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5:25 PM ET, July 20, 2009

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Washington Post:
Approval Ratings Drop for Obama on Health Care, Other Issues  —  Approval Rating on Health Care Falls Below 50 Percent  —  Obama's approval ratings on other front-burner issues, such as the economy and the federal budget deficit, have also slipped over the summer, as rising concern …
RELATED:
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Kristol: Kill It, and Start Over  —  With Obamacare on the ropes, there will be a temptation for opponents to let up on their criticism, and to try to appear constructive, or at least responsible.  There will be a tendency to want to let the Democrats' plans sink of their own weight …
Tom Raum / Associated Press:
White House putting off release of budget update  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House is being forced to acknowledge the wide gap between its once-upbeat predictions about the economy and today's bleak landscape.  —  The administration's annual midsummer budget update is sure to show higher deficits …
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Pelosi: Make millionaires pay  —  Trying to sell a historic health bill to a balky caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told POLITICO in an interview that she wants to soften a proposed surcharge on the wealthy so that it applies only to families that make $1 million or more.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
How Worried Should You Be About Health Reform?
Discussion: The Plum Line
Ed Kilgore / Democratic Strategist:
Health Reform and the Specter of 1994
Discussion: The Monkey Cage and Ezra Klein
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
D-Day for DeMint  —  Amy Kremer of the National Tea Party Patriots sends on the full audio recording of a conference call I wrote about Friday, on which Sen. Jim DeMint said health care reform could be Obama's “Waterloo.”  The comments have attracted attention, and an attack from President Obama today.
RELATED:
Rachel Slajda / Talking Points Memo:
Steele On Health Care: What's Individual Requirement?  —  Michael Steele, chairman of the RNC, doesn't seem to know the basic terminology of the health care debate.  —  In a Q&A at the National Press Club just now, Steele was asked if Republicans support an individual requirement to get health care …
Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:
Some Good News from Olympia Snowe?  —  As Jonathan reports, this is gut-check time for Democrats.  But there was at least one piece of good news over a tough weekend.  —  Here are some excerpted comments by Senator Olympia Snowe at a Saturday rally, again relayed to me via the good people at Health Care for America Now:
Discussion: Ezra Klein and TPMDC
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
The Most Important Number in Politics Today
Carol E. Lee / The Politico:
Obama slams DeMint on ‘Waterloo’
Discussion: HotMES
David A. Patten / NewsMax.com:
Obama Health Plan to Cover 12 Million Illegals
Discussion: Say Anything and Moonbattery
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
AHIP Ad Buy Supports ‘Bipartisan Solution’ For Health Care
Discussion: Hullabaloo
Washington Post:   President Obama Delivers Remarks on Health-Care Reform
Rasmussen Reports:
2012 Match-ups: Obama, Romney Tied at 45%; Obama 48%, Palin 42%  —  If the 2012 presidential election were held today, President Obama and possible Republican nominee Mitt Romney would be all tied up at 45% each, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
RELATED:
P.J. Tobia / Afghan Desk:
Source: Bergdahl Deserted
Discussion: BLACKFIVE
Binyamin Appelbaum / Washington Post:
Financial Rescue I.G. Says Banks Funneled TARP Aid to Various Expenses  —  Many of the banks that got federal aid to support increased lending have instead used some of the money to make investments, repay debts or buy other banks, according to a new report from the special inspector general overseeing …
RELATED:
Matthew Jaffe / ABCNEWS:
Whoa: Bailout Costs Could Top $23 TRILLION
Discussion: Hot Air
Eamon Javers / The Politico:
Bailouts could cost U.S. $23 trillion
Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:
President Obama, Democratic Congress's Squandered Stimulus  —  It's not surprising that the much-ballyhooed “economic stimulus” hasn't done much stimulating.  President Obama and his aides argue that it's too early to expect startling results.  They have a point.  A $14 trillion economy won't revive in a nanosecond.
Discussion: ProPublica and The Glittering Eye
RELATED:
Tim Fernholz / American Prospect:
WHY THE STIMULUS IS WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR HEALTH CARE.
Discussion: The Impolitic
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
REJECTING THE IDEA OF AN OVERHAUL.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky was on “Meet the Press” yesterday, talking about his opposition to the health care reform proposal(s).  That's fine; he's the opposition leader.  Of course he's going to oppose the majority's agenda.
RELATED:
Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:
Mitch McConnell Makes the Dems Look Good
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Race in 2028  —  During last week's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Republican senators kept bringing the conversation back to 2001 — the year when Sonia Sotomayor delivered the most famous version of her line about how a “wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences” might outshine a white male judge.
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Rep. Mike Castle Fends Off the Birthers  —  I got a little friendly fire from my friend and colleague Matt Welch over last week's article on the Obama birth certificate conspiracy.  He took issue with my “contention that the movement ‘dogs Republicans’ (there being so very many other issues that have more bite than a few barkers).”
New York Post:
JENNA AND BARBARA BUSH GAVE SECRET SERVICE FITS  —  WHEN it came to protecting Jenna and Barbara Bush, the Secret Service truly had its hands full, with President George W. Bush's wild and crazy daughters doing everything in their power to escape them, a new book reveals.
Chris Matyszczyk / Technically Incorrect:
New iPhone app helps you score pot  —  States that are low on funds are steadily inhaling the idea of taxing the sale of a substance that gets you high.  —  Meanwhile, as if anticipating an uptick in demand, the folks at Apple have approved a new iPhone and iPod Touch app that will allow …
Elliott Abrams / National Review:
An Unworkable Compromise  —  Everyone knows that the Obama administration's demands for a settlement freeze are a huge problem for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition in Jerusalem.  But they are also a great problem for the Abbas/Fayyad government of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
Steven T. Dennis / Roll Call:
Ross Is Blue Dogs' Bulldog  —  He warned them.  —  Months ago, Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), chairman of the Blue Dogs' health care task force, told House leaders and chairmen they'd better include Blue Dogs in the writing of their health care bill.  But that didn't happen.
Megan McArdle:
One Small Step For Man . . .  If you're like me (and I know many of you are), you grew up reading the science fiction of the 1940's and 1950's, promising a quick and rapid expansion into the solar system, and not too long thereafter, the galaxy.  Your young mind tried, and failed …
 
 
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 More Items: 
John McKittrick / Closing Velocity:
Cold War Heroes Walesa & Havel Plead To Obama: Don't Give Up Missile Defense
Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: Less faith in Obama's economic abilities
Discussion: Politics Nation
James H. Warner / Herald-Mail:
A different take on moon landing
Discussion: Weekly Standard
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Vilsack responds to Drudge
 Earlier Items: 
Maureen Wallenfang / Appleton Post-Crescent:
‘Joe the Plumber’ Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher pipes up for virtue …
Discussion: Think Progress
Allison Klein / Washington Post:
Drop in Violent Crime in D.C. Area and Some Other Major Cities Puzzles Experts
Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Reason
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Feingold Hits Obama's Intel Chief: You're Wrong, CIA Officials May Have Broken Law
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Morning Fix: Jindal Rises Again
Discussion: The Politico and Ben Smith's Blog