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Palin and Her Enemies — If Sarah Palin's political career ended last Friday, 10 tumultuous months after she was introduced as the Republican Party's vice-presidential nominee, those five words will be its epitaph. — Had she refused John McCain, Palin would still be a popular female governor …
Discussion:
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Sarah Palin's surprise — From my latest American Spectator column: … Please read the whole thing. Sunday morning, I was driving back from Lake Weiss — where we'd shot our fabulous annual Fourth of July fireworks show — when the editor called asking me to write the column.

Palin's Prospects — She dashed her chances of winning the 2012 nomination, but a path to the presidency remains open to Sarah Palin. — Forget about Sarah Palin as the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 and probably ever. She may have no interest in seeking the GOP nomination.

What The Right Means When They Say “America” — UPDATE: Several posters have pointed out the distinction between the meritocratic and democratic ideal. I have conflated the two, and thus portions of this are wrong. Having thought on that fact though, I still can't bring myself to see Palin is one or Obama as the other.

Republicans Should Reexamine the Public Good of Private Citizens … In that phrase, “just being a private citizen,” Senator Grassley encapsulates both why Sarah Palin is so phenomenally appealing to the Republican base and how divorced the national Republican apparatus is from the core values of party members.


California's Nightmare Will Kill Obamanomics: Kevin Hassett — Last week, we discovered that the state of California will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. — With California mired in a budget crisis, largely the result of a political impasse that makes spending cuts …
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Schumer: With Franken Seated No Need To Compromise On Public Option — One of the leading Senate Democrats in the health care reform battle said that the seating of Al Franken has given the party the purpose and direction it needs to ensure that a public option for insurance coverage remains in any bill.


Dem Senator: Second Stimulus ‘Probably Needed’ — ABC News' Rick Klein reports: — As job losses mount, Democrats are growing impatient about the impact of the massive stimulus package passed earlier this year, with talk beginning on Capitol Hill about a possible second stimulus bill.
Discussion:
Glenn Thrush's Blog

Obama: Student Radical — During the campaign, I wrote a piece called “Why Won't Obama Talk About Columbia? — The years he won't discuss may explain the Ayers tie he keeps lying about.” So now, nearly six months into the Obama presidency, the mainstream media has finally done a bit …
Discussion:
Atlas Shrugs, Fausta's Blog, Israel Matzav, The Anchoress, Rumproast, Stop The ACLU, Balloon Juice, The New Editor, Grandpa John's, Townhall.com, Washington Monthly, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Track-A-'Crat, Gateway Pundit, The Washington Independent, Pundit & Pundette and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room


Robert S. McNamara, Former Defense Secretary, Dies at 93 — Robert S. McNamara, perhaps the most influential defense secretary of the 20th century, who helped lead the nation into the maelstrom of Vietnam and spent the rest of his life wrestling with the war's moral consequences …
Discussion:
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Special Report: Ideologically, Where Is the U.S. Moving? — Nearly 4 in 10 Americans say their views have grown more conservative — PRINCETON, NJ — Despite the results of the 2008 presidential election, Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, say their political views in recent years have become …


Joe The Plumber Says Immigrants Should Get ‘The Hell Out Of Our Damn Country’ — While protesting government spending at Houston's Independence Day Tea Party, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher stated that American taxpayer dollars would be best spent on the mass deportation of 12 million undocumented immigrants:

Full text of Michael Jackson resolution — We reported recently about a resolution Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Tex.) introduced to honor Michael Jackson and referred to, oddly enough, the House Foreign Affairs Committee. — The full text of that resolution has been published, and it's....long.
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Iran's Revolutionary Guard takes command — Calling the move “a new phase of the revolution,” leaders insist there is no room for compromise on Ahmadinejad's reelection. — Reporting from Beirut — The top leaders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard publicly acknowledged they had taken …
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It's Not the Money. It's the Relationships. — It's probably a bit hard to figure out what's going on in the graphic above. Click on it. You'll get the bigger version. Then it'll be all too easy. — What you're seeing is the number of former Senate Finance Committee staffers …
Discussion:
The Nation
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European Islamophobia A Creeping Threat: Analysis — The murder of Marwa Sherbini, a veiled (and pregnant) Egyptian woman, as she prepared to give evidence in a German courtroom against a man who physically assaulted her, has incensed the Muslim World and re-ignited the debate over whether Europe …
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Egyptians cry racism in woman's slaying in Germany
Discussion:
Harry's Place


Palin's Attorney: Her Resignation Is “Self-Sacrifice” — Thomas Van Flein, Sarah Palin's attorney — Sarah Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein (the one who threatened to sue several news organizations for allegedly defaming his client) just spoke with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
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Video: Sen. Cornyn gets an earful — From the very beginning of the Tea Party movement, I've reported that activists have directed their disgust at both parties over fiscal recklessness. — It's an inconvenient truth the Tea Party-bashers would rather ignore. — The anger at Republicans who voted for TARP hasn't gone away.
Discussion:
Postcards, The Lonely Conservative, The Mahablog, Burnt Orange Report and The Jawa Report
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Goldman: We reported trading data — Goldman Sachs is trying to shoot down speculation that the weekend arrest of a former employee has anything to do with the firm mysteriously disappearing from a New York Stock Exchange list of the firms with the most active progam stock trading systems.
Discussion:
Zero Hedge
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Reps. Kennedy and Sullivan Out of Rehab — Reps. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), right, and John Sullivan (R-Okla.), left, are out of rehab and back on the job. (AP Photo/Tulsa World, Michael Wyke/Andrea Bruce / The Washington Post) — Updated, 3:28 p.m. — Reps. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) …
Discussion:
Glenn Thrush's Blog
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Beware Post-Dated Resignations? — Let me start by saying I don't think this is likely. But given our experience with Larry Craig, I do think it's worth considering. Remember, former Sen. Larry Craig came out and announced he was resigning his office. But folks who listened closely noticed …


Huckabee: Obama Needs To Stop Blaming Bush Because Bush Didn't Complain About Inheriting Clinton's Economy — On Fox and Friends this morning, host Gretchen Carlson asked former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) about Vice President Biden's comment that the Obama administration …


Coffee 'may reverse Alzheimer's' — Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer's disease, US scientists say. — The Florida research, carried out on mice, also suggested caffeine hampered the production of the protein plaques which are the hallmark of the disease.


JACKIE'S DOOMED LOVE - WITH RFK — Jackie Kennedy had a four-year love affair with Bobby Kennedy that began not long after JFK's assassination and grew so intense that when RFK was gunned down, it was she — not his wife — who instructed doctors to pull the plug, an explosive new book claims.
Discussion:
On Deadline

Gingrich back with a vengeance — “Comeback kids” are nothing new in American political history — think back no further than Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton — but there may be no more compelling rehabilitation story today than that of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich …