“Ezra Klein” on The Daily Caller

On his Monday radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh had a back-handed compliment for liberal Washington Post blogger and self-proclaimed wonk Ezra Klein, who, to Limbaugh’s surprise, had highlighted that the real U.S. unemployment rate is 11 percent in a blog post on Monday — a number that is bad news for President Barack Obama. (more)

Throughout Thursday on CNBC, network CME Group floor reporter Rick Santelli referred to turmoil in the financial markets as cleansing with “a giant enema.” That is, Santelli claimed that despite all the government’s efforts to prop up the failing economy, the truth eventually comes out. (more)

Ezra Klein recently posted a New York Times graphic supporting his view that the deficit is primarily the fault of former President Bush and his predecessors, rather than President Obama. Interestingly, he makes no attempt to claim that Obama’s policies have reduced the deficit, just that Obama’s deficit increases were smaller than Bush’s. (more)

Sometimes It’s Simple: When I heard pollster Pat Caddell–who usually blasts Dems these days–say on Saturday that Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan was a near-suicidal act leading Republicans “off the cliff,” my initial instinct was to agree, especially regarding Ryan’s proposed Medicare changes. Here Republicans were winning the grinding debate over relatively small cuts in the federal discretionary budget. Democrats–the party that desperately needs to convince voters it can be trusted to get rid of $1.6 trillion annual deficits–seemed to be reflexively defending government bloat, measuring success by the amount of spending preserved the way antipoverty activists measure success by the number of people on the dole.  (more)

John’s Assignment Desk: John Rosenberg suggests that some enterprising journalist or graduate student add up the cost of the federal government’s redundant affirmative action and civil rights bureaucracy. Good idea. I would think it’s quite expensive–don’t lots of government agencies have little non-essential offices dedicated to “equal employment opportunity”? Rosenberg suggests we let a mere two agencies–DOJ and EEOC –do the job. … (more)

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio’s statements against short-term spending measures are part of a small, but burgeoning, conservative rebellion against the three-week spending bill introduced Friday by GOP House leaders. (more)

Although it was politically messy, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker achieved a policy victory this week by reforming how public sector unions operate in his state. And although he has taken a barrage of attacks from the left, in the long run could his star be on the rise? (more)

If liberals like Ezra Klein are right, yesterday’s olive branch “compromise” offer by President Obama on his controversial health care law won’t win any supporters among the law’s opponents, because, in so many words, it comes from Mr. Obama himself, and they don’t trust him enough to go for any “compromise” that he endorses. (more)

Although the U.S. Senate voted along partisan lines Wednesday to defeat repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — it overwhelmingly on the same day voted to repeal one of the provisions that has proven most burdensome to entrepreneurs: the mandate for business to file IRS 1099 reports on any purchase over $600. (more)

The United States of America was born of revolution by the people. And from the revolution was created a unique document offering a system of government incorporating expressed balance of power elements to make sure those in power would not trample on the people’s hard-won rights. Said Patrick Henry: (more)

District Court Judge Henry Hudson gave an early Christmas present to many conservatives this week, ruling that the individual mandate in the Democrats’ healthcare bill is unconstitutional. (more)

On Monday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin mocked her media detractors – Politico, specifically — as “puppy-kicking, chain-smoking porn producers” for their heavy use of anonymous sources in a quote as memorable as Spiro Agnew’s “nattering nabobs of negativism.” (more)

The National Republican Senatorial Committee rushed to the aid of Kentucky’s Tea Party favorite Senate candidate Rand Paul with a new ad Monday railing against Democratic candidate Jack Conway. (more)

If you talk to most liberals, they’ll tell you that conservatives are insensitive, callous and selfish.  To their own detriment, leftists tend to believe that those on the right simply don’t care about the less fortunate.  While this doctrine has been embedded in left-leaning gospel for decades, research and reality paint a very different picture — one that has perplexed many of the left’s self-proclaimed “compassionates.”  With one of the worst economic downturns in American history still impacting the lives of millions of Americans, understanding this subject is paramount. (more)

Even in Israel, the Daily Caller’s “Journolist” exposé has received its share of attention.  The Jeremiah Wright and Sarah Palin email threads were less interesting to Israelis than the Journolist discussion of whether to report on the Islamist background of the Ft. Hood Texas shooter. (more)

White House advisor demanded–and got–support from JournoList — Obama wants the FBI be able to look at more things without anybody knowing they are looking at things — Charlie Rangel’s colleagues cannot wait to sell him down the river — Statepocalypse begins now — Americans are losing the will to protest their government’s bad decisions — Rich people are buying up votes in Florida like real estate (more)

Despite its name, membership in the liberal online community Journolist wasn’t limited to journalists. Present among the bloggers, reporters and editors were a number of professional political operatives, including top White House economic advisors, key Obama political appointees, and Democratic campaign veterans. Some left government to join Journolist. Others took the opposite route. A few contributed to Journolist from their perches in politics. At times, it became difficult to tell who was supposed to be covering policy and who was trying to make it. (more)

One of the heated debates taking place in Washington D.C. is whether the federal government should give states $10 billion to save teacher jobs as part of an additional stimulus package. In fact, last Thursday night the issue proved to be contentious enough to delay the passage of the war-time supplemental spending bill – the bill the teacher spending is attached to. Eleven Democrats (and Senator Lieberman) joined the Republicans in sending the House-passed bill back to the House, refusing to pass the measure unless the additional funding is removed. Debate on the issue is expected to continue this week. (more)

Dear Mr. Brauchli: (more)

The Daily Caller has highlighted some of Journolist’s worst moments — such as when liberal members of the media plotted to kill important stories about the presidential campaign. (more)