Top Items:
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 …
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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 …
Discussion:
QandO
Reuters:
U.S. Senate May Drop Public Healthcare Option — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers on both sides of the U.S. Capitol struggled to reach a healthcare deal on Tuesday, with Senate Democrats near agreement with three Republicans on a plan that would not include a government-run insurance option backed by President Barack Obama.
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 …
David Leonhardt / New York Times:
Health Care Reform and the Unpopular T-Word
Health Care Reform and the Unpopular T-Word
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, The Nation, Washington Post, Multi Medium, The Politico and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*
Niall O'Dowd / ABCNEWS:
Harvard Prof Gates Is Half-Irish, Related to Cop Who Arrested Him — Two Men at Center of Controversy Linked by Irish Heritage — Henry Louis Gates Jr., the black professor at the center of the racial story involving his arrest outside his Harvard University-owned house, has spoken proudly of his Irish roots.
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Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Obama-Haters Becoming Increasingly...Racial In Their Rhetoric — An interesting pattern has emerged in the last few weeks, as President Obama's ratings have started to come down to Earth: You can really see a type of Obama-hatred out there that really does cross over into a purely racial territory.
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.
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Talking Points Memo:
Transcript: Obama, AARP Hold Health Care Town Hall — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you so much. (Applause.) I am just going to provide some brief remarks, and then I want to hear from you. — It is wonderful to be here today. I want to thank Mike for moderating this discussion.
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
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Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:
Andrew Sullivan is Right — It doesn't happen terribly often, but I'm with Andrew Sullivan on the need to lay Obama birther-ism to rest— a subject on which he's been blogging with some energy over the last day. — Indeed, it's almost as if birthers have allowed an intense …
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Karen Tumulty / Time:
Obama on Health Care: 'We've Provided More Guidance Than Advertised' — TIME senior writer Karen Tumulty sat down with President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon to talk about his work both in public and behind the scenes to push a health-care-reform measure through Congress.
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Inside Radio:
Palin tests radio waters. — Alaska's now former Governor is coy about her future political plans, but radio is at least one option she's leaving on the table. While not exactly shopping the GOP's 2008 vice presidential candidate, sources say Palin representatives have been quietly testing …
Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:
J'lem assesses: Gestures from the Arab World within a month — Article's topics: Binyamin Netanyahu, George Mitchell, Saeb Ereket — US Middle East envoy George Mitchell left his Israeli interlocutors with the impression Tuesday that he would be able to extract some normalization gestures towards Israel …
Discussion:
Israel Matzav
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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.
The Star-Ledger Continuous / New Jersey Online:
Political consultant Jack Shaw found dead in Jersey City — JERSEY CITY — Jack Shaw, a Jersey City political consultant who was among 44 people charged in a federal corruption probe, has died. — Two officials with knowledge of the investigation said Shaw was found at home with several bottles of pills nearby.
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” …
ABCNEWS:
First Madoff Interview: Can't Believe I Got Away with It — Bernie Opens Up in Prison to Talk With Lawyers Suing His Family — In his first prison interview, a buff-looking Bernie Madoff said he couldn't believe he got away with his massive Ponzi scheme for so long.
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.
Julie Bosman / New York Times:
City Aids Homeless With One-Way Tickets Home — They are flown to Paris ($6,332), Orlando ($858.40), Johannesburg ($2,550.70), or most frequently, San Juan ($484.20). — They are not executives on business trips or couples on honeymoons. Rather, all are families who have ended up homeless …
Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Stocks go up as agenda slides — The Democratic agenda in Washington has gone off the rails just as markets are enjoying their best run of the Obama presidency, and there's a school of thought on Wall Street that it's no coincidence. — While a string of better-than-expected earnings reports …
Discussion:
Cold Fury
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Axelrod's Son Hired by Huffington Post — David Axelrod's son is following his father's career path — that is, the one he had before becoming a political strategist. — Ethan Axelrod is joining the Huffington Post, the liberal Web site that has been largely supportive of President Obama.
Michelle Malkin:
Bully boys: A brief history of White House thuggery — Just finished up on the Today Show, where I had a quick chance to briefly expose the Culture of Corruption in the age of Obama. My syndicated column today adds to the dossier with a round-up of fresh Bully Boy moments. — It's the Chicago way.
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
Online NewsHour:
Thaler Responds to Posner on Consumer Protection — Paul Solman: Earlier this month, I was pleased to learn that one of the most intriguing economists of my career span, the University of Chicago's Richard Thaler, had entered the rotation of the NYT's weekly “Economic Scene” column.
Discussion:
The New Republic
Bing West / Wall Street Journal:
How We'll Win in Afghanistan — Gen. Petraeus knows how to defeat an insurgency. But he will need congressional support. — Printer — Friendly — Task Force Chosin, Afghanistan — More coalition soldiers have died in July than in any previous month in the nine-year war in Afghanistan.
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Benefits of Healthcare Reform a Tough Sell for Americans — Americans least confident that reform will benefit them personally — PRINCETON, NJ — Forty-four percent of Americans believe a new healthcare reform law would improve medical care in the U.S., contrasted with 26% who say it would improve their personal medical care.
Chas Sisk / Tennessean.com:
Tennessee state Sen. Paul Stanley has resigned — Sen. Paul Stanley, R-Germantown sent a letter of resignation to Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey this afternoon after allegations that a Clarksville man had tried to blackmail the senator with nude photos of an intern taken in Stanley's Nashville apartment.