memeorandum: Reid bends on healthcare deadline (The Hill's Blog Briefing Room)

2:25 PM ET, July 23, 2009

Top Items:

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: Firedoglake, CNN, Flopping Aces, Associated Press, Washington Post, The Opinionator, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Gateway Pundit, Patterico's Pontifications, The Huffington Post, Right Wing News, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Pundit & Pundette and PoliGazette

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

ABCNEWS:

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: Washington Wire, The Note, Christian Science Monitor, American Power, Hot Air, Boston Herald, Maggie's Farm, Boston Weather …, Political Punch, Taylor Marsh, Moe Lane and msnbc.com

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, The Moderate Voice, Philly.com, NewsBusters.org, Los Angeles Times, Top of the Ticket, Weekly Standard and FishBowlDC

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

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Caucus, Donklephant, The Moderate Voice, Emptywheel, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, TalkLeft and Firedoglake

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

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Obama: Cambridge police acted ‘stupidly’

Discussion: Fox News, The Swamp, The Politico, Sister Toldjah, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Achenblog, JONATHAN TURLEY, Washington Post, American Power and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Dan / Riehl World View:
Obama Destroyed His Post-Racial Theme

Discussion: Right Wing News

Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Obama Criticizes Arrest of Harvard Professor

Discussion: The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, Outside The Beltway, The Caucus and New York Magazine

Washington Post:
At Press Conference, Obama Condemns Arrest of Harvard Scholar

Discussion: Reason and Swampland

The New Republic:
Race, Power, and the Law

Discussion: The Daily Dish

P.J. Gladnick / NewsBusters.org:
Boston Globe Scrubs Henry Louis Gates Arrest Report From Website

Discussion: MyFox Boston, The Corner, Right Wing News, Open Left and amnation.com

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:

Pelosi backs off recess healthcare deadline — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that the House can go home for its August recess without passing a massive overhaul. — Pelosi dismissed concerns expressed by many Democrats that a monthlong delay could give opponents more chances to rally opposition to the bill.

Discussion: Washington Post, Roll Call, Hot Air and Campaign Silo

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:

Dems punting on August deadline — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today that the Senate would not attempt to pass sweeping health care reform until after returning from the August recess. — “It's better to get a product that's based on quality and thoughtfulness than on trying …

Discussion: Townhall.com and Newsweek Blogs

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

Discussion: The Politico, Daily Kos, Bloomberg, D-Day, Salon, Below The Beltway, Political Punch, Open Congress and The Page

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press:
Reid: No health care vote in Senate until fall

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and New York Magazine

The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Reid bends on healthcare deadline

Discussion: Reuters and TPMDC

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: NBC New York, Law Blog, The Campaign Spot, NewsBusters.org, Associated Press, 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: The Moderate Voice, Zandar Versus The Stupid and JONATHAN TURLEY

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

Discussion: JammieWearingFool and Blogs and Stories

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

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

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 Hill, The Huffington Post, AmSpecBlog, Patterico's Pontifications, Washington Post, The Foundry, The Moderate Voice, Newsweek Blogs, Mediaite, Connecting.the.Dots, The Strata-Sphere, The Treatment and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Ben Smith / The Politico:
At big moment, Obama goes small

Discussion: Time, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Commentary, The Huffington Post, Althouse, Indecision Forever, ABCNEWS, The Note, The Fix and Michelle Malkin

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

Discussion: Commentary, Boston Globe, The Strata-Sphere, Bookworm Room, Neptunus Lex, QandO, Wizbang, Betsy's Page and Wake up America

Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:
Obama Has a Grown-Up Talk With America (Gulp)

Discussion: Swampland, Washington Monthly, MoJo Blog Posts, Boston Globe, D-Day, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and NOW! Blog

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

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: Wonkette, Talking Points Memo and Zandar Versus The Stupid

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

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, Taylor Marsh and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

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

Discussion: Daniel W. Drezner and Wake up America

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: Opinion L.A., MoJo Blog Posts, Reason, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Democratic Strategist

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, JammieWearingFool and Moe Lane

New York Times:

Experts Dispute Some Points in Health Talk — WASHINGTON — President Obama showed great fluency in the intricate details of health policy at his news conference on Wednesday night, but experts said some of his points were debatable. — Mr. Obama said doctors, nurses, hospitals …

Discussion: American Power, The Foundry and QandO

Roll Call:

Democrats Tire of Baucus Talks — Members Feel Out of the Loop — Senate Democrats are increasingly frustrated by the secrecy and duration of Finance Chairman Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) bipartisan talks on health care reform, with some saying it could undermine Democratic support for the bill.

Discussion: Open Left and TPMDC