Top Items:
Pew Research Center:
Obama's Ratings Slide Across the Board — The Economy, Health Care Reform and Gates Grease the Skids — Barack Obama's approval ratings have suffered major declines. The president's overall job approval number fell from 61% in mid-June to 54% currently.
Discussion:
The Politico, Atlantic Correspondents, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Politics Channel, msnbc.com, Macsmind, The Confluence, Hot Air, Moonbattery, Below The Beltway, Don Surber, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Boston Globe, The Swamp, AmSpecBlog, Behind the Numbers, Bench Memos, American Power, Weekly Standard, Commentary, Stop The ACLU and NO QUARTER
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Political Punch:
Notes from the Suds Summit — The media was cordoned off approximately 45 feet away from the patio furniture where the beers were being quaffed, so we have no idea what was being said. — President Obama and Vice President Biden appeared to be doing what they could to keep the mood light …
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Rove Had Heavier Hand in Prosecutor Firings Than Previously Known — Political adviser Karl Rove and other high-ranking figures in the Bush White House played a greater role than previously understood in the firing of federal prosecutors almost three years ago, according to e-mails obtained …
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker, The Confluence, Washington Monthly, AMERICAblog News, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Shakesville
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David Johnston / New York Times:
Rove Says His Role in Prosecutor Firings Was Small — WASHINGTON — Karl Rove, addressing an issue stemming from his role as a top adviser to President George W. Bush, said in an interview that he played only a peripheral role in the dismissal of nine federal prosecutors in 2006 …
The Hill:
Health deal sparks fury on the left — A House leadership deal with Blue Dogs and an aggressive marketing push by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) shifted the healthcare debate sharply toward centrist positions Wednesday, sparking threats of rebellion from the left.
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Dems warn Baucus with gavel threat — In an apparent warning to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), some liberal Democrats have suggested a secret-ballot vote every two years on whether or not to strip committee chairmen of their gavels.
Discussion:
The Note, Ezra Klein, Liberty Street, Wonkette, Daily Kos, MoJo Blog Posts, TPMDC, MyDD, Matthew Yglesias, Left in the West, Salon, Think Progress, Politics Daily, Wake up America, D-Day, Washington Monthly and The Politico
Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
57 signatures on anti-Blue Dog letter — About 50 House liberals have signed on to a letter calling the deal struck between the Blue Dogs and House leadership “totally unacceptable” — and have vowed to vote against it on the floor. — The point may be moot: Democratic leadership is spinning the deal …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
Joe Sudbay / AMERICAblog News:
There is no Senate health care deal …
There is no Senate health care deal …
Discussion:
TPMDC, United States Senator …, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, CNN, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Balloon Juice and Wonkette
The Hill:
Pelosi lashes out at private health insurance ‘villains’ — A day after formally delaying a vote on a healthcare bill and having to accept a further weakening of a public option to compete with private insurers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lashed out at the health insurance industry …
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Richard Cowan / Reuters:
Pelosi lashes out against insurance companies
Pelosi lashes out against insurance companies
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, PoliGazette, Daily Kos, And So it Goes in Shreveport and The Sundries Shack
Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
U.S. Adviser's Blunt Memo on Iraq: Time ‘to Go Home’ — WASHINGTON — A senior American military adviser in Baghdad has concluded in an unusually blunt memo that the Iraqi forces suffer from deeply entrenched deficiencies but are now capable of protecting the Iraqi government, and that it is time …
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The Huffington Post:
Disorderly Conduct: Conversation About Gates Arrest Precedes Arrest — A lawyer who moments earlier had been complaining to friends about police overreaction in the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., got a taste of the Gates treatment himself after loudly chanting …
WSB-TV:
Officers Run Background Check On Obama; Placed On Leave — DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Two DeKalb County police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave after an investigation revealed they ran a background check on President Barack Obama. — A representative for the DeKalb County …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
SALES PITCH.... President Obama told Time's Karen Tumulty that, when it comes to health care, the need to reform the system “is so clear to me,” but he's finding it “difficult ... to describe in clear, simple terms how important it is” to get this done. — Reading the transcript …
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Scott A. Hodge / Tax Foundation:
Tax Burden of Top 1% Now Exceeds That of Bottom 95% — Newly released data from the IRS clearly debunks the conventional Beltway rhetoric that the “rich” are not paying their fair share of taxes and disproportionately benefited from the Bush tax cuts. — Indeed, the IRS data shows that in 2007 …
Rachel Slajda / Talking Points Memo:
Report: Stormy Daniels's Adviser Has Car Bombed — A political adviser to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who's considering a Senate run in Louisiana, told a New Orleans TV station Monday that someone bombed his car. — Brian Welsh, who wasn't hurt in the incident, posted surveillance video of his car exploding on YouTube.
Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:
Roseanne Barr Dressed as Hitler Bakes Burnt ‘Jew Cookies’ — As NewsBusters has chronicled over the years, Roseanne Barr has a history of doing and saying some truly disgraceful things, but this one really takes the cake...or the cookie in this case. — Her most-recent tailspin …
Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Right-Wing Florida Legislators Propose State Constitutional Amendment To Ban Federal Health Care — As the Obama administration and Congress work to pass legislation that would expand affordable coverage for all Americans, some state lawmakers are trying to preemptively undermine those efforts.
Discussion:
Examiner, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, wokv.com, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and Central Florida Political …
WhiteHouse.gov Blog:
President Obama Names Medal of Freedom Recipients 16 Agents of Change to Receive Top Civilian Honor — WASHINGTON - President Obama today named 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom. America's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom is awarded to individuals …
W. Gardner Selby / Postcards:
UPDATED: Hutchison site is loaded with hidden phrases—including two “Perry gay” references, which the campaign says it's removing — This morning, I came across a Web site for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's gubernatorial campaign. — A provocative twist: The site may have been juiced …
Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
Suborned in the U.S.A. — Throughout the 2008 campaign, Barack Hussein Obama claimed it was a “smear” to refer to him as “Barack Hussein Obama.” The candidate had initially rhapsodized over how his middle name, the name of the prophet Mohammed's grandson, would signal a new beginning in American relations with the Muslim world.
Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:
Ortiz and Ramirez Said to Be on 2003 Doping List — Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the sluggers who propelled the Boston Red Sox to end an 86-year World Series championship drought and to capture another title three years later, were among the roughly 100 Major League Baseball players …
Jim Davenport / Associated Press:
Letter shows SC gov predicting public humiliation — COLUMBIA, S.C. — Less than a month before he traveled to Argentina to see his mistress, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford predicted in a letter to his spiritual adviser that “public humiliation” would follow revelations of his shattered marriage.
Jeff Cohen / The Huffington Post:
Are Liberal Netroots Groups Helping Obama Fail? — I've started deleting them as spam. — I'm not talking about the enlarge-your-penis emails or “You've Won the Lottery” notices. — I'm talking about the increasingly-urgent emails coming for weeks from liberal Netroots groups calling for a …
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Washington Post:
Tough on Israel — Why President Obama's battle against Jewish settlements could prove self-defeating — ONE OF THE MORE striking results of the Obama administration's first six months is that only one country has worse relations with the United States than it did in January: Israel.
Discussion:
Commentary, Weekly Standard, Wonk Room, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Taylor Marsh, TPMCafe and Israel Matzav
Ted Johnson / Wilshire & Washington:
Obama, The Movie — In one of the fly-on-the-wall moments of HBO's upcoming documentary “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama,” speech writer Jon Favreau gets an election night call from his boss. After some consultation with Obama about the victory address, Favreau inserts a line about the hard road ahead.
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
John Bresnahan / The Politico:
Exclusive: Earmark critic steered cash to blimp research — Rep. Pete Sessions — the chief of the Republicans' campaign arm in the House — says on his website that earmarks have become “a symbol of a broken Washington to the American people.” — Yet in 2008, Sessions himself steered …
Think Progress:
Clear Channel not interested in hiring Sarah Palin. — On Monday, Inside Radio reported that former governor Sarah Palin's representatives “have been quietly testing the waters to see how much interest radio syndicators have for her.” While Palin isn't committed to radio, she is reportedly open to it as “a possible next step.”
Discussion:
The Mudflats, New York Post, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post and Don Surber