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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.
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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.
Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:Pelosi Calls Insurance Companies ‘Immoral,’ ‘Carpet-Bombing’ Villains
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.
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Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
Beer brewers beg for White House berth — Although we won't know for sure until afterward what types of beers were consumed by President Barack Obama, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Police Sgt. James Crowley at this evening's White House gathering, there are some odds on favorites: a Bud Light for Obama …
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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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 …
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David Johnston / New York Times:Rove Says His Role in Prosecutor Firings Was Small
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker
WCVB-TV:
‘I Am Not A Racist,’ Says Cop Who Wrote Gates Slur — Justin Barrett Suspended From Police Department, National Guard — BOSTON — A Boston police officer who sent a racially charged e-mail protesting newspaper coverage of the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. apologized Wednesday night and said “I am not a racist.”
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James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:
Justin Barrett Kills Two Jobs with One Stone — Justin Barrett, a 36-year-old soon-to-be-former Boston cop and Massachussetts Army National Guard captain, is making the headlines with a letter he circulated describing, a bit too enthusiastically, his views on a Boston Globe column on the Henry Louis Gates incident.
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 …
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Roy Blunt's Spokesman Declines To Say Whether Blunt Thinks Obama Is Legitimate President — Looks like GOP Rep. Roy Blunt is seriously doubling down on birtherism: In an interview with me just now, the spokesman for his Senate campaign declined repeated chances to say whether Blunt thinks Obama is legitimately the president.
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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 …
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 …
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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 …
Discussion:
Eschaton
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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 …
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, Taylor Marsh, Wonk Room, Zandar Versus The Stupid, TPMCafe, The New Republic and Israel Matzav
Jeffrey Goldberg:
White Cops Are Always Right — That's been my experience as a citizen and as a reporter. Back in the day, I used to write about the subject of racial profiling a bit, and and I'm reasonably sure, based on my reporting, that Sergeant Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department a) …
Wall Street Journal:
Debra Burlingame: Revenge of the ‘Shoe Bomber’ — The terrorist sues to resume his jihad from prison. The Obama administration caves in. — Multimedia — previous — next — Health Care Reform — President Obama's effort to overhaul the health-care system may have momentum.
Discussion:
The Corner, Jules Crittenden, Fausta's Blog, Betsy's Page, Right Wing News, Atlas Shrugs and Overlawyered
Heather / Crooks and Liars:
Why is MSNBC Allowing Matthews to Repeat “Deathers” Rhetoric as Maddow Debunks Him on the Same Day? … Why is Chris Matthews carrying water for the “deathers” — as Rachel Maddow aptly called them on her show — and conflating end of life counseling with abortion, and something to fear …
Discussion:
Media Matters for America
Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:
Lucrative Fees May Deter Efforts to Alter Loans — This week, the Obama administration summoned mortgage company executives to Washington to demand they move faster to lower payments for homeowners sliding toward foreclosure. Treasury officials called on the companies to hire and train …
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Debts paid, Hillary Clinton builds $3+ million campaign fund for ...? — With all of the immense numbers coming out of Washington these days, former senator, ex-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign debt is chump change. Make that, “was.” — Here's the news: There is no more Hillary Clinton campaign debt.
Tim Fernholz / American Prospect:
THE SENATE AND ITS ROUND NUMBERS. — Shot: … Chaser: … Yes, the big round number theory of legislating continues to have many supporters, if not any intellectual credibility. There was no policy justification for cutting $100 billion from the stimulus package (indeed …
Andrew Travers / aspendailynews.com:
Dan Rather wants Obama to help save the news — Login or register to post comments — Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather called on President Barack Obama to form a White House commission to help save the press Tuesday night in an impassioned speech at the Aspen Institute.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, Aspen Times, Right Wing News, Pajamas Media, Mediaite, The Powers That Be, Below The Beltway, QandO and NewsBusters.org
Rep. Tom Price / The Politico:
How the GOP wants to fix health care — Thursday marks the anniversary of the most significant piece of health care legislation in our nation's history. It was on this day in 1965 that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law, ensuring government health care for seniors.
R. Jeffrey Smith / Washington Post:
Despite Obama's Objections, House Appropriators Seem Intent on Earmarks — The Democratic-controlled House is poised to give the Pentagon dozens of new ships, planes, helicopters and armored vehicles that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says the military does not need to fund next year …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Capitol Briefing, The Politico, Weekly Standard, MoJo Blog Posts, The Atlanticist, The Caucus and The Foundry
The Hill:
50 Most Beautiful 2009 - Top 10 (HTML) — 1. Rep. Martin Heinrich … Rep. Martin Heinrich has gone from climbing mountains to climbing stairs. — The avid outdoorsman, who once ran a wilderness adventure program for children and teens, now has to rely on his trips from his fifth-floor Longworth office …
Ken Dixon / Stamford Advocate:
McKinney won't challenge Himes in 2010 — HARTFORD — Ending months of speculation over whether he'd seek the congressional seat once held by his father, state Senate Minority Leader John McKinney on Wednesday said he will not challenge U.S. Rep. Jim Himes next year.
Jeffrey Goldberg:
Self-Hating Jews and Other Sad Cases — I've received a lot of mail already in reaction to my post about the crisis in Israel — a crisis caused by the willful disregard of settler extremists to Israeli law, and by the Israeli government's impotence in the face of such law-breaking …
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