Day's End Round-Up

FROM THE BLOGS:

The Senate-hearing circus is in session

Matthew Duss recaps yesterday's tumultuous confirmation hearing for former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) in The American Prospect. 

Is it getting better? Homophobia rocks super bowl
The Nation's Dave Zirin discusses the comments made about members of the LGBT community by certain San Francisco 49ers players.



Fleeing Harry Reid's Senate
Jennifer Rubin writes in The Washington Post why she believes more Democratic senators will retire and join the private sector.



Obama administration retreating on HHS contraception mandate?
Hot Air's Ed Morrissey on the Obama administration's decision to exclude certain religiously affiliated organizations from the HHS contraception mandate.



OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Economy adds 157,000 jobs, unemployment ticks up to 7.9 percent
The Hill's Vicki Needham reports on the January jobs report numbers.



Steven Chu stepping down as Obama's energy secretary
The Hill's Ben Geman reports on why the Noble Prize-winning scientist decided to not stay for a second term in the Obama administration.



FROM THE BLOGS:

Hagel's experience as a grunt
At War's Don Gomez wonders if Chuck Hagel's experience as a sergeant in Vietnam gives him enough experience to lead the Pentagon.

NRA loses congressional supporter
Huffington Post's Chelsea Klene reports former Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.) is backing away from the NRA and is supporting President Obama's gun-control proposals.

GOP gets Tech-savvy 
Red State's Ned Ryun says conservatives are giving themselves a more technologically competitive edge to muster votes in 2014.

A big thank you to Israel
According to the New York Post's editorial board, the White House owes Israel a big thank you for their air strike in Syria this morning.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Chuck Hagel comes under fire at hearing
Former colleagues of Sen. Hagel demand answers to tough questios on the former Senator's past votes and remarks, The Hill's Jeremy Herb reports.

House GOP want answers
House Republicans are drafting a bill that will force President Obama to estimate when federal budget will be balanced, The Hill's Pete Kasperowicz reports.

FROM THE BLOGS:

GDP falls in the fourth quarter
The Daily Beast's Megan McArdle discusses the surprising news that, for the first time since 2009, the national GDP contracted.

Why it won't be Barney Frank
Steve Kornacki of Salon.com explains why Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) won't (and actually didn't) pick former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to serve in the Senate on an interim basis.

Will the foreign policy version of "fast & furious" ever end?
The Washington Monthly's Ed Kilgore compares Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) intense focus on the attacks in Benghazi to the focus on DOJ's Operation Fast and Furious in the House.

Valentines for Hagel were posted from Tehran
Kenneth R. Timmermanin The Washington Times writes how the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) to be secretary of Defense sends the wrong message to Iran.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Giffords to panel: 'You must act'
The Hill's Mike Lillis reports on ex-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords's (D-Ariz.) emotional testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of new gun control measures.

Sen. Cochran becomes first Republican to back Hagel to lead Pentagon
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) supports Hagel's nomination for secretary of Defense, The Hill's Jeremy Herb reports.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Catering to both sides on immigration reform
The Plum Line's Greg Sargent asks why the current $18 billion border security budget is not enough.

Sandy Relief Bill still gets 'no' votes in the Senate
ThinkProgress's Josh Israel breaks down 31 senators who voted 'no' to a Hurricane Sandy relief bill after requesting disaster relief for their own states.

Gang of Eight's immigration reform remains questionable
The Daily Caller's Mickey Kaus says "Washington fakery" is at work regarding amnesty in the new Senate proposals for 11 million illegal immigrants.

A fond farewell
"I did not belong at CNN," Erick Erickson said as he bid goodbye to three years at CNN.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES

NRA chief to call for arming schools
Wayne LaPierre, the vice president of the National Rifle Association, will call for strengthening current gun laws and mental health care at a Senate hearing on Wednesday, The Hill's Mike Lillis reports.

Sen. Graham to withhold Hagel nomination
Until Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta testifies on the Benghazi attack, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is threatening to block former Sen. Chuck Hagel's (R-Neb.) nomination to succeed the outgoing Defense secretary, according to The Hill's Jeremy Herb.

FROM THE BLOGS:


World's leaders aren't doing their jobs
CNN contributor David Frum thinks the first step to obtaining a secure global financial system is for participants at the World Economic Forum in Davos to admit that they screwed up.

Moving beyond Roe: How can we find our way out of the desert?
National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez writes on how the anti-abortion-rights movement can refashion itself.

The Senate immigration plan isn't terrible — it's just unworkable
Adam Serwer of Mother Jones writes that the Senate's "gang of eight" immigration proposal is too vague to properly implement.


The 'fiscal cliff' bill is not what it seems
Lynn Forester de Rothschild outlines in the Huffington Post how many earmarks were included in the "fiscal cliff" bill.  

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Boehner pledge to committee chairmen could cause logistical problems
Speaker John Boehner's promise to give committee chairmen more power will allow members to have more input on policies going forward, though possibly at the expense of influence from Republican leadership, The Hill's Molly K. Hooper reports.



Rep. Markey's mettle to be tested in Massachusetts Senate special election
Rep. Edward Markey (D) will have to show good campaigning skills and acumen if he hopes to defeat Rep. Stephen Lynch (D) in the Democratic primary to become the next senator from Massachusetts, The Hill's Alexandra Jaffe reports. 



FROM THE BLOGS:

Ineffective on the inequality gap
The New York Times’s David Brooks argues that Democratic policies will not help solve the inequality gap they’re intended to fix.

Bobby Jindal on minorities and the GOP
The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart agreed with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R) call for Republicans to change their policies toward ethnic and cultural minorities. 

Common core standards ignore English and history
Michelle Malkin writes in Townhall how federal "common core" education standards have deemphasized the value of studying English and history.

No love lost for Geithner
Wonkette’s Rebecca Schoenkopf says goodbye and good riddance to outgoing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on his last day.


OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Obama recess appointments to labor board ruled unconstitutional
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board are unconstitutional, The Hill’s Kevin Bogardus reports.

McDonough named new White House chief of staff
President Obama today named Denis McDonough to replace outgoing Chief of Staff Jack Lew amid a larger West Wing personnel shakeup, according to The Hill’s Amie Parnes.

FROM THE BLOGS:

Gerrymandering at its finest
The nonpartisan advocacy group FairVote is furious at Virginia Republicans for their latest gerrymandering scheme, according to TPM's Benjy Sarlin.

Biden explains why Obama administration pulled out of Iraq
The Daily Caller’s David Meyers argues the reason President Obama withdrew forces from Iran was so he could boast about his peacemaking efforts.

NRA favorite crosses over
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday came out in favor of universal background checks for gun purchasers, Greg Sargent reports for The Plumline.

Immigration reform back in the spotlight
At The Blaze, Jessica Zuckerman weighs in on “problem-solving approach” to immigration reform.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Conservatives still not happy with Christie
Club for Growth President Chris Chocola criticized Gov. Chris Christie (R) over pushing a Hurricane Sandy relief package, The Hill's Alexandra Jaffe reports.

Tax hikes help GOP
The Obama administration’s recent tax hikes could help Congress balance the budget, according to The Hill's Bernie Becker and Russell Berman.

FROM THE BLOGS:

'Full court press'
J.F. of The Economist's Democracy in America blog asks what the full legacy of Roe v. Wade is.

A few notes on Obama's second inauguration
The New Yorker's David Remnick writes that if President Obama's second inaugural speech is followed by action, it will be considered "among the most important American political addresses of the modern era."

A few Senate Dems who are 'squeamish' on new gun measures
A number of Senate Democrats in competitive states seem a little nervous about passing some of President Obama's new gun measures, according to Greg Sargent.

Obama's questionable decision to use the phrase 'peace in our time'
Thomas Ricks at his Foreign Policy blog picks out the "WTF" moment in Obama's second inaugural address.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Obama's hardline on immigration reform
President Obama subtly drew a hard line on immigration reform in his second inaugural address, according to Bloomberg Businessweek's Elizabeth Dwoskin.

The least interesting about Elizabeth Colbert-Busch is she's Stephen Colbert's sister
Bryce Donovan of the South Carolina Post and Courier profiles Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, candidate for Congress in South Carolina.

FROM THE BLOGS:

A series of photobombs by Sen. Schumer
J.K. Trotter catches Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sneaking into a series of photos during President Obama's swearing-in.

Obama: 'I'll never see this again'
President Obama savored his last inauguration ceremony on Monday pausing at one moment to say "I'll never see this again," according to TPM's Igor Bobic.

Enthusiasm gap
Seth Masket at Mischiefs of Faction compares crowd enthusiasm at the 2013 presidential inauguration to the inauguration in 2009.

Reading Obama's 'neglect' of foreign policy in second inaugural address
Daniel Larison at The American Conservative analyzes Obama's focus on domestic policy and not foreign policy in his second inaugural address.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

Republicans wish Obama reached out more
Republican lawmakers said Obama didn't offer enough olive branches in his speech, according to The Hill's Jeremy Herb.

Obama keeps his word
Michael Grunwald of Time magazine argues that Obama is likely to follow through on his legislative promises in his second term.

FROM THE BLOGS:

NRCC cites Te'o in attacking Senate Dems
Derek Wallbank at Bloomberg's Political Capital blog highlights a jab mentioning Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o the National Republican Congressional Committee sent at Senate Democrats.

On congressional pay
Sahil Kapur of Talking Points Memo reviews whether the 27th Amendment of the Constitution allows withholding lawmakers' pay unless they pass a budget.

In defense of nude scanners
Wesley J. Smith argues that nude scanners at airports "should actually reduce" unnecessarily invasive procedures by the TSA.

Pete Peterson predicts markets will panic on debt crisis ... sooner or later
Suzy Khimm at Ezra Klein's Wonkblog interviews Pete Peterson, formerly a member of President Nixon's Cabinet and a founding partner of the Blackstone group.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:

House GOP to vote next week on three-month increase to debt limit
House Republicans will vote next week on a three-month increase of the debt ceiling, reports The Hill's Russell Berman.

Whole Foods CEO walks back 'fascism' comment
Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey reportedly regrets calling President Obama's healthcare law "more like fascism." The Hill's Elise Viebeck has more.