memeorandum: Edwards epilogue: Does the press really vet presidential candidates? (Michael Calderone/The Politico)

4:40 PM ET, February 28, 2010

Top Items:

‘This Week’ Transcript: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) — Transcript: “This Week” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and George Will, Sam Donaldson, Paul Krugman and Cokie Roberts. — ABC News/THIS WEEK Elizabeth Vargas Interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, PERRspectives, The Swamp, YID With LID, D.C. Now, The Daily Caller, Liberal Values and New York Times

Fox News:

Pelosi: Lawmakers Should Sacrifice Jobs for Health Care — House Speaker Pelosi says lawmakers aren't in Washington for job security but ‘to do the job for the American people.’

Discussion: GayPatriot, The Greenroom, The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air, American Conservative … and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

The Note:

Alexander: Health Care Reform a ‘Political Kamikaze Mission’ for Democrats — Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander says pushing health care reform through Congress by a simple majority using the reconciliation process would be political suicide for Democrats and vowed to campaign for the repeal the bill if it passes.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, The Caucus and The Impolitic

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:

Sunday Snapshot: Get Ready To Reconcile, Baby — The White House and Democrats had one mission today: prepare the political class for the President's announcement, probably Wednesday, that he thinks the Senate ought to proceed with reconciliation to ****pass or modify**** a comprehensive health care bill …

Discussion: Daily Kos and The Political Carnival

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Menendez predicts Democrats will get votes to pass health bill — Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Sunday predicted that Democrats would get enough votes to pass healthcare reform legislation. — Menendez, who is in chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee …

Frank Rich / New York Times:

The Axis of the Obsessed and Deranged — No one knows what history will make of the present — least of all journalists, who can at best write history's sloppy first draft. But if I were to place an incautious bet on which political event will prove the most significant of February 2010 …

Discussion: The Mahablog, No More Mister Nice Blog, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, CentristNet, Osborne Ink, Prairie Weather, Democratic Strategist, New York Times and AMERICAblog News

The Note:

Pelosi and the Tea Party ‘Share Views’ — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has much in common with the Tea Party. The speaker now says she shares views with movement she dismissed last summer as being “Astroturf” — her suggestion that the grassroots of the Tea Party were a creation of the Republican Party.

Discussion: Hot Air, NewsBusters.org, The Hill, Think Progress, CentristNet, Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh, American Conservative …, JammieWearingFool, Left Coast Rebel, The Lonely Conservative and The Swamp

Steve Tetreault / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Lowden leads GOP Senate field

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, Taegan Goddard's … and The Political Carnival

Michael Calderone / The Politico:

Edwards epilogue: Does the press really vet presidential candidates? — Over the past few weeks, the world has learned quite enough about John Edwards - from the lies he told in trying to cover up an adulterous affair to the compulsive vanity that left some people close to him questioning his judgment and even his grip on reality.

Discussion: unbossed.com and TigerHawk

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Kristol: 'I Didn't Watch' The Health Care Summit, But I'll Comment On It As If I Did — On the Fox News Sunday roundtable this morning, the panelists discussed President Obama's health care summit. NPR's Mara Liasson said that while it may have been “political theater,” it was also …

Discussion: News Hounds and The Political Carnival

Andrew Gilligan / Telegraph:

Islamic radicals ‘infiltrate’ the Labour Party — A Labour minister says his party has been infiltrated by a fundamentalist Muslim group that wants to create an “Islamic social and political order” in Britain. — The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) — which believes in jihad and sharia law …

Discussion: Power Line, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Jawa Report, Jihad Watch and Harry's Place

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Doctors to Obama: Come back at 50 — President Barack Obama got a physical examination this morning at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. — He arrived there by helicopter at about 6:40 am EST. The physical was performed by Dr. Jeff Kuhlman, a Navy captain and head …

Discussion: CNN

Reuters:

Quake, tsunamis kill more then 700 in Chile — CONCEPCION, Chile (Reuters) - The death toll from a massive earthquake that struck Chile surged above 700 on Sunday as reports emerged of coastal towns devastated by the tremor and tsunamis that followed. — President Michelle Bachelet …

Discussion: AOL News Collection, Politics Daily, ABCNEWS and BBC

New York Times:
Chile Toll at 700; 2 Million Are Displaced

Discussion: BBC, Truthdig, New York Magazine, The Lede and PoliBlog

Times of London:

Gordon Brown on course to win election — GORDON BROWN is on course to remain prime minister after the general election as a new Sunday Times poll reveals that Labour is now just two points behind the Tories. — The YouGov survey places David Cameron's Conservatives on 37% …

Discussion: thetorydiary, UK Polling Report, The Atlantic Online, Harry's Place, Guardian, Ben Smith's Blog, MyDD and Marbury

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

John Linder to retire — Veteran Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.), an early ally of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and an outspoken fiscal conservative, announced Saturday he was retiring. — Linder disclosed his decision at a Republican breakfast in his district, and party officials in Washington confirmed the news.

Discussion: MyDD