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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER.... A new Research 2000 poll conducted for Daily Kos asked respondents a rather straightforward question: “Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?” Since the president was born in the U.S., ideally, the results would be around 100%.
Discussion:
TPMDC, Eunomia, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Taylor Marsh, MoJo Blog Posts, Shakesville, Salon and The Plum Line
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Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
58 percent of GOP not sure/doubt Obama born in US — Shocker poll from Kos/Research2000 today. — A whopping 58 percent of Republicans either think Barack Obama wasn't born in the US (28 percent) or aren't sure (30 percent). A mere 42 percent think he was.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Poll: 28% of Republicans don't believe Obama was born in U.S. — A new Research 2000 poll, sponsored by the site DailyKos, finds broad traction among Republican voters for the belief that President Obama was not born in the United States. — The survey of American adults asked …
Discussion:
Townhall.com, Democracy in America, Below The Beltway, Hot Air, The Washington Independent, Daily Kos and Donklephant
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
In Beer Summit “Spoof” Milbank Suggests Hillary Drink “Mad Bitch” Beer — If I were on the board of directors of the Kaplan test prep company, and discovered that the people running a money-losing Kaplan subsidiary affiliate (better known as the Washington Post) had greenlighted a feature called …
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Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Waxman gets deal on health bill — Liberal and conservative Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce panel struck a late-night deal Friday that will allow them to move a sweeping health care bill out of the committee after a two-week deadlock that put its fate in serious doubt.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, The Treatment, TPMDC, AmSpecBlog, The Page, The Moderate Voice and MoJo Blog Posts
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Charlottesville Daily Progress / Daily Progress:
Forged letters to congressman anger local groups — As U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello was considering how to vote on an important piece of climate change legislation in June, the freshman congressman's office received at least six letters from two Charlottesville-based minority organizations voicing opposition to the measure.
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Rudy: ‘Shut Up’ — Rudy Giuliani, who has returned as a leading Republican spokesman, condemned Obama's health care plan in an interview with Sean Hannity. — He also offered, in response to the president's hope that the Gates arrest would be a “teachable moment,” this: — “He's actually right.
Discussion:
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
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The Speakers Lobby:
McCain to filibuster “Cash for Clunkers” bill; Trouble for Reid with Dems, too — When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, tries to take up the House-passed “Cash for Clunkers” bill next week, he will hit a series of bipartisan road blocks. — Fox has learned that Sen. John McCain …
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Josh Bivens / Economic Policy Institute:
More than 500 days of recession — The Commerce Department reported today that gross domestic product (GDP) contracted at a 1% annual rate in the second quarter of 2009, following a 6.4% decline in the previous quarter. GDP is the total market value of goods and services produced in the U.S. economy …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, New York Times, Matthew Yglesias, The New Republic, Salon, The Daily Dish, MoJo Blog Posts and Hullabaloo
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Lee Fang / Think Progress:
Right-Wing Harassment Strategy Against Dems Detailed In Memo: ‘Yell,’ ‘Stand Up And Shout Out,’ ‘Rattle Him’ — This morning, Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being harassed by “angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior” at local town halls.
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Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
Town halls gone wild — Screaming constituents, protesters dragged out by the cops, congressmen fearful for their safety — welcome to the new town-hall-style meeting, the once-staid forum that is rapidly turning into a house of horrors for members of Congress.
Eamon Javers / The Politico:
Franken feuds with T. Boone Pickens — Five years after he put his money behind the Swift Boat ads that helped tank John Kerry's presidential campaign, Senate Democrats gave T. Boone Pickens a warm welcome at their weekly policy lunch Thursday. — Or at least most of them did.
Elizabeth Gates / Blogs and Stories:
What I Saw at the Beer Summit — Blogs and Stories — The Daily Beast's Elizabeth Gates joined her father, Skip, Sgt. Crowley, and the president to raise a beer and bury the hatchet. An inside report from the peace talks. — In a world in which the conversation on race has traditionally taken …
Discussion:
THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The New Republic, Pajamas Media, Washington Post, Hot Air, Jim Treacher's Blog …, Mediaite and Althouse
Daniela Altimari / Hartford Courant:
Dodd Diagnosed With Early-Stage Prostate Cancer — U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. — Dodd is scheduled to undergo surgery during the Senate's August recess and said he expects to be back at work after a “brief recuperation” at home.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, TVNewser, The Note, The Swamp, Scorecard's Blog, American Power, D-Day, NPR Blogs, Ben Smith's Blog, Swampland, Clusterstock and Don Surber
Felix Gillette / New York Observer:
Controversy Surrounding Lou Dobbs Has Failed to Increase His Ratings — On the night of Monday, July 27, Bill O'Reilly welcomed Richard Cohen, the head of the Southern Poverty Law Center, onto The O'Reilly Factor, to talk about Mr. Cohen's repeated public criticisms of CNN anchor Lou Dobbs.
Discussion:
Mediaite, AMERICAblog News, Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, Donklephant, Gawker, Raw Story, TVNewser and The Huffington Post
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Media Matters Running Ads Attacking Lou Dobbs' Birther Obsession — On CNN!
Media Matters Running Ads Attacking Lou Dobbs' Birther Obsession — On CNN!
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog
Seth Mydans / New York Times:
Corazon Aquino, Ex-Leader of Philippines, Is Dead — Corazon C. Aquino of the Philippines, who was swept into office on a wave of “people power” in 1986 and then faced down half a dozen coup attempts in six years as president, died Saturday in Manila. She was 76.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
John Hawkins / Pajamas Media:
Why Sarah Palin Fans Feel Betrayed — It's bad enough when she is mercilessly bashed from the left. But it really stings when Republicans lay into her. — To be conservative is to be betrayed on a regular basis. You send your kids to a school that tries to slyly indoctrinate them into liberalism …
Discussion:
Right Wing News
Andrea Fuller / New York Times:
House Approves Limits on Executive Pay — WASHINGTON — The House approved a measure Friday that would put new constraints on executive pay, capitalizing on outrage over multimillion-dollar bonuses to Wall Street executives whose firms were bailed out by taxpayers.
Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Porn prosecution fuels debate — President Barack Obama's Justice Department has quietly agreed to move a pornography prosecution out of socially conservative Montana to more urbane New Jersey - fueling perceptions by some attorneys that the new administration is stepping back from the aggressive approach …
Jen DiMascio / The Politico:
Rep. Taylor calls anti-tax group ‘scum’ — Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) has called Grover Norquist's anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform “lying sacks of scum” for lumping him in with other moderate Democrats who support the House health reform bill. — “Americans for Tax Reform …