memeorandum: Tax trial balloon pops (The Hill)

11:40 PM ET, August 3, 2009

Top Items:

Obama ‘Joker’ Poster Causing a Stir in L.A. — Obama “Joker” Poster — What do you think? — When you're taking flak... ÃÂyou know you're over the target,and the person who made this poster is shining the light of truth on the Obama administration.

Discussion: field negro, NewsBusters.org, FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog and RedState

Steven Mikulan / LA Daily:

New Anti-Obama ‘Joker’ Poster — A new poster depicting President Obama as a version of Heath Ledger's Joker character in The Dark Knight has appeared in Los Angeles, according to rightwing sources. Blog posters to such online sites as American Thinker and Tammy Bruce are predictably in the throes of political orgasm.

Discussion: Big Hollywood, The Confluence, Conventional Folly, RedState, Daily Dose and The washington times Blogs

Hideaki Tailor / Weekly World News:

OBAMA JOKER POSTER — LOS ANGELES, CA - A poster depicting President Obama as Batman's The Joker has begun appearing around Los Angeles. — Someone has been creating posters of President Obama in the famous face paint of The Dark Knight's Joker, famously depicted by Heath Ledger.

Discussion: Hot Air, Jules Crittenden, The Sundries Shack, Don Surber, American Power, The Note and Macsmind

Thomas Lifson / American Thinker:
Barack Obama, laughingstock

Discussion: theblogprof, protein wisdom, L.A. Now and Moonbattery

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Blue-State Blues — We know because he said so, in the first of many famous speeches, that Barack Obama doesn't see Red America or Blue America — he only sees the United States of America. But as the president contemplates his faltering poll numbers and his stalling health-care push …

Ezra Klein:

Should We Envy Texas? — Ross Douthat has a strange column today arguing that Texas — yes, Texas — represents the sort of “model” economy that Barack Obama promised but can't quite seem to achieve. “The president wants to govern America like a blue state,” writes Douthat.

Discussion: Economix, Obsidian Wings, Free exchange and The Plank

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Political Party Affiliation: 30 States Blue, 4 Red in '09 So Far — PRINCETON, NJ — An analysis of Gallup Poll Daily tracking data from the first six months of 2009 finds Massachusetts to be the most Democratic state in the nation, along with the District of Columbia.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Gun Toting Liberal, unbossed.com, Below The Beltway, msnbc.com, Donklephant, Scorecard's Blog, The Fix, Newshoggers.com and The Capitol Fax Blog

Lee Fang / Think Progress:

Durbin Responds To Lobbyist-Run Efforts To Harass Town Halls: We 'Won't Fall For A Sucker-Punch Like This' — ThinkProgress reported today on the growing number of angry right-wing activists viciously harassing Democratic, as well as moderate Republican, members of Congress on health care reform.

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, the talking dog, American Power, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Wonk Room, Burnt Orange Report, Gateway Pundit, Under The Influence and Wonkette

Martin Kady II / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Doggett calls protesters a ‘mob’

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Democratic Strategist and Hullabaloo

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Angry right harasses Rep. Lloyd Doggett with anti-health care chants.

Discussion: Hot Air, Austin American-Statesman, Glenn Thrush's Blog, Hullabaloo, Lean Left, TPMDC, Texas on the Potomac, D-Day, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Washington Monthly, Power Line, AMERICAblog News and Stop The ACLU

Postcards:
Doggett says he's more resolved than ever to pass a health-care plan

Discussion: The Caucus, The New Editor and Talking Points Memo

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

Is This the Source of the Forged ‘Kenyan Birth Certificate?’ — [Update: Credit where it's due—my source tipped me off to this in the Politijab web forums, which have become a good site for “birther” debunking.] — One of my friends in the small community of Obama “birther” …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Michael-In-Norfolk, Below The Beltway and Dr. Orly Taitz Esquire

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The scope — and dangers — of GE's control of NBC and MSNBC — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — I want to return to the subject of GE's silencing of Keith Olbermann both because there are new facts I've obtained that shed light on what happened here and because this is one of …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Politico, Gawker, Company Town, Michael Calderone's Blog, The Confluence, The Huffington Post and Mediaite

Jennifer Senior / New York Magazine:
The Message Is the Message — Barack Obama's ubiquitous appearances …

Discussion: Mediaite, marbury, Gawker, QandO, The Page and Right Wing News

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
The Prez, The Press, The Pressure

Discussion: The Plum Line, Wilshire & Washington, DailyFinance, Mediaite, Washington Monthly and Michael Calderone's Blog

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Obama Brief on State Secrets Rankles the Left — A Supreme Court filing from the Obama administration last month has set off alarm bells on the left. — The filing was a friend-of-the-court brief, and it mostly dealt with an excruciatingly technical question about the attorney-client privilege.

Discussion: AMERICAblog News

Hotline On Call:

McCain To Vote “No” On Sotomayor — Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced today that he will vote against Sonia Sotomayor, Pres. Obama's nominee to become the first Hispanic SCOTUS justice. — McCain, in a Senate floor speech: … McCain voted against Sotomayor's nomination to the 2nd Circuit Court …

Discussion: Hot Air and Wonkette

Kathy Kiely / USA Today:
Republican support for Sotomayor looks paltry

Discussion: The Page

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:

Are Democrats In For An August Slaughter? — Democrats know the rulebook. The tactics being used against them by Republican and conservative groups were perfected by the party when it set out to defeat President Bush's Social Security privatization proposals.

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Ambinder — Marc Ambinder seems to think the tea-bagger effort to shut down Democratic town hall meetings is just working from the Dems 2005 anti-Social Security privatization playbook. — Really? — I watched those events unfold pretty closely. And what the Dems did in 2005 consisted …

Michelle Malkin:

Into the lion's den: My encounter with The View; Vid link added — Just finished up on The View, where I sparred with the ladies about Culture of Corruption. — You can watch a bit of it at RCP and I'm sure Hot Air will have highlights up soon. — Best part: Every single member of the audience got a copy of the book!

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Top of the Ticket, Sister Toldjah, RealClearPolitics Video Log, The Anchoress, Gateway Pundit, Pundit & Pundette, Media Blog and Hot Air

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Michelle makes new friend on “The View”

Discussion: American Power and And So it Goes in Shreveport

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:

5 things to watch during recess — House Minority Leader John Boehner has predicted a “very, very hot summer.” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is bracing for what she calls “the fight of our lives.” — Sleepy, sweltering August, typically a month for congressional beach getaways …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Wonk Room, Maggie's Farm and Daily Kos

David Corn / Politics Daily:
Obama's Anger Problem?

Discussion: MoJo Blog Posts

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
As recess begins, the heat is on

Discussion: Firedoglake, Wizbang and NolanChart.com

Weekly Standard:

And That's the Way It Wasn't — From the Scrapbook. — It seems somehow oddly appropriate that the passing of TV news giant Walter Cronkite should have produced in turn a gigantic correction in the New York Times, which we reproduce here for your delectation:

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Paul Krugman:

In defense of Michelle Malkin — No, really. She's been getting a lot of grief from progressive bloggers for saying that extended unemployment benefits cause higher unemployment, and attributing that view to Larry Katz, who has gone to some pains to say that he believes no such thing.

Discussion: FishBowlDC, Matthew Yglesias, Zandar Versus The Stupid, D-Day and Washington Monthly

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Tea Shirts — When members of Congress hold ‘town hall’ meetings in their districts, they should expect to hear from their constituents, many of whom won't agree with what they're selling. And it's not just that hypothetical, unconnected-with-interested- parties ‘citizen’ we're talking about.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Tea Party Town Hall Strategy: “Rattle Them,” “Stand Up And Shout”

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The RBC, My Left Nutmeg, Salon, Talking Points Memo, Off the Kuff, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Below The Beltway, MoJo Blog Posts, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and No More Mister Nice Blog

The Hill:

Tax trial balloon pops — The Obama administration on Monday quickly shot down a trial balloon it floated over the weekend that opened the possibility of new taxes on the middle class after the idea came under heavy fire from labor unions, liberal leaders and Republicans.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

David Paul Kuhn / Real Clear Politics:

Both Parties Have Their Fanatics — Fully 35 percent of Democrats believe George W. Bush had advance knowledge of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Fully 28 percent of Republicans believe Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States. — Meet the fanatical third.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Democratic Strategist and PrairiePundit

Siobhan Gorman / Wall Street Journal:

White House Cybersecurity Chief Quits — WASHINGTON — The White House's acting cybersecurity czar announced her resignation Monday, in a setback to the Obama administration's efforts to better protect the computer networks critical to national security and the global economy.

Discussion: Danger Room, Emptywheel and On Deadline

Wall Street Journal:

Geithner Vents as Overhaul Stumbles — WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner blasted top U.S. financial regulators in an expletive-laced critique last Friday as frustration grows over the Obama administration's faltering plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulation, according to people familiar with the meeting.

Discussion: Clusterstock and zero hedge

Juan Cole / Salon:

Sarah Palin, meet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — You two right-wing populists have a surprising amount in common — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivers a speech in Mashhad, Iran, on Friday; Gov. Sarah Palin gives her resignation speech in Fairbanks, Alaska, on July 26. — Is Sarah Palin America's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Eunomia, Jihad Watch, PoliBlog, Conservatives4Palin.com, Weekly Standard, The Opinionator and Infidels Are Cool

Chris Good / The Atlantic Politics Channel:

GOP Polling Charts Galore — For anyone who enjoys a) charts and b) speculating about who will win the Republican presidential primary in 2012, Pollster.com has just greatly improved your life: the site is now tracking favorability ratings for Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, as well as Sarah Palin.

Wyatt Andrews / CBS News:

Protesters Trash Health Care Reform — Democrats Met With Anger over Prospect of Higher Taxes, Government-Run “Obama-Care” on Eve of August Recess — (CBS) The debate over health care reform has been raging in Washington for weeks. But outside the nation's capital, this healthy discourse has grown loud with vocal protests.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org