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:
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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:
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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 Politics Channel, HotMES, Eye of Polyphemus, Washington Monthly, WSJ.com and The Page
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
WaPo poll has Obama under water on health care
WaPo poll has Obama under water on health care
Discussion:
Rasmussen Reports, Politics Daily, Scared Monkeys, The Swamp, Washington Post and Pundit & Pundette
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama hiding the budget numbers until August recess
Obama hiding the budget numbers until August recess
Discussion:
YID With LID, Right Pundits, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Stop The ACLU, The Campaign Spot, Instapundit and AmSpecBlog
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
PRESIDENT'S SUPPORT STILL SOFTENING.... A new Washington Post …
PRESIDENT'S SUPPORT STILL SOFTENING.... A new Washington Post …
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid
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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Daily Kos, ABCNEWS, TheZoo, JONATHAN TURLEY, Registan.net, The Washington Independent, The Jawa Report and ATTACKERMAN
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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 …
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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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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, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Piece of Work In Progress, ProPublica and Congress Matters
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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.
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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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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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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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.
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 …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Room for Debate, TalkLeft, Mashable!, The Impolitic and DailyFinance
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 …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Vilsack responds to Drudge — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has issued a direct “Response to Drudge Item on Recovery Act Funding,” as the Drudge Report leads with a list of millions of dollars in food items included in the stimulus package: — Through the Recovery Act …
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, The Washington Independent, D-Day, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Riehl World View and Economist's View