Top Items:
Rebecca Carr / Palm Beach Post:
STEVENS IS SMOKED OUT — After much speculation, a staffer to Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, admitted to Cox Newspapers today that the senator is the lawmaker who placed a "secret hold" on legislation that would open up the obscure world of government contracting to public scrutiny.
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CNN:
Sen. Stevens is 'the secret senator' — From Andrea Koppel, Ted Barrett and Abbi Tatton — Adjust font size: — WASHINGTON (CNN) — The identity of the blogosphere's "secret senator" has been revealed. — CNN has confirmed that Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska …
Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
"MASKED" BILL-BLOCKER REVEALS SELF — A spokesman for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) just confirmed his boss was the man behind the secret hold on the Coburn/Obama spending database bill, which has captivated a segment of the political blogging community in recent days.
Paul Kiel / TPMmuckraker:
Bill's Cost Troubled Me, Pork King Says — Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) held up a bill that would create a free, searchable database of government contracts and grants because he was worried about the proposal's price tag, his spokesman told me this afternoon. Its cost has been estimated at $15 million.
Mark Tapscott / Tapscott's Copy Desk:
As Predicted - It's Ted Stevens; And He Wants a "Cost-Benefit Analysis;" Why Coburn Knew but Didn't Tell; A Democrat Has Also Placed An Anonymous Hold — Congrats to TPMuckraker's Paul Keil who got a spokesman for Sen. Ted. Stevens, R-AK, to confirm that the Alaska Republican is the senator …
Associated Press:
CBS magazine slims down Couric in photo — NEW YORK - No, Katie Couric didn't suddenly lose 20 pounds. The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing. — The touched-up photo of Couric dressed …
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Don Kaplan / New York Post:
WEIGHING ANCHOR — CBS PHOTO TRICKERY TAKES A LOAD OFF — 'SLIMMER' COURIC — Talk about a miracle diet - Katie Couric has become the Incredible Shrinking Anchorwoman. — Thanks to a computer "slight" of hand, the Tiffany network has made the new face of "CBS Evening News" instantly drop about 20 pounds.
Brian Williams / MSNBC:
President Bush talks to Brian Williams — An exclusive conversation on the one-year anniversary of Katrina landfall … BRIAN WILLIAMS: You have apologized for the damage, but what about the damage to your presidency? And Mr. President, here's what I mean, most call it your low point.
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, The Carpetbagger Report, Wonkette, The Democratic Daily and The Huffington Post
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USA Today:
Gasoline prices could keep falling — Gasoline prices are falling fast and could keep dropping for months. — "The only place they have to go is down," says Fred Rozell, gasoline analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). "We'll be closer to $2 than $3 come Thanksgiving."
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
NYT suckers KP by carving up Rumsfeld's speech — So I was over at Kirsten Powers's blog, pining away, when I stumbled upon this bit of unwarranted snarkiness. Emphases mine: … Yeah, it's not nice. It's also not what he said. Here's the transcript. Quote:
Discussion:
Political Animal, New York Times, Redstate, The News Blog, Early Warning, Democrats.com and The New Editor
Chris Bowers / MyDD:
CT-Sen: Lieberman Views Campaign As Revenge For Party Democracy — Yet again, it is all about Lieberman: … I have watched the video, which is difficult to stomach and which I will not reproduce here since it is Faux News, and there seem to be two ways to read this quote.
Discussion:
Hartford Courant, Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, Balloon Juice, LamontBlog, Sisyphus Shrugged and Middle Earth Journal
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Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Tomlinson Cited For Abuses at Broadcast Board — CPB Ex-Chief Put Friend On Payroll, State Dept. Says — A year-long State Department investigation has found that the chairman of the agency that oversees Voice of America and other government broadcasting operations improperly used his office …
Discussion:
Cato-at-liberty, New York Times, TPMmuckraker, Media Blog, Lost Remote, Romenesko and All Spin Zone
Confederate Yankee:
Armored Vehicle Experts: Reuters News Vehicle Not Hit By Israeli Missile — There has been quite a bit of debate in the blogosphere surrounding this story (note: link has been deactivated) of several days ago: … Despite the Israeli acknowledgement that they did fire on a "suspicious vehicle …
Barney Frank / Boston Globe:
Afghanistan ignored — A WAR is missing. Sadly, it is not missing from the physical location in which it is taking place, and people continue to die as it is waged. But it has largely disappeared from our national debate, and that debate has been sorely distorted as a consequence.
Engram / Back Talk:
Americans Hate their Fabulous Economy — Polls consistently show that Americans are rather negative about the economy, and many have wondered why that might be considering that our economy is the envy of the world (as well it should be). The source of our pessimism is a bit of a mystery, and it is one that I am going to pursue.
Mark Steyn / macleans.ca:
Call me crazy. I blame terrorists. — Who is A. K. Dewdney? He's an adjunct professor of biology at the University of Western Ontario, and he has pieced together the truth about what happened on 9/11. You may be familiar with the official version: "To account for the events of Sept. 11 …
Bruce Kluger / USA Today:
Lieberman, 'Snakes' and the seductive mythology of the blogosphere — If ever America needed a wake-up call about the mythology of blogging, we got it this month. — On Aug. 8, Connecticut businessman Ned Lamont defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary …