Top Items:
Washington Post:
What's Next, Mr. President — Cardigans? — Barely six months into his presidency, Barack Obama seems to be driving south into that political speed trap known as Carter Country: a sad-sack landscape in which every major initiative meets not just with failure but with scorn from political allies and foes alike.
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Beth Fouhy / Associated Press:
Obama losing some support among nervous Dems — NEW YORK — Could it be that President Barack Obama's Midas touch is starting to dull a bit, even among members of his own party? — Conservative House Democrats are balking at the cost and direction of Obama's top priority, an overhaul of the nation's health care system.
Discussion:
Chicago Boyz
Michael O'Brien / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Congressman: Centrist Dems talking healthcare coalition with GOP — Some centrist House Democrats have reached out to Republicans to explore breaking with their party leadership on healthcare and crafting a reform bill with the rival GOP, one congressman claimed Saturday.
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Obama not stressing Aug. deadline — In his most recent remarks, President Obama has stopped mentioning what had been his mantra — that the House and Senate finish their health-care bills by the August recess — and switched to a less specific call to fast action.
Washington Post:
Alliances Splinter in Debate Over Health-Care Reform — Once-Friendly Groups Split as Details Emerge — Months of relative cooperation among disparate interest groups in the heath-care reform debate appear to be coming to an end, as the major political parties and their surrogates unleash …
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Steve Burri / Grandpa John's:
North Korean Test Missile Strikes Wisconsin Home — A North Korean missile struck a home near Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, this afternoon, but failed to totally detonate its warhead. The prototype ‘Oscar Mayer Jong Il’ intercontinental ballistic missile spewed ketchup all over the place …
Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
‘Integrity’? Like Paul F***ing Anka, Baby — Ace of Spades mentions “integrity” in discussing his services last year “as an apologist for the horrible candidate John McCain.” I traveled a good distance down that particular road myself — I'd link some of it, if only it weren't so …
Alberto de la Cruz / Babalú Blog:
A page out of the Chavez (leftist, in other words) Playbook — A [Spanish] Catalan newspaper is reporting that Honduran authorities have seized computers found in the Presidential Palace belonging to deposed president Mel Zelaya. Taking a page right out of the leftist dictator's handbook …
Mark Steyn / The Corner:
No future — The “alarmism” of my book seems to be going mainstream. Newsweek's economics editor Daniel Gross belatedly joins the demographic deathwatch on Japan: Japan's population peaked in 2004 at about 127.8 million and is projected to fall to 89.9 million by 2055.
Discussion:
Cold Fury
Jill Abramson / New York Times:
Women on the Verge of the Law: From Anita Hill to Sonia Sotomayor — A lone woman sits at the witness table, hoping her Yale law degree will help her survive a charged Supreme Court confirmation hearing. She faces a battery of powerful white senators on the Judiciary Committee …
Discussion:
Change.org's Blog Network
Pundette / Pundit & Pundette:
Beyond rationing: controlling more than “health” — First we'll talk about rationing. But government-run health care will open the door for more than bureaucratic control over who gets the pace-makers and the Alzheimer's drugs. — Rationing will be necessary
Discussion:
The TrogloPundit
John / Power Line:
A Year Without A Summer? — 1816 was the “year without a summer.” There were several causes of the abnormally cold weather that year, as this source recounts: … If this account is correct, the “year without a summer” played a role in the development of the American Midwest:
Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:
Company Denies its Robots Feed on the Dead — I never imagined I'd print a press release in full. Then, an hour ago, Howard Lovy e-mailed me the most incredible press release of all time... POMPANO BEACH, Fla.- In response to rumors circulating the internet on sites such as FoxNews.com …
Wall Street Journal:
Their Own Medicine — Senators prefer the insurance they have. — Printer — Friendly — In the health debate, liberals sing Hari Krishnas to the “public option” — a new federal insurance program like Medicare — but if it's good enough for the middle class, then surely it's good enough for the political class too?