After discussing sexism toward women journalists,
Kurtz asks Couric about her ‘new hairstyle.’

post from Think Progress on 09 February 2009 05:17:00 PM. © Think Progress

Yesterday on CNN, media reporter Howie Kurtz and CBS Evening News’s Katie Couric discussed the criticism Couric has received as the first woman to anchor a network news program. “I’ve always had enough confidence in my abilities and my work to know that sometimes there are larger issues at work here about the role of women in society,” Couric said, adding, “I always sort of feel bad for them, that this is how they spend their time.” Yet somewhat ironically, Kurtz then asked Couric if her new hairstyle has something to do with her most recent successes:

KURTZ: We’re going to put up some pictures of you over the years, and I’m going to ask you whether you think at all a factor in your recent success could be this new hairstyle.
COURIC: I don’t know. You know, you should ask Charlie Gibson about how he’s changed his part a little bit, or how Brian looks more tan on the air. I really don’t know, Howie.

The ensuing photo montage Kurtz aired contained one photo of Couric while pregnant. Watch it:

video details and more

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PA-Gov, PA-06: Gerlach (R) Prepares Run For
Governor

post from Daily Kos on 09 February 2009 05:15:04 PM. © Daily Kos

You've got to like Democratic odds of picking up a seat where the incumbent Republican could never win by more than four points, and where Obama dominated in 2008, 58-41:

Pennsylvania Rep. Jim Gerlach , a politically moderate Republican who has narrowly won four House elections in a district that is trending Democratic, took a formal step Thursday toward a campaign for governor in 2010.

Gerlach, whose 6th District takes in suburbs and exurbs west of Philadelphia, announced that he had filed papers with Pennsylvania election officials to establish an "exploratory committee" that would allow him to raise and spend campaign funds as he weighs whether to become an official candidate.

Exploratory committees almost always are precursors to full-fledged campaigns, though Gerlach said Thursday’s announcement was not tantamount to a declaration of candidacy. He issued a written statement saying he would take the next few months to "speak with political, business and community leaders, help our 2009 statewide judicial candidates, conduct polling and determine if there is a clear path to victory."

Gerlach spent over a decade in the State House, so he certainly knows his way around Harrisburg. He's in the minority in DC for the foreseeable future, he has the moderate profile to be competitive in the general election, and 2010 presents a decent chance for Republicans to capture the governorship with two-term Governor Ed Rendell term-limited.

Still, Gerlach may well be too moderate to win the primary, which should be a pretty crowded field (starring Pennsylvania AG Tom Corbett).

As for Gerlach's seat, the DCCC will no doubt open the phone lines immediately as soon as Gerlach makes it official...or even if he doesn't.

Republicans have a built-in candidate in state Rep. Curt Schroder, and he will certainly be tough. Still, Gerlach won three races by the slim margin of 51% to 49%, and his biggest victory yet was a 52-48 triumph over a virtually unknown and wildly underfunded Democrat, Bob Roggio.

This would be a first-tier pickup opportunity with Gerlach out of the game, and perhaps even if he sticks around.

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TWO UNSETTLING GRAPHS.

post from Ezra Klein on 09 February 2009 05:15:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

Absolute job losses in context of recent recessions:That last graph is dire, but a bit unfair: The population is larger than it was in the 80s. So this chart plots job losses as a percentage of the working population in context of the last six recessions[...]

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=two_unsettling_graphs

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Surreal -- And Must-See

post from Talking Points Memo on 09 February 2009 05:15:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

TPM Reader JC sent me to this interview with Nouriel Roubini and Nassim Taleb on CNBC. Here's what JC wrote: "In this clip, Nouriel Roubini and Nassim Taleb are still being treated as a circus sideshow by CNBC... They're predicting the end of finance,[...]

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Is It Really About Partisanship vs.
Bi-Partisanship

post from Open Left - Front Page on 09 February 2009 05:08:59 PM. © Open Left - Front Page

There is a long-running debate in the progressive blogosphere about whether, in terms of peeling[...]

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The "S" word.

post from field negro on 09 February 2009 05:04:00 PM. © field negro

"The stimulus package". It sounds like the name of a bad porn movie, but it's all you hear about in A-merry-ca these days. The O man wants it so bad he can taste it. Just a few weeks into his presidency and he is throwing the weight of his presidential bully pulpit into getting it passed. If you believe his O ness and his peeps, it's 800 billion dollars that we cannot afford to go without in these dire times. We need it for jobs, jobs, jobs. If you believe the rethugs, it's just more of the same government spending of our money. "You can't spend your way out of a recession", they scream. I told you that this Obama was a Socialist. It's a modern day version of the new deal, which will only prolong the recession and turn A-merry-ca into a big government spending Socialist state. Government can't correct this problem, it must correct itself. So jobs are going to be lost, it's what happens in a democracy. This is what we are hearing from the right, and they have their so called experts who are not shy about espousing that position. But no matter who you believe, or where you come down in this debate, there is no denying the importance of what this stimulus package means to our future.
Well field who do you believe? Well, I will give you a hint: it ain't the folks who have been in charge for the past eight years and put us into this mess. And since I consider myself a democratic Socialist of sorts, you better believe I that am not down with the economic philosophy that says give the rich guy the tax breaks and he will give us jobs. We tried that, and it didn't work, remember? Yeah, I think I am going with the school of thought that says government has to inject money into the economy in order to fund start up programs and projects which have the capital to hire people. When people have jobs they spend money, it's that simple. When rich people get tax breaks they don't necessarily give people jobs. And right now, more than anything else, we need jobs in A-merry-ca.
I hear that his O ness did a little tour of Indiana today, and tonight he had a press conference to once again let the A-merry-can public know how important this bill is. I say it's about time. "Stimulus package" has becoming more and more of a dirty word in A-merry-ca, and support for the package has been diminishing. The folks on the right have been winning the PR war and even some dumbocratic poli-tricksters have been running scared.
It's hard to believe that with unemployment at seven percent in most places and up to ten percent in places like Michigan that rethugs could be winning shit. But such is the power of partisanship. And I know that his O ness swept into office promising change, but his ass better consider the politics of old for a minute and start embracing his base, and the so called progressives in this country who put him in power. I have some news for the O man; these folks are never going to be with him. There are fundamental differences in the way that they believe government should be run. We tried it there way and we got screwed. We elected you to try it our way. Stop pandering to the clowns in Washington and start talking to the A-merry-can people. Stop trying to cut things out of the stimulus package and start putting more things into that bitch. So man up O man, because if when the next election rolls around people still don't have jobs, you can kiss the White House and all those helicopter rides good bye.

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Pelosi on the Stimulus Bill: Six Hundred
Thousand Jobs Were Lost

post from Firedoglake on 09 February 2009 05:02:32 PM. © Firedoglake

This will evidently be the House messaging as the stimulus bill goes into conference: "how do we create the most jobs," not "how do we make Susan Collins happy."[...]

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d-jobs-were-lost/

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Stephanie Miller on Liberalism

post from Crooks and Liars on 09 February 2009 05:00:48 PM. © Crooks and Liars

QnA-Miller-Liberalism-020809
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Stephanie Miller came on C-SPAN's Q&A and was asked what the term liberalism means to her.

Lamb: Are you worried about whether or not things are going to get tougher for liberal talk show hosts? And by the way would you rather be called a liberal or a progressive?

Miller: I don't care. I'm not afraid of...

Lamb: What's the difference...

Miller: I'm not afraid of that liberal word.

Lamb: What's the difference between them?

Miller: I don't know. I think, I know. I feel like Republicans succeeded in making liberal a dirty word so everyone went oh, we're progressives but I'm like ahh I'm a liberal. So what? I think I briefly stunned Sean Hannity into submission once when he said "Oh you're a liberal" and I'm like "Yes! And I'm proud of it." And then he was sort of shocked for a minute. He wasn't sure ah, you know if you reclaim like you know the, John F. Kennedy wrote a great thing about what it means to be a liberal and you know, there's a lot of great ideas that came from, not all of them, but a lot of great ideas that came from liberal thought.

So you know..... Brian we've had a year when Colin Powell spoke very eloquently about why he is for Barack Obama what does liberal mean any more?

Lamb: So what does that mean to you?

Miller: Well I think it speaks to a lot of Barack Obama has been speaking to and that is an inclusiveness. You know when you talk about where is the comedy. Well the comedy is still on the Republican side because you still hava a party that claims moral values and family values populated by the David Vitters and the Ted Haggerts and it's just, you know, and besides the fact that they're so over the top in their rhetoric, that now we're on defense. I mean literally, apparently we're in the middle of the Obama recession, after the Obama stock market crash and apparently this Obama bailout is really going to be a bitch. And I'm like "What?". He's not even President yet. This is the rhetoric that we've heard already and he's not even in office. So you know if you thought it was over the top, the rhetoric about him during the campaign, just wait.

Lamb: So what does it mean though to you to be a liberal? Define the steps along the way that make you a liberal.

Miller: Oh my gosh you know, I think it's interesting Barack Obama personally got elected on the power of we. He never said I. You know he quoted that we're the ones we've been waiting for, um, yes we can, and I think that's what people have been so thirsty for. To me that's what it means to be a liberal. And now it's caring about everybody. It's really trying to bring everybody along. It's a quality, you know, regardless of your race or sex or gender or sexual orientation.

I have to tell you when I heard his speech at the 2004 Convention, you know we have gay friends in the red states and we worship an awesome god in the blue states and there's no red America, there's not white, you know, blue America, I remember, I think I literally stopped breathing. Brian I said, and I remember thinking, I said, "This is our first black President". You know, and I'm sure a lot of people thought it at that moment but there is something that he embodies to me about what it means to be a liberal.

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Leahy Calls for Truth Commission

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. "truth commission" should investigate Bush administration policies including the promotion of war in Iraq, detainee treatment and wiretapping without a warrant, an influential senator proposed on Monday....."We need to come[...]

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ASSIGNMENT DESK: THE OMB BLOG.

Ryan asks:I'm interested to hear what you have found out about a possible OMB blog.Alternatively, if you have heard anything or have any thoughts on blogging more broadly throughout government.To answer the question, I e-mailed Thomas Gavin, the[...]

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=assignment_desk_the_omb_blog

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