memeorandum: First on the CNN Ticker: GOP questions Obama's police criticism (Mark Preston/CNN)

4:40 PM ET, July 23, 2009

Top Items:

Backlash: Obama's Comments on Gates' Arrest Stirs Reaction — White House Says President Was Not Calling The Police Officer Who Arrested Gates Stupid — The Cambridge, Mass., police officer who arrested Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the officer's union …

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, Washington Wire, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Weekly Standard, QandO, Hot Air, Associated Press, Latest Open Salon Blog, The Note, Boston Herald, Christian Science Monitor, American Power, Maggie's Farm, The Page, Moe Lane and Taylor Marsh

Boston Herald:

Officer in Henry Gates flap tried to save Reggie Lewis — Denies he's a racist, won't apologize — The Cambridge cop prominent Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. claims is a racist gave a dying Reggie Lewis mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in a desperate bid to save the Celtics …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Michelle Malkin, CNN, Boston Globe, The Campaign Spot, Patterico's Pontifications, DailyHowler.com, On Deadline, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Pam's House Blend, Political Byline, Right Wing News and No More Mister Nice Blog

William Kristol / PostPartisan:

Obama Attacks Docs and Cops — President Obama spent most of his press conference tonight denying what President Kennedy famously affirmed — that to govern is to choose. Obama promised us health care this is at once better and cheaper, with both more regulation and more freedom to choose …

Discussion: Washington Post, Firedoglake, The Corner, Democratic Strategist, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Associated Press, TBogg, Flopping Aces, Gateway Pundit, Right Wing News, Achenblog, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Patterico's Pontifications and The Huffington Post

ABCNEWS:

ABC EXCLUSIVE: Obama Defends Criticism of Cambridge Police in Arrest of Gates — In ABC News Interview, Obama Says “Cooler Heads Should Have Prevailed” — President Obama today stood by his comments that the Cambridge, Mass. police department acted “stupidly” in its arrest of Henry Louis Gates …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Boston Weather …

Tom Shales / Washington Post:

Obama Goes Off-Topic, Clearly — When a politician says “Let me be clear,” what follows is often anything but. It's a tradition in obfuscation that probably got a big boost from Richard Nixon's “Let me make this perfectly clear,” one of that president's signature phrases.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Philly.com, The Moderate Voice, Los Angeles Times and NewsBusters.org

Boston Weather, Breaking News and Sports from WBZ-TV:

Gates Arresting Officer: Obama ‘Way Off Base’ — BOSTON (WBZ) ― The white police sergeant who arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. said Thursday President Barack Obama was “way off base” claiming Cambridge officers acted “stupidly” during the incident.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, dot.comments, Little Green Footballs, ABCNEWS and theroot.com

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama on Gates arrest: No regrets

Discussion: Boston Weather … and Talking Points Memo

Mark Preston / CNN:
First on the CNN Ticker: GOP questions Obama's police criticism

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and The Hill's Pundits Blog

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
Obama Wades Into a Volatile Racial Issue

Discussion: Booman Tribune, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Outside The Beltway, The Caucus, TalkLeft, New York Magazine, Donklephant, The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post and Emptywheel

Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
GOP seizes on Obama cops remark

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Bias, Racism, Being a Jerk, and Abuse of Power

Discussion: Obsidian Wings

The New Republic:
Race, Power, and the Law

Discussion: Washington Post and The Daily Dish

Jules Crittenden:
Sensitivity Training Now — The Cambridge cop accused …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, NewsBusters.org, Bookworm Room, NO QUARTER, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Right Wing News, Confederate Yankee, On Deadline, The Other McCain and Gateway Pundit

Joe Ryan / New Jersey Online:

N.J. officials, N.Y. rabbis caught in federal money laundering, corruption sweep — NEWARK — A New Jersey assemblyman and the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus were among public officials arrested this morning by FBI agents in an international money laundering and corruption probe that includes rabbis …

Discussion: Law Blog, msnbc.com, The Campaign Spot, NewsBusters.org, Townhall.com, USA Today, Redhot and Above the Law

CNN:

Mayors, rabbis arrested in corruption probe — (CNN) — About 30 people, including some New Jersey mayors and several rabbis, were arrested Thursday in a federal investigation of public corruption, the U.S. attorney's office in Newark, New Jersey, said. — The probe also involves a …

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid, JONATHAN TURLEY and The Moderate Voice

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:
2 N.J. Mayors Arrested in Broad Inquiry on Corruption

Discussion: New York Magazine, Moe Lane and Blogs and Stories

NBC New York:
Dirty Jersey: Feds Bust Dozens in Corruption Scandal

Discussion: Associated Press and JammieWearingFool

Wall Street Journal:
N.J. Politicians Snagged in Probe

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Talking Points Memo and Harry's Place

New York Times:

Senate Won't Vote on Health Care Overhaul Before Recess — WASHINGTON — The Senate will not vote on health care legislation before leaving for its summer recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday, as he finally acknowledged out loud the inescapable political reality that has been clear for several days.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Mike Soraghan / TheHill.com:
Pelosi backs off recess healthcare deadline

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air, Washington Post, Ben Smith's Blog and The Obama Experiment

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
More delays in House on healthcare reform

Discussion: The Note, The Politico, Campaign Silo, TPMDC, Bloomberg, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, Salon, Open Congress, Newsweek Blogs, Below The Beltway and The Page

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
Dems punting on August deadline

Discussion: Campaign Silo, Townhall.com, RHRealityCheck.org, Open Congress and Newsweek Blogs

New York Times:

Obama's Fifth News Conference — Following is a transcript of President Obama's fifth news conference, the fourth given in prime-time, as provided by Federal News Service. — PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good evening. Please be seated. — Before I take your questions, I want to talk for a few minutes …

Discussion: The Treatment, Money & Politics, CNN, Swampland, Washington Monthly, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, The Foundry, The Huffington Post, The Impolitic, MoJo Blog Posts, AmSpecBlog, Newsweek Blogs and QandO

Ben Smith / The Politico:

At big moment, Obama goes small — President Barack Obama came alive about 50 minutes into Wednesday night's news conference — when somebody finally changed the subject. — The president's remarks on his chosen subject, health care, were cautious and choreographed, hemmed in on one side …

Discussion: Time, Flopping Aces, Wall Street Journal, PrairiePundit, Don Surber, New York Times, The Huffington Post, Althouse, Indecision Forever, ABCNEWS, Commentary, Michelle Malkin and The Fix

Melanie Mason / The Politico:
Thumbs down from pundits on presser

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Mediaite and The Foundry

Mickey Kaus / Kausfiles:
Obama's Overreach — Obama Presser: Instant[ reaction] rant:

Discussion: Boston Globe, Commentary, Neptunus Lex, Bookworm Room, The Strata-Sphere, Wizbang and Wake up America

Time:

Inside Bush and Cheney's Final Days — Hours before they were to leave office after eight troubled years, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney had one final and painful piece of business to conclude. For over a month Cheney had been pleading, cajoling, even pestering Bush to pardon …

Discussion: Think Progress, msnbc.com, Hot Air, Buck Naked Politics, Emptywheel, The Swamp, At-Largely, Zandar Versus The Stupid and PoliGazette

Zachary Roth / TPMMuckraker:

Conservative Activist Forwards Racist Pic Showing Obama As Witch Doctor — The election of our first black president has brought with it a strange proliferation of online racism among conservatives. — And we've got the latest example. — On Sunday night, Dr. David McKalip forwarded …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Wonkette

Quinnipiac University:

Dodd In Slump In Connecticut Reelection Bid, Quinnipiac University Connecticut Poll Finds; Obama Approval Down 8 Points — Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd trails former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, a likely Republican challenger 48 - 39 percent in the 2010 Senate race, but he is inching …

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Hill's Twitter Room, The Fix, Scorecard's Blog, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and msnbc.com

The Politico:

Dems raise concerns about Boxer — A big chunk of the House climate change bill is in the hands of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer — and some of its supporters are worried that she's not up to the task. — In private conversations …

Discussion: Wonk Room

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias: Politico's Anonymous Sources Slam Barbara Boxer's “Abrasive Personal Style”

CNN:

North Korea launches attack on Clinton — BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) — North Korea launched a scathing personal attack on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday after she likened the leadership in Pyongyang to “small children and unruly teenagers and people who are demanding attention.”

Discussion: Washington Post, The Reaction and Taylor Marsh

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
N. Korea Escalates War of Words, Calls Clinton Vulgar, Unintelligent

Discussion: Daniel W. Drezner

Harold Meyerson / Los Angeles Times:

GOP: Going Over the Precipice — Because of a quirk in California's Constitution, the minority Republicans have managed to push through a budget that makes the state sicker and dumber. Where is the Democrats' white knight? — The most basic principle of any democracy is that of majority rule …

Discussion: MoJo Blog Posts, Ezra Klein, Opinion L.A., Reason and Democratic Strategist

Pew Global Attitudes Project:

Confidence in Obama Lifts U.S. Image Around the World — Most Muslim Publics Not So Easily Moved — Overview — View Slideshow (w/Andrew Kohut commentary) — The image of the United States has improved markedly in most parts of the world, reflecting global confidence in Barack Obama.

Discussion: New York Times, The New Republic, Salon, Daniel W. Drezner, PERRspectives and Boston Globe

Jackie Kucinich / Roll Call:

Democrats Block GOP Health Care Mailing — Democrats are preventing Republican House Members from sending their constituents a mailing that is critical of the majority's health care reform plan, blocking the mailing by alleging that it is inaccurate. — House Republicans are crying foul …

Discussion: Hot Air and Moe Lane