Top Items:
Washington Post:
House Democrats Want to Fund Health Care With an Ill-Advised Surtax on the Rich. — THERE IS a serious case to be made that the U.S. income tax system should become more progressive. The average rate paid by the top 1 percent of households shrank from 33 percent in 1986 to about 23 percent in 2006.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Wizbang, Los Angeles Times, Wake up America, THE WEEK News & Opinion, RedState and The Note
RELATED:
Edwin Chen / Bloomberg:
Obama Open to Partisan Vote on Health-Care Overhaul, Aides Say — President Barack Obama may rely only on Democrats to push health-care legislation through the U.S. Congress if Republican opposition doesn't yield soon, two of the president's top advisers said.
Wall Street Journal:
Health Bill Would Hit Small Business — $1.04 Trillion House Health Bill Hits All but Tiniest Firms for Not Providing Insurance — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, from left, stands with House Democratic leaders Steny Hoyer, Pete Stark, Henry Waxman, Charles Rangel, and John Dingell to announce health-care legislation on Tuesday.
Associated Press:
Sen. Kennedy's committee passes health care bill — WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate health committee has passed legislation to revamp health care, becoming the first congressional committee to act on President Barack Obama's goal of overhauling the system this year.
Kbh / KeithHennessey.com:
Does the House really want to raise taxes on eight million uninsured people?
Does the House really want to raise taxes on eight million uninsured people?
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Praising HELP — A full-throated statement from President Obama …
Praising HELP — A full-throated statement from President Obama …
Discussion:
The Hill
Mark Preston / CNN:
Obama's political team targets Democrats
Obama's political team targets Democrats
Discussion:
The Note, Democratic Strategist, Blog entry, The Tolbert Report and The Political Carnival
Craig Crawford / Craig Crawford's Trail Mix:
Smiling GOPers Ought to be Frowning — Watching Lindsey Graham's gotcha grin as he needled Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor with disingenuous and rhetorical questions you had to wonder what was so funny. — Does the Republican senator think it is amusing that he and his party's …
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Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
White Man's Last Stand — You can't judge a judge by her cover. — Despite the best efforts of Republicans to root out any sign that Sonia Sotomayor has emotions that color her views on the law, the Bronx Bomber kept a robotic mask in place. — A wise Latina woman with the richness …
Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
At Sotomayor's hearing, the abortion protestors are the only ones telling the truth. — Anyone who believes these confirmation hearings represent much beyond empty political theater should consider how meaningful these proceedings can really be when the only people speaking the truth …
Paul / Power Line:
The great gesturer — Why do so many Senators persist during …
The great gesturer — Why do so many Senators persist during …
Discussion:
Sadly, No!
Jennifer Rubin / Pajamas Media:
The Evasions and Misstatements of Sonia Sotomayor
The Evasions and Misstatements of Sonia Sotomayor
Discussion:
Power Line, Weekly Standard, The Foundry, Right Wing News, Washington Post and Commentary
Randy Barnett / The Volokh Conspiracy:
Mike Seidman on Sotomayor: On the Federalist Society Online Debate …
Mike Seidman on Sotomayor: On the Federalist Society Online Debate …
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Republicans don't believe Sotomayor's stories
Republicans don't believe Sotomayor's stories
Discussion:
Washington Post, Power Line, NY Daily News, Sister Toldjah, SCOTUSblog, Newsweek Blogs and Bench Memos
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
GOP not buying ‘Latina’ explanation
GOP not buying ‘Latina’ explanation
Discussion:
The Swamp, New York Times, Politico Live's Blog, Washington Post, ABCNEWS, QandO and The Confluence
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Sotomayor Leaves Passion Behind
Sotomayor Leaves Passion Behind
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Note, Balkinization, Time, On Deadline and Taylor Marsh
Gateway Pundit:
OBAMA BOOED IN ST. LOUIS!... And Throws a Sissy Pitch (Video) — Barack Obama Booed at the All-Star Game in St. Louis On Tuesday! — And, he threw a sissy pitch: — It's going to be a rough 4 years. He's only been in office 5 months and he's already getting booed. — ...And protested.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Scared Monkeys, theblogprof, Pundit & Pundette, No More Mister Nice Blog, PoliGazette, Macsmind, Weasel Zippers and Theo Spark
RELATED:
Duk / Yahoo! Sports:
Obama reps Chicago's South Side, delivers All-Star first pitch — ST LOUIS — Where did it land? Was it a strike or wasn't it? Why didn't the network choose a better camera to shoot from? Those were the questions that viewers of baseball's All-Star Game were asking themselves at home …
Discussion:
Reuters, Reason, NewsBusters.org, NO QUARTER, USA Today, Swampland and Confederate Yankee
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Even All-Star Game not safe from gratuitous Obama photo ops
Video: Even All-Star Game not safe from gratuitous Obama photo ops
Discussion:
The Pink Flamingo
WorldNetDaily:
Bombshell: Orders revoked for soldier challenging prez — Major victory for Army warrior questioning Obama's birthplace — A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after arguing he should not be required …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Confederate Yankee, Vox Popoli, Balloon Juice and The Washington Independent
Kyle / Right Wing Watch:
CFJ: Obama Is Putting a Terrorist On The Bench! — Yesterday, we noticed that the Committee for Justice had just unveiled two ads calling for Sonia Sotomayor's defeat - one contrasting her to Martin Luther King and the other claiming she wants to “take away your guns.”
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Salon, Washington Monthly, TPMDC, Pam's House Blend and Committee for Justice Blog
RELATED:
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Buchanan: GOP Needs More Race-Baiting, Not Less — A provocative article by Pat Buchanan argues that contrary to conventional wisdom, Republicans shouldn't worry about alienating Hispanic voters, they should just focus on getting white people to like them more: … And he sees race-baiting attacks as the way to do it:
John O'Connor / The State:
Media jostled for access to Sanford — E-mails illustrate frenzy to be the first on the air or in print — National media blitzed Gov. Mark Sanford's staff, offering big ratings and, possibly, a sympathetic venue in an effort to land the first interview with the governor after his six-day trip to Argentina.
RELATED:
Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blog:
Media pushed for Sanford access; Tapper on ‘slimy’ email
Media pushed for Sanford access; Tapper on ‘slimy’ email
Washington Post:
Obama Announces $12 Billion Community College Initiative — $12 Billion Will Fund New Web Courses, Construction and Innovation Grants — President Obama came to this economically struggling state Tuesday with a sobering message about its vanishing jobs and a promise of renewal through a new federal investment in community colleges.
RELATED:
Laurie K. Blandford / TCPalm.com:
Port St. Lucie apologizes to Treasure Coast Tea Party — PORT ST. LUCIE — After a week of complaints about a sign at Freedomfest on July 4, city officials apologized to the Treasure Coast Tea Party. — “It was not our intent to interfere or cast dispersions on the tea party,” …
Bill Wyman / Wall Street Journal:
The Tragedy of Michael Jackson — The self-proclaimed King of Pop was nobody's victim. — Printer — Friendly — Am I the only one who sensed, amid the raucous hoopla that followed Michael Jackson's death, something antiquated in the air? The hip-hop era, profane and insistent …
Discussion:
Reason
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Dems reject palling around with Palin — Gov. Sarah Palin said last weekend that she'd be willing to campaign for some Democrats when she leaves office later this month. — She may not have many takers. — Interviews with a number of the most conservative Democrats in the House …
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Chuck Todd's arguments against investigations — (updated below - Update II) — NBC's Chuck Todd — who, remember, is billed as a reporter covering the White House, not a pundit expressing opinions — was on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday discussing reports that Eric Holder is likely …