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5 Facts About The New RNC Chairman — Former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele was just elected chairman of the RNC. Here are five facts about the new leader of the Republican party: — 1. Steele compared stem cell research to Nazi experiments during the Holocaust.
Discussion:
MoJoBlog, The New Republic, Think Progress, PoliticalBase.com Blog, Sister Toldjah, pandagon.net, The Nation, Marc Ambinder, D-Day and Pam's House Blend
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Steele Elected RNC Chair — The Republican National Committee elected Michael Steele as its first African American chairman today in Washington, a decision that came after an excruciating series of ballots that displayed a level of drama rarely seen in national politics.

Steele's victory — Michael Steele makes history as the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, and as a rare winner — at least in part — of an outside game in what is usually an insider's contest. He won with 91 votes, 6 more than he needed, over South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson.


BREAKING: Steele picked to lead RNC — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Members of the Republican National Committee elected their first-ever African-American party chief on Friday, choosing former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele to chair the organization after six rounds of tumultuous balloting.

Clintonista Already Dishing Out Oppo Hit Pieces on Steele — Well, that didn't take long. — Hillary Clinton's former research director dished up a nasty hit-piece memo on Michael Steele hours after he was elected the GOP's first black RNC Chairman. — He cites shaky resources like Think Progress …
Discussion:
Oliver Willis

The book on Steele — A Democratic source sends over the Maryland Democratic Party's opposition research book from Michael Steele's 2006 race for Senate, which he lost. — You can read the full, 86-page document here. — The book's thrust: He's very conservative, indeed, a …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …


It's Steele! — Former Maryland Lt. Gov Michael Steele triumphed …
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blogs, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Reuters, The Politico and Associated Press


Affirmative action at the RNC?
Discussion:
Colorado Independent, New York Times, Wonkette, Think Progress and The Washington Independent

Bumps in the Road: Obama's HHS Secretary Nominee Faces Tax Questions Over Car and Driver — ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to be President Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate Finance Committee.


Giuliani: Corporate plums help keep NYC afloat — NEW YORK (CNN) — Bonuses for Wall Street fat cats are easy political fodder in uncertain economic times, but former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Friday cutting corporate bonuses means slashing jobs in the Big Apple.
Discussion:
MSNBC, Bloomberg, AMERICAblog News, Spin Cycle, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo and Runnin' Scared
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Angry senator wants pay cap on Wall Street ‘idiots’ — WASHINGTON (CNN) — One day after President Obama ripped Wall Street executives for their “shameful” decision to hand out $18 billion in bonuses in 2008, Congress may finally have had enough. — An angry U.S. senator introduced legislation Friday …
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ONTD: Politics

Giuliani Defends Wall Street Bonuses While Slamming Tax Cuts For The Poor

Why Limbaugh is the new Bush — I've been hunting around for polling data to explain why Democrats are so eager to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the Republican Party, and lo, Mark Blumenthal finds some. — The numbers are pretty clear. When this poll was taken last fall …
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New Anti-Limbaugh Radio Attack Ad To Air Beginning Tomorrow
Discussion:
Riehl World View


GOP fights to keep Gregg in the Senate — Republicans in Washington and New Hampshire are mounting a full-court press to keep Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) in the Senate and out of the Obama administration, aides and senators said Friday. — But if he does take the commerce secretary job …
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Sen. Conrad: 'I'd have a very hard time voting' for recovery package as it stands.» — Earlier today, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) said he is “undecided” on whether to support President Obama's recovery plan. Another “undecided” Democratic senator is Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND).
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Unlike Bush's ‘Google Bomb,’ Google Quickly Defuses Obama's — It took four years for Google to address the “Google bomb” that was lobbed at former President Bush. — But it took the Internet behemoth only a few days to defuse the same attack on President Obama.

Cleaner and Faster — Throughout 2008, Larry Summers, the Harvard economist, built the case for a big but surgical stimulus package. Summers warned that a “poorly provided fiscal stimulus can have worse side effects than the disease that is to be cured.” So his proposal had three clear guidelines.
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Analysis: Stimulus bill that's not all stimulating
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RedState

What “Belongs” In the Stimulus? — I saw Senator Ben Nelson …
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Ross Douthat

Dems: House GOP's Stimulus Plan Would Actually Raise Taxes For Many Americans — GOP leaders — led by John Boehner and Eric Cantor — have spent days bashing the economic stimulus package being touted by President Obama and Democrats because it doesn't sufficiently cut taxes.

CHANGE FOR THE WORSE — WASHINGTON - Buried deep inside the massive spending orgy that Democrats jammed through the House this week lie five words that could drastically undo two decades of welfare reforms. — The very heart of the widely applauded Welfare Reform Act of 1996 is a cap …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
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Health Care Now — The whole world is in recession.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, Buck Naked Politics, The Reaction, Corrente and The Moderate Voice

Gaza cameraman burned - literally — According to Palestine Today, News photographer Abdul Rahman Al-Khatib received medium-degree burns after he caught fire during coverage of the burning of Israeli and American flags in a march organized by Hamas in Gaza City this afternoon.

Wallace: It's ‘pretty funny’ that ‘feminists are very angry’ about Armey's sexist comments.» — Earlier this week, former Republican House majority leader Dick Armey set off a firestorm when he responded to an argument by Salon.com editor Joan Walsh with the sexist comment, “I'm so damn glad that you can never be my wife.”

Conyers-Rove showdown postponed — The John Conyers-Karl Rove showdown has been delayed. — Conyers, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, agreed on Friday to postpone the deadline on the Rove subpoena for three weeks, giving the Obama administration time to decide how it wants to handle …

Time to put middle class front and center — For years, we had a White House that failed to put the middle class front and center in its economic policies. — President Obama has made it clear that is going to change. And it's why he has asked me to lead a task force on the middle class.
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Obama Moves to Reverse Bush's Labor Policies
Discussion:
Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, The White House, The Moderate Voice, MSNBC and TalkLeft