Top Items:
John Dickerson / Slate:
The disturbing glee at Mark Sanford's downfall. — Mark Sanford is no longer missing, but he's obviously lost. The South Carolina governor's press conference was excruciating: apology, followed by self-flagellation, followed by apology. It was like watching a man light himself on fire.
RELATED:
Fox News:
Sanford's Mistress Identified as Professional, Passionate and Beautiful Brunette — Details are emerging about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's mistress, whom he visited in Argentina last week after his wife told him to leave. — FOXNews.com — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's mistress …
Discussion:
WIS-TV, Slate, Weekly Standard, The News Bizarre, Top Stories from CQ, Gawker and The Other McCain
Gina Smith / The State:
Hunch leads to airport and tired, troubled Sanford — It was about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday as I stood in the waiting area at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, squinting my eyes to see whether Gov. Mark Sanford was part of a crowd exiting the plane from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Sanford Adviser: Resignation Not An Option — Although some in South Carolina — and nationally — are calling for Gov. Mark Sanford to resign his office in the wake of his six-day hiatus from the state and his acknowledgment of an extramarital affair on Wednesday, a close adviser …
S.A. Miller / Washington Times:
Social conservatives fall from moral high ground — Republicans retreat from values claims — Social conservatives, the once-powerful force that focused the Republican agenda on moral virtue and family values, have suffered a diminished brand on the national political landscape …
Discussion:
The New Ledger
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
The Take: With Sanford Scandal, GOP's Long Winter Gets Longer
The Take: With Sanford Scandal, GOP's Long Winter Gets Longer
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, New York Times, Washington Monthly, Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, MyDD and PostPartisan
John O'Connor / The State:
Exclusive: E-mails between Sanford, woman
Exclusive: E-mails between Sanford, woman
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The News Bizarre, New York Times, FITSNews, The Fix, PostPartisan, theblogprof, Guardian, The Charlotte Observer, Ezra Klein, Emptywheel, Right Wing News, Newsweek Blogs, The Palmetto Scoop, Indecision Forever, The Caucus, MoJo Blog Posts, Pundit & Pundette, Gawker, Top of the Ticket, The Opinionator, News Desk, Achenblog, Hotline On Call, AMERICAblog News, Blogs and Stories, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Firedoglake, American Street, TigerHawk, Raw Story, DemConWatch, TPMMuckraker and Hot Air
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama's Michael Dukakis moment — Barack Obama got ABC to move their news division into the White House in order to make the big pitch for his egalitarian, everyone-gets-treated-equally ObamaCare push. Instead, Obama fumbled into a Michael Dukakis moment that exposed him as a hypocrite.
RELATED:
Hollywoodreporter / The Live Feed:
ABC's White House special struggled for viewers — President Obama's town hall meeting on health care delivered a sickly rating Wednesday evening. — The one-hour ABC News special “Primetime: Questions for the President: Prescription for America” (4.7 million viewers …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Michelle Malkin, Don Surber, Riehl World View, Politics Nation and Weasel Zippers
Peter Nicholas / Los Angeles Times:
Obama discusses deathbed measures — At a healthcare town hall, he says stopping futile procedures for the terminally ill can lower costs. — Reporting from Washington — President Obama suggested at a town hall event Wednesday night that one way to shave medical costs is to stop expensive …
Jeff Poor / The Business & Media Institute:
ABC ObamaCare Special Turns Into Presidential Filibuster
ABC ObamaCare Special Turns Into Presidential Filibuster
David Stout / New York Times:
Supreme Court Says Child's Rights Violated by Strip Search — WASHINGTON — In a ruling of interest to educators, parents and students across the country, the Supreme Court ruled, 8 to 1, on Thursday that the strip search of a 13-year-old Arizona girl by school officials who were looking …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
The Cap and Tax Fiction — Democrats off-loading economics to pass climate change bill. — Printer — Friendly — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday.
RELATED:
Darren Samuelsohn / New York Times:
House Democrats, Obama Lobby Last Batch of Climate Bill Fence-Sitters
House Democrats, Obama Lobby Last Batch of Climate Bill Fence-Sitters
Borzou Daragahi / Los Angeles Times:
Mir-Hossein Mousavi slams Iran's leaders — Mousavi speaks out after days of quiet, blasting the nation's supreme leader and state-controlled media. He promises to continue his campaign to have Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection annulled. — Reporting from Tehran — After days of relative quiet …
RELATED:
Michelle Malkin:
Bad taste award — I don't find anything funny about the Sanford affair. It's the mom in me thinking about four handsome boys on Father's Day weekend abandoned by their stupid, selfish father, who was busy tanning with his mistress in Argentina. Heart-breaking. Yes. Nauseating. Yes.
RELATED:
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Conservatives Write Off Sanford as a National Leader
Conservatives Write Off Sanford as a National Leader
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, The Bilerico Project, The New Republic, Sadly, No! and Mark Sanford 2012
BBC:
MPs ‘snub’ Ahmadinejad party — More than 100 MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, local press reports say. — All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night but 105 did not turn up, the reports say.
Discussion:
Aljazeera, Hot Air, Telegraph, A Blog For All, The Strata-Sphere, PoliBlog, Wake up America and Taylor Marsh
RELATED:
Eddie Wrenn / Daily Mail:
Stunning pictures of the volcano that blew a hole in the sky as astronauts witness eruption from International Space Station — Framed by a circle of clouds, this is a stunning illustration of Nature's powerful force. — A plume of smoke, ash and steam soars five miles into the sky from an erupting volcano.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Palin blasts Alaska blogger over Trig photo — Sarah Palin is again responding forcefully to a perceived attack on one of her children, this time attacking an Alaska blogger who edited a picture of her and her baby son, Trig, to replace Trig's face with the image of a conservative Alaska talk show host, Eddie Burke.
RELATED:
Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
Emanuel: Sanford needed a cigarette — Perhaps no one knows how to butter up reporters better than White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. — The longtime Washington insider is known for personally reaching out to reporters and always being cognizant of the media landscape.
James Hibberd / Hollywood Reporter:
Fox News set for best year yet — Viewership solid as rivals take post-election hits — Fox News is on track to have its most-watched year ever, showing significant ratings growth despite having just come off a highflying election year. — With the second quarter coming to a close …
Discussion:
Democracy in America
Murray Waas / The Hill:
Bush administration leaks bolstered Rick Renzi's reelection bid — In the fall of 2006, one day after the Justice Department granted permission to a U.S. attorney to place a wiretap on a Republican congressman suspected of corruption, existence of the investigation was leaked to the press …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
RALPH REED?.... Wait a second. Ralph Reed believes he can show his face in public again? He thinks he has the credibility to once again be a political player? … Now, as a substantive matter, the idea of yet another religious right group seems pretty silly.