memeorandum: Elizabeth Edwards Shows How to Tell a Liar on Healthcare (Bluegal/Crooks and Liars)

3:45 PM ET, July 24, 2009

Top Items:

911, police tapes key in Gates case — Officials mull release of recorded evidence — Mounting pressure to get to the bottom of the controversial arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. is centering on recorded police tapes that may offer a dose of reality amid all the media and political noise.

Discussion: The Hill's Pundits Blog, sara in italy, Taylor Marsh, The Sundries Shack, Wizbang, The Confluence, Atlas Shrugs, Gateway Pundit, Boston Globe, Associated Press, VDARE.com and Macsmind

a Phantom Negro / Salon:

Skip Gates, please sit down — You are suffering from what I call the “Ivy League Effect” … Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Mass., in 2008. — The Ivy League is not real life. College in general is not real life, and the Ivy League is a more fantastic version of college.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Pam's House Blend, The Opinionator, Taylor Marsh and The Jawa Report

ABCNEWS:

Gates Arrest — Case Heats Up As Police Organizations Criticize Obama For Jumping into the Controversy — The police sergeant who arrested Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week in his own home may be considering a defamation lawsuit against Gates who has implied his arrest was racially motivated.

Discussion: Boston Weather …, The Huffington Post, JONATHAN TURLEY, CNN, Washington Wire, TalkLeft, Don Surber, New York Post, Political Punch, Law Blog, New York Magazine, Fox News, Gateway Pundit, American Power, American Thinker, NewsBusters.org, Los Angeles Times and PrairiePundit

Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Obama regrets ‘distraction’ of comment ‘obsession’

Discussion: D-Day and Riehl World View

Patrick Hynes / ConsiderThisNews:
FNC News Break: Prez Blames Media for Cops Remark Dustup

Discussion: Dr. Melissa Clouthier and Hot Air

Fox News:
Obama Seeks to Clarify ‘Stupidly’ Comment, Praises White Policeman

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and New York Magazine

New York Times:
Professor's Arrest Tests Beliefs on Racial Progress

Discussion: Boston Globe, NewsBusters.org, Gothamist and ABCNews.com

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
What's missing from this NYT article about Henry Louis Gates?

Discussion: WEEI Online Audio …, Christian Science Monitor, Patterico's Pontifications and The Confluence

Abby Goodnough / New York Times:
Sergeant Who Arrested Professor Defends Actions

Discussion: Clive Crook

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
More On President “Stupidly”, Gates, And Crowley

Discussion: The Plum Line, On Deadline, Ben Smith's Blog, Sister Toldjah and ABCNEWS

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

McCain Campaign Investigated, Dismissed Obama Citizenship Rumors — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during his presidential campaign (WDCpix) — In the final months of the 2008 presidential race, Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) campaign learned of a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania that asked the state …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Taegan Goddard's …, Latest Open Salon Blog, Gawker, PoliBlog, New York Magazine and Indecision Forever

Alex Koppelman / Salon:

No, Obama's grandmother didn't say he was born in Kenya — Among those on television who've been covering the sudden public resurgence of the Birther movement — but in a much more responsible way than Lou Dobbs — is MSNBC's Chris Matthews. The other day, he beat up pretty badly on Rep. John Campbell …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, Think Progress, Raw Story, PrairiePundit, Right Pundits, The Washington Independent, Hullabaloo, The Huffington Post and Nashville Scene

Chris / TVNewser:
Jon Klein on Birthers: “It Seems This Story is Dead”

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, BuzzFlash.org and First Draft

The Hill:

Waxman may let health bill skip committee — Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) says there is “no alternative” but to have healthcare legislation bypass his Energy and Commerce Committee if Blue Dog Democrats don't accept a deal worked out Friday. — Waxman is hoping the inclusion of a study …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ben Smith's Blog, Open Congress, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, The Mahablog and Angry Bear

Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Health care talks fall apart

Discussion: Hot Air and The Page

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
House Democrats Contemplate Putting National Interest Ahead …

Discussion: The Hill, D-Day, TPMDC and msnbc.com

Jane Hamsher / Campaign Silo: Waxman: Blue Dogs Trying To “Eviscerate” Health Care

Washington Post:

Palin's Favorability Rating Drops as She Prepares to Leave Office, Poll Finds — As Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin prepares for the next stage of her political career, a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of her, and there is broad public doubt about her leadership skills and understanding …

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Why Obamacare Is Sinking — What happened to Obamacare? Rhetoric met reality. As both candidate and president, the master rhetorician could conjure a world in which he bestows upon you health-care nirvana: more coverage, less cost. — But you can't fake it in legislation.

Discussion: The Note, The New Republic, Ezra Klein, Time, Wake up America, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Little Green Footballs, Betsy's Page, Political Punch, ABCNEWS, Mediaite and New York Times

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Obamacare haunted by unkept promises of stimulus

Discussion: Media Blog

John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
GOP Tries to Avoid Obstructionist Label

Discussion: The New Republic

Manu Raju / The Politico:

Graham takes on conservatives — When Sen. Lindsey Graham announced his support for Sonia Sotomayor this week, right-wing radio talk show host Mark Levin said it was a sign that Graham is “unreliable ... as a thinker and a leader.” — Wendy Long, counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network …

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog, AmSpecBlog, Cold Fury, DownWithTyranny!, Jay Bookman and Club for Growth

US Senator Orrin Hatch:
HATCH WILL NOT SUPPORT SOTOMAYOR NOMINATION

Discussion: Politics Nation, Salon and The Washington Independent

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Costs and Compassion — The talking heads on cable TV panned President Obama's Wednesday press conference. You see, he didn't offer a lot of folksy anecdotes. — Shame on them. The health care system is in crisis. The fate of America's middle class hangs in the balance.

Discussion: DailyHowler.com, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, D-Day, Stop The ACLU, TalkLeft, The Treatment and Cafe Hayek

Dave Montgomery / Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Perry raises possibility of states' rights showdown with White House over healthcare — AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states' rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist …

Discussion: Think Progress, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Below The Beltway and LewRockwell.com Blog

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Secessionist Governor Rick Perry Considering Nullifcation of Health Care Reform

Discussion: TalkLeft

Unfair Park:

How a Local Rally For Obama's Health Care Proposal Turned Into a Rally Against It — Local MoveOn.org members had penciled in on today's schedule a protest in front of Senator John Cornyn's Spring Valley Road office, during which they had hoped to pressure the senator to support President Barack Obama's public health care legislation.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Don Surber and PrairiePundit

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2010: California Senate — California Senate: Boxer 45%, Fiorina 41% — Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer leads former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in an early look at California's 2010 race for the U.S. Senate. — The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds …

Discussion: Money & Politics, Power Line, RedState, Don Surber, Real Clear Politics, AmSpecBlog, PrairiePundit and Redhot

Connie Hair / Human Events:

GOP Not Allowed to Say ‘Government-Run Healthcare’ — Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), the secretary of the House Republican Conference and a former District Court Judge, is having his messages to constituents censored by Democrats on the Franking Commission. Republicans are no longer allowed …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Townhall.com, QandO and Right Wing News

Wall Street Journal:

Common Sense May Sink ObamaCare — It turns out the president misjudged the nation's mood. — Printer — Friendly — This is big, what's happening. President Obama appears to have misstepped on a major initiative and defining issue. He has misjudged the nation's mood …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Townhall.com and Dr. Helen

Fox News:

Obama: ‘Victory’ Not Necessarily Goal in Afghanistan — The enemy facing U.S. and Afghan forces isn't so clearly defined defined, Obama explained in a TV interview — President Obama has put securing Afghanistan near the top of his foreign policy agenda, but “victory” …

Discussion: Don Surber, BLACKFIVE, Commentary, Weekly Standard, Sweetness & Light, Stop The ACLU, NewsBusters.org and Gateway Pundit

Bluegal / Crooks and Liars:

Elizabeth Edwards Shows How to Tell a Liar on Healthcare — In an interview with Rachel Maddow, Elizabeth Edwards dropped this enormously helpful key on when to tell if an opponent to healthcare reform is lying: … Our friends at Sadly, No! take a look at the actual outcomes between the US and Canada.

Discussion: Sadly, No!

Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:

Obama's Health Expert Gets Political — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's health-care plan is in jeopardy because of serious concerns that costs will spin out of control. As much as anyone, it's White House budget director Peter Orszag's job to save it.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, The Caucus, Vox Popoli and Pundit & Pundette