Weekly Wrap-Up for the (work) week of Feb 13-17

Just a thought I had, collecting some of the top stories of this week in one place, in case you missed one, and to make it easier to see patterns emerging.

The GOP primaries

• Clarice Feldman wonders if ABC should really be moderating debates.
• Alexis Garcia finds video of Newt saying, no, he won’t drop out.
• David Swindle digs up a 2008 video of Santorum endorsing Romney.
• Bryan Preston finds a poll that has Santorum and Romney in a statistical tie.
• Sammy Levine gives us a look at Newt addressing the California Tea Party.
• Bryan explains what a shrewd Republican candidate would do.
• Your humble contributor finds an interview where Megadeth’s front man talks about the Republican candidates.
• Stephen Kruiser finds a Brit warning us about Romney.
• Bryan reports that the Texas primary has been moved back.
• Bryan then catches Romney and Santorum agreeing that they don’t want to do another CNN debate just a few days before Super Tuesday.
• I take a look at Santorum’s campaign stop in Detroit.
• Then I found an article from pollster Rasmussen Reports saying that Santorum could be Romney’s nightmare.
• Roger Simon looks at Santorum’s tax break for manufacturing companies and calls it “reverse Solyndra.”
• cfbleachers reports that Newt apparently has the money to make it at least to Super Tuesday.

ObamaCare contraceptive mandate

• I started off this week following the money.
• Clarice looked at what would happen if we applied the same rules to coffee.
• Dan Miller examined how the mandate fits with the “living and breathing” document called the Constitution.
• Clarice reprints part of Archbishop Chaput’s “blistering retort” to the regulation.
• Bryan Preston points out a poll showing 59% of Catholics disapproving of Obama’s job performance.
• Clarice reports that Harry Reid changed his mind and is now bringing up for a vote a Senate bill that would reverse the mandate.
• Bryan catches Barbara Boxer saying that the “right” to insurance is more important than the right written right into the text of the Constitution to the free practice of religion.
• Then Bryan catches another lefty, this time Bob Beckel, trying to say that the mandate is needed to protect crackheads… or… something.
• I find a story I heard first on Fox and Friends (yes, I turn it on first thing every morning) that Darrell Issa is going to hold a hearing on the mandate.
• Bryan locates a LifeNews investigative piece showing that the panel that came up with the mandate was heavily packed with abortion advocates.
• And then Bryan reports on a couple of responses to the mandate.
• Bryan also catches Nancy Pelosi saying that the government needs to force churches to knuckle under to the mandate.
• Possibly the most troubling story on this troubling issue, Bryan reports that peaceful prayer protesters, including a priest, were arrested in front of the White House… but Occupiers are allowed to squat on federal land for weeks.
• Knocking down one of the lefty talking points, Bryan points out that the pills won’t be “free,” but will lead to higher premiums.
• Another poll found by Bryan shows that about half the nation as a whole disagrees with the mandate.
• Rounding out our terrible trio of feminine Democrats, Bryan gives us video of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz saying that government should “impose” values on Americans.

Budget and government spending

• Bryan starts off with what’s in Obama’s budget.
• Professor Neil Snyder wonders if we’re in for Greek-style turmoil.
• Bryan reports that the Senate Republicans added the Keystone XL pipeline to the transportation bill.
• New PJM Editor Bridget Johnson finds Obama’s budget sending $8 billion to a community college project.
• I catch John Boehner and the House GOP leadership giving Obama his payroll tax holiday extension with no spending cuts attached.
• Bridget finds Rep. Jeff Flake saying we’re rolling in debt.
• Bryan writes that Obama’s budget cuts school vouchers but subsidizes a car nobody wants to buy.
• Bridget points out that the Blue Dog Democrats are asking Obama to cut deeper.
• Bryan catches Obama’s chief of staff in a flat-out lie.
• Bridget points us to Sen. John Barrasso’s examination of the Obama budget, where he finds the largest tax increase in US history.
• Bridget then reports that the White House is threatening to veto the transportation bill with the Keystone XL pipeline amendment.
• And then Bridget finds another attempt to get the much-needed Keystone XL pipeline approved, by keeping Obama from tapping the strategic oil reserve unless the pipeline is approved (okay, this one stretches the definition of budget and spending, but since the pipeline was attached to a spending bill earlier, I decided to include this one).
• Again, Bridget looks under the hood of the Obama budget and finds funding for UNESCO.
• Professor Neil then shows that Obama really isn’t serious about solving debt problems.
• Bryan asks how that stimulus is working out.

Whew! And that’s just three issues! Of course, I picked the ones with the most posts as the “top” issues for this week. I think it does show how Tatler contributors work together to cover issues from lots of different angles.

Please let us know if you like this feature or not in the comments. If it’s popular, we’ll keep doing it… meaning probably I’ll keep doing it.