Top Items:
Michael James / Political Punch:
President Obama Jokes About Being a Bad Bowler: 'It's Like the Special Olympics' — The first appearance by a sitting president on “The Tonight Show” may well end up being the last. — President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended up insulting the disabled.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Salon, Jules Crittenden, Fox News, Washington Post, Right Wing Nut House, Wake up America, Stop The ACLU, Talking Points Memo, The Swamp, Hot Air, Mother, May I Sleep …, Scared Monkeys, Fausta's Blog, NY Daily News, Michelle Malkin, USA Today, Perfunction, Outside The Beltway, The Politico, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Caucus and The Cloakroom
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Michelle Malkin:
Obama's “Special Olympics” joke: The teleprompter made him do it! — Jake Tapper reports that Barack Obama pulled a Joe Biden (or a Barack Obama, for that matter) and ended up mocking the Special Olympics in a lame attempt to make fun of his weak bowling skills.
New York Times:
President Barack Obama on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ — The following is a transcript of President Obama's interview on NBC's “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” as provided by the White House. — JAY LENO The 44th President of the United States, please welcome President Barack Obama.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Swamp, JustOneMinute, USA Today, Gothamist, The Politico, Barack Obama's …, Los Angeles Times and Riehl World View
Los Angeles Times:
Obama's ‘Tonight Show’ appearance could become a ‘special’ event — The president's awkward stab at humor could dog him in the short run. — Even in the annals of media, President Obama's appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on Thursday night isn't likely to be remembered as a watershed moment.
Marian Burros / New York Times:
Obamas to Plant White House Vegetable Garden — WASHINGTON — On Friday, Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of White House lawn to plant a vegetable garden, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt's victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets (the president doesn't like them) but arugula will make the cut.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Firedoglake, Daily Dish, The Fix, Mercury Rising, D-Day, Get Energy Smart! and Gawker
Associated Press:Obama apologizes for Special Olympics gaffe
Discussion:
Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Newsweek Blogs, MSNBC, marbury and AmSpecBlog
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:Obama apologizes for remark
Discussion:
The Sleuth, TMZ.com, pw, The Swamp, Gawker, Democracy in America, The Politico and PoliPundit.com
Alan Cowell / New York Times:
In an Unusual Video, Obama Offers Iran a ‘New Day’ — Invoking art, history and “the common humanity that binds us,” President Obama offered a “new day” in America's relationship with Iran, using an unusual videotaped message to appeal directly to Iranians for a shift away from decades of confrontation.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Think Progress, The Cable, MyDD, Oliver Willis, Washington Monthly, Jihad Watch, The Agonist, Fox News, TIME.com, VetVoice and Matthew Yglesias
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Washington Post:Obama Reaches Out to Iran With Holiday Video Message
Discussion:
Danger Room, ATTACKERMAN, The Washington Independent, Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog News and On Deadline
New York Times:
Scorn Trails A.I.G. Executives, Even in Their Driveways — The A.I.G. executive who was nicknamed “Jackpot Jimmy” by a New York tabloid walked up the driveway toward his bay-windowed house in Fairfield, Conn., on Thursday afternoon. “How do I feel?” said the executive, James Haas, repeating the question he had just been asked.
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Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Obama White House bars press from press award ceremony — We are not making this up: — Barack Obama was elected commander-in-chief promising to run the most transparent presidential administration in American history. — This achievement and the overall promise of his historic administration caused …
CNN:
Geithner: Treasury pushed for bonus loophole — (CNN) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNN Thursday his department asked Sen. Chris Dodd to include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses.
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New York Times:
Many in Government Knew Weeks Ago About A.I.G. Bonuses — WASHINGTON — The question was direct and prescient. Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York, asked the Treasury secretary in an open hearing what could be done to stop American International Group from paying $165 million …
Discussion:
CBS News, MSNBC, Swampland, Clusterstock, Bloomberg, The Politico, Washington Post, AMERICAblog News and naked capitalism
Henry Blodget / Clusterstock:
90% Tax? Now We Really ARE Screwed — The frantic passage of the Populist Rage Tax was a new low in the US government's response to this crisis. It shows just how likely we are to doom ourselves to a decade or more of misery—by choking our markets, closing our borders …
Discussion:
Marginal Revolution
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
“Saving” Banks — Henry Blodgett, going to battle on behalf of Wall Street's welfare bonus babies, says: … I think this hits upon a critical ambiguity in the bailout scenario. I, for one, don't think that “saving” the too-big-to-fail financial institutions is or was among the legitimate purposes of our financial policy.
Discussion:
Conventional Folly
Alaska_Politics / Anchorage Daily News:
Palin rejecting federal stimulus money — From Sean Cockerham in Juneau - — Gov. Sarah Palin just told reporters that she's accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska. The governor said that she will accept only about $514 million of the $930 million headed to the state.
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:ANYTHING THEY CAN DO, PALIN CAN DO DUMBER.... If there's …
Discussion:
Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!
Andrew Miga / Associated Press:
Dodd's political stock tumbles in Connecticut — Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition — WASHINGTON - Democrats may want to start thinking about a bailout for Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, whose political stock has slipped amid the financial meltdown.
Discussion:
First Draft
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New York Times:
Off With the Bankers — A.I.G. can hardly claim that its generous bonuses attract the best and the brightest. So instead, it defends the payments by arguing they're needed to retain employees who are crucial for winding down transactions that are “difficult to understand and manage.”
Discussion:
MoJo Blog Posts, Real Time Economics, American Street, Economist's View and The Baseline Scenario
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Bonfire of the Trivialities — A $14 trillion economy hangs by a thread composed of (a) a comically cynical, pitchfork-wielding Congress, (b) a hopelessly understaffed, stumbling Obama administration, and (c) $165 million. — That's $165 million in bonus money handed out to AIG debt manipulators …
WBBM-TV:
Obama's First Round NCAA Bracket A Bust — CHICAGO (CBS) ― After the first day of the NCAA basketball tournament, President Obama's bracket appears to be a bust. — The president, a self-described basketball junkie, managed to only pick 11 of 16 games correctly—or 69 percent.
David Brooks / New York Times:
Perverse Cosmic Myopia — You'd think if some tiger were lunging at your neck, your attention would be riveted on the tiger. But that's apparently not how it works in the age of global A.D.D. As a tiger sinks its teeth into the world's neck, we focus on the dust bunnies under the bed …
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