CHEAP DATES

Obama takes Republican senators (but not Senate leaders) to dinner -- and now they pretend to like him again

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/g-o-p-senators-give-obama-dinner-thumbs-up/ 
G.O.P. Senators Give Obama Dinner Thumbs Up

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/obama-outreach-gop-senators-grand-bargain.php
GOP Senators Praise Obama’s Outreach On Grand Bargain

More: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/03/obama_s_dinner_with_gop_senators_why_is_he_schmoozing_republicans_again.html
 
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/06/17210330-putting-the-schmoozing-strategy-to-the-test
 
Still learning about the disasters of the Iraq war

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/report-too-much-money-spent-in-iraq-for-too-few-results.php
Govt Report: We Wasted a Ton of Money in Iraq

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/pentagon_iraq_torture_centers.php
The Pentagon sent a US veteran of the “dirty wars” in Central America to oversee sectarian police commando units in Iraq, that set up secret detention and torture centres to get information from insurgents. These units conducted some of the worst acts of torture during the US occupation . . . [read on]

In praise of the talking filibuster . . . maybe

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/03/wildfire.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/06/a-great-day-for-the-filibuster-and-for-filibuster-reform
  
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/03/three_cheers_for_the_talking_filibuster.php

Or not: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_03/filibuster_reform_or_futility043399.php 

Will the Repubs' continuing abuse of the filibuster renew efforts to reform it?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/03/no-republicans-never-intended-cut-back-filibusters-why-do-you-ask
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/03/06/dems-reaping-what-they-sowed-with-weak-filibuster-reform/
 
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/jeff-merkley-calls-for-reigniting-filibuster-reform.php

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/06/17212814-filibuster-reform-advocates-we-told-you-so
 
The GOPers don't want the state to be suppressing individual freedom -- except when they want to play moral cops for everyone else (thanks to MA for the link)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/05/iowa-divorce_n_2808001.html 
Iowa GOP Lawmakers Try To Curtail Divorce, Worry It Makes Young Women More 'Promiscuous'

The kind of man he is

http://crooksandliars.com/blue-texan/roger-ailes-obama-hes-lazynever-worked
Roger Ailes on Obama: "He's Lazy...Never Worked A Day In His Life"
 
Must be hard to live in a world where the only source of your news is the conservative media

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/06/1191844/-Conservative-media-watchdog-asks-Black-Socialist-Pope-to-Follow-Black-Socialist-President
'Black Socialist Pope to Follow Black Socialist President?'

More http://prospect.org/article/fake-prostitutes-fake-terrorists-and-trouble-conservative-media
  

Bonus item: BFFs, uh-huh

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/03/06/boehner-i-have-a-very-pleasant-relationship-with-obama
Boehner: I have a ‘very pleasant relationship’ with Obama

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

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I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

JEB TIME!

PBD welcomes Jeb Bush to our top line -- looks like we'll be following him more closely now.

The latest: Jeb tries to pivot right on immigration, then realizes he is about to Romne-fy himself with Latinos, and within 24 hours reverses his position. And THAT'S Romney-like too.

"A colossal political miscalculation" http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/03/05/bushs_poorly_timed_flip_flop.html

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/is-jeb-bush-already-backing-down-on-a-path-to-citizenship.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_03/jeb_chases_the_whirlwind043363.php
 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/05/wonktalk-jeb-bushs-immigration-flip-flop 

Ironies abound

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/jeb-bush-bashes-romney-obamacare-in-new-book----read-the-highlights.php
Jeb Bush Bashes Romney

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/03/05/jeb-bush-romneys-campaign-wasnt-the-best

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/jeb-bush-heartbroken-by-romney-loss-88415.html

Meanwhile, the rest of the GOP still struggles to find its identity

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/286161-centrists-balk-at-ryan-medicare-shift

GOP centrists balk at Ryan Medicare shift

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/us/politics/gop-lacking-unity-clings-to-budget-goals.html
G.O.P., Lacking Unity, Clings to Budget Cuts

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/05/the-gops-moving-even-further-right-on-spending/ 
The GOP’s moving even further right on spending

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/05/1191837/-Republicans-still-conflicted-on-who-to-blame-for-election-failures
There’s a split between those who believe the party’s problem is cosmetic, those who believe it’s data-based and those who think it’s ideological and policy-based. Within those camps, there’s no common ground on what a better approach would look like.. . . [read on]

Bashing Boehner

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/03/05/former_gop_lawmaker_slams_boehner.html
[Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH)] "If the Justice Department were ever to make John produce receipts for his addiction to golf just for the years from 1995 to 2004, he would be hard-pressed to comply. John got away with more than any other Member on the Hill."

Damning with praise: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112587/john-boehners-master-sequester-negotiations#
[Noam Scheiber] Boehner is goofy, poorly informed, and frequently incoherent. He often sows confusion among the very people he's supposed to be leading. But despite this—or perhaps because of it—he has been remarkably effective at saving the Republican Party from complete self-destruction. Through heroic improvisation, he's avoided the global economic apocalypse House Republicans are so intent on provoking.

Under the circumstances, Boehner has, in fact, been a raging success. I hesitate to call him "sophisticated" because that would imply a level of self-awareness and reflection I'm not sure he's capable of. But the man's instincts are damn-near impeccable. . . . [read on]

Right-wing media struggles to master the journalism-thing

Plagiarism at Fox News: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/05/1191573/-Fox-News-still-not-good-at-this-whole-jourmalism-thing

The Daily Caller's mistaken "scoop": http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/05/17194885-conservative-media-keeps-stumbling-falling

Bonus item: Robots!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/05/how-to-punish-robots-when-they-inevitably-turn-against-us

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

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I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

HOW PEOPLE THINK

Research!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/04/one-study-explains-why-its-tough-to-pass-liberal-laws/ 
Last year, a group of political scientists took a random sample of state legislators and asked them a slew of questions, most of which boiled down to: “What do your constituents think about policy?” Do they support gay marriage? Do they support Obamacare? Do they support action to combat global warming? . . . [read on]

More: http://americablog.com/2013/03/republicans-quite-literally-think-differently-than-we-do.html
Republicans quite literally think differently than we do

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/03/04/paul-begala-obama-s-biggest-blunder.html
[Paul Begala] This faith in the reasonableness of others is quintessentially American. We are, after all, a nation born of the Enlightenment. John Locke, the intellectual godfather of the American Revolution, said, “Reason must be our last judge and guide in everything.” But John Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher, not a 21st-century Tea Party nihilist. Obama, sadly, is not dealing with Mr. Locke . . .

Theocracy watch: facts are liberal!

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/pat-robertson-facts-are-commie-plot-have-no

More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/03/anti-science-left-vs-anti-science-right
The Anti-Science Left vs. the Anti-Science Right

Republicans hate Obama so much that they refuse to believe he could say what he has in fact said

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/04/17180830-what-we-have-here-is-more-than-a-failure-to-communicate
Would it matter, one reporter asked the veteran legislator, if the president were to put chained-CPI -- a policy that reconfigures the way the government measures inflation and thus slows the growth of Social Security benefits -- on the table?

"Absolutely," the legislator said. "That's serious."

Another reporter jumped in. "But it is on the table! They tell us three times a day that they want to do chained-CPI."

"Who wants to do it?" said the legislator.

"The president," replied the reporter.

"I'd love to see it," laughed the legislator. [read on]

More: http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/04/17179278-either-boehner-is-confused-or-he-thinks-youre-confused
For example, the Speaker insisted, "[T]here's no plan from Senate Democrats or the White House to replace the sequester." Host David Gregory explained that the claim is "just not true," leading Boehner to respond . . . [read on] 

Jeb Bush: playing the long game for 2016?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/jeb-bush-immigration-flip-flop.php 
Jeb Bush’s Immigration Flip Flop Stuns Reformers

More: http://prospect.org/article/jeb-bush-flip-flops-immigration-reform

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/05/17193678-jeb-bush-causes-quite-a-stir

Later: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/03/04/jeb-bush-says-he-could-in-fact-support-a-path-to-citizenship/ 
Jeb Bush says he could, in fact, support a path to citizenship

[NB: Flip, flop, flip!]
 
What does it all mean?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/03/05/whats-jeb-bush-up-to/ 
What’s Jeb Bush up to?

http://prospect.org/article/ringside-seat-you-dont-know-jeb 
Ringside Seat: You Don't Know Jeb 

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/jeb-bush-immigration-2016.php 
5 GOP Hopefuls Jeb Bush Might Out-Conservative In 2016 On Immigration

More: http://theweek.com/article/index/240879/why-jeb-bush-will-never-be-president
Why Jeb Bush will never be president

Republicans still try to rejigger their messaging, and fail to come to grips with the real reasons they're losing people

http://www.rollcall.com/news/inside_the_nrscs_comeback_strategy-222838-1.html
The National Republican Senatorial Committee plans to expand its press operation to train campaigns earlier in the cycle on how to better handle the kind of candidate missteps that have plagued its party’s nominees.

The goal? To avoid what’s become known in GOP circles as “Todd Akin moments.” . . .[read on]

More: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/gop-sniping-over-2012-failures-still-going-strong-88405.html

Republicans voted against the Violence Against Women Act, but now say they supported it

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/04/1191486/-Republicans-who-didn-t-vote-for-Violence-Against-Women-Act-say-they-did-anyway-because-why-not
  
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/04/1191525/-The-27-House-Republicans-who-voted-against-the-real-VAWA-and-the-fake-nbsp-VAWA

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

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I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

SORE LOSER

Mitt Romney, still whining that his loss was because Obama bribed the poor and minorities

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/romney-obamacare-was-attractive-to-minority-low-income
Romney: ‘Obamacare’ Was Attractive To Minority, Low-Income Voters

http://tinyurl.com/d2u9b5y
To Chris Wallace, about “47%.”
"What I said is not what I believe."

[NB: Which could be the epitaph for his entire campaign, of course.]

More whining

http://tinyurl.com/cj8qujl

Ann Romney: 'I'm Happy to Blame the Media' for Election Loss 

Go away, dude. Just. Go. Away

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/qotd-mitt.html
Romney criticized Obama over the sequester, hinting that he would have accepted a 10-1 spending-cuts-to-tax-hikes deal. "It kills me not to be there in the White House doing what needs to be done," he said. "The hardest thing about losing is watching this critical moment, this golden moment slip away with politics."

More: http://tinyurl.com/cgot3g3
One hundred seventeen days later, Mitt Romney still isn’t over it. . . . [read on]

Even David Gregory can't let John Boehner get away with this one

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/david-gregory-to-boehner-mr-speaker-thats-just
David Gregory To Boehner: ‘Mr. Speaker, That’s Just Not True’

More: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/boehner-pretends-hes-not-sure-if-sequester#sthash.t9CxjUkZ.dpbs 

When Bob Woodward wasn't worried about White House threats

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/03/1190771/-Plamegate-When-Woodward-was-not-worried-about-threats-from-the-White-House

In case you missed the Sunday talk shows

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/03/sunday-morning-liveblog_n_2800958.html

Bonus item: Wealth Inequality in America (thanks to DR for the link)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QPKKQnijnsM
 

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

To get PBD by email: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/todays-news

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

YOU WANT SOME CHEESE WITH THAT WHINE? 

More nonsense in the "Obama is being mean to the Republicans" narrative
  
http://tinyurl.com/azru3b4 
"President Obama's public shaming of congressional Republicans to act on a range of issues may be winning at the polls -- but it risks alienating the people needed to reach bipartisan compromise," The Hill reports. . .  [read on]

Reality check: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/02/this-is-why-obama-cant-make-a-deal-with-republicans/ 
This is why Obama can’t make a deal with Republicans 

Ooooh, ouch!

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/03/zing.php
[JB] I've been following the Woodward ‘thing’ (which seems the best word for it) and it would appear he forgot one of the enduring lessons of Watergate.

Its the coverup, not the crime. [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/tremble-tremble-woodwards-bad-memory.html
If Woodward wants to know what a threat sounds like, he can turn to page 105 of a real firecracker of a book called All the President's Men. . . . 

Slow economic growth: the new normal?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/02/is-slow-growth-americas-new-normal/

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/business/the-minimum-wage-employment-and-income-distribution.html
 
I don't know if you know this, but in Michigan the state can declare a city a financial basket case and replace the democratically elected mayor with a governor-appointed "financial manager." This has happened to a number of towns: now, Detroit

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/01/1190789/-Michigan-Gov-Rick-Snyder-deals-democracy-another-blow

No, the tea party hasn't gone away

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/new-wingnut-wail-obama-will-indoctrinate#sthash.jlINoTNb.dpbs

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/02/1190325/-GOP-clears-field-for-Steve-King-s-Senate-run-Good-luck-with-that

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/former-tea-party-candidates-sewage-rant-gets#sthash.NE3Bw2Wh.dpbs
  
Told ya

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/03/03/obama_making_push_to_take_back_congress.html
Obama Making Push to Take Back Congress

Like a dog and stink, the Republicans just can't resist going back again and again to the rape and pregnancy issue

http://www.mercurynews.com/california-budget/ci_22701070/california-gop-leader-steps-into-rape-pregnancy-controversy

Sean Hannity STILL trying to get even for Keith Ellison's dismantling of him on his own show

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/yellow-journalism-hannity-attacks-keith#sthash.53LGNVt0.dpbs

Well of course they did

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/03/02/fox_news_took_graphics_directly_from_gop_press_release.html 
Fox News Took Graphics Directly from GOP Press Release
 
The Sunday talk show line-ups

http://firedoglake.com/2013/03/03/sunday-talking-heads-march-3-2013/ 
ABC’S THIS WEEK:  White House economic adviser Gene Sperling and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH).  Roundtable: Matthew Dowd; Cokie Roberts; James Carville, Paul Gigot;, Mia Love, Republican mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah.

CBS’ FACE THE NATION: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). Roundtable: Bob Woodward, David Sanger, Rana Foroohar, John Dickerson.  Also, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

CHRIS HAYES:  The budget ‘crisis,’ death penalty, CPAC.  Mattie Duppler, director of budget & regulatory policy for Americans for Tax Reform.  Jim Antle, senior editor of The American Spectator.  Stephanie Kelton, chair of the department of economics at University of Missouri-Kansas City.  Bryan Stevenson, founder & executive Director of Equal Justice Initiative, professor at New York University School of Law.  Liz Mair, founder & president of Mair Strategies.  David Sirota, author of “Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now–Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything.”  Roberto Lovato, senior strategy fellow for Citizen Engagement Lab.  Jared Bernstein, former chief economist & economic policy advisor to Vice President Biden (2009-2011), senior fellow at the Center for Budget & Policy Priorities.
 
CNN’S STATE OF THE UNION:  White House economic adviser Gene Sperling.  On the next election with Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR).  Roundtable: Stephen Moore, Susan Page, Mark Zandi.

Fareed Zakaria GPS: Iranian Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Khazee; Private Equity Investor Roger Altman; Zanny Minton Beddoes (The Economist); David Leonhardt (New York Times); Journalist Beppe Severgnini; Evan Osnos (The New Yorker); Neil MacFarquhar (New York Times).

MOYERS & COMPANY:  Fighting Creeping Creationism. Zack Kopplin on fighting the onslaught of creationism and Susan Jacoby on the challenges of free thinking in America.

NBC’S MEET THE PRESS:   Rep. John Boehner (R-OH).  White House economic adviser Gene Sperling.  Roundtable: Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID); Kathleen Parker; Managing Editor of TheGrio.com Joy Reid; Chuck Todd; Tom Brokaw

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

To get PBD by email: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/todays-news

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

SAFE HAVEN

To me, one of the most important tests of character is whether someone will admit that they were wrong. Bob Woodward fails the test, now doubling down on the claim that the WH threatened him, when everyone who has read the emails can see that it was no such thing. Where does he go to get a sympathetic hearing for his discredited claims? I think you know

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/woodward-white-house-officials-email-was-code-for
The drama over Bob Woodward's correspondence with the White House continued Thursday with an appearance on Fox News' "Hannity" and an interview with the Washington Post. The veteran journalist said he never called White House economic adviser Gene Sperling's email a "threat." But he said in a later interview that the message was a "coded 'you better watch out.'" . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/bob-woodward-says-he-never-said-he-was

More Woodward-bashing: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/03/good_take.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/jon-stewart-woodward-threat.php
 
Sequester THIS

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/03/01/alternatives-to-sequester-could-hit-federal-employees-in-other-ways/
While sequestration carries the threat of widespread furloughs of many federal employees, enactment of an alternative could amount to a case of pick your poison.
 

Political leaders met Friday but failed, at least for now, to find a path away from budget cuts that threaten more than 1 million employees with up to 22 unpaid days off . . .

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/post/sequester-closes-some-doors-on-capitol-hill/2013/03/01/1b19c006-828a-11e2-a350-49866afab584_blog.html

Members of Congress have taken plenty of heat for the sequester. After all, the popular strain of outrage goes, they will still get their paychecks while federal workers are furloughed,. . .

 

The GOP civil war isn't getting better any time soon

 

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/club-for-growths-primarymycongressmancom-escalates-gop-civil-war.php

 

Ah, Mitt, welcome back!

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/03/01/romney-obama-should-stop-berating-republicans 

Romney: Obama should stop ‘berating’ Republicans

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/01/1190794/-Republicans-suck-because-Obama-is-mean-to-them-says-sore-loser-who-is-mean-to-everyone 

Dick Cheney, once a dick always a dick, is still trying to settle old scores

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/03/01/dick-cheney-goes-after-condoleezza-rice-again

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/03/01/dick_cheney_tears_into_condoleeza_rice.html
 
Speaking of which

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/conn-lawmaker-stripped-of-post-after-lewd-comment
Connecticut state Rep. Ernest Hewett (D) was stripped of his post as deputy speaker this week after making a lewd comment to a 17-year-old girl during a committee hearing last month. . . .

[NB: What's the MATTER with these guys?]
  
Theocracy watch: when televangelism becomes a game show

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/pat-robertson-tells-his-viewers-god-going#sthash.tIfQVTQZ.dpbs
Pat Robertson Tells His Viewers God Will Grant One of Them a Million Bucks

It's not funny, but. . . 

http://americablog.com/2013/03/texas-school-employee-shoots-self-at-training-class-to-arm-teachers.html 
Texas school employee shoots self at training class to arm teachers

The kind of people they are

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/covert-malaysian-campaign-touched-a-wide-range-of-american-m
The payments to conservative American opinion writers — whose work appeared in outlets from the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner to the Washington Times to National Review and RedState — emerged in a filing this week to the Department of Justice. The filing under the Foreign Agent Registration Act outlines a campaign spanning May 2008 to April 2011 and led by Joshua Trevino, a conservative pundit, who received $389,724.70 under the contract and paid smaller sums to a series of conservative writers.

Trevino lost his column at the Guardian last year after allegations that his relationship with Malaysian business interests wasn't being disclosed in columns dealing with Malaysia. Trevino told Politico in 2011 that "I was never on any 'Malaysian entity's payroll,' and I resent your assumption that I was."

According to Trevino's belated federal filing, the interests paying Trevino were in fact the government of Malaysia, "its ruling party, or interests closely aligned with either." The Malaysian government has been accused of multiple human rights abuses and restricting the press and personal freedoms.. . . [read on]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/01/1190808/-Multiple-conservative-bloggers-writers-engaged-in-paid-propaganda-for-Malaysian-government
 
The MSNBC/Fox News war heats up again

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/maddow-scalia-troll.php
Maddow: Scalia Is Like An Internet ‘Troll’ Who’s Using The N-Word

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/megyn-kelly-to-rachel-maddow-dont-call-scalia 
Megyn Kelly To Rachel Maddow: Don’t Call Scalia A ‘Troll’

Sean Hannity, humiliated by Keith Ellison (D-MN) on his show, trashes Ellison later, when he isn't around to speak for himself

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/hannity-launches-latest-islamophobic-smear
 

Bonus item: "Star Trek," "Star Wars," what's the diff? Obama fails the sci fi nerd test

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/star-wars-star-trek-play-tricks-on-obamas-mind/2013/03/01/e746767e-82b2-11e2-a350-49866afab584_story.html

http://prospect.org/article/these-arent-budget-cuts-youre-looking

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

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THREAT ASSESSMENT

It was too good a story to pass up: mainstream media superhero Bob Woodward says he was threatened by the Chicago thugs of the Obama administration. But he reports the truth anyway! What a mensch! The mainstream press swoons, and the predictable condemnations of the Obama gang howl from the right.

Only one problem. . . 

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/yes-bob-woodward-liar-dna-sequester#sthash.JS8t8yZ4.dpbs

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/28/17132237-defining-threats-down

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/02/pwning_themselves.php

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/28/1190554/-Bob-Woodward-s-story-lets-the-media-preen-and-they-love-him-for-it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/02/28/bob-woodward-vs-white-house-full-of-sound-and-fury-signifying-almost-nothing/

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/02/seriously-wtf-bob-woodward

Senate Repubs reject sequester compromise

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/28/1190549/-Senate-Republicans-filibuster-Democratic-sequester-replacement

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/28/17135236-senate-gop-blocks-sequester-compromise-plan-seals-fate

More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/03/the-sequester-explained

On the House side

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/us/politics/house-republicans-cheer-boehners-refusal-to-negotiate-on-cuts.html
Boehner Halts Talks on Cuts, and House G.O.P. Cheers

The "Hastert Rule" says that when you hold the House majority, you should only pass bills that a majority of your majority supports. Problem is, in today's House GOP, that means NOTHING can pass. Boehner needs Dem support and enough Repubs to get over halfway. We've seen a series of these votes, and yesterday was another one

http://prospect.org/article/victory-violence-against-women-act
Victory for the Violence Against Women Act

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/02/28/vawa-victory-shows-that-house-gop-needs-democrats/

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/02/vawa-passes-hastert-rule-takes-tumble 

Classy

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/sean-duffy-ultrasound-bill.php
GOP Rep Ducks Transvaginal Ultrasound Question With: ‘I Haven’t Had One’

Bonus item: Popcorn time!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/02/28/gop-rep-peter-king-dont-donate-to-marco-rubio/

GOP Rep. Peter King: Don’t donate to Marco Rubio

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/peter-king-marco-rubio_n_2784126.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com

To get PBD by email: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/todays-news

I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***