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Ensign Acknowledges Extramarital Affair — UPDATE, 6:55 p.m.: In a press conference moments ago, Ensign admitted the affair but seemed resolved to remain in political life. “Last year I had an affair,” said Ensign. “I violated the vows of my marriage.” Ensign did not name the woman …
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Ensign admits affair; sources say blackmail involved — Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign said Tuesday evening he is “truly sorry” about an affair he had last year with a campaign staffer, going public with an embarrassing admission about his marital infidelity.


FLASHBACK: Ensign Called On Clinton To Resign After Admitting Affair — ‘He Has No Credibility Left’ — The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza reports that Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), a member of GOP leadership and a potential candidate for president in 2012, will hold a press conference later today …

Nevada Sen. John Ensign Acknowledges Extramarital Affair — UPDATE, 5:55 p.m.: Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions,” said Ensign.


ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE — On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care — a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!
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Weekly Standard, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Riehl World View, TVNewser, Crooks and Liars, Michelle Malkin, Paco Enterprises, The Other McCain, Hot Air, The Live Feed, The Market Ticker, Macsmind, Right Wing Nut House, The Sundries Shack, The Mahablog, Blue Crab Boulevard, Right Wing News, Politics and Critical Thinking, This ain't Hell …, Babalú Blog, Flopping Aces, Classical Values and Patterico's Pontifications
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Obama blocks access to White House visitor list — Taking Bush's position, administration denies msnbc.com request for logs — The Obama White House has denied requests by msnbc.com and a nonpartisan watchdog group for the names of White House visitors. The watchdog group …

ABC News Responds to RNC Letter — Dear Mr. McKay: — I am in receipt of your letter of June 15, 2009 and wanted to respond to a number of false premises you raise regarding our ongoing and upcoming coverage of health care. — I hope we can all agree that a robust debate of health care issues and potential policies is in order.

A ‘PRESCRIPTION’ FOR A MANUFACTURED CONTROVERSY. …
Discussion:
Don Surber


U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department contacted the social networking service Twitter over the weekend to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that could have cut daytime service to Iranians, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
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Latest Updates on Iran's Disputed Election — To supplement reporting from New York Times correspondents inside Iran, The Lede will continue to track the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential election online, as we have for the last several days. Please refresh this page throughout …
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Associated Press, New York Times, Open Left, Guardian, News: News blog, Washington Monthly and The New Republic

In reversal, GOP balks at war funding — House Republicans are preparing to vote en bloc against the $106 billion war-spending bill, a position once unthinkable for the party that characterized the money as support for the troops. — For years, Republicans portrayed the bills funding …
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House Approves $106B Bill to Fund Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan
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Democrats.com

McCain Unhinged — For two years now, John McCain has been entirely consistent on Iran: every last statement he's made—at least, those that I've seen—has been (a) fabulously uninformed and (b) dangerously bellicose. He's still at it, apparently. There is no question that President Obama's …
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Khamenei on the Ropes? — Robert Baer served in the CIA as a field operative from 1976 to 1997. His latest book is The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower (Crown Publishers, 2008). — In Iran nothing is ever as it seems, including presidential elections.
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Exclusive: Sarah Palin Accepts David Letterman's Apology for ‘Coarse’ Jokes — Sarah Palin has accepted comedian David Letterman's apology made during Monday night's broadcast of “The Late Show” for crude jokes made about her and her teen daughters last week.
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Confirmed: Montazeri Questions Election Results, Supports Peaceful Protests, Condemns Violence — Grand Ayatullah Husayn (Hossein) 'Ali Montazeri has issued a statement supporting peaceful protests to “claim rights”, condemned the violence, and called the Iranian presidential election results into question.
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Grand Ayatollah Montazeri Takes A Stand
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The League of Ordinary …, Views from the Occident, Weekly Standard and The Moderate Voice

Calif. Aid Request Spurned By U.S. — The Obama administration has turned back pleas for emergency aid from one of the biggest remaining threats to the economy — the state of California. — Top state officials have gone hat in hand to the administration, armed with dire warnings of a fast-approaching …
Discussion:
Calitics, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, GayPatriot, Hullabaloo, Ezra Klein, Reason and FOX Forum

Key Obama Ally Says President Obama Did Not Follow the Law in IG Firing — After being briefed today on President Obama's firing last week of Gerald Walpin, Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said the president did not abide …

Andrew Sullivan, who probably has more readers than any other solo political blogger, wrote yesterday that he thought he might be the subject of a denial-of-service attack, as a pro-opposition Iranian site said it was. — In fact, his blog was just loading slowly because of the massive surge of traffic.

Oops! President Obama confuses right, left — (CNN) — President Obama is so busy these days dealing with pressing foreign policy issues like Iran and North Korea, that he can't seem to tell his right from his left. — After holding a bilateral meeting in the Oval office …


Carter to Obama: Remove Hamas From Terror List — Former President Jimmy Carter says he will ask the Obama administration to remove the militant Palestinian group from the U.S.-designated terror list, just as Hamas says it foiled a bomb plot against Carter..
Discussion:
Jihad Watch, Hot Air, New York Times, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, A Blog For All, The Cable, Atlas Shrugs and This ain't Hell …

What We Can Do In Iran — Massive cheating or not? — RELATED CONTENT — Morse and Makovsky: “Why Congress's Sanctions Against Iran Won't Work” (5/29/09) — A new kind of coup d'etat or not? — How do we interpret this strange election whose results were announced by the press affiliated …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias


McCain: “Scrap” Health Care Bill And Start Over — ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports: — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, called on President Obama and Democrats in Congress to “scrap the current [healthcare] bill and start over.” — McCain pointed to a nonpartisan cost estimate of $1 trillion …


Rep. King: Uighurs ‘wasting away in MargaUighurville.’ — The closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center has provoked a curious form of hyperbole from Rep. Steve King (R-IA). Speaking on the House floor yesterday, King reacted to the news that the innocent Uighur detainees held …