Top Items:
The Politico:
GOP headache: The birther issue — When lawmakers return home for recess in August, they can expect to hear tough questions from constituents on the economy, health care and government spending. — But Republicans are preparing for something else: the birthers.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, D-Day, PoliGazette, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, Salon and Democracy in America
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The Politico:
GOP headache: The birther issue — So far, Hoekstra hasn't faced any such questions. — “When you're in a state with 15.2 percent unemployment,” he said, “most people have other things on their mind than this.” — But as if to illustrate the touchiness of the subject, Hoekstra quickly added: “Not that this isn't important.”
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
The hidden hand — The wave of publicity for the Birther movement hasn't yet crested, with the dentist who's the movement's leading legal light, Orly Taitz, saying she's taping the Colbert Report tomorrow, and popping up elsewhere in the mainstream media. — This isn't necessarily a bad thing …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Inhofe Clarifies Claim That Birthers “Have A Point,” Blames White House — As you've already seen, Senator Jim Inhofe made a big splash today by telling the Politico that the birthers “have a point,” adding that he doesn't “discourage” their movement. — But he's now clarifying his claim …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Ben Smith's Blog, The Political Carnival, Daily Kos and The Washington Independent
Thers / Whiskey Fire:
It's OK, I'm Over You — The Politico informs us that the birthers are giving the GOP “headaches.” Like I said last week, I don't see why fringe crazies like should worry too much about fringe crazies making them look like fringe crazies, and what isn't crazy about the GOP nowadays?
Boston Globe:
Gates caller says she didn't cite race — Woman laments media accounts — The woman whose report of a possible house break-in led to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. said she never mentioned race during her 911 call and is “personally devastated” …
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Radley Balko / Reason:
The Henry Louis Gates “Teaching Moment” — The arrest of Harvard African-American Studies Professor Henry Louis Gates has certainly got everyone talking. Unfortunately, everyone's talking about the wrong issue. — Responding to a 911 call from a woman who observed Gates prying open …
Discussion:
The Opinionator, Slate, The Daily Beast, The Agitator, Scared Monkeys, Cold Fury, Moe Lane, Balloon Juice, Hullabaloo and And So it Goes in Shreveport
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
A Straw In The Wind In Favor Of Gates — Interesting - the 911 caller asserts, and the Cambridge Police confirm, that she didn't mention the race of the suspected in-breakers when she made the 911 call. Gates had made a similar claim to the effect that the caller could not have seen …
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Mike Stark on Capitol Hill: Know Your Birthers — Mike Stark has been up on the Hill all week whipping Democrats to hold fast on the public plan, and in his spare time, he decided to ask Republicans if Barack Obama was born in the United States. Not only do they not want to answer — they run.
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Mike Stark / The Huffington Post:
Elected Birthers on the Hill — Thanks to FireDogLake and Campaign Silo for giving me the opportunity to do this work! — Check out this video: several Republican Congressman tell me they don't believe Barack Obama is an American. Several dodge the question.
Wen Stephenson / WBUR and NPR:
The Fury of the ‘Birthers’ — A detail of President Barack Obama's birth certificate, from The Annenberg Political Fact Check (FactCheck.org), a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. — Post your comments below — President Barack Obama turns 48 next week.
Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Bunning's not running — Cantankerous Kentucky Republican Sen. Jim Bunning has officially dropped out of next year's reelection campaign — citing his paltry fundraising efforts. — Bunning's office just put out the following statement: — I have the same conservative principles in 2009 …
Discussion:
Salon
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Governor Palin, You're No Hillary Clinton — Over at Pollster.com, Brendan Nyhan (whom you should be reading) espouses a fairly common sentiment: that Sarah Palin's favorability numbers, while poor, are not a whole heck of a lot worse than Hillary Clinton's were at the same point in the electoral cycle.
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Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Amid New Scrutiny, John Yoo Rebuts Critics of Detainee Memos — Quietly but Forcefully, Author of Detainee Memos Rebuts Critics — Some public figures, if their judgment and ethics come under fire, retreat into solitude. Then there is John C. Yoo. — The former Justice Department official …
Discussion:
The Washington Independent, Emptywheel, Law Blog, The BLT, Reason, Neptunus Lex, Newshoggers.com and The Volokh Conspiracy
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Darrel Rowland / The Daily Briefing:
Look out, gov - the ex-gov is comin'! — U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich says he'll be “actively involved” in the battle against proposals to expand gambling in Ohio, and that includes the plan to add slots at horse racetracks that was approved by the legislature and Gov. Ted Strickland.
RELATED:
Michael O'Brien / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:Voinovich slams DeMint and Coburn for GOP downfall; blames ‘the southerners’
Discussion:
Club for Growth
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
ALL THE WAY TO THE WHITE HOUSE.... I suppose it was bound to happen eventually, though I'd hoped it wouldn't. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, during an official press briefing, was actually asked about the Birther conspiracy nuts. — I'm fairly certain it was Bill Press …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
An Incoherent Truth — Right now the fate of health care reform seems to rest in the hands of relatively conservative Democrats — mainly members of the Blue Dog Coalition, created in 1995. And you might be tempted to say that President Obama needs to give those Democrats what they want.
Discussion:
The New Republic, Time, DownWithTyranny!, Wall Street Journal, Facing South, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg, Buck Naked Politics, The Treatment, Washington Times, Firedoglake, PoliGazette, Patterico's Pontifications, D-Day, OpenSecrets.org, Taylor Marsh, Grasping Reality …, Campaign Silo, NOW! Blog, Zandar Versus The Stupid, AMERICAblog News, Prairie Weather, The Mahablog and MoJo Blog Posts
Tom Beaumont / Des Moines Register:
Grassley to vote against Sotomayor confirmation — Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said today he planned to oppose the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court when the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on her nomination Tuesday. — The vote, which Grassley announced …
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Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
Pelosi unpopular? 'I don't care' — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is one of the most despised political figures in the country. — And, frankly, she doesn't give a damn. — “No, I don't care,” Pelosi told POLITICO last Thursday, laughing heartily as she walked beneath the Capitol dome and plunged into a crowd of tourists.
RELATED:
Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:UPDATED: Because Politico is really just a GOP bulletin board
Discussion:
Campaign Silo
The Daily Beast:
Finally, Action on Gay Soldiers — Blogs and Stories — The Daily Beast has learned that the Senate, prompted by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, will hold hearings on “Don't Ask, Don't Tell”—a first since 1993, despite Obama's campaign promises. — After determining she didn't have enough votes …
CBS News:
Palin's “Mad as Hell” Speech — Outgoing Alaska Governor Lashes Out at Media in Resignation Address, But Will It Work in the Long Term? — (CBS) This story was written by CBS News digital journalist Scott Conroy and director of political coverage Steve Chaggaris.
Michelle Malkin:
What the NYT's 8,100-word Valerie Jarrett profile didn't tell you — Here is a perfect example of why I wrote Culture of Corruption (officially out today — I'll be launching on Hannity radio and TV.) — Over the weekend, the New York Times published a massive, 8,100-word profile …
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
House Dem Putting GOPers On The Spot By Introducing Measure Describing Hawaii As Obama's Birthplace — Okay, this is getting really good. Dem Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii is going to introduce a resolution on the House floor today that seems designed to put House GOPers who are flirting with birtherism in a jam.
Daniel Libit / The Politico:
Birther leader: GOP is with me — Orly Taitz, the California attorney-dentist leading the charge of the so-called birthers movement, is boasting on her blog that she's made some high-profile “friends” on Facebook: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor …
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
The War We'd Like to Forget — It was the kind of symbolic moment that George W. Bush must have yearned for during the Iraq war's darkest days. Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the prime minister of a sovereign (sort of), stable (up to a point) and democratic (within limits) Republic of Iraq came …
AKMuckraker / The Huffington Post:
Sarah Palin's Farewell Address - Full Transcript — Sunday July 26, at 3pm Alaska time, Governor Sarah Palin stepped down from her position as governor. The full transcript of her rambling, 2300-word farewell address is below. — What an absolutely beautiful day it is …
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