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:
Hot Air, New York Times, NY Daily News, The Huffington Post, Politics Daily, The Anchoress, Rasmussen Reports, Michelle Malkin, Think Progress, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Right Pundits, Boston Globe, Political Byline, Ezra Klein, The Page, Scared Monkeys, PoliGazette, Guardian, Commentary, Riehl World View, Newsweek Blogs, The Swamp, The Politico, Flopping Aces, marbury, Below The Beltway, Campaign Silo, Top of the Ticket, Salon, Stop The ACLU, New York Times, DownWithTyranny!, Kausfiles, AMERICAblog News, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber, D-Day, Pundit & Pundette, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, No More Mister Nice Blog, Macsmind, msnbc.com, The Campaign Spot, Say Anything, BuzzFlash.org, Chicago Tribune, TPMDC, The Plum Line and The Strata-Sphere
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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 …
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:
The Atlantic Business Channel, The New Republic, Hot Air, Washington Post, The Politico, Patterico's Pontifications, QandO, YID With LID, Political Byline, Don Surber, Stop The ACLU, Wizbang, Right Pundits, On Deadline, JammieWearingFool, Betsy's Page, The Foundry, NewsBusters.org, Say Anything, Pajamas Media, AmSpecBlog, Gateway Pundit and Riehl World View
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:
The Atlantic Business Channel, Washington Monthly, Eye of Polyphemus, WSJ.com and The Page
Jonathan Weisman / Wall Street Journal:
Democrats Worry Over Rich Voters — A group of Democrats elected in recent years from some of the country's richest congressional districts have emerged as a stumbling block to raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for President Barack Obama's ambitious health-care overhaul just as the plan …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Business Channel, Washington Wire, Hullabaloo, D-Day, Commentary, The Caucus, New York Times and Betsy's Page
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
PRESIDENT'S SUPPORT STILL SOFTENING.... A new Washington Post …
PRESIDENT'S SUPPORT STILL SOFTENING.... A new Washington Post …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, The Swamp, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Washington Post and Real Clear Politics
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Morning Fix: Jindal Rises Again — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) will wade into the national debate over health care this week by penning op-eds in Politico and the Wall Street Journal and appearing on a series of cable chat shows today and tomorrow. — “Governor Jindal has seen enough …
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Rachel Slajda / Talking Points Memo:
Steele On Health Care: What's Individual Requirement?
Steele On Health Care: What's Individual Requirement?
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Think Progress, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo and Grasping Reality …
Washington Wire:
RNC's Steele: Obama's Health Care Plan Akin to Socialism
RNC's Steele: Obama's Health Care Plan Akin to Socialism
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
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, Registan.net, TheZoo, JONATHAN TURLEY, The Washington Independent and ATTACKERMAN
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Michelle Malkin:
Questions about the reported abduction of Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl; Update: Reports of desertion mounting — Scroll down for updates...evidence of desertion mounting... My prayers are with the family of Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier seen on the Taliban abduction video released this weekend.
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.
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.
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog, Balloon Juice, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Brilliant at Breakfast, Shakesville, TBogg and Zandar Versus The Stupid
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:
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 …
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Hot Air, ProPublica, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Piece of Work In Progress, The Page and The Hill
Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:
Subprime Brokers Resurface as Dubious Loan Fixers — LOS ANGELES — From the ninth floor of a downtown office building on Wilshire Boulevard, Jack Soussana delivered staggering numbers of mortgages to homeowners during the real estate boom, amassing a fortune. — By Mr. Soussana's own account, his customers fared less happily.
Discussion:
Wonk Room, D-Day, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Washington Independent, Economist's View, Riehl World View and Eschaton
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 …
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 …
S.logan / insert clever s.logan here:
God, Guns, Guts, and CNN's Idiot Reporters — Greetings, Instapundit readers! — “You don't have a problem with God, do ya?” — This is a question posed to CNN reporter Carol Costello during a recent interview with Mark Muller, a Missouri car dealer whose company is offering an unusual incentive …
Michael Yon:
One Giant Leap — 20 July 2009 — Yesterday, a helicopter crashed on base at Kandahar Airfield, killing sixteen. Later that night we had a minor rocket attack which caused me to roll out of bed onto the floor, while this morning, I got up to the great pleasure of watching Neil Armstrong on the BBC …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
Wall Street Journal:
The New Old ‘Card Check’ — Labor's top priority isn't dead yet. — Printer — Friendly — Politicians don't typically broadcast their defeat, and when they do it pays to watch for the blindside hit. That's surely the case with last week's reports that six liberal Senators …
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Feingold Hits Obama's Intel Chief: You're Wrong, CIA Officials May Have Broken Law — I told you last week that it was a big deal when Obama's top intelligence guy defended that secret, controversial CIA program as legal, because it's bound to result in a standoff between Congressional Dems and the White House.
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, MyDD, The Washington Independent, D-Day, The Page and Emptywheel
Maureen Wallenfang / Appleton Post-Crescent:
‘Joe the Plumber’ Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher pipes up for virtue at Greenville tea party rally near Appleton — Accountability, action key themes of speakers — GREENVILLE — As national everyman Joe the Plumber took the stage here Sunday against a backdrop of farms, a receptive crowd treated him like a rock star.
Discussion:
Think Progress
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.
Allison Klein / Washington Post:
Drop in Violent Crime in D.C. Area and Some Other Major Cities Puzzles Experts — Violent crime has plummeted in the Washington area and in major cities across the country, a trend criminologists describe as baffling and unexpected. — The District, New York and Los Angeles are on track …
Discussion:
Reason