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Obama Liquidates Himself — A spending freeze? That's the brilliant response of the Obama team to their first serious political setback? — It's appalling on every level. — It's bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment.
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Obama Seeks Freeze on Many Domestic Programs — WASHINGTON — President Obama will call for a three-year freeze in spending on many domestic programs, and for increases no greater than inflation after that, an initiative intended to signal his seriousness about cutting the budget deficit, administration officials said Monday.
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Barack Herbert Hoover Obama? — UPDATE II: It seems that it is not a freeze in non-security discretionary outlays, but rather an overall cap on non-security discretionary—which is a diffrent animal. And it seems that it is not an overall cap on non-security discretionary outlays …

Obama's Credibility Gap — Who is Barack Obama? — Americans are still looking for the answer, and if they don't get it soon — or if they don't like the answer — the president's current political problems will look like a walk in the park. — Mr. Obama may be personally very appealing …


It's Official: Obama is an idiot — As noted in quick hits by BDB and rayj, [UPDATE] and by David in a diary that just caused me to push back this diary's publication time, Obama has now gone off the deep end. After passing a stimulus that most economists (not just liberal ones) …


The Obama administration loses the deficit — and the spending — argument — This video is not good for the White House. It shows Barack Obama repeatedly, and eloquently, rejecting John McCain's proposal for a “non-defense spending discretionary freeze.” We need a scalpel, Obama says, not a hatchet.

The White House's Brain Freeze — First reactions aren't always the best ones, but my first reaction to tonight's news is that it's a mistake on par with John McCain's “suspending my campaign” gaffe. Politico: … I'll let the economists talk about the wisdom of curtailing government spending …


Lincoln, Bayh Won't Support Passing Health Care Fixes Via Reconciliation — Two Democratic senators, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, have declared that they won't support a plan to have the House pass the Senate health care bill whole, then pass fixes to the bill through the reconciliation process.
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Decision Looms on Advancing Health Care Bill — WASHINGTON — Seeking to avert the collapse of major health care legislation, the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress face a crucial decision about whether to use a procedural maneuver that would allow them to advance the bill despite …

GOP Strategy: Derail Health Bill Reconciliation Fix With …
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A plain blog about politics


ACORN gotcha man among four arrested for attempting to bug Mary Landrieu's office … The FBI, alleging a plot to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in downtown New Orleans, arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos …

BREAKING: Mike Pence Will Not Run for Senate — Sources are confirming for me this morning that Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) will not run for the United States Senate. — In fact, later today the Congressman will send out a letter to supporters outlining his reasons. In it he will write:
Discussion:
The Hill, Hot Air, The Note, Ben Smith's Blog, America's Right, Another Black Conservative and Michelle Malkin
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Pence not running against Bayh
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The Atlantic Politics Channel


Ellie Light revealed: I'm Barbara Brooks, a nurse, says Pro-Obama letter writer … WASHINGTON — Ellie Light, the ubiquitous letter writer arousing blogosphere suspicions that she is a White House operative spreading the gospel of Barack Obama, is actually a registered nurse.
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Ellie Light speaks
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Patterico's Pontifications, Big Journalism, Left Coast Rebel, The DC Trawler and Mediaite

Rubio Edges Crist In Florida Gop Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; President Obama Under Water As Voters Disapprove — Former State House Speaker Marco Rubio has squeaked past Gov. Charlie Crist in the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, leading 47 …
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The Populist Addiction — Politics, some believe, is the organization of hatreds. The people who try to divide society on the basis of ethnicity we call racists. The people who try to divide it on the basis of religion we call sectarians. The people who try to divide it on the basis …

The importance of independents — In the wake of Sen.-elect Scott Brown's (R) victory over state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) in last week's Senate special election, a debate has been raging over independents. — The conventional wisdom — as argued in this blog and many other places …
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CBO Releases the Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2010-2020 — CBO projects, that if current laws and policies remained unchanged, the federal budget would show a deficit of $1.3 trillion for fiscal year 2010. At 9.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), that deficit …
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Double Standard For Bernanke: Only 50 Votes Needed In Senate — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — When it comes to progressive priorities in the Senate, there's one standard: 60 votes are needed. But for Ben Bernanke, there's a second standard: 50 will be just fine, thank you.

Tea Party Disputes Take Toll on Convention — A Tea Party convention billed as the coming together of the grass-roots groups that began sprouting up around the country a year ago is unraveling as sponsors and participants pull out to protest its expense and express concerns about “profiteering.”


Rahm Emanuel Draws Fire From Left — WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's liberal backers have a long list of grievances. The Guantanamo Bay prison is still open. Health care hasn't been transformed. And Wall Street banks are still paying huge bonuses.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Michelle Malkin, Commentary, Top of the Ticket, Glenn Thrush's Blog, ABCNEWS, The Caucus, Politics Daily, Washington Post and New Deal 2.0

Fox leads for trust — Americans do not trust the major tv news operations in the country- except for Fox News. — Our newest survey looking at perceptions of ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and NBC News finds Fox as the only one that more people say they trust than distrust.

Report says Al-Qaeda still aims to use weapons of mass destruction against U.S. — When al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called off a planned chemical attack on New York's subway system in 2003, he offered a chilling explanation: The plot to unleash poison gas on New Yorkers was being dropped for …


An Open Letter to Charles Johnson — Posted by Dennis Prager on Jan 26th, 2010 and filed under FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry … Dear Charles: — As you know, over the years …