TOM MAGUIRE: Who doesn’t love the JournoList? Hey, it helps everybody present the correct narrative.

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Connecticut Senator Draws Voters’ Ire for His Bonus Role. “Across Connecticut, anger is erupting against Mr. Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, whose stature in Washington once reflected the state’s beneficial ties with the financial industry. Now, he finds himself a symbol of the political establishment’s coziness with tainted corporations and a target of populist wrath over their excesses. . . . In dozens of interviews, residents said they were appalled by Mr. Dodd’s ties to financial firms and believed that he had damaged himself as he prepares to run for re-election next year.”

This will increase anger over the sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide and the whole Irish “cottage” business, too, I imagine.

POLITICO: Obama Struggles As Communicator: “Of all the pitfalls Barack Obama might face in the presidency, here is one not many people predicted: He is struggling as a public communicator.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Democrats blame each other on AIG bonuses. “Red-faced at AIG bonus loophole, Dodd and Geithner blame each other for nixing stricter limits.”

L.A. TIMES: Obama White House bars press from press award ceremony.

INSIDE A.I.G., A SENSE OF BETRAYAL:

Who wants to hear a wealthy financier complain? And yet, within those walls off Danbury Road lies a deep sense of betrayal — first by their former colleagues, now by their elected leaders.

The handful of souls who championed the firm’s now-infamous credit-default swaps are, by nearly every account, long since departed. Those left behind to clean up the mess, the majority of whom never lost a dime for AIG, now feel they have been sold out by their Congress and their president.

“They’ve chosen to throw us under the bus,” said a Financial Products executive, one of several who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. “They have vilified us.” . . .

If they did walk out the door, who would volunteer to work at the Chernobyl of the financial world? And what would become of the mammoth portfolio that remains?

“It would become the biggest naked position on Wall Street,” one longtime Financial Products executive said, “and everybody would exploit it.”

Better hope they don’t “go John Galt.”

A MASSIVE PILLOW-FIGHT in Nashville’s Centennial Park.

HERE’S A PICTURE OF MY PANEL FROM HOFSTRA. It’s Anthu Hoang, me, Dr. Mark Toney, and — not shown, because she was in via teleconference — Maxine Burkett from the University of Hawaii.

Interestingly, there was a lot of agreement across the ideological spectrum — cap-and-trade is dubious in light of its failure in Europe, and questions about the trustworthiness of trading systems and government regulators, and that a carbon tax should be revenue-neutral.

MICKEY KAUS ON JOURNOLIST: “Everybody has private notes, sources, or conversations. That doesn’t mean a secret conversation among ‘hundreds’ of influential Democratic writers doesn’t potentially create problems. Groupthink might be one of them. … Hey, and another might be the fostering of an us-vs-them mentality! Maybe even a weakness for smug rationalization.”

And faux-macho “shut the fuck up!” outbursts.

THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS PRESIDENCY. “It’s going to be a long four years.”

UPDATE: Much more discussion here.

MORE “TEA PARTY” TAXPAYER PROTEST PLANS. Look here to see if there’s one near you.

GOOD GRIEF: They really did blow the “region code” thing with Gordon Brown. That’s just pathetic. Bush league? This isn’t even single-A ball.

UH OH: US stock rally fades as investors assess Fed moves. “Investors doused a two-week-old stock rally Thursday as concerns emerged that the Federal Reserve’s new bond-buying campaign could wind up hurting the dollar and causing inflation.” You think?

UPDATE: A vegetable garden at the White House? As long as it’s not one of these . . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Consumer prices rose in February by the largest amount in seven months as gasoline prices surged again and clothing costs jumped the most in nearly two decades.

BLOOMBERG: Obama Needs AIG’s Liddy, Not Other Way Around. “Why hasn’t the government put in its own people already? Maybe no one wants the job.” Plus, it’s hard to find anyone who’s paid their taxes. . . .

UPDATE: I haven’t actually read Atlas Shrugged, but it’s a stupid book. Meanwhile, Yglesias seems to have missed the point that Liddy isn’t the one who wrecked AIG, he’s the one who was brought in to clean up the mess, only to be betrayed in the face of upsetting poll data.

READER JOHN OBERG WRITES: “Apparently more press showed up to Goldman’s headquarters than actual protesters today. Quite a contrast to the much more popular tax protests which get no attention (and to which I heartily approve).” It’s all about the narrative.

ROGER SIMON: A petition to the Navy re Congressman Murtha.

CONTENDERS FOR the Booker International and Orange Prizes.

REALCLEARPOLITICS: Dodd in Deep Doo-Doo.

HOT AIR: Sebelius Has Trouble in Kansas.

LEAP OF FAITH: The physics of stunt-jumping.