memeorandum: It won't bring more competition — Some statements are inherently unbelievable. (Steve Chapman/Chicago Tribune)

8:30 AM ET, July 17, 2009

Top Items:

Budget Analyst Assails Cost of Congress's Health-Care Proposals — CBO Chief Says Democrats' Proposals Lack Necessary Controls on Spending — Congress's chief budget analyst delivered a devastating assessment yesterday of the health-care proposals drafted by congressional Democrats …

Jeffrey Young / The Hill:

Senators: No bipartisan health deal this week — The bipartisan group of senators working to hash out an agreement on healthcare reform delivered a message to President Obama and the Democratic leadership Thursday: You'll just have to wait. — After another intense day of closed-door negotiations …

Discussion: Hot Air

Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:

The Long-Term Budget Outlook — Today I had the opportunity to testify before the Senate Budget Committee about CBO's most recent analysis of the long-term budget outlook. — Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run.

Discussion: Wizbang, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Classical Values

John / Power Line:
The Cure That Makes the Disease Worse

Discussion: Associated Press, Say Anything and Flopping Aces

Fox News:
Congressional Budget Director Warns Health Care Bills Will Raise Costs

Discussion: The New Ledger, JammieWearingFool and This ain't Hell …

Ezra Klein:
Rules For Commenting On The CBO's Judgments

Discussion: Kausfiles, The Right Coast and Wizbang

The Note:
CBO Sees No Net Federal Cost Savings in Dem Health Plans

Jeffrey Young / The Hill: GOP seizes on CBO criticism of health bills

Robert Pear / New York Times:
House Committee Approves Health Care Bill

Discussion: The Politico, Time, The Moderate Voice, Swampland and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Baucus: Bipartisan health deal close

Discussion: CNN, The Caucus, Politics Nation, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Page and The Sundries Shack

Penny Starr / CNSNews:

Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’ — (CNSNews.com) - Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.

Washington Post:
Up Next: Biden vs. Cantor

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Hot Air, Say Anything, Gateway Pundit, Ben Smith's Blog, Atlas Shrugs, msnbc.com, Weekly Standard and Washington Monthly

Political Punch:
Should They Have Called It The ‘Stabilization’ Act?

Discussion: Hot Air and Stop The ACLU

Chris / TVNewser:

Susan Roesgen Out at CNN — Breaking: TVNewser has learned CNN correspondent Susan Roesgen's contract will not be renewed and she will be leaving the network. — Roesgen, you'll recall, was criticized for her coverage at the tax day tea parties in April, when she said the event she was covering …

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media, The Other McCain, American Power, Moe Lane, Founding Bloggers, Chicago Boyz, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Macsmind

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Heart-ache: Tea-party-hating superhack out at CNN

Discussion: No Sheeples Here!

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:

RNC Web site promoting anti-Semitic, anti-Latino, and pornographic literature — (UPDATE: I understand the Latino book is not anti-Latino, but in fact debunks anti-Latino prejudice. Fair enough. But I'm still looking forward to the RNC's explanation for including “bondage,” “anal,” and “clitoris.” )

Discussion: The Politico, 24Ahead, Right Wing News, Raw Story, The Political Carnival and The Impolitic

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Video: Witness rips Boxer for racial condescension — Red meat by the slab, folks! Barbara Boxer wound up getting reamed by Harry Alford, the chair of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, after attempting to challenge his testimony on energy policy. When Boxer started waving position papers …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Macsmind, Pajamas Media, Fausta's Blog, Weekly Standard, JustOneMinute, The Other McCain, Right Wing News and Say Anything

Michael O'Brien / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Black Chamber head slams Boxer words as ‘racial,’ ‘condescending’ and ‘God awful’

Discussion: Wonk Room, Riehl World View, Latest Open Salon Blog, Grist, Think Progress, Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Dan / Riehl World View:
Boxer: But You're Black!

Discussion: The Rhetorican, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, theblogprof and GayPatriot

Anne Schroeder Mullins / Anne Schroeder's Blog:
Sen. Barbara Boxer, accused of race politics today during the EPW hearing

Discussion: Reason and Townhall.com

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: ‘No Excuses’ for Any Failure — President Obama delivered a fiery sermon to black America on Thursday night, warning black parents that they must accept their own responsibilities by “putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour,” …

Discussion: The Politico, American Power, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Gawker

Sunlen Miller / ABCNEWS:
Obama Stresses Responsibility at NAACP's 100th Anniversary

Discussion: The Politico and The Swamp

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Joy of Sachs — The American economy remains in dire straits, with one worker in six unemployed or underemployed. Yet Goldman Sachs just reported record quarterly profits — and it's preparing to hand out huge bonuses, comparable to what it was paying before the crisis. What does this contrast tell us?

Discussion: Borowitz Report, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Health Care Blog and Economist's View

Matt Taibbi / Taibblog:
The real price of Goldman's giganto-profits

Discussion: Mediaite, MyDD, The Confluence, Hullabaloo, Zandar Versus The Stupid, MoJo Blog Posts, Gawker and Balloon Juice

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:

Democrats Drop Key Part of Bill to Assist Unions — A half-dozen senators friendly to labor have decided to drop a central provision of a bill that would have made it easier to organize workers. — The so-called card-check provision — which senators decided to scrap to help secure …

Discussion: Liberal Values, Riehl World View and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Not Larry Sabato:

REPUBLICANS BECOMING UNHINGED — VA-GOP CANDIDATE JUST SAID: “IF WE LOSE AT THE BALLOT BOX, WE WILL HAVE TO TURN TO THE BULLET BOX.” VIDEO TO COME!! — UPDATE: Quote corrected (it's actually worse):"We have the chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box …

Discussion: Craig Crawford's Trail Mix, Washington Post, Virginia Politics, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, Daily Kos, The Washington Independent, The Impolitic, The Raw Story, The Political Carnival, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Awl

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

How Republicans missed their chance with Sotomayor — Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are down to their last chance to make the case that there are serious questions about Sonia Sotomayor's fitness for the Supreme Court. One of the things they will do is stress a subject …

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, Power Line, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Campaign Spot and Hot Air

BBC:

Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels — At least nine people including some foreigners have been killed in two bomb blasts at luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, police say. — One explosion hit the Ritz-Carlton, ripping off its facade, and the other the Marriott Hotel.

Discussion: CNN, msnbc.com, Mashable!, Atlas Shrugs and TalkLeft

Lily Gordon / Ledger-Enquirer.com:

Federal judge dismisses reservist's suit questioning Obama's presidency — A federal judge this morning dismissed the suit filed here by a U.S. Army reservist who says he shouldn't have to go to Afghanistan because he believes Barack Obama was never eligible to be president.

Discussion: On Deadline, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Confederate Yankee and WorldNetDaily

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Lou Dobbs and the Birthers: Stefan Cook's orders were rescinded by the military

Discussion: The Reaction

John / Power Line:

And Now For Something Completely Crazy — The news is coming so thick and fast these days that it's hard to keep up. The Supreme Court, socialized medicine, cap and trade, record deficits, foreign policy fecklessness—it's easy to lose track of smaller issues with all that is going on.

CNBC.com:

Roubini: Views on Economy Unchanged Despite Reports — Nouriel Roubini, the economist whose dire forecasts earned him the nickname “Doctor Doom,” said after markets closed Thursday that earlier reports claiming he sees an end to the recession this year were “taken out of context.”

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid and Calculated Risk

CNN:

Tracking Michelle Obama's slave roots — GEORGETOWN, South Carolina (CNN) — In many places across the South you can walk in the footsteps of slaves, and if you understand the history, it is not a happy journey. The same is true at Friendfield Plantation outside Georgetown, South Carolina.

Discussion: American Power and Riehl World View

Political Punch:

President Obama Continues Questionable “You Can Keep Your Health Care” Promise — ABC News' Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report: — At a rally in Holmdel, New Jersey, today, President Obama continued making a promise about health care reform that he has acknowledged isn't literally true.