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 …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Kausfiles, NY Daily News, Guardian, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Swamp, The Anchoress, JustOneMinute, Dr. Orly Taitz Esquire, Commentary, Scared Monkeys, The Huffington Post, Ezra Klein, The Provocateur, Right Pundits, Newsweek Blogs, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Political Byline, Riehl World View, Think Progress, Boston Globe, Below The Beltway, Campaign Silo, Politics Daily, Flopping Aces, The Page, Michelle Malkin, Top of the Ticket, D-Day, Salon, AMERICAblog News, The Politico, NewsBusters.org, marbury, Macsmind, Zandar Versus The Stupid and DownWithTyranny!
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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 …
Discussion:
The Politico, Democracy in America, Washington Monthly, Ezra Klein, Think Progress, The Plum Line, American Street, Swampland, Zandar Versus The Stupid, marbury, Washington Post, Matthew Yglesias, The Reaction, Taylor Marsh, D-Day, FiveThirtyEight, Hullabaloo, The Daily Dish and The Page
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 …
Discussion:
Power Line, Right Pundits, Political Punch, The Atlantic Business Channel, Patterico's Pontifications, The New Republic, The Foundry, theblogprof, Don Surber, Wizbang, Betsy's Page, On Deadline, QandO, PoliGazette, Wake up America, The Confluence, NewsBusters.org, Political Byline, Matthew Yglesias, JammieWearingFool, Say Anything, Sense of Events and Pajamas Media
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.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Business Channel, HotMES, Eye of Polyphemus, WSJ.com, The Page and Washington Monthly
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
How Worried Should You Be About Health Reform?
How Worried Should You Be About Health Reform?
Discussion:
The Plum Line
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
WaPo poll has Obama under water on health care
WaPo poll has Obama under water on health care
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Rasmussen Reports, Scared Monkeys, Politics Daily, Washington Post, The Swamp and Pundit & Pundette
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.
Discussion:
Think Progress, Political Punch, Newsweek Blogs, Balance of Power, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Campaign Silo
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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:
Lee Fang / Think Progress:
Obama hits back at DeMint's threat: 'It is about a health care system …
Obama hits back at DeMint's threat: 'It is about a health care system …
Discussion:
Greenville News, Washington Monthly, WhiteHouse.gov Blog, Firedoglake, The Plum Line and New York Times
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
AHIP Ad Buy Supports ‘Bipartisan Solution’ For Health Care
AHIP Ad Buy Supports ‘Bipartisan Solution’ For Health Care
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
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.
Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Fox News Guest Ralph Peters Suggests Taliban Should Kill U.S. Soldier If He Deserted — Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who has been captured by the Taliban and appears in a video released this weekend by his captors, “went missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan on June 30.”
Discussion:
Daily Kos, ABCNEWS, TheZoo, JONATHAN TURLEY, Registan.net, The Washington Independent, ATTACKERMAN and Media Matters for America
RELATED:
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 …
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Eamon Javers / The Politico:
Bailouts could cost U.S. $23 trillion
Bailouts could cost U.S. $23 trillion
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid
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.
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Tim Fernholz / American Prospect:
WHY THE STIMULUS IS WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT THAT MEANS FOR HEALTH CARE.
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.
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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.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Politico, TPMDC and Moe_Lane's blog
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 …