The Daily Caller

The Daily Caller
  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney reaches for his wife Ann as his sons, Josh, Ben, Craig, Tagg and Matt (L-R) look on during the Romney for President New Hampshire primary night rally at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, N.H., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)   

TheDC Morning: Romney’s Rascals

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1.) Romney’s Rascals — Mitt Romney has enough sons to fill a basketball team — who knows if he even knows them all? Too help sort out the presumptive GOP nominee’s gang, TheDC’s Taylor Bigler provides the important details on them:

“Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig Romney have all stumped for their father, Mitt Romney, at one time or another during his run campaign for the White House. And with the general election having officially begun, the five sons are sure to appear more frequently on the trail. Besides being relatively attractive and clean-cut clones of each other, what do we know about the Romney sons, really?”

You’re going to have to read the article to learn more about The Jokester, The Alternative One, The Favorite, The Least Favorite, The Rebel and The Serial Killer. Wait, one of those isn’t right.

2.) Meet Eric WhitakerObama’s long-time buddy has been popping up all over the place, reports TheDC’s Vince Coglianese:

“Eric Whitaker has been friends with Barack Obama ever since they pursued graduate degrees at Harvard together. Whitaker — who now runs the Urban Health Initiative (UHI) out of the University of Chicago Medical Center — often vacations with the first family, is a regular golf partner of President Obama’s and has organized Chicago-area parties for when the president visits the Windy City … In a Monday afternoon radio interview with Sean Hannity, [author Edward] Klein revealed that Whitaker had purportedly offered Rev. Jeremiah Wright — an infamous and challenging weight on Obama’s 2008 campaign — $150,000 to stay silent until after the election was over. Wright refused Whitaker’s offer, Klein said … Also on Monday, White House Dossier reported that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded the UHI a $5.9 million taxpayer grant.”

3.) A Saudi freedom fighter –  In some societies being a feminist is actually a risky venture. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein (ME!) reports on Saudi activist Manal al-Sharif:

“In May 2011, Manal al-Sharif did something revolutionary: she drove a car. In most societies this would be far from noteworthy, but in Saudi Arabia, where women are prohibited from getting behind the wheel, it was an act of extraordinary courage… [L]ast week, the 32-year old Saudi was one of three people awarded the first annual Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent at the Oslo Freedom Forum. To attend the conference in Norway, al-Sharif says she was pressured out of her job at the Saudi oil company Aramco. Considering she is a working-class single mother, it couldn’t have been an easy decision to continue her human rights fight in the face of such economic pressures. But, as al-Sharif told The Daily Caller, ‘if you stand up for your beliefs, there is a price to pay.’”

Three cheers for courage.

4.) The House doesn’t much care for CAIR TheDC’s Caroline May reports on the latest travails of the Council on Islamic-American Relations:

“The Department of Justice is being encouraged to follow in the footsteps of the FBI in cutting off all non-investigative ties to the country’s largest Muslim advocacy organization, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The Fiscal Year 2013 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill, which passed the House on Wednesday, contains in its Committee Report (a separate public document that spells out how agencies are expected to spend the money allocated to them) a recommendation that Attorney General Eric Holder follow in the FBI’s footsteps and sever ties with CAIR.”

5.) Poll of the Day: Most Americans believe rich people benefit America — Gallup Poll asks ”Do you think the United States benefits from having a class of rich people, or not?”: 63% said benefits, 34% said does not benefit, while 3% were unsure.

6.) Tweet of Yesterday – AdamSerwer: Is Obama the first mutant president? Newsweek cover story by Dr. Charles Xavier

VIDEO: Elizabeth Warren is proud of the Native American heritage she can’t prove she has

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