Top Items:
John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
President Obama's Conference Call with Liberal Bloggers: John Amato asks Congress to work through the August recess — You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player! — DOWNLOADS: 330 — PLAYS: 979 … President Obama and David Axlerod hosted …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Think Progress, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, Wonk Room, The Political Carnival and Riehl World View
RELATED:
The Huffington Post:
Obama Calls On Bloggers To Keep Health Care Pressure On Congress — In a reflection of a legislative strategy that has left no stone unturned, President Barack Obama on Monday called on like-minded bloggers to help his administration keep the heat on lawmakers to pass health care reform.
Amie Parnes / The Politico:
Barack Obama's gaffe: seeking greater inefficiencies — Would health care reform bring “greater inefficiencies” to the country's health care system? — That's exactly what Obama said Monday when he spoke about health care reform at the Childrens National Medical Center in Washington.
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 …
RELATED:
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Rumors of the Demise of ObamaCare Have Been Greatly Exaggerated — The beltway consesnsus seems to be that the Democrats' prospects of passing meaningful health insurance reform this year have become much slimmer, if they haven't already entirely evaporated. Like Ezra Klein, however, I'm not really sure what everyone was expecting.
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:
NY Daily News, Matthew Yglesias, The Gun Toting Liberal, Liberty Street, Washington Monthly, Commentary, Reason, The Swamp, Ezra Klein, Liberal Values, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Hot Air, The Fix, Dr. Orly Taitz Esquire, Kausfiles, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Plum Line, The Moderate Voice, Guardian and The Daley Gator
Tom Raum / Associated Press:
White House putting off release of budget update
White House putting off release of budget update
Discussion:
Power Line, Right Pundits, Matthew Yglesias, The New Republic, YID With LID, RedState, Hot Air, theblogprof, The Confluence, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Political Punch, Patterico's Pontifications, The Hill's Twitter Room, The Atlantic Business Channel, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Anchoress, Wake up America and Sense of Events
Rachel Slajda / Talking Points Memo:
Steele On Health Care: What's Individual Requirement?
Steele On Health Care: What's Individual Requirement?
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Think Progress, New York Times, Liberal Values, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo and HotMES
Tracy Jan / Boston Globe:
Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home — Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among …
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, Newsweek Blogs, Balance of Power, United States Senator and Zandar Versus The Stupid
RELATED:
Liv Osby / Greenville News:
More South Carolina residents losing health insurance
More South Carolina residents losing health insurance
Discussion:
Firedoglake
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.
Discussion:
Don Surber, Say Anything, The Provocateur, Right Pundits, Hot Air, Weekly Standard, The Moderate Voice, PoliGazette, race42008.com, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, AIP Blog, Conservatives4Palin.com, Democratic Strategist, Politics Nation, Wake up America, The Washington Independent, Townhall.com and skippy the bush kangaroo
RELATED:
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama continues to drop — PPP's monthly national survey shows Barack Obama's approval rating continuing to drop. It's now at 50% with 43% of voters disapproving, continuing a steady decline from 52% in June and 55% in May. — Compared to a month ago his numbers are largely unchanged …
Eamon Javers / The Politico:
Bailouts could cost U.S. $23 trillion — A series of bailouts, bank rescues and other economic lifelines could end up costing the federal government as much as $23 trillion, the U.S. government's watchdog over the effort says - a staggering amount that is nearly double the nation's entire economic output for a year.
RELATED:
Binyamin Appelbaum / Washington Post:
Financial Rescue I.G. Says Banks Funneled TARP Aid to Various Expenses
Financial Rescue I.G. Says Banks Funneled TARP Aid to Various Expenses
Michael Isikoff / Newsweek:
Obama's Gitmo Task Force Blows Its Deadline — Exclusive: why a key report on closing the facility has been delayed until the fall. — Brennan Linsley / Reuters-Landov — A U.S. journalist walks past sleeping quaters at Camp Justice, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, July 14, 2009.
Susan Page / USA Today:
Poll: Less faith in Obama's economic abilities — WASHINGTON — The public's confidence in President Obama's ability to handle the economy is eroding amid concern about higher federal spending and expanding government power, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds — a development that could complicate …
David Boies / Wall Street Journal:
Gay Marriage and the Constitution — Why Ted Olson and I are working to overturn California's Proposition 8. — Printer — Friendly — When I got married in California in 1959 there were almost 20 states where marriage was limited to two people of different sexes and the same race.
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).”
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:
ABCNEWS, TheZoo, Daily Kos, JONATHAN TURLEY, Registan.net, Jules Crittenden, The Washington Independent, American Power, The Jawa Report and ATTACKERMAN
RELATED:
Hope Yen / Associated Press:
2008 voting rate down as older whites stayed home … WASHINGTON (AP) - For all the attention generated by last year's presidential race, census figures show the share of eligible voters who actually went to the polls in November declined from 2004. — Census figures released Monday show …
Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:
Obama Loves Mayo, But Mayo Does Not Love Him (Update: Gibbs Responds, Badly) — Throughout his push for health-care reform, President Obama has held up the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota as an example of great medicine at lower prices—something that could and should be emulated all over the country …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Michelle Malkin, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Hot Air, The Hill's Twitter Room and Reason
Penny Starr / CNSNews:
Health Care Bill Directs HHS Secretary to Develop ‘Standards for Measuring Gender’—As Opposed to ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ — (CNSNews.com) - The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee's health care legislation will give the Health and Human Services secretary the authority to develop …
Julia Preston / New York Times:
Lawyer Leads an Immigration Fight — DALLAS — On a recent morning, Kris W. Kobach, a conservative law professor, rushed late into a federal courtroom here with his suit slightly rumpled and little more than a laptop under his arm. His mission was to persuade the judge to uphold …
CNN:
Maloney apologizes for using N word — (CNN) - New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat, apologized Monday for using the N word in a recent interview while recounting a phone call she had received. — “I apologize for having repeated a word I find disgusting,” Maloney said in a statement.
Senate Judiciary Committee:
Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court - Sonia Sotomayor - Questions for the Record — Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee submit questions for the record to nominees following confirmation hearings. Judge Sotomayor's responses to questions for the record follow.
David A. Patten / NewsMax.com:
Obama Health Plan to Cover 12 Million Illegals — On Friday, Democrats moved one step closer to giving free health insurance to the nation's estimated 12 million illegal aliens when they successfully defeated a Republican-backed amendment, offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev. …
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, Moe_Lane's blog, The Politico, The Moderate Voice, Congress Matters and Washington Monthly
Los Angeles Times:
Budget accord reached — Calling for deep cuts and avoiding broad tax hikes, Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agree on ways to close California's $26.3-billion deficit. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced today that they have reached a deal …
Lauren W. Whittington / Roll Call:
House Democrats Raise $7 Million in June — House Democrats outraised their Republican counterparts in June by a 2 to 1 margin, newly filed monthly fundraising reports show. — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised more than $7.1 million last month, bringing their second-quarter haul to more than $13.6 million.
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: Mythbusters on Mooner-conspiracies; Update: Surprise — Whoopi's a conspiracy theorist — Think of the Moon-landing hoax conspiracy theorists as the original Truthers, 32 years before 9/11. No matter how much scientific evidence one supplies, no matter how many times the debunkers debunk …
Discussion:
RealClearPolitics Video Log, Moe Lane, The Sundries Shack, IMAO, Below The Beltway and Pajamas Media