. — The voters had some very negative things …
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Post, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Week and Althouse
Charlie Nash / Breitbart:
Pitt Students ‘In Tears’ and Feeling ‘Unsafe’ After Milo Yiannopoulos Event — The University of Pittsburgh's Student Government Board held a public meeting on Tuesday to discuss the traumatizing visit the night before from “dangerous” homosexual and Breitbart Tech Editor Milo Yiannopoulos …
Benjy Sarlin / MSNBC:
Only the voters can judge Donald Trump's horror show of a debate — Donald Trump's rivals and Fox News' debate moderators laid out a clear and factual case on Thursday that Trump's policies were unworkable; that he regularly shifted his positions; and that he had engaged in business practices …
Discussion:
NBC News
RELATED:
Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:
Trump Softens Immigrant Visa Stance After Cementing Front-Runner Status
Trump Softens Immigrant Visa Stance After Cementing Front-Runner Status
Discussion:
Politico, ParaPundit and Business Insider
Jeffry Bartash / MarketWatch:
U.S. creates 242,000 jobs in February; unemployment rate remains 4.9% — WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. generated 242,000 new jobs in February, snapping back after a modest slowdown in hiring in the first month of 2016. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast the addition of 198,000 nonfarm jobs.
RELATED:
Sho Chandra / Bloomberg Business:
Payrolls in U.S. Surge While Wages Drop in Mixed Jobs Report
Payrolls in U.S. Surge While Wages Drop in Mixed Jobs Report
Discussion:
Politico and The White House
Janie Velencia / The Huffington Post:
Fewer Democrats Are Voting This Year In (Surprise!) States With Strict New Voter Laws — But Republicans don't appear to be hurt. — Associate Polling Editor, The Huffington Post Visuals Editor, The Huffington Post — As voting rights advocates predicted loud and often …
Discussion:
CityLab and electionlawblog.org
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Mitt Romney offers scathing indictment of Republican tax policies — Donald Trump, in Maine, just got through unloading on Mitt Romney in response to the speech that Romney gave earlier today, casting the Mittster as a loser who begged for his endorsement — “on his knees” — and choked in 2012 …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
RELATED:
Mark Kleiman / Washington Monthly:
Trade, Trump, and Downward Class Warfare
Trade, Trump, and Downward Class Warfare
Discussion:
Equitable Growth
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Trump kills GOP autopsy — Reeling from a second straight loss to Barack Obama, a flailing Republican Party in 2013 found its culprit: Mitt Romney's callous tone toward minorities. Instead of being doomed to irrelevance in a changing America, the party would rebrand as a kinder, more inclusive GOP.
Discussion:
Politically Speaking, New York Post and ABC News
Jonathan V. Last / Weekly Standard:
Lion Ted: Cruz Crushes the Detroit Debate — In theory, Ted Cruz's best states are behind him. But at the Detroit debate, Cruz was clearly the class of the field and it's clear that no one should count him out as the delegate race moves into its next phase.
Discussion:
Power Line, CNN and ABC News
Josh Rogin / BloombergView.com:
Clinton Takes Aim at Another Government Watchdog — The Hillary Clinton campaign has gone on the attack against the government official who conducts oversight of the State Department she used to run, accusing him of partisanship and misconduct without any direct evidence.
Discussion:
naked capitalism
Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
GOP crackup has Democrats in stitches — Thursday in the Republican Party was like hilarious fan-fiction for Democrats to hate read until they hurt from all the laughing. — It started with Mitt Romney and Donald Trump erupting into a civil war. It ended with Trump bragging about the size …
Discussion:
Yahoo Politics and Telegraph
Plain Dealer:
Cleveland seeking to buy riot gear for Republican National Convention — Cleveland officials continue their efforts to spend a $50 million grant for security for the Republican National Convention. (Scott Shaw, The Plain Dealer) — Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com By Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland.com
Discussion:
Political Wire and Politico