Free Republic

Politico reports: The White House chided Israel on Tuesday for the way it canceled a meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it would have been “good manners” for Israeli officials to tell the White House directly.

Bringing dangerous Guantanamo Bay inmates to U.S. prisons would undermine a terrorist recruiting tool, White House spokesman Josh Earnest argued on Tuesday: "Well, their argument would be a lot tougher, because the detention that we would have in place would be cleanly in line with American values, right? That we would ensure that this is consistent with the way that American citizens are treated. That certainly is more consideration than these terrorists give to their adversaries, to say the least." ...

The White House said Wednesday that President Obama "regrets" his filibuster against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito in 2006, but insisted the situation was different than Republicans' current vow to block any nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. "These are two different things," said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. "The president's objections to then-President Bush's nominee were based in substance." In 2006, then-Sen. Obama and 23 other Democrats -- including Hillary Clinton -- tried to filibuster Justice Alito's nomination. He was confirmed for the high court anyway.