• the left The conservative media is sticking behind the gonzo journalist despite the alleged breaking into Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office. Also, sources like Fox News barely covered the story, in comparison to the much-hyped ACORN videos. source
• the right The U.S. Attorney who was spearheading the criminal case against O’Keefe just stepped down. Also, O’Keefe sat in jail for 28 hours without an lawyer. Andrew Breitbart says it was to spin the case as a “Watergate Junior.” source

• no He doesn’t support the health care bill, the key promise that got him voted into the Senate.
• no He won’t simply be the GOP’s 41st vote, despite selling himself as that. Sneaky.
• yes He’s mostly pro-choice, but doesn’t support federal funding for abortions.
• yes He supports some of Obama’s plans, including tax credits and spending freezes. source

• Rarely has there been such an encounter between a president and the opposition party and certainly never on national television. It was the antithesis of the kind of snarling exchanges that often pass for political dialogue, whether between strategists in the two parties, candidates in the heat of a campaign or on the worst of cable television.
• Washington Post reporter Dan Balz • Analyzing our favorite moment of politics between Barack Obama and the Republican Party, yesterday’s steel-cage death match at the Republican compound in Baltimore. A Q&A session between the president and the party that has made his life hell over the last year, Obama came out FAR ahead at the end of it, pointing out some of the dirtier political tricks he’s seen and effectively beating down their talking points. The fact that it aired on national TV made the barbs even more impressive. The question is, will the talk have a lasting effect or is it just a really good moment of levity? source

• On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building.
• “Gonzo” conservative journalist James O’Keefe • Regarding that whole arrest thing that happened earlier this week. His claim? “The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office.” Who said this? Who? Anyway, O’Keefe and his three cohorts could face up to ten years in prison for maliciously interfering with a telephone system operated and controlled by the U.S. government. They claim they were just trying to shoot funny, embarrassing videos. Sure. source

• 17% of the budget will be affected by the cap

• » Subject to cuts: Reports say that the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Energy, Transportation, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services will be affected by the cuts. Guess what, kids? D.C.’s about to have a three-year recession.
• » Unaffected by cuts: Social Security and Medicare (he couldn’t touch those even if he wanted), and organizations affected by military, veterans, homeland security and international affairs. The cuts only take on discretionary spending.

A douchey comment by Michael Steel:

• Given Washington Democrats’ unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you’re going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest.
• Rep. John Boehner’s spokesman Michael Steel • Regarding the budget cuts. Considering the year of controversial spending that the Obama administration has just had, we imagine any cuts in the nature of this would be welcomed by the right. Or maybe they’ll make jokes about pie contests. We’ll see. source

• Note: in an earlier version of this story, we mistook Michael Steel for RNC chair Michael Steele. We apologize. We’re sure he gets that a lot. At least we’re not alone in making this boneheaded mistake.Thanks to Joel McDonald for correcting us below. Much appreciated.
  

• Nice hair, Robbie Robert Gibbs took to “Fox News Sunday” to deflect the Scott Brown thingy for Obama, but really, all we could focus on was the mini-pompadour in his hair. Is he gunning to be Conan’s replacement or something?
• 
  “Like a thunderbolt”Among other topics that CBS’ “Face The Nation” tackled was the campaign finance ruling in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Their take? The Scott Brown victory (and this decision) came just in time for the GOP to capitalize.
• 
  Where’s the backbone? Rachel Maddow makes a pretty good slam on what she sees as Democratic wimpiness – taking Erroll Southers out of the TSA nomination, going limp after Scott Brown’s win – with a good point: The Dems are still in power.

• The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington, or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.
• President Barack Obama • In his weekly radio address, where he assailed the recent Supreme Court decision on campaign financing. Obama himself made a stronger pledge for transparency and pointed out that his administration has made strides to run a clean ship. He also pledges that “it will be a priority for us until we repair the damage that has been done.” In other words, the Supreme Court totally failed. source

• Brown offers nothing constructive, nothing coherent, nothing concrete, and no support for anything President Obama has done or plans to do. He’ll fit right in.
• Newsweek columnist Daniel Gross • Regarding Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown, who he feels has no firm fiscal policy, just like many other Republicans. Gross argues that it seems like the current agenda for many Republicans is something along the line of party pooper for any sort of economic recovery. He’s argued this before in Slate, referring to the party as the “Failure Caucus.” Ouch. He goes further: “In fact, it’s virtually impossible to find an elected Republican official who can speak intelligently and accurately about budget issues.” Painful. source

• Are the “Good Old Days” gone? In response to Fox News talking heads going on about how we’ve lost our innocence, “The Daily Show’s” John Oliver tried looking for said innocence, and wasn’t able to find it. Decade by decade, he found that it was just as bad. Freaking hilarious. Depressing. And awesome. All at once, guys.

• Obviously playing politics As you might have noticed, we’ve been hard on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over the last couple of months because of his seemingly obvious attempts to stonewall progress on health care, not offer any real solutions, and really just try to kill Obama dead in in the water. Which is why it’s nice to hear Arlen Specter, who caucused with the GOP at the beginning of 2009 only to switch sides, basically say it.
• What the Senate needs The Senate needs some reforms, because right now it’s clearly weighted against the majority party too much. The House can get things done with a simple majority; the Senate, however, has all these useless votes and filibusters, and needs a two-thirds majority to even be useful. Arlen’s been on both sides, and he’s been a Senator long enough that his words should be heeded. Good show, man.