Top Items:
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Exclusive: Conservative group offers to sell endorsement for $2M — The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group's endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then the group's president flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.
Jonathan Allen / Notepad:
Another Alleged Affair Tied to Christian House on Capitol Hill — A Capitol Hill townhouse that serves as a dormitory and meeting place for a band of conservative Christian lawmakers has been linked to a third episode of marital infidelity, this time in a Mississippi court filing by a former lawmaker's estranged wife.
Discussion:
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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?
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 …
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Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:
Elmendorf: More Cost Control; Orszag: We're Already On It. — Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congresional Budget Office, sent tremors through Washington when he gave congressional tesitmony on Thursday. Appearing first before the Senate Finance Committee and then the House Ways and Means Committee …
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Ezra Klein:
Rules For Commenting On The CBO's Judgments
Rules For Commenting On The CBO's Judgments
Discussion:
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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 …
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Heart-ache: Tea-party-hating superhack out at CNN
Heart-ache: Tea-party-hating superhack out at CNN
Discussion:
No Sheeples Here!
Wall Street Journal:
The Grassley Test — An Iowa Republican may decide the fate of ObamaCare. — Printer — Friendly — Forget Max Baucus, Henry Waxman and Rahm Emanuel. If there's one guy who may hold the whole health-care world in his hands, it's Sen. Chuck Grassley. That ought to have President Barack Obama worried.
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Michelle Malkin
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Greg Hitt / Wall Street Journal:
Budget Blow for U.S. Health Plan
Budget Blow for U.S. Health Plan
Discussion:
The Note, Politics Daily, Real Clear Politics, New York Times, Bloomberg, On Deadline, WSJ.com, The Politico and Wake up America
Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Sanford flies high on taxpayers' dime — Aside from the damage done to his standing as a social conservative, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's recent admission of an extramarital affair may end up tarnishing another of his political credentials—his carefully-honed reputation as a tight-fisted steward of taxpayer money.
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Washington Post:
Sen. Graham's Exchanges With Sotomayor Among Most Anticipated of Judiciary Panel — S.C. Conservative Is Considered Pivotal Character in Sotomayor Hearings — Perhaps it is because Sen. Lindsey O. Graham is the only Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee who said openly that he was considering supporting Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
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Byron York / Washington Examiner:
How Republicans missed their chance with Sotomayor
How Republicans missed their chance with Sotomayor
Discussion:
Rasmussen Reports, The Campaign Spot, Power Line, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Commentary and 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:
Wake up America, Hot Air, QandO, Say Anything, Wizbang, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Strata-Sphere, Classical Values and Gateway Pundit
The Politico:
Obama's remarks at NAACP centennial — It is an honor to be here, in the city where the NAACP was formed, to mark its centennial. What we celebrate tonight is not simply the journey the NAACP has traveled, but the journey that we, as Americans, have traveled over the past one hundred years.
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Cato @ Liberty
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Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: ‘No Excuses’ for Failure
Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: ‘No Excuses’ for Failure
Discussion:
American Power, NY Daily News, Shakesville, The Politico, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Lynn Sweet and Gawker
Wall Street Journal:
Sotomayor Hearing Escapes Gravity — They put a man on the moon, and a comedian in the Senate. — Printer — Friendly — Everyone is noting the 40th anniversary, on July 20, of the moon landing. Good. It was an epic moment in history, though its memory is accompanied by an unsatisfied feeling …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Opinionator, No More Mister Nice Blog, THE WEEK News & Opinion and Mediaite
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.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Jawa Report, Classical Values, American Spectator, Pundit & Pundette, Gateway Pundit, Fausta's Blog, theblogprof, Scared Monkeys, Wizbang, Latest Open Salon Blog, Stop The ACLU, JustOneMinute, Hot Air, RedState, Flopping Aces, Commentary, Don Surber, No Sheeples Here!, NewsBusters.org, Vox Popoli, race42008.com, Right Pundits, Doug Ross, Below The Beltway, Say Anything, Weasel Zippers and Townhall.com
Hilzoy / Obsidian Wings:
Read It And Weep — Fester at Newhoggers links to a set of right-wing bloggers' predictions for 2003. It's pretty stunning. For instance: … More from another pre-war interview with Tim Blair: … If only. — Except for Rachel Lucas', those are some pretty embarrassing predictions.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
No Pity for the Rich — When considering the alleged plight of the very rich groaning under the socialist yoke of Charlie Rangel's tax proposals, it's worth keeping in mind that the super-rich's share of the overall income pie is been skyrocketing: — The reasons behind this trend are complicated.
David Carr / New York Times:
A Hollywood Blogger Feared by Executives — Right now, there's a good chance a Hollywood executive is leaning into a colleague's office and quietly asking, “Did you see what Nikki just wrote?” — That would be Nikki Finke, a well-traveled newspaper reporter who has found her moment as a digital-age Walter Winchell.
Jimmie Bise / AIP Blog:
Let's Put Some Real Faces on the Casualties of Obamacare — On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the President and his Democratic allies in Congress intend to force small business with payrolls more than $250,000 per year to provide health insurance to their employees.
New York Times:
Explosions at 2 Hotels in Indonesia Kill at Least 8 — JAKARTA, Indonesia — Two suicide bombers detonated explosives in nearly simultaneous attacks at neighboring American luxury hotels in central Jakarta on Friday morning, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 50, according to security officials.
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News Desk
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BBC:
Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels
Fatal blasts hit Jakarta hotels
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CNN, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Mashable!, Atlas Shrugs, Scared Monkeys and TalkLeft
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
40 Years After Apollo 11, America's Retreat From the Moon — Michael Crichton once wrote that if you told a physicist in 1899 that within a hundred years humankind would, among other wonders (nukes, commercial airlines), “travel to the moon, and then lose interest . . . the physicist would almost certainly pronounce you mad.”
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, Right Wing News, 24Ahead, The Raw Story, The Political Carnival and The Impolitic
Rasmussen Reports:
50% Oppose Government Health Insurance Company — Just 35% of U.S. voters now support the creation of a government health insurance company to compete with private health insurers. — A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 50% of voters oppose setting …