Top Items:
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.
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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, Townhall.com, Riehl World View, Don Surber and Politics Nation
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 …
Discussion:
Right Wing News, Say Anything, The Swamp, The Mahablog, The Corner, AmSpecBlog and Pundit & Pundette
Jeff Poor / The Business & Media Institute:
ABC ObamaCare Special Turns Into Presidential Filibuster
ABC ObamaCare Special Turns Into Presidential Filibuster
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.
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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, The State, The Huffington Post, Slate, News Desk, Runnin' Scared, Weekly Standard and The Other McCain
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.
Chris Orr / The New Republic:
Limbaugh to GOP: ‘Screw it’ — Defying parody once again, Rush Limbaugh lays the Sanford affair at President Obama's feet: … I guess this means we can look forward to a lot more GOP sex scandals... (via TPM; full audio here) —Christopher Orr
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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 …
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Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Supreme Court Rules School's Strip Search of Girl Was Illegal
Supreme Court Rules School's Strip Search of Girl Was Illegal
Discussion:
SCOTUSblog, Los Angeles Times, Law Librarian Blog, Reason, Althouse, PoliGazette and JustOneMinute
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Palin hits back at ‘malicious’ photo — (CNN) - A week after a high-profile uproar with comedian David Letterman over the late-night host's joke about her daughter, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is again sharply responding to the appearance of her children in the public sphere.
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Palin blasts Alaska blogger over Trig photo
Palin blasts Alaska blogger over Trig photo
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, Conservatives4Palin.com, American Power and Sister Toldjah
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.
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
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 …
Discussion:
American Power, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Politics Channel and Payvand Iran News
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.
New York Post:
‘NOT EXPECTED TO RECUPERATE’ — FOR THE RECORD CRONKITE FAMILY UPSET ABOUT CONFLICTING REPORTS — WALTER Cronkite, legend ary newsman and recipi ent of countless reporting awards, is, ironically enough, now suffering himself from an assault of bad reporting.
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 …
Ali Frick / Think Progress:
Bachmann's Latest Irrational Fear About The Census: It Was Used To Intern The Japanese — Last week, Rep. Michele “I'm not a kook” Bachmann (R-MN) boasted about breaking the law in refusing to complete the 2010 Census. The Census is the perfect boogeyman for Bachmann in that it unites …
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Dems see agenda slipping — There is a growing sense among Democrats that they will not be able to accomplish the entire agenda leaders set for 2009, pushing major policy debates into the midterm election year. — Concerns over the cost of overhauling the nation's healthcare system have served as a wake-up call to lawmakers.