Top Items:
Sarah Palin / Washington Post:
The ‘Cap And Tax’ Dead End — There is no shortage of threats to our economy. America's unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing. Worries are widespread that even when the economy finally rebounds, the recovery won't bring jobs.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Think Progress, Hot Air, The Daily Dish, Get Energy Smart!, Conservatives4Palin.com, Climate Progress, msnbc.com, Moe Lane, Michael Calderone's Blog, Boston Globe, Newsweek Blogs, Grasping Reality …, The Fix, Daily Kos, Wonk Room, Right Wing News, BuzzFlash.org, PERRspectives, Say Anything, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Wake up America, PoliGazette, The Atlantic Business Channel, The Daley Gator, Classical Values, The Strata-Sphere, YID With LID, Wonkette, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Redhot, The Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, NY Daily News, Washington Wire, Stop The ACLU, The Note, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Gawker, The Swamp, NewsBusters.org, The New Republic, Green Inc., Macsmind, GOP 12 and Gathering of Eagles: NY
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Ezra Klein:
Sarah Palin: One of Us — “Many in the national media would rather focus on the personality-driven political gossip of the day than on the gravity of these challenges,” writes Sarah Palin in The Washington Post, one of the country's few nationally oriented media outlets.
Washington Wire:
Sotomayor Surprises Sessions — Jess Bravin reports on Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing. — Ouch! — Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), seeking to discredit Judge Sonia Sotomayor's judicial philosophy, cited her 2001 “wise Latina” speech, and contrasted the view that ethnicity …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly, Think Progress and Zandar Versus The Stupid
RELATED:
Anill / Think Progress:
Sen. Jeff Sessions Slams Sotomayor For Not Voting Like Other Puerto Ricans — This morning, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) castigated Sotomayor for not ruling with her fellow Puerto Rican colleague, conservative Judge José A. Cabranes, when she decided to deny an en banc appeal in Ricci v. DeStefano …
John / Power Line:
Sotomayor's Nose Grows Longer — Pat Leahy opened the questioning of Judge Sonia Sotomayor by asking her some softball questions about her controversial speeches and decisions. In response, Sotomayor's characterization of her “wise Latina” speech was strikingly disingenuous:
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, The Volokh Conspiracy, Reason, Time, Hot Air, PostPartisan, Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org and Outside The Beltway
Bil Browning / The Huffington Post:
Steele: GOP woos blacks with “fried chicken and potato salad” — The Young Republicans convention was held in Indianapolis last weekend and their election of a racist, middle-aged woman as President isn't the only controversial item to come out of the GOP gathering.
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Rachel Slajda / Talking Points Memo:
Steele Says He'll Attract Diversity to GOP With “Fried Chicken and Potato Salad” — Last weekend, in a sit-down with bloggers during the Young Republicans convention in Indiana, RNC Chairman Michael Steele revealed his strategy for attracting diverse Republicans.
Michael Tracey / The Nation:
The Same-Sex Marriage Switch — Former President Bill Clinton has come out in support of same-sex marriage. — After speaking at the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC, on July 8, the former president was asked if he supported same-sex marriage.
The State:
Sanford's office couldn't locate missing governor — E-mails, phone calls outline efforts to contact, cover for AWOL leader — Gov. Mark Sanford's chief of staff, Scott English, called the governor's cell phones 15 times during the governor's secret trip to Argentina to visit his lover last month.
New York Times:
C.I.A. Had Plan to Assassinate Qaeda Leaders — WASHINGTON — Since 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency has developed plans to dispatch small teams overseas to kill senior Qaeda terrorists, according to current and former government officials. — The plans remained vague and were never carried out …
Discussion:
Washington Times, Mudville Gazette, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, THE WEEK News & Opinion, The Daily Dish, Weekly Standard, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Independent, Washington Post, At-Largely, The Impolitic, Liberal Values, AOL News, Newshoggers.com, Raw Story, MyDD, QandO, Shakesville, Philly.com, ABCNEWS, The BLT, The Huffington Post, The Anonymous Liberal, The Reaction, Macsmind and The Moderate Voice
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Kenneth Anderson / The Volokh Conspiracy:
The CIA Plan to Kill Al Qaeda Leaders: I see that I'm quoted …
The CIA Plan to Kill Al Qaeda Leaders: I see that I'm quoted …
edlabor.house.gov:
America's Affordable Health Choices Act — The Chairmen of the three Committees with jurisdiction over health policy in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced comprehensive health care reform legislation on July 14 that will reduce out-of-control costs, encourage competition among insurance plans …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Ezra Klein, Washington Monthly, AmSpecBlog, Campaign Silo, MoJo Blog Posts and Angry Bear
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Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:
House Democrats' Health Reform Proposal: Preliminary Analysis …
House Democrats' Health Reform Proposal: Preliminary Analysis …
Lisa Mascaro / Las Vegas Sun:
Ensign to stay in Senate, seek reelection — Fallout from affair, including ethics complaints, leaves him undeterred — WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. John Ensign said Monday that not only does he have no intention of resigning in light of his affair and his parents' payout to the woman's family …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Wonkette, TPMDC, Balloon Juice, Donklephant, WTF Is It Now?!? and Real Clear Politics
Mortimer Zuckerman / Wall Street Journal:
The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think — The average length of unemployment is higher than it's been since government began tracking the data in 1948. — Printer — Friendly — The recent unemployment numbers have undermined confidence that we might be nearing the bottom of the recession.
RELATED:
Jeanne Cummings / The Politico:
Obama's rosy scenario turns thorny
Obama's rosy scenario turns thorny
Discussion:
Time, Hot Air, Detroit Free Press, The Hill, Bloomberg, YID With LID, The Confluence, The Strata-Sphere, Wake up America and The Note
ABCNEWS:
Michelle's Father Buried At Dug-Up Cemetery — First Lady's Office Initially Said Fraser Robinson Was Buried At The Historic Cemetery — After initially saying that Michelle Obama's father is buried at Burr Oak Cemetery, the first lady's office now says he is not buried at the historic Chicago cemetery …
Discussion:
Wonkette
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Mark Blumenthal / National Journal Online:
Obama Numbers Follow The Economy — Shift Among Independents May Have Been Overstated, But Bad Economic News Corresponds To Downward Trend — President Obama's job approval rating has fallen over the last two months, prompting two questions for pundits and pollsters.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
RELATED:
Agence France Presse:
Hamas says Israel dumping aphrodisiac gum on Gaza — GAZA CITY (AFP) — Hamas suspects that Israeli intelligence services are supplying its Gaza Strip stronghold with chewing gum that boosts the sex drive in order to “corrupt the young,” an official said on Tuesday.
Hilzoy / Obsidian Wings:
Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird — First, I'm going to Rwanda this weekend, on vacation. I'm looking forward to it immensely, especially since I discovered that the Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird, which topped my list of Best Bird Names Ever nearly five years ago, lives there. (And did you know that the name ‘Watusi’ comes from the Tutsi?
Robert Stacy McCain / American Spectator:
The Little Scandal That Could — “We're not there yet,” one Democratic source on Capitol Hill said last week, when asked about the prospect for hearings on the Obama administration's firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin. Congressional investigators are still conducting interviews …
Wall Street Journal:
The Small Business Surtax — The Obama Democrats pick income redistribution over job creation and economic growth. — Printer — Friendly — Jason Furman owes an apology to Michael Boskin, the Stanford economist who wrote a year ago on these pages that Barack Obama would raise American income tax rates nearly to 60%.
BBC:
Bride's bouquet brings down plane — The traditional throwing of a bride's bouquet for luck ended in disaster at an Italian wedding when the flowers caused a plane to crash. — The bride and groom had hired a small plane to fly past and throw the bouquet to a line of women guests, Corriere della Sera reported.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
A Bad Week for House Republicans — Republicans Reps. Mark Kirk, Jim Gerlach and Mike Castle are either in or considering statewide bids. AP Photo/George Widman — Twin decisions this week by Reps. Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Jim Gerlach (Pa.) to run for statewide office in 2010 …
Associated Press:
Sen. Reid adds to campaign finance advantage — WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has raised more than $3.2 million during the past three months. — The haul gives Reid more than $7.3 million in the bank and widens an already significant financial advantage as he seeks re-election to a fifth term representing Nevada.
Fox News:
Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies — It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie. — A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling …
Conor Friedersdorf / The Daily Dish:
Sundry Thoughts on Health Care — As I ponder an Obama Administration health care reform bill, whatever that turns out to look like, I am struck by how different the debate is on the left, where Ezra Klein and other wonks are deep in the weeds on health care policy, and the right …
Discussion:
MoJo Blog Posts
Dana Goldstein / American Prospect:
THE WHITE HOUSE PAY GAP. — An enterprising college student, Ariel Boone, has used the White House staff/salary list to do some digging on gender and pay disparities. Here's what she found: — On average, a White House woman earns $9,168 less than a White House man.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Dan Lawton / Christian Science Monitor:
Nearly all my professors are Democrats. Isn't that a problem? — After I posed that question, two faculty railed against me. That's a sure sign that universities should address the lack of ideological diversity. — EUGENE, ORE. - — When I began examining the political affiliation …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
M Peretz / The New Republic:
A Bit More About Hillary...And a Tidbit About Her Friend Sidney — Apropos my last posting: what J.F.K. did was to substitute Mac Bundy for his secretary of state Dean Rusk. — What Barack Obama has done is make himself his own secretary of state. No crime.
Van Mitchell / Edmond Sun:
Huckabee criticizes health care plans — Former governor speaks to iDebate students — EDMOND — Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made a stop Sunday at Oklahoma Christian University where he criticized President Barack Obama's economic and health-care policies claiming …
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Clinton plans to reassert herself — In the first six months of the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has brought her star power to the world stage and cemented her position as a serious internal player. Now, according to her aides, she is ready to articulate her own policy agenda …
Discussion:
CNN, Wall Street Journal, ONE, Tammy Bruce, UN Dispatch, The Plum Line, Politics Daily, Los Angeles Times and New York Times
Abigail Thernstrom / CNN:
Commentary: Why we should worry about Sotomayor — Editor's note: Abigail Thernstrom is the author of “Voting Rights — and Wrongs: The Elusive Quest for Racially Fair Elections,” published last month by AEI Press. She is the vice-chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights …