Top Items:
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Exclusive: Conservative group offers support for $2M — The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group's support in a bitter legislative dispute, then the group's chairman flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Outside The Beltway, Michelle Malkin, Think Progress, Firedoglake, Right Wing News, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Hot Air, The Note, Gawker, The Volokh Conspiracy, MoJo Blog Posts, Weekly Standard, Balloon Juice, Riehl World View, Democracy in America, Salon, Washington Monthly, Reason, The Corner, Newshoggers.com, The Atlantic Business Channel, Vox Popoli, Michael Calderone's Blog, Say Anything, Eschaton, Conservatives4Palin.com and The Washington Independent
RELATED:
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:
Gawker, TPMMuckraker, Politics Daily, Facing South, msnbc.com, TBogg, Below The Beltway, Raw Story, Balloon Juice and Liberal Values
RELATED:
Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky:
McCONNELL TO OPPOSE SOTOMAYOR NOMINATION — from the Office of Senator Mitch McConnell — Senate Republican Leader will deliver remarks on the Senate floor Monday outlining his opposition to Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court - — 'If, however, Judge Sotomayor were to become …
RELATED:
Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Uncle Pat: MSNBC's Knowing Promotion of White Supremacy and Racial Hatred — Pat Buchanan is a racist, white supremacist intent on stoking racial hatred. There has never been any doubt of this, and throughout the confirmation process of Judge Sotomayor, he has repeated his unvarnished white supremacist views at every opportunity.
The Huffington Post:
GOP Rep Tiahrt Asks Whether Obama's Mother Would Have Had An Abortion (VIDEO)
GOP Rep Tiahrt Asks Whether Obama's Mother Would Have Had An Abortion (VIDEO)
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Notepad, Think Progress, Washington Monthly and Media Matters Action Network
Ted Van Dyk / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Needs to ‘Reset’ His Presidency — The president we have is very different from the man who campaigned for the office in 2008. — Printer — Friendly — Time out, Mr. President. — As we approach the August congressional recess, it's clear that our economic distress is deeper …
RELATED:
The State:
Sanford communications director to resign — Gov. Mark Sanford's communications director, Joel Sawyer, said today he is leaving for an unspecified private-sector job, effective Aug. 5. — Sawyer said his decision to leave his $65,000-a-year job had nothing to do with Sanford's recent six …
RELATED:
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?
The Huffington Post:
Gang Of Six Centrist Senators Demands Delay On Health Care Reform — A bipartisan group of centrist and conservative senators sent a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders on Friday urging delay in consideration of health care reform. — The letter, obtained by the Huffington Post …
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 …
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 …
RELATED:
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:
Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Ben Smith's Blog, TPMCafe, Open Congress, Commentary, The Washington Independent, Hot Air, RedState, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Daily Kos, Cato @ Liberty, Facing South, Scorecard's Blog, MoJo Blog Posts, Liberal Values, Riehl World View, TPMDC and MoJo Blog Posts
Amie Parnes / The Politico:
What, and when, does Obama drink? — When President Barack Obama confessed his occasional urge to have a puff of a cigarette, inquiring minds wondered: Does Obama ever savor that smoke with a glass of cognac? A splash of port? Or even, perhaps, a good, old-fashioned ale?
Ncarlile / Think Progress:
Zell Miller: Rahm should use ‘Gorilla Glue’ to keep Obama in his chair. — In 2004, then-Democratic Sen. Zell Miller (GA) threw his support behind President Bush with an angry speech attacking Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) at the Republican National Convention. Apparently, the passage of time hasn't softened Miller's anger.
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Fox guest cites Bruno to argue against health care reform. — On Fox News this morning, host Megyn Kelly hosted Dr. Robert Goldberg of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest to help her scaremonger about Democratic plans to reform America's health care system.
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
The Friday Line: Ranking Republican Leaders — Photos by Mark Wilson/Getty Images, Brendan Hoffman/Bloomberg News and Harry Hamburg/AP Photo — The Republican party at present is, in the words of one smart GOP operative, a chorus of voices without a soloist.
Discussion:
Democracy in America, Boston Globe, Conservatives4Palin.com, Don Surber and Ben Smith's Blog
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.
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
House committees advance healthcare overhaul — Two key House committees moved along Democratic healthcare legislation on Friday, only days after the bill was introduced. — Both the Ways and Means Committee and the Education and Labor Committee approved versions of the bill …
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News
Jim Abrams / Associated Press:
Senate votes to expand federal hate crimes law — WASHINGTON — People attacked because of their sexual orientation or gender would receive federal protections under a Senate-approved measure that significantly expands the reach of hate crimes law. — The Senate bill also would make it easier …
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.
Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Big Dem cash dump on eve of climate vote — Three House Democratic leaders who were whipping members on the climate change bill gave tens of thousands in campaign cash to party moderates around the time of the 219-212 vote on June 26, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Health reform foes plan Obama's ‘Waterloo’ — Conservative leaders will push delay any vote on health care reform until after the August recess to capitalize on what they say is a growing tide of opposition to reform measures, they said on a conference call with “tea party” participants today.
Discussion:
GOP 12
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.
Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
THE PRESIDENT AND THE NAACP. — The first black president of the United States addressed the oldest civil rights organization in the country yesterday. It was one of those moments when one begins to feel the past fading into the future, when the full scope of what happened last November is pulled back into focus.
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, No More Mister Nice Blog, THE WEEK News & Opinion, Mediaite and The Opinionator