memeorandum: Thoughts of Storm Troopers Filling Spy Case (David Kravets/Threat Level)

Obama is in trouble — Did you feel it? The political ground shifting beneath President Barack Obama since his speech last week to Congress? It's been downhill since and I'm not referring mainly to the Dow Jones record-setting dive. The pivot point of the shift was the speech …

Discussion: TigerHawk, Wizbang, PoliGazette, Top of the Ticket and Beltway Confidential

Jackson Diehl / Washington Post:

George W. Obama? — Washington has spent the past couple of weeks debating whether Barack Obama's ambitious agenda and political strategy are more comparable to those of Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan. Oddly, hardly anyone is talking about the ways in which Obama is beginning to resemble the man who just vacated the White House.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Balloon Juice and The Washington Independent

Peter Robinson / Forbes:

Neither Moderate Nor Centrist — How Buckley, Gergen and Brooks finally realized Barack Obama's left leanings. — “To see what is in front of one's nose,” George Orwell famously asserted, “needs a constant struggle.” — Congratulations this week to three journalists who have finally taken …

Discussion: Power Line and The Volokh Conspiracy

David Kravets / Threat Level:

Thoughts of Storm Troopers Filling Spy Case — Legal scholars, the blogopshere and the twitterati have been scratching their heads for a week following the Obama administration's assertion that it might “withdraw” (.pdf) classified documents at the center of a closely watched spy case.

Discussion: Emptywheel

Washington Post:

Court Puts Off Decision On Indefinite Detention — The Supreme Court yesterday vacated a lower court's ruling that the president has the right to indefinitely detain a legal U.S. resident as a terrorism suspect, and put off a decision on one of the most expansive legal claims of the Bush administration.

Discussion: The BLT, the talking dog and Reason

Adam Liptak / New York Times: Justices Erase Ruling That Allowed Detention

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Lost in Translation: A U.S. Gift to Russia — GENEVA — The United States and Russia tried to mend their frayed relationship by having their top diplomats sit down to dinner here on Friday. Before the appetizer was served, the diplomatic first date had gotten off to an awkward start because of a gag gift gone awry.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Jules Crittenden, Closing Velocity, Power Line, Gateway Pundit, The Swamp and The Politico

Robert Burns / Associated Press:
US gesture lost in Russian translation

Discussion: AMERICAN DIGEST, The Corner, No More Mister Nice Blog, Eunomia, Hot Air, Newshoggers.com and Weekly Standard

Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:

Senate puts off vote on $410 billion spending bill — WASHINGTON — The Senate has put off until next week a final vote on a $410 billion catchall spending bill. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he is one vote short of the 60 needed to advance the measure.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Hill, Glenn Thrush's Blogs and Washington Post

Manu Raju / The Politico:
Dems need Franken more than ever

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Carl Hulse / New York Times: Their Ranks Bolstered, and With Big Issues Ahead, Democrats Stumble

Wall Street Journal:

Top U.S., European Banks Got $50 Billion in AIG Aid — The beneficiaries of the government's bailout of American International Group Inc. include at least two dozen U.S. and foreign financial institutions that have been paid roughly $50 billion since the Federal Reserve first extended aid to the insurance giant.

Discussion: Portfolio, The Big Picture and Talking Points Memo

CNN:

Car-truck crash kills Zimbabwe prime minister's wife, injures him — HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) — Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was in stable condition and recovering from head injuries Friday night after a car wreck that killed his wife, Susan, medical sources told CNN.

Discussion: JoeTrippi.com

Directorblue / Doug Ross:

Meltdown — This is the private switching system, utilized by the Federal Reserve, that performs electronic financial transfers. — This is the vault that holds sixty billion of the taxpayers' dollars, which moved to an account owned by American International Group (AIG).

Discussion: Jules Crittenden and Gateway Pundit

Peter Hartcher / Sydney Morning Herald:

Obama's economic saviour savaged as Keating lets rip — When Barack Obama announced his champion to rescue the world from economic ruin, it was the first time most Americans had ever heard the name Tim Geithner. — The initial impression was good. The stockmarket surged and the pundits swooned.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Hot Air and naked capitalism

Robert Tait / Guardian:

Shoe reportedly thrown at Iranian president Ahmadinejad — Protest allegedly happened as president waved to crowds from an open-top car in the Iranian city of Urumiye — When the Iraqi journalist, Muntazar al-Zaidi, hurled his shoes at the then-US president, George Bush, in December …

Reason:

Now at Reason.tv: Rep. Jeff Flake on How the GOP Can Get Its Groove Back — At last November's gala dinner in Los Angeles celebrating 40 years of Reason, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) spoke about why the Republican party was in a shambles—and what it needs to do to stage a comeback.

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit:
REASON TV: Jeff Flake on how the GOP can get its groove back.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, GayPatriot and TigerHawk

Van Helsing / Right Wing News:

Naked Obama On A Unicorn Vs. Naked Palin On A Moose (Bonus: Nude Michelle Obama) — It's the gift that keeps on giving: paintings of a naked Barack Obama on a unicorn. And the paintings keep getting increasingly disturbing. Last time around, there was a painting of a unicorn looking at Barack's back side the same...

Discussion: American Power and The Jawa Report

Media Matters for America:

Despite warnings from many economists that stimulus may be too small, network news rarely raised the issue … A Media Matters for America review of the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news programs from January 25 through February 15 found that of the 59 broadcasts that addressed the economic stimulus package …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Paul Krugman

Sally C. Pipes / Wall Street Journal:

Health ‘Reformers’ Ignore Facts — Debunking the Democratic argument for government-run health care. — The Democrats' case to expand government health care is so full of holes that passing it quickly is their only hope. If Americans slow down and ask questions, they will be hard-put to come up with answers.

Discussion: Wonk Room

Drudge Report:

CHAVEZ CALLS ON OBAMA TO FOLLOW PATH OF SOCIALISM — Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday called upon US President Barack Obama to follow the path to socialism, which he termed as the “only” way out of the global recession. “Come with us, align yourself, come with us on the road to socialism.

Discussion: The Earth Times Online …, Stop The ACLU and PoliGazette

Associated Press:

Democrats blast Limbaugh for comment on Kennedy — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - A Democratic official rebuked conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh on Friday for suggesting a health care proposal will be named in memory of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, JammieWearingFool and Media Blog

Matt Welch / Reason:

So, Is Human Rights Watch “Neocon” Now, Too? — Remember when Saudi-bashing was a lefty thing? When Michael Moore was devoting a big chunk of Farenheit 9/11 to the over-warm relationship between U.S. leaders and the clannish House of Saud, stewards of the dictatorship that produced 15 …

Discussion: The New Republic, Whiskey Fire, The Corner and Jack & Jill Politics

Media Matters for America:

Media Matters: The media's tax fraud — When is a tax cut for 98 percent of taxpayers portrayed as a tax increase? When some of the small handful of people whose taxes will go up happen to control the nation's news media. — Last week, President Obama unveiled a budget outline that extends …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Cup O' Joe