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: 432 — PLAYS: 1257 … President Obama and David Axlerod hosted …
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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.
Discussion:
Wizbang, Think Progress, Talking Points Memo, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Taylor Marsh and RIGHTWINGSPARKLE
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.
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 …
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:
Right Wing News, AmSpecBlog, Washington Post, The Provocateur, Blue Crab Boulevard and Zandar Versus The Stupid
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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.
Discussion:
Say Anything, The Provocateur, Right Pundits, PoliGazette, race42008.com, Hot Air, Commentary, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Weekly Standard, Don Surber, The Moderate Voice, Democratic Strategist, AIP Blog, Conservatives4Palin.com, Politics Nation, Wake up America, The Washington Independent, TPMDC, skippy the bush kangaroo and Townhall.com
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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 …
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Matthew Yi / San Francisco Chronicle:
State leaders have tentative plan to fix budget
State leaders have tentative plan to fix budget
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
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.
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:
Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Politico, Blogs and Stories, The Plum Line, Matthew Yglesias, American Street, Sadly, No!, Daily Kos, Liberal Values, Think Progress, Washington Monthly, marbury, Swampland, Democracy in America, The Page, Hullabaloo, Ezra Klein, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Reaction, D-Day and Hot Air
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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:
Bench Memos, DownWithTyranny!, The Moderate Voice, 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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RealClearPolitics Video Log:
Whoopi Goldberg Entertains Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories — Whoopi Goldberg questioned the original moon landing on today's edition of “The View.” Goldberg, a co-host, wondered who shot the footage and why the flag was “rippling” if there was no wind.
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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).”
Discussion:
Hot Air, Political Byline, Firedoglake, The Political Carnival, Democracy in America and Ben Smith's Blog
Ezra Klein:
The Unbearable Lightness of Greg Mankiw — A friend e-mails: … I would respond by saying that there's a weird tendency among people to think that very banal comments are very important insights when they come from Greg Mankiw. And this is worse than a very banal comment: It's disengaged with the debate.
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 …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, Politics Nation, Hot Air, Salon, YID With LID, Say Anything, Macsmind, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, AmSpecBlog and Commentary
Joe Strupp / Editor and Publisher:
‘New York Times’ Defends Palin Story that Quotes Hairdresser — NEW YORK A story on The Huffington Post Monday reporting that Sarah Palin's hairdresser was upset about being inaccurately cited in a New York Times piece drew a response from a Times spokeswoman today claiming the hairdresser had praised the story.
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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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 …
Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Senate Dems outraise GOP counterparts — The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) raised $6.2 million in June, outraising the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) by nearly $3 million. — The DSCC banked $7.9 million and had $3.7 million in debt.
Discussion:
RedState
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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 …
Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
Democrats Want to Teach You to Die With Dignity — H.R. 3200 is the Democrat healthcare bill. — Let's back up for a minute. I noted some time ago Jay Rockefeller went on record to say that at some point the government has to decide whether or not you are allowed to receive …
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 …
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 …
Vanity Fair:
Palin's Resignation: The Edited Version — If you watched Sarah Palin's resignation speech, you know one thing: her high-priced speechwriters moved back to the Beltway long ago. Just how poorly constructed was the governor's holiday-weekend address? We asked V.F.'s red-pencil-wielding …
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. …
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, Hot Air, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Hill's Twitter Room and Reason
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.
Think Progress:
Jimmy Carter: ‘The words of God do not justify cruelty to women.’ — Former President Jimmy Carter, who in 2000 officially severed ties with the Southern Baptist Convention after the SBC declared its opposition to female pastors and reiterated its calls “for wives to be submissive to their husbands …
WhiteHouse.gov Blog:
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON HEALTH CARE — Washington, D.C. — THE PRESIDENT: Well, I just first of all want to thank the Children's Hospital for hosting us today. And I want to thank the participants, Joseph Wright, Brian Jacobs, Yewande Johnson, Michael Knappe, Regina Hartridge, and Kathleen Quigley.