The Prez, The Press, The Pressure  —  Networks Grouse About Obama in Prime Time  —  In the days before President Obama's last news conference, as the networks weighed whether to give up a chunk of their precious prime time, Rahm Emanuel went straight to the top.

Third Obama birth certificate appears in court  —  Dr C reports that Orly has filed a motion claiming that she has discovered another Birth Certificate for President Obama, this one from the Republic of Kenya  —  Update: Ron Polarik calls Kenya BC a forgery

Angry right harasses Rep. Lloyd Doggett with anti-health care chants.  (Updated)  —  Today, House members are back home to begin their month-long recess.  The far right has indicated that they plan to welcome many of their representatives with large, angry throngs ("town halls gone wild").

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 …

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.

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!

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?

Senate Dems have backup plans for healthcare  —  Senate Democrats will await a bipartisan healthcare reform bill but are looking past it, and around it, in the meantime, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday.  —  Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) …

Cash From Clunkers  —  Let's have a $4,500 subsidy for everything.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Americans are streaming back into auto showrooms, and one reason is the “cash for clunkers” subsidy.  Democrats are naturally claiming this is a great success, while Republicans are claiming …

Rewarding Bad Actors  —  Americans are angry at Wall Street, and rightly so.  First the financial industry plunged us into economic crisis, then it was bailed out at taxpayer expense.  And now, with the economy still deeply depressed, the industry is paying itself gigantic bonuses.

U.S. Weighs Iran Sanctions if Talks Are Rejected  —  The Obama administration is talking with allies and Congress about the possibility of imposing an extreme economic sanction against Iran if it fails to respond to President Obama's offer to negotiate on its nuclear program …

‘High Risk, High Reward’  —  John McCain Was Looking for a Way to Shake Up His Campaign.  He Took a Surprising Gamble on a Relative Unknown.  —  Adapted from the book “The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election”  —  A black car pulled up next to the stairs …

Iran is ready to build an N-bomb - it is just waiting for the Ayatollah's order  —  Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to produce its first bomb, Western intelligence sources have told The Times.

Resurrection  —  The bugs are not bad in this part of Afghanistan.  The scorched terrain is biologically boring.  Mice and ferret-like creatures dash around in the evenings when sparrows and doves and a few other sorts of birds flutter through the cool air.

Just 32% of Virginia Republicans Think Obama is a Citizen  —  Here's an advance look at a new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia completed over the weekend: An astonishing 41% of the state's Republicans think President Obama was not born in the United States while just 32% think he was and 27% are still not sure.

Confidence in U.S. Health Care System Has Grown in Recent Months  —  Forty-eight percent (48%) of U.S. voters now rate the U.S. health care system as good or excellent.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 19% rate it as poor.

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 …

Three policewomen spend full day dressed in Muslim burkhas in controversial ‘In Your Shoes’ exercise  —  A police exercise which saw female officers spending a day dressed in full Muslim dress has been blasted ‘a complete waste of time’.  —  Two sergeants and a community support officer dressed …

Obama's Anger Problem?  —  If President Obama is mad, who's he so mad at?  —  Let me explain.  On Friday afternoon, at the daily White House press briefing, press secretary Robert Gibbs was explaining why his boss this week will be making his second trip as president to hard-hit Elkhart …

Politico Only Knows Conservative Experts  —  Politico had the interesting idea of asking various DC policy experts to recommend books in their areas of expertise.  Unfortunately, it went off the rails.  Things start out okay on the Middle East where they ask one person from CAP (left) …

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.

Warning: Oil supplies are running out fast  —  Catastrophic shortfalls threaten economic recovery, says world's top energy economist  —  The world is heading for a catastrophic energy crunch that could cripple a global economic recovery because most of the major oil fields in the world …

With a Colleague's Book Due Out, Ex-Bushies Play Out the Ritual of Anxiety  —  There's a growing nervousness these days among former Bush White House officials, Pentagon folks and some senators about what, precisely, is in a book coming out in September by Matt Latimer, former speechwriter to George W. Bush …