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 …
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:Baucus: Health bill covers 95%, reduces deficit
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel
The Hill:Dem healthcare infighting intensifies
Discussion:
The Note, ABCNEWS, CNN, The Swamp, The Politico, PoliGazette, The Moderate Voice and Taylor Marsh
Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:Ezra Klein Plays His Part in the “Co-Op Squeeze Play”
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias, The Huffington Post, Hullabaloo, D-Day, Corrente and Blogometer
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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Roll Call:
Waxman Postpones Health Markup Amid Liberal Backlash — House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) postponed the health bill markup that he planned to hold Wednesday afternoon amid a backlash from liberals to the deal that he cut earlier with four conservative Blue Dog Democrats.
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog
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 …
Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Breakthrough on House health bill — Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has cut a deal to reconvene his committee and vote on the Democrats' sweeping health care bill, with a goal of completing work by the time lawmakers leave town for the summer on Friday.
Discussion:
CNN, Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Flopping Aces and PoliGazette
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, Salon, AMERICAblog News, TPMDC, The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, Brendan Nyhan and National Review
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Mike Stark / Firedoglake:
Birthers, Part Deux: Republicans Divided — In this installment, we find the Republicans split into two camps. Mike Pence leads the sane brigade (he's joined by McClintock, and of all people, Peter King!), boldly going where no elected Republican had gone before and agreeing …
Discussion:
Salon
Nicholas Graham / The Huffington Post:
Lou Dobbs Slams “Tea-Bagging Queen Rachel Maddow,” Refuses To Back Off Obama Birth Certificate Controversy (AUDIO) — CNN's Lou Dobbs has come under fire for recent comments he made suggesting President Obama might be undocumented, and that, as a result, Obama's presidency and his actions as president could be deemed “illegal.”
Discussion:
Think Progress, Media Matters for America, Political Byline, NewsBusters.org, Swampland and pandagon.net
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:Roy Blunt: Birtherism “A Legitimate Question,” …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Think Progress, Talking Points Memo, Brendan Nyhan and The Washington Independent
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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Katie Zezima / New York Times:
Caller in Gates Case Speaks Out — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Lucia Whalen, whose 911 call led to the arrest of the Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home, made her first public comments Wednesday, saying at no time did she ever mention race to the responding police officer.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Swampland, Sister Toldjah, Associated Press, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Mediaite
NPR Blogs:
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison Clarifies Resignation Talk, Kinda Sorta — Here are two things we have long assumed about Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. — One, she will challenge Gov. Rick Perry in next year's Texas gubernatorial primary. Yes, I know, it should be more than just “assumed,” …
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
On The Birthers — So many readers are furious that I have dared to ask the president to show the original copy of his birth certificate. The reason for demanding it is the same reason for demanding basic medical records proving Sarah Palin is the biological mother of Trig.
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 …
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.
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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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 …
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 …
David Corn:
Farewell, Hello.... Like Sarah Palin, I'm outta here. Well, not exactly. I am moving this blog from CQPolitics.com to AOL's PoliticsDaily.com. — I've had a great ride at CQ, and I am quite grateful to Robert Merry and Bruce Drake, who created and built this site …
Discussion:
FishBowlDC
Michael Scherer / Time:
Health-Care Poll: Americans Support Obama's Reform Goals — Lilly Stanley, 62, speaks with a doctor at the Remote Area Medical health clinic at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia on July 25, 2009 — Congressional Democrats and a barnstorming President face deep skepticism …
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Obama, Democrats Flunking Health Care Sales Pitch — As I've made clear on a couple of occasions, I think there has generally been too much panic over the process of getting a health care reform bill before the Congress. Given a bill as expensive and complicated as this one …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, PERRspectives, Democratic Strategist, The Daily Dish, marbury and The Note
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.
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