Top Items:
CNN:
U.S. journalists head home from North Korea — (CNN) — Two U.S. journalists who had been detained by North Korea were traveling back to the United States with former President Clinton hours after being pardoned, a Clinton spokesman said. — “They are en route to Los Angeles [California] …
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John R. Bolton / Washington Post:
Clinton's Unwise Trip to North Korea — The Obama administration characterized Bill Clinton's unexpected visit to Pyongyang to secure the release of two American reporters, held unjustifiably by North Korea for nearly five months, as a private, humanitarian mission.
Discussion:
BBC, Crooks and Liars, ATTACKERMAN, Atlas Shrugs, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Firedoglake, Sadly, No!, msnbc.com, The Washington Independent and Israel Matzav
ABCNEWS:
Former President Clinton Headed Home from North Korea with Journalists — Clinton Spokesman Says Former President Homebound, with Ling and Lee Onboard — Former President Bill Clinton ended his surprise trip to North Korea today, bringing home the two Asian-American journalists …
Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Even After North Korea Frees American Journalists, Bolton Insists Clinton Trip Was A Mistake — Reports emerged yesterday that President Clinton — along with Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta — was traveling to North Korea to negotiate the release of two imprisoned American journalists.
Robert Mackey / The Lede:Bill Clinton Leaves North Korea With Two Freed American Journalists
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Mediaite, Wizbang, MoJo Blog Posts, Christian Science Monitor, The New Ledger and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Josh Gerstein / Josh Gerstein's Blog:Podesta joins Bill Clinton in N. Korea
Discussion:
ATTACKERMAN
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Shocked. SHOCKED. Astoturfing Exists. ... Now What? — In eight years of writing about politics, nothing gets people angrier than when I try to make the case that most activists and most journalists practice politics differently, have different worldviews, and are both forces for good in the democracy.
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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
White House Strategy: Ridicule The Angry Republicans — The White House and Democratic officials, surprised by the angry words thrown at Democratic lawmakers in their first weekend of August town hall meetings, are scrambling to put together a strategy to minimize the effects …
The Huffington Post:
Durbin, Schumer: Town Hall Protesters Are “Birthers” “Tea Baggers,” And “Fringe” — The angry-mob style protesters who have infiltrated town halls around the country are the non-organic product of “tea-baggers,” “birthers,” and the conservative fringe, two Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday.
The Note:
Young GOPers Gaga Over Gingrich — ABC News' Devin Dwyer reports: — Before an energetic and enthusiastic young Republican crowd, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich weighed in today on the upcoming Senate confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and made predictions for health care reform legislation this fall.
Peter Daou / The Huffington Post: Five Reasons the Health Care Battle Is NOT the Presidential Campaign
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:Anti-Reform Group Takes Credit For Helping Gin Up Town Hall Rallies
Discussion:
CNN, AMERICAblog News, Think Progress, TPMDC, Raw Story, Daily Kos and Washington Monthly
Macon Phillips / WhiteHouse.gov Blog:
Facts Are Stubborn Things — Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, “facts are stubborn things.” — Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example …
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard, The Volokh Conspiracy, Stop The ACLU, Washington Post, JammieWearingFool, Los Angeles Times, Flopping Aces, Wake up America, JustOneMinute, GayPatriot, Reclusive Leftist, SEIU, Right Truth, Argghhh!, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, techPresident, Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, MyDD, Ben Smith's Blog, QandO, NPR Blogs, The Politico, Matthew Yglesias, Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, Michelle Malkin, Political Punch, Pundit & Pundette, FishBowlDC, Atlas Shrugs, Townhall.com, TigerHawk, The Next Right, The Foundry, Balance of Power, Perfunction, The Jawa Report, Washington Monthly and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
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Jeff Emanuel / Jeff_Emanuel's blog:
Call For Informants: If You Oppose Obamacare, Even in ‘Casual Conversation,’ the White House Wants to Know About It — If you see anybody publicly opposing President Obama's plan to implement a government-centric overhaul of the health care system, the White House wants you to report that person (or persons) ASAP.
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, Piece of Work In Progress, Politics Daily, Moe Lane, Wake up America and Michelle Malkin
Jeremy Scahill / The Nation:
Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder — A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia.
New York Times:
Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of U.S. — WASHINGTON — A pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines has been patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States in recent days, a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Atlas Shrugs, Jules Crittenden, Gawker, Little Green Links, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and JammieWearingFool
Martin Ivens / Times of London:
Hezbollah stockpiles 40,000 rockets near Israel border — Richard Beeston on the Israel-Lebanese border and Nicholas Blanford in Beirut — Three years after Israel fought a bloody war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, there are fears that hostilities could erupt again — this time with the militant group better armed than ever.
Paul Krugman:
Hey, Mister Postman — Art Laffer (why is he, of all people, on my TV?) asks what it will be like when the government runs Medicare and Medicaid. — But I'd raise a further question: he warns that when the government takes over these, um, government programs, they'll be like the Post Office and the DMV.
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
McDonnell leads by 14 — Bob McDonnell has opened up a 51-37 lead over Creigh Deeds in the race to be Virginia's next Governor, up from a 49-43 advantage four weeks ago. — The movement in the race likely has more to do with national trends than anything actually going on in Virginia.
Discussion:
Philly.com, Real Clear Politics, Commentary, The Campaign Spot, Moe_Lane's blog and Swing State Project
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The Huffington Post:
Obama's Birthday Cards From Birthers (PICS) — It's the president's birthday! And what better way to celebrate than to give the birther movement even more media attention. Of course, we don't really know that Obama was born on August 4th, because he refuses to show his birth certificate …
Discussion:
The Caucus
Chuck Norris from Creators Syndicate:
What Obama and My Wife Have in Common — Dear Mr. President: — First, happy birthday. I do hope today is an enjoyable day for you and your family. Coincidentally, I also will be celebrating this week the birth of someone dear to me, my beloved wife, Gena, whose birthday is Aug. 9.
New York Post:
HONORING AN AMERICA-HATER — THE Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor. Past recipients include John Wayne, Norman Rockwell and Vaclav Havel. This year, one of the 16 recipients President Obama selected (along with such worthies as Sen. Edward Kennedy and the late Jack Kemp) …
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
More facts behind the GE/Fox deal and a new Olbermann statement — (updated below - Update II) — On Saturday, I wrote a post under the headline: “GE's silencing of Olbermann and MSNBC's sleazy use of Richard Wolffe.” In it, I wrote: “now we have an example of GE's forcibly silencing …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Open Left, Firedoglake, NewsBusters.org, Michael Calderone's Blog, D-Day and Daily Dose
ABC News:
Adelaide man caught up in bid to oust Obama — A self-described ‘grey-haired guy in a corner of little old Adelaide’ has been unwittingly implicated in a conspiracy to oust the 44th President of the United States from office. Unbeknown to David Bomford, a group called the Birthers have used …
The Huffington Post:
For The Modern GOP, It's A Return To The “White Voter Strategy” — With Republican party leaders so constrained by ideological blinders that none of their positions is likely to produce gains among non-white minorities, especially Hispanics, the GOP is finding it has no real alternative but to revert to a “white voter” strategy.
CNN:
CNN Poll: Did Obama act stupidly in Gates arrest comments? — WASHINGTON (CNN) - A new national poll indicates that white and black Americans don't see eye to eye on last month's arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates. The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey …
Discussion:
The Fix
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Protestor In Connecticut: “Treat” Dodd With Handful Of Painkillers And Whiskey — Wow, check out these protestors outside a health care event by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) in Hartford (via My Left Nutmeg). What follows are some very direct jokes about Dodd's cancer — and the idea of some sort of euthanasia involving booze and pills:
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Disgrace: Gibbs says Ahmadinejad is the elected leader of Iran — Via Breitbart. He could have dodged this question a dozen ways. He could have said the election's irrelevant from our standpoint since we have to play the cards we're dealt; he could have noted, as Obama's often done in the past …
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