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%.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

House Passes Bill to Prolong ‘Cash for Clunkers’  —  White House Says Nearly Broke Program Will Continue; Bill Would Add $2 Billion  —  The House approved a bill Friday afternoon to provide $2 billion to continue the federal government's week-old “cash for clunkers” program …

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 …

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.

Do quick tweets sink ships?  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Rep. Mark Kirk, a Republican who represents the northern suburbs of Chicago and is running for Senate, also happens to be a Navy Reservist.  While on service in the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon, he recently ‘tweeted,’ causing the Military to look into the situation.

Health Care Realities  —  At a recent town hall meeting, a man stood up and told Representative Bob Inglis to “keep your government hands off my Medicare.”  The congressman, a Republican from South Carolina, tried to explain that Medicare is already a government program — but the voter, Mr. Inglis said, “wasn't having any of it.”

Seniors Most Skeptical of Healthcare Reform  —  More seniors think reform law would be harmful, not beneficial, to them  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Seniors are the least likely of all age groups in the U.S. to say that healthcare reform will benefit their personal healthcare situation.

A Tip of the Hat to Hillary  —  Francisco Toro blogs obsessively about Venezuela and the Chávez era at Caracas Chronicles.  —  More than one month after the coup in Honduras, the Obama administration's quiet-but-canny diplomacy is starting to pay off.