–Sarah Palin breaks her silence on the Arizona shootings, issuing a long, unapolagetic response from her social media perch that accuses the media of trying to “manufacture a blood libel” against her.
–”Blood libel” historically refers to the powerful anti-semitic falsehood that Jews use the blood of Christian children in …
President Obama and the First Lady take part in a moment of silence on January 10 in honor of the victims of the shooting in Tucson. (REUTERS/Jim Young)
–President Obama will travel to Arizona Wednesday to speak at a memorial for the victims of Saturday’s shooting.
–Gun control advocates Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Carolyn …
In his last show of the year, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart took Congress and the media to task for not making the Zadroga bill a priority. Named for James Zadroga, a 911 first responder who died in 2006 of respiratory disease, the bill would create a trust fund to cover the health care costs of surviving police, firemen, emergency …
(White House Photo/Pete Souza)
–Ben Smith writes Cablegate calls into question the potency of American diplomacy.
–It’s no revelation that many leaders in the Arab world privately sweat Iran, but Mark Lynch argues the greatest potential for political blowback is in that sphere.
–Matt Yglesias questions whether private …
–Bob Woodward’s upcoming book has leaked and it’s full of every bit of White House palace intrigue one would expect from the Washington Post icon. Also, plenty of intra-administration sniping:
Mr. Biden called Mr. Holbrooke “the most egotistical bastard I’ve ever met.” A variety of administration officials expressed scorn for
…
Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson joins Hillary Clinton and the chorus blaming the media for Rev. Terry Jones today, arguing that by covering the would-be Koran desecrator we enabled the creation of “something new, something that will be studied for generations: the propaganda of the idiotic gesture.”
On the contrary, the …
The Nevada Senate candidate’s rocky relationship with the press isn’t going to be getting much better after this one:
For what it’s worth, nothing she says in this clip is untrue — every campaign wishes things worked that way. They just don’t usually admit it.
I am actually a big fan of “West Wing Week,” the White House’s eternally chirpy and upbeat, behind-the-scenes online video recap of what the press office wants you to know about how President Obama spends his time. It is quick paced, often funny, and the access is fantastic. It’s also propaganda, of course, not news.
In this week’s …
REUTERS/Jeff Haynes
–Obama will sign financial regulatory reform into law today. Not pictured: Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein. Now begins the post-passage PR campaign to sell the bill to voters.
–Tom Vilsack will review the Shirley Sherrod firing.
–The irony of her unseemly ouster is that what she actually said is …
Kate already pointed out one important story getting buried by the McChrystal bombshells–for my money, amid the raft of bad judgment McChrystal exhibits in the profile, perhaps the most alarming is his fondness for Talladega Nights–but here are a few other items you might have missed today.
Walter Shapiro, writing after swings through Kentucky and South Carolina, raises the caution flag for his profession.
What we are witnessing in this election cycle is the slow death of traditional statewide campaign journalism. I noticed the same pattern (and the same nearly reporter-free campaign trail) in Kentucky last month as I
…
Hi everyone. As the latest addition to Time’s Washington bureau—as well as the estimable Swampland team—I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Michael Crowley, and I’ve just joined Time after a long and happy stint at The New Republic, where I spent nearly a decade covering national politics, presidential campaigns, and, most …
