Top Items:
Joseph Curl / Press Association:
Bush takes swipes at Obama policies — Defends interrogations — Former President George W. Bush fired a salvo at President Obama on Wednesday, asserting his administration's interrogation policies were within the law, declaring the private sector not government will fix the economy and rejecting the nationalization of health care.
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New York Times:
Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care — A substantial majority of Americans say President Obama has not developed a strategy to deal with the budget deficit, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, which also found that support for his plans to overhaul health care …
Discussion:
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The Huffington Post:
Obama Boost: New Poll Shows 76% Support For Choice Of Public Plan — New poll numbers from NBC/Wall Street Journal produce two major and potentially conflicting story lines when it comes to the Obama administration's efforts for a health care overhaul. On the one hand, the American public …
The Huffington Post:
Daschle Urges Obama To Drop Federal Public Health Care Plan — The man once slated to head Barack Obama's health care system overhaul is now coming out against one of the chief components of that effort. — Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said on Wednesday that the Obama White House …
Gorman Gorman / The Note:
Daschle Folds on Federal Public Health Care Plan
Daschle Folds on Federal Public Health Care Plan
Discussion:
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Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:
Public Wary of Deficit, Economic Intervention
Public Wary of Deficit, Economic Intervention
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, msnbc.com, Hot Air, Reason, The Campaign Spot, Los Angeles Times, Commentary, The Confluence, Wake up America, Pundit & Pundette and The Swamp
Chicago Tribune:
Senator questions firing of 3 inspectors general — Removal of 2 inspectors general prompts questions — WASHINGTON - — He was appointed with fanfare as the public watchdog over the government's multi-billion dollar bailout of the nation's financial system.
Discussion:
Political Punch, The Anchoress, neo-neocon, Right Wing Nut House and And So it Goes in Shreveport
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Dan / Riehl World View:
Not Just Walpin - 3 IG Firings Being Questioned — Another update: A witness to Walpin-gate. The Wash. Times isn't buying it. It is pretty thin gruel. — (Just a note — Why are we reading about this in the Chicago Tribune? Perhaps his local paper doesn't have an Oba-worship problem?)
Washington Times:
A witness to Walpin-gate — The White House excuse for firing an IG falls flat — The belated White House explanation for firing the AmeriCorps inspector general doesn't ring true. — The White House claims Inspector General Gerald Walpin was effectively away without leave …
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog
Neil A. Lewis / New York Times:
White House Defends Inspector General's Firing
White House Defends Inspector General's Firing
Discussion:
American Spectator, CREW, Hot Air, Democracy in America, Runnin' Scared, The Swamp, AmSpecBlog and The Other McCain
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
U.S. Struggling for Right Response to Iran — Obama Seeks Way to Acknowledge Protesters Without Alienating Ayatollah — The political unrest in Iran presents the Obama administration with a dilemma: keep quiet to pursue a nuclear deal with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader …
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John Kerry / New York Times:
With Iran, Think Before You Speak — THE grass-roots protests that have engulfed Iran since its presidential election last week have grabbed America's attention and captured headlines — unfortunately, so has the clamor from neoconservatives urging President Obama to denounce the voting …
Ezra Klein:
Health Care Reform in Danger — Health reform is, I think it fair to say, in danger right now. The news out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee was bad. The Congressional Budget Office had scored a partial bill and the result was a total fiasco.
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The Independent:
Robert Fisk: Secret letter ‘proves Mousavi won poll’ — They were handing out the photocopies by the thousand under the plane trees in the centre of the boulevard, single sheets of paper grabbed by the opposition supporters who are now wearing black for the 15 Iranians who have been killed in Tehran …
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Olive Garden pulls Letterman ads — Following a week of back and forth between CBS late night comic David Letterman and Sarah Palin over a crude joke he told about the Alaska Republican governor's daughter, the Olive Garden restaurant says it is cancelling all of its scheduled ads on Letterman's “Late Show” for the rest of the year.
Politics in Minnesota:
Two sources: Supreme Court ruling on U.S. Senate race to arrive tomorrow! — PIM has now heard from two sources on different sides of the Minnesota U.S. Senate race recount scene that the final Minnesota Supreme Court ruling is expected to arrive tomorrow, Thursday, June 18th.
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, The Fix, Alas, a blog, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Hotline On Call
News: News blog:
Iran protests: live — Another huge demonstration is expected today in defiance of the regime after, opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi called for a day of silent protest to mourn the victims of the unrest. Follow live updates on the aftermath of Iran's disputed elections — 8.00pm:
Discussion:
Guardian, msnbc.com, The Daily Dish, BBC, Enduring America, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NPR Blogs, Press Association, Associated Press and Politics Daily
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Lee Speigel / Political Punch:
PETA Says No More Fly-Killing, Sends Obama a Humane Fly Catcher — ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: — PETA has a few words for President Obama: Brush, don't kill. — After the President very publically swatted and then killed a fly during an interview with CNBC yesterday …
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Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Court rejects DNA access claim — Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an individual whose criminal conviction has become final does not have a constitutional right to gain access to evidence so that it can be subjected to DNA testing to try to prove innocence.
Joe Nocera / New York Times:
Only a Hint of Roosevelt in Financial Overhaul — Three quarters of a century ago, President Franklin Roosevelt earned the undying enmity of Wall Street when he used his enormous popularity to push through a series of radical regulatory reforms that completely changed the norms of the financial industry.
Blaine Harden / Washington Post:
Global Insurance Fraud By North Korea Outlined — Government Has Collected Millions Of Dollars on Large, Suspicious Claims — For Kim Jong Il's birthday, North Korean insurance managers prepared a special gift. — In Singapore, they stuffed $20 million in cash into two heavy-duty bags and sent them …
Discussion:
Gawker
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
In a Staff Shuffle, Signs of Obama's Direction on Mideast — WASHINGTON — So now Dennis B. Ross, the Obama administration's senior Iran policy maker, less than three months into his State Department job, is moving to the White House, administration officials say.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
Kirit Radia / ABCNEWS:
Hillary Clinton Fractures Her Elbow — The Secretary of State will undergo surgery to repair the damage next week — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fell down on her way to the White House late Wednesday afternoon, fracturing her right elbow, her Counselor and Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills …
People-Press.org:
Obama's Ratings Remain High Despite Some Policy Concerns — Health Care Views Similar to '93, But Fewer Favor Rebuilding System — A solid majority of Americans (61%) continue to approve of Barack Obama's job performance, although they express mixed views of several of his policies.
Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Demands Answers on Voter Intimidation Case Dismissal — As was commented upon here at CONTENTIONS, and widely reported and remarked upon elsewhere, the Obama Justice Department took the unusual action last month of dismissing a default judgment …
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Months After Ted Stevens Debacle, Justice Department Corruption Unit in Disarray — Two months after prosecutors abandoned the criminal conviction of former senator Ted Stevens, the Justice Department unit that polices public corruption remains in chaos, coping with newly discovered evidence …
Discussion:
Law Blog