TOWNHOUSE REDUX: 20+ lefty groups holding daily calls to coordinate messages.

MICHAEL YON: Will Obama fumble Iraq? “Today Iraq is succeeding, but as Generals Petraeus or Odierno might say, the situation remains fragile and reversible. Whereas the Bush-war ended in a new if messy democracy, this year we could see an Obama-war begin; the new President has sent a clear signal that we intend to mostly abandon Iraq during this crucial transition period. Today, the progress is obvious. But if Iraq descends back into chaos, the Obama-war, a newborn war, will not be a result of U.S. aggression, but of limp leadership intent on fulfilling campaign promises that were misinformed to begin with.” Plus, problems with the Afghan Army.

WELL, DANG: Little chance for earmark elimination say Dems.

ASKING THE TOUGH QUESTIONS: “How exactly is getting credit flowing to unworthy borrowers going to stabilize the economy?”

TIGERHAWK ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION:

If the CEOs of banks that take federal money, including those who took federal money only after Hank Paulsen essentially ordered them, have their salary capped at $500,000, under what principle do we allow universities that request federal funding to pay their own presidents much more money?

Er, the principle that university presidents vote Democratic? More here.

MEGAN MCARDLE: Why Can’t Treasury Find Qualified Staff?

TRANSPARENCY: “An unaccountable secretive national hedge fund.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to Get Bruce Lee Like Strength Without Ever Going to a Gym.

INDEED: Entrepreneurship, not the government, will produce green jobs.

POLITICO: Inside Murtha’s ‘earmark factory’:

Over the course of the past decade, Rep. John P. Murtha has earmarked millions of dollars for the Electro-Optics Center at Penn State University — money that has, in turn, gone to clients of the PMA Group, the Murtha-linked lobbying shop that was raided in November as part of a federal criminal probe.

Founded in 1999 as a joint enterprise run by Penn State and the Office of Naval Research, the EOC promotes electronic research needed for state-of-the-art military equipment.

But sources familiar with the EOC’s operations say Murtha has used the center as a “front” for PMA and other lobbyists and contractors with ties to the Pennsylvania Democrat.

Some Democratic spokespeople are saying that earmarks don’t matter because the amount of money is small compared to the total budget. If that’s true, then outright bribes wouldn’t matter, either, because there’s not all that much difference . . . .

CAMILLE PAGLIA: “Heads should be rolling at the White House for the embarrassing series of flubs that have overshadowed President Obama’s first seven weeks in office and given the scattered, demoralized Republicans a huge boost toward regrouping and resurrection.”

Plus this: “Though every novice administration makes blunders and bloopers, its modus operandi should not be a conspiratorial reflex cynicism.”

UPDATE: A Presidential “Crisis of Competence?” You’re hearing similar things from Howard Fineman.

ANOTHER UPDATE: “Cognitive bias” and other explanations.

THE END OF THE SECRET BALLOT?

FIVE YEARS AFTER the Madrid bombings.

THE U.N. ISN’T BUYING THE ADMINISTRATION’S “Kinder, Gentler Rendition.”

JOHN FUND: Chris Dodd May Finally Have to Get a Real Job. “Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd’s efforts to escape a scandal over special treatment he received on his home mortgages continue to flop.”

Plus, Poll Shows Dodd Losing.

WHY DO THERE SEEM TO BE SO MANY WITHDRAWN OBAMA NOMINEES? Thoughts from Eugene Volokh and Orin Kerr. Also, “nobody wants to be Obama’s ‘Brownie.'” Or is it a case of “ethics bends?”

MATH-CHALLENGED at the L.A. Times?

AMERICA: Knoxville Sign Workers Respond Creatively to Company Closing.

BARACK OBAMA AND “The Great Vetting Disaster.”

HMM: Daley admits to taking trips on EduCap’s $31 million jet. “Daley changed his story one week after City Hall insisted that a September 2006 trip to Singapore was the mayor’s only travel courtesy of EduCap, a multibillion dolloar student loan charity under the microscope because of the high interest it charges on student loans and the perks it provides to its CEO.”

WILL COLLIER: “Forget the ‘liberalterian’ or ‘moderates vs. conservatives’ manamana being bantered about recently. What we have today is a schism, and it’s between the Tea Party Conservatives and Dinner Party Conservatives.”

SO HOW MANY BAD APPOINTMENTS HAS OBAMA HAD? There’s Chas Freeman, Sanjay Gupta, Annette Nazareth, Tom Daschle, Bill Richardson, Nancy Killefer — who am I leaving out? And there are still problems with Adolfo Carrion. But at least Ron Kirk made it through despite his tax problems.

UPDATE: Oh, yeah. Judd Gregg. And the Zinni debacle.

A RATHER INCOMPLETE ACCOUNT OF THE CHAS FREEMAN AFFAIR, from NBC:

The Washington Post and other news outlets have reported on the controversial appointment of Charles W. Freeman to lead the National Intelligence Council. The controversy — he has occasionally criticized Israel’s policies.

They might have mentioned his being under investigation for financial ties to the Chinese and Saudis, too. But that would spoil the narrative.

UPDATE: Oh, yeah, and his comments about the Tibetans, and the Tiananmen Square Massacre, too. NBC — or, more precisely, Mark Murray at FirstRead — might have mentioned those, instead of just parroting the “the Jews done it” line.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Walter Pincus cleans things up for Freeman. “Freeman’s parting shot combined falsehoods, misdirection, and anti-Semitism combined with imputations of dual loyalty (at best). It is not only newsworthy in itself, it also raises serious questions about the Obama administration’s judgment. In short, the Washington Post has expurgated this story in a most discreditable manner.”

Plus, at The New York Times: “Showing the same crack journalistic instincts that it did with the Eason Jordan scandal, the New York Times ‘breaks’ the story of Charles Freeman’s resignation … without ever having reported that Freeman’s appointment had generated controversy. If readers relied solely on the Gray Lady, they must have found themselves stunned to see the Obama administration appointment suddenly implode.”

When people tell us that the death of newspapers will mean the loss of hard-news reporting, stories like this make me ask — where is it now?

IT’S PROBABLY TIME FOR SOMEONE TO UPDATE THIS FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS POST: “Ask yourself if you really want to be on Ashcroft’s list.” For, you know, a whole new flavor of paranoia.

UPDATE: Maybe we could assign the task to Chuck Norris. Chuck, try reading this.

IT FIGURES THIS WOULD COME FROM A LESBIAN: How Stacy McCain became irresistible to women. I’m just sayin’. . . .