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Another Liberal Crackup — The real reason Evan Bayh wants out of Washington. — The political retirement of Evan Bayh, at age 54, is being portrayed by various sages as a result of too much partisanship, or the Senate's dysfunction, or even the systemic breakdown of American governance.
Discussion:
Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, The Fix, Betsy's Page, Doug Ross, American Power and Moonbattery
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Why Bayh Is Quitting the Senate — ‘I do have a sense of deja vu,’ the senator says, 'and the movie doesn't have a happy ending.' — Before Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh suddenly announced he will not seek re-election in November he had issued several warnings to fellow Democrats.

Republicans furious about timing of Bayh's retirement announcement — Republicans are livid about the timing of Sen. Evan Bayh's (D-Ind.) retirement announcement. — They have at least four candidates in the upcoming primary while the Indiana Democratic Party will get to decide its nominee.
Discussion:
The Reaction, CBS News, AMERICAblog News, Hot Air, The Atlantic Politics Channel and The Huffington Post


Evan Bayh: An ordinary politician — My impression of Evan Bayh was that he was a major deficit hypocrite. Despite spending all his time talking about the need to reduce spending, he'd voted for all the major spending increases in recent years. When I looked into it, that wasn't true …

McCaskill: Bayh announcement wasn't a shock
Discussion:
The Hill

52% say Obama doesn't deserve reelection — 52 percent of Americans said President Barack Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012, according to a new poll. — 44 percent of all Americans said they would vote to reelect the president in two and a half years, less than the slight majority …
Discussion:
Telegraph, The washington times Blogs, Macsmind, RedState, Another Black Conservative, Power Line and Weasel Zippers
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Paterson Aide's Quick Rise Draws Scrutiny — David W. Johnson has worked for Gov. David A. Paterson for much of his adult life. He began as a young, ambitious intern from Harlem when Mr. Paterson was a state legislator. He rose to be Mr. Paterson's driver, serving as a kind of protector and scheduler.
Discussion:
The Note, Hotline On Call, Latest Open Salon Blog, Mediaite, The Hill, Politics Daily, Ben Smith's Blog, Clusterstock, Althouse, Gawker and The Daily Politics

Amy Bishop was charged with assault in 2002 IHOP dispute — In March, 2002, Bishop walked into an International House of Pancakes in Peabody with her family, asked for a booster seat for one of her children, and learned the last seat had gone to another mother.


Tea partiers get audience with RNC chairman but not a shared public stage — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele treated tea party leaders like an ugly date Tuesday afternoon: They were good enough to take upstairs, but not good enough to be seen with in public.
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Obama to create debt panel — President Obama will create a commission like the one that was killed in the Senate. AP — President Obama will sign an executive order for a deficit commission on Thursday and name Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson as co-chairs.
Discussion:
Politics Daily
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Poll: Large majority opposes Supreme Court's decision on campaign financing — Americans of both parties overwhelmingly oppose a Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and unions to spend as much as they want on political campaigns, and most favor new limits on such spending, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.


Even Before Filming, Kennedy Series Stirs Anger — A new mini-series about John F. Kennedy's presidency that is being prepared by the History channel does not yet have a cast or a premiere date. Not a frame of footage has been shot. It does, however, have prominent critics who want it brought to a halt.
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Huffington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hullabaloo and Suburban Guerrilla


Scalia: “There Is No Right to Secede” — The right of a state to secede from the nation is way outside my personal injury wheelhouse. But it has become a source of conversation on professorial and political blogs, and the concept has generated interest from the Tea Party movement.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice


Goldman Sachs, Greece Didn't Disclose Swap, Investors ‘Fooled’ — Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. managed $15 billion of bond sales for Greece after arranging a currency swap that allowed the government to hide the extent of its deficit. — No mention was made of the swap …
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Obama's Islamic Envoy Quoted Defending Man Charged With Aiding Terrorists — President Obama's new envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference, Rashad Hussain, is at the center of a controversy over remarks attributed to him defending a man who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid a terrorist group
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Publication Denies Cover-Up on OIC Envoy, Implies Anti-Muslim Bias Lies Behind Story

INTERVIEW-Nuclear power aids White House climate push — Source: Reuters — * Obama is optimistic about climate legislation status — * No timeline for more nuclear loan guarantees (Updates with quotes, background) — The White House is working hard to advance climate change legislation …
Discussion:
TigerHawk
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BROWNS PROPOSE GAME WITH OBAMA — Hoops for Haiti, featuring President Barack Obama and Ayla Brown? Maybe. AP photo composite by POLITICO — Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and his daughter, Ayla, say they're serious about their proposal to play hoops with President Barack Obama at the White House.


Exxon Hits Peak Oil... Reserves — Exxon Mobil (XOM) announced today that in 2009 the company's proven reserves increased by 133% of the amount of oil produced. — Exxon now has 23.3 billion oil-equivalent-barrels of reserves comprised of about half liquids and half gas.
Discussion:
TigerHawk

Lawrence Kudlow: The Washington, D.C., disconnect — Washington's disconnect from the rest of the country has never been greater. Why can't the political class in the District of Columbia produce a fiscal product that voters, taxpayers and investors are willing to consume?


Olympics call in new Zamboni to reshape speedskating oval — RICHMOND, B.C. — Some of the tensest moments at speedskating Tuesday came when there were no competitors on the ice. — That's because it was time to clean the ice and, after events of the two previous days …

New Hints of Skulduggery in Hamas Killing — BEIRUT, Lebanon — The murder was straight out of a cheap spy thriller. At least 11 professional assassins, some wearing wigs and fake beards, tracked a senior Hamas official to his Dubai hotel in January and killed him with cold precision …


4 Dem Senators Pressure Reid to Use Reconciliation for Public Option — Posted by Stephanie Condon Four Democratic senators, including two facing potentially challenging election campaigns this year, are asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to use reconciliation, a procedural maneuver requiring …
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Hill, The Lonely Conservative, Macsmind, Another Black Conservative, Flopping Aces, Hot Air and AmSpecBlog


Elders of Wall St. Favor More Regulation — Put aside for a moment the populist pressure to regulate banking and trading. Ask the elder statesmen of these industries — giants like George Soros, Nicholas F. Brady, John S. Reed, William H. Donaldson and John C. Bogle — where they stand on regulation …

Speaker Pelosi bets the House on success of $787 billion stimulus — Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has issued 260 statements on the stimulus package over the past year in an effort to win a debate that could be the key to retaining the Democrats' majority in the House.
Discussion:
The Hill


Dems' blues: States reverting to red — The electoral map candidate Barack Obama remade in 2008 appears to be retreating into its familiar patterns. — Obama broke the decisive role Ohio and Florida seemed to play in presidential elections, by moving from trench warfare engagement …

Obama's disco-era jobs bill — WASHINGTON (Fortune) — The ghost of Jimmy Carter's one-term presidency is hovering over President Obama as the Democrats try to pass a jobs bill in time for this year's elections. So why is the centerpiece of the measure — a tax break for companies that make new hires …


Keith Olbermann Defends MSNBC Against Charges Of Lack Of Diversity — Keith Olbermann's Special Comment last night on his MSNBC show was about the undertones of racism within the Tea Party movement, and like he often does, he posted a portion on his Daily Kos blog.