memeorandum: Biden Says Russia Used ‘Pretext’ to Invade Georgia in 2008 (Philip P. Pan/Washington Post)

4:10 AM ET, July 24, 2009

Top Items:

Cop who arrested black scholar is profiling expert … CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - The white police sergeant criticized by President Barack Obama for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his Massachusetts home is a police academy expert on racial profiling.

Discussion: theblogprof, Patterico's Pontifications, American Thinker, MyFox Boston, Pajamas Media and JammieWearingFool

Jimmy Orr / Christian Science Monitor:

Bill Cosby ‘shocked’ at Obama's statement on Harvard prof's arrest — On a Boston radio program this morning, Bill Cosby suggested that President Obama spoke too soon on the controversial arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. — “I've heard about five different reports …

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, JustOneMinute, Associated Press, Don Surber, Wilshire & Washington, Stop The ACLU, Hot Air, Washington Post, Gateway Pundit and Kausfiles

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Bias, Racism, Being a Jerk, and Abuse of Power — Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (wikimedia) — One of the biggest reasons why it's extremely difficult to have a real conversation about race in the United States is that every imputation of a racial dynamic immediately becomes a defensive spat …

Discussion: QandO, Althouse, Michelle Malkin, DailyHowler.com and Obsidian Wings

Dr. Boyce Watkins / msnbc.com:

Consider this before crying ‘racial profiling’ — A battle of two egos and why I don't feel sorry for Henry Louis Gates — Henry Louis Gates Jr. is seen being arrested Thursday at his home in Cambridge, Mass., in this photo taken by a neighbor. — Anger lingers

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Political Byline and Maggie's Farm

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: The Atlantic Politics Channel, Boston Herald, Boston Globe, The Plum Line, Hot Air, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Boston Weather …, Associated Press, Power Line, Gateway Pundit, The Note, USA Today, The Reaction, Ben Smith's Blog and Dean's World

Booman Tribune:
Tired of the Stupid — The Village's desire, almost a demand really …

Discussion: D-Day

Boston Weather, Breaking News and Sports from WBZ-TV:
Gates Arresting Officer: Obama ‘Way Off Base’

Discussion: WEEI Online Audio …, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, ABCNEWS, dot.comments, The Politico, Mediaite, The Swamp, The Gun Toting Liberal, The Campaign Spot, VDARE.com, Political Byline, Newsweek Blogs, The Other McCain, Little Green Footballs, Maggie's Farm and Weekly Standard

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

Discussion: The Fix, In The Agora, Ben Smith's Blog and The Hill's Pundits Blog

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

Discussion: Boston Weather … and Don Surber

ABCNEWS:

Exclusive: President Obama Pushes Forward on Health Care Pitch — Despite Setback, Obama Warns Against ‘Scare Tactics,’ Says ‘America Has to Win it Here’ — President Obama continued to push forward on health care reform today, despite suffering a setback with news that a health care reform bill …

Discussion: The Note, The Politico, Political Punch and Newshoggers.com

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Pawlenty blasts Obama plan — On Fox just now, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty blasted away at Obama's health care plans. — “This whole health care proposal by president Obama is really quite a joke on a number of levels,” Pawlenty told Neil Cavuto. “I think he is scamming the American people.

Discussion: Viking Pundit, The Page and GOP 12

New York Times:

As Health Bill Is Delayed, White House Negotiates — WASHINGTON — White House officials negotiated furiously on Thursday to keep major health care legislation on track after the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said his chamber would not vote on a health measure until after Congress returned from its summer recess.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight and The Moderate Voice

Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Public option “dead,” Scott predicts

Discussion: Campaign Silo, The Huffington Post and Taylor Marsh

Jane Hamsher / Campaign Silo:
Baucus, Snowe, Enzi “Bipartisan” Deal Close in Finance Committee

Discussion: Think Progress, Open Left, The Huffington Post, Lean Left, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Firedoglake and TPMDC

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Pelosi backs off recess healthcare deadline

Discussion: Hot Air, Roll Call, Stop The ACLU, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Reuters, The Obama Experiment, Commentary, Campaign Silo, Political Byline, Washington Post, Ben Smith's Blog and Wall Street Journal

Ezra Klein:
Nancy Pelosi on Health-Care Reform

Discussion: TPMDC, Democracy in America, The Hill and pandagon.net

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
Dems punting on August deadline

Discussion: Campaign Silo, Open Congress, The Hill, Newsweek Blogs, Salon, The Note, RHRealityCheck.org, Hullabaloo, Below The Beltway and Townhall.com

CNN:
Reid: No Senate health care vote before recess

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, HotMES, D-Day, Campaign Silo and The TrogloPundit

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
HELP + Finance = Harry Reid's Recess

Discussion: Michelle Malkin

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

44 Charged by U.S. in New Jersey Corruption Sweep — A two-year corruption and international money-laundering investigation stretching from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn to Israel and Switzerland culminated in charges against 44 people on Thursday, including three New Jersey mayors …

Discussion: NY Daily News, MyDD, The Daily Politics, Latest Open Salon Blog, New York Magazine, Associated Press, RedState, NBC New York, LewRockwell.com Blog and JammieWearingFool

Joe Ryan / New Jersey Online:
N.J. officials, N.Y. rabbis caught in federal money laundering, corruption sweep

Discussion: Associated Press, Law Blog, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Moe Lane, Macsmind, Democracy in America, Above the Law, NewsBusters.org, Redhot, The Campaign Spot and On Deadline

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

“The guy forgot his keys, jimmied his way to get into the house... if I was trying to jigger into...” — I've already written about what Obama said about racism, Skip Gates, and the “stupidity” of the police. You can find the context of the issue there, including the whole text of Obama's remarks.

Discussion: The Confluence and VDARE.com

Daily Show Videos:

The Born Identity — Barack Obama is not only the United States' first black president — he's also the first not-American president.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Gawker, CANNONFIRE, Ben Smith's Blog and The Impolitic

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: Below The Beltway, David Corn, D-Day, Raw Story, Think Progress, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, The Swamp, The Note, Emptywheel, At-Largely, The Page, BAGnewsNotes, Hot Air, Buck Naked Politics, msnbc.com and PoliGazette

Mark Murray / msnbc.com:
CHENEY: SCOOTER ‘DESERVED A PARDON’

Discussion: Salon and TBogg

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: Israel Matzav, Hotline On Call, Daniel W. Drezner, Salon, Boston Globe, PERRspectives and New York Magazine

Brian Knowlton / New York Times:
Global Views of U.S. Helped by Obama, Survey Says

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Kleinheider / Post Politics:

Stanley's First Wife Swore Out A Restraining Order In 1994 — While Sen. Paul Stanley tries desperately to hang on to his current marriage amid reports of a TBI confirmed admission of an extramarital affair with an intern and subsequent blackmailing by her boyfriend, allow Post Politics to take you on a trip down memory lane.

Discussion: TPMMuckraker, The Other McCain and Talking Points Memo

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: Political Byline, Little Green Footballs, Talking Points Memo, Gateway Pundit, Donklephant, Wonkette and Daily Kos

Business Wire:

Nation's ENT Surgeons Respond to President Obama's Press Briefing Remarks on Tonsillectomy Procedures — ALEXANDRIA, Va.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—The American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), which represents 12,000 ear, nose, and throat surgeons in the U.S. …

Discussion: Hot Air

Philip P. Pan / Washington Post:

Biden Says Russia Used ‘Pretext’ to Invade Georgia in 2008 — Breaking with the cautious tone the Obama administration has adopted toward the Kremlin, Vice President Biden told a room of Georgian children Thursday that Russia “used a pretext to invade your country” in the hope of wrecking …

Discussion: Commentary and The Page

Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:

Yup, Obama Opening Door on Exclusion — From his interview with Fred Hiatt, in the Washington Post: … There are two newsworthy items here. First, Obama says he is “confident” that both the House and Senate bills will iinclude his ideas to create an independent board to set Medicare payment policy …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Matthew Yglesias, D-Day and Daily Kos

Marc Benjamin / Fresno Bee:

Drug czar: Feds won't support legalized pot — The federal government is not going to pull back on its efforts to curtail marijuana farming operations, Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Wednesday in Fresno.

Discussion: NORML, TalkLeft, Raw Story and Reason

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 and RedState