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: 352 — PLAYS: 1069 … President Obama and David Axlerod hosted …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Think Progress, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, Wonk Room, The Political Carnival and Riehl World View
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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.
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, RedState, YID With LID, theblogprof, Hot Air, The Confluence, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Hill's Twitter Room, Patterico's Pontifications, Political Punch, The Atlantic Business Channel, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Wake up America, The Anchoress and Sense of Events
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.
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Liv Osby / Greenville News:
More South Carolina residents losing health insurance
More South Carolina residents losing health insurance
Discussion:
Firedoglake
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 …
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 …
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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 Ratings Drop for Obama on Health Care, Other Issues
Discussion:
NY Daily News, Matthew Yglesias, Liberty Street, Commentary, Washington Monthly, The Swamp, Ezra Klein, Liberal Values, Reason, The Gun Toting Liberal, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Capital Journal, Hot Air, Dr. Orly Taitz Esquire, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Plum Line, Kausfiles, The Moderate Voice, The Fix, The Daley Gator and Guardian
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, Liberal Values, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo and HotMES
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.
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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.
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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.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Bench Memos, DownWithTyranny!, Change.org's Blog Network and Pam's House Blend
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.
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
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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.”
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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.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
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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
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 …
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 …
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. …
Alex Spillius / Telegraph:
US car dealer offers free Kalashnikov with every purchase — A Missouri car dealer has taken a novel approach to combating the fall in US vehicle sales by offering a free Kalashnikov assault rifle with every truck, whether new or used. — Mark Muller, whose business slogan is “God, Guns …