Top Items:
Mark Murray / msnbc.com:
FIRST THOUGHTS: LOSING THE MESSAGE WAR? — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg — *** Losing the message war? Perhaps the biggest thing that stood out to us at President Obama's AARP town hall yesterday was that the White House appears to be losing the message war on health care.
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Washington Post:
Bipartisan Senate Panel Nearing Agreement on Health-Care Bill — Panel May Vote On Bipartisan Bill Before Recess — An emerging consensus among a bipartisan group of senators is poised to shift the dynamic in the congressional debate over health-care reform and could lead to a final product …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Todd unloads — NBC's Chuck Todd goes off on Glenn Beck on First Read today, but his real targets are Ailes and Huffington: “Former political consultants-turned-TV execs or former radio DJs, or former California socialites, the folks helping to accelerate the public's perception of the media off a cliff …
The Hill:
Dem healthcare infighting intensifies — A House fight among Democrats on overhauling the nation's healthcare system has spread to the Senate, where centrists and liberals are clashing over the direction the legislation should take. — Trouble is brewing now that a bipartisan group of senators …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, The Note, CNN, The Swamp, The Politico, Taylor Marsh, PoliGazette and The Moderate Voice
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
Ezra Klein Plays His Part in the “Co-Op Squeeze Play” … I know many were delighted with President Obama's defense of a “public option” yesterday. But coming on the heels of Robert Gibbs' statement that the President doesn't prefer a public option over co-ops, I listened carefully …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Baucus to Unveil Magical Health Care Bill? — Max Baucus is making some big claims on his own behalf, according to Jeff Young: … Is this possible? I can envision two scenarios. One is that the Finance Committee is defining “covers” in a pretty stingy way.
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:Baucus: Health bill covers 95%, reduces deficit
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel
Wall Street Journal:Liberals Fear Losing Public-Plan Option
Discussion:
Salon, Daily Kos, KGO-TV, Think Progress, Washington Post, Firedoglake and The Treatment
Reuters:U.S. Senate May Drop Public Healthcare Option
Discussion:
The Hill's Pundits Blog, Firedoglake, Politics Daily, The Note, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Moderate Voice, Truthdig and TPMDC
Jared Allen / The Hill:
Blue Dogs strike deal: No health vote before recess — Blue Dogs and House leaders have struck a deal to guarantee that the House will not vote on a healthcare bill before August, a leading Blue Dog said on Wednesday. — In exchange for putting off a floor vote until after Labor Day …
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The Hill:
Waters warns Blue Dogs to beware 2010 — Liberal frustration started to boil over in the House on Tuesday as negotiations over healthcare reform with centrist Blue Dog Democrats dragged into a second week. — The delay prompted Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) to lash out at the Blue Dogs …
Harvey A. Silverglate / Forbes:
Prof. Gates' Unconstitutional Arrest — There's a First Amendment right to be rude to a cop. — The now-infamous Gates story has gone through the familiar media spin-cycle: incident, reaction, response, so on and so forth. Drowned out of this echo chamber has been an all-too-important …
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Exclusive: Michael Steele Blasts Birtherism As “Unnecessary Distraction,” Says Obama Is “U.S. Citizen” — For the first time, RNC chair Michael Steele is sharply criticizing the birthers, condemning the movement as an “unnecessary distraction,” reaffirming that the president is a “U.S. citizen …
Discussion:
Think Progress, The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, Little Green Footballs, Salon, TPMDC and Brendan Nyhan
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Rebecca Sinderbrand / CNN:
Vitter defends Southern influence in GOP, slams Voinovich — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana slammed fellow Republican George Voinovich Wednesday for saying the GOP's problems stem from the fact that it is “being taken over by Southerners,” calling the Ohio senator “a moderate, really wishy-washy.”
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The Hill:
50 Most Beautiful 2009 - Top 40 (HTML) — Arjun Jaikumar … Arjun Jaikumar has been on Capitol Hill for less than two months and the shaggy-haired blogger and new-media guru for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is already getting noticed.
The Huffington Post:
Obama's Doctor: President's Vision For Health Care Bound To Fail — The man Barack Obama consulted on medical matters for over two decades said on Tuesday that the president's vision for health care reform is bound for failure. — Dr. David Scheiner, a 70-year Chicago-based physician …
Gregory Levey / Newsweek:
Stand In — Why Obama should make George W. Bush his Mideast envoy. — Gerald Herbert / AP — Peace Partners: Bush and Obama could play good-cop, bad-cop with Israel — On Sunday, George Mitchell, President Obama's Middle East envoy, arrived in Israel to confer with its leaders.
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Back To Square One — The whole birth certificate issue gets weirder still: — “I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born …
NPR:
NPR Poll Finds Tough Sledding For Obama … text sizeAAA — President Obama has hit a rough patch this summer, squeezed between a lingering recession and rising questions about the health care overhaul he has made the centerpiece of his first-year agenda.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Outside The Beltway, QandO, NewsBusters.org, AmSpecBlog, Moe Lane, AMERICAblog News and Scared Monkeys
Gateway Pundit:
Dorothy D. Hoft... August 1925 - July 2009 — Dorothy Hoft loved God and her nine children. She loved the magnolia tree in the backyard. — My dear friend and mother passed away this evening at 10:16 PM. — She suffered a devastating heart attack 17 days ago. We put her on hospice late last week.
Ian M. / Think Progress:
Fox News legal analyst sides with Professor Gates. — On Monday, Fox News Legal Analyst and former New Jersey state Judge Andrew Napolitano told to the conservative network's audience that police broke the law when they arrested Professor Henry Louis Gates for disorderly conduct.
Christopher Neefus / CNSNews:
White House Science Adviser Advocated ‘De-Development’ of the United States — (CNSNews.com) - President Obama's top science adviser, John P. Holdren, advocated the “de-development” of the United States in books he published in the 1970s. — “A massive campaign must be launched to restore …
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Sarah Grabs the Grievance Grab Bag From Hillary — The woman who was prematurely counted in is out. And the woman who was prematurely counted out is in. — Goodbye, Sarah. Hello, Hillary. — In their vivid twin performances Sunday — Hillary on “Meet the Press” …
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Politico announces again: GOP is resurgent! — (updated below - Update II) — On Monday, I espoused my theory on Twitter about the birth of Politico, which led The Columbia Journalism Review to compare that thesis to the much different Politico-birth mythology created by its Editor-in-Chief, John Harris.
Rick Hadley / WBAP News/Talk 820:
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison Explains Plan for Gubernatorial Bid — ARLINGTON (WBAP) - U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on Wednesday told WBAP's Mark Davis she plans to officially launch her bid for Texas governor in August. She added that she will step down from the U.S. Senate sometime …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Scorecard's Blog, Senate Guru, Swing State Project, Hotline On Call, TPMDC and Daily Kos
Marin Cogan / The New Republic:
Dean v. Huckabee: Who Hosts A Better Cable News Show? — Since leaving his DNC chair earlier this year, Howard Dean has been recovering from a double snub from the president: Not only was he denied the HHS spot he reportedly wanted, he didn't even get an invitation to the president's ceremony marking …
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