memeorandum: What's so great about private health insurance? (Michael Hiltzik/Los Angeles Times)

2:00 AM ET, August 4, 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: NewsBusters.org, field negro, 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 Anchoress, Bookworm Room, Conventional Folly, RedState, Daily Dose, The washington times Blogs, The Confluence, rightofcourse.com, Confederate Yankee and Moonbattery

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, Pajamas Media, Don Surber, The Sundries Shack, American Power, The Note and Macsmind

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

Alex Koppelman / Salon:
Birthers release forged Kenyan birth certificate for Obama

Discussion: Jesus' General, The Washington Independent, Hot Air, Unqualified Offerings, Wonkette, Crooks and Liars, Native and Natural … and MoJo Blog Posts

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

Martin Kady II / Glenn Thrush's Blog:

Doggett calls protesters a ‘mob’ — Rep. Lloyd Doggett's office is calling the protesters who swarmed him in Austin over the weekend a “mob,” and blaming the chaos on the local libertarian and Republican activists. — The Doggett protests also appear to be part of a larger organizing effort …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Gateway Pundit, Democratic Strategist and The Huffington Post

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

Discussion: The Caucus, Talking Points Memo, Off the Kuff and The New Editor

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Three videos show why ObamaCare is in trouble

Discussion: Austin American-Statesman, Power Line, Blogometer, Michelle Malkin and Shot in the Dark

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

Discussion: Lean Left, Glenn Thrush's Blog, TPMDC, Salon, Hullabaloo, D-Day, Michelle Malkin, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Below The Beltway, Texas on the Potomac, Washington Monthly, Moe Lane, Stop The ACLU, AMERICAblog News, No More Mister Nice Blog, The BRAD BLOG and Wonkette

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, Free exchange, Obsidian Wings and The Plank

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.

Discussion: Wizbang

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo: Ambinder — Marc Ambinder seems to think the tea-bagger effort …

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 …

Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
Sen. Enzi: No deadline for healthcare talks

Discussion: D-Day, Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice and TPMDC

James Rowley / Bloomberg: Schumer Threatens Democrats-Only Health-Care Measure

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

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

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, Maggie's Farm, Firedoglake, Wonk Room, Daily Kos and The Note

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:
What's so great about private health insurance?

Discussion: MoJo Blog Posts, D-Day and The Democratic Daily

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Obama Administration Weighs in on State Secrets, Raising Concern on 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

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

Kathy Kiely / USA Today:

Republican support for Sotomayor looks paltry — WASHINGTON — As the Senate begins debate Tuesday on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, the veteran federal judge appears assured of confirmation but without the sweeping bipartisan majority her backers hoped for the nation's first Hispanic high court pick.

Discussion: The Page

Hotline On Call:
McCain To Vote “No” On Sotomayor

Discussion: Hot Air and Wonkette

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

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

New York Times:

Bill Clinton in North Korea to Seek Release of U.S. Reporters — WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton went to North Korea on Monday to negotiate the release of two American television journalists who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korean territory …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, TalkLeft and Connecting.the.Dots

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, Hot Air, Top of the Ticket, Sister Toldjah, American Power, RealClearPolitics Video Log, The Anchoress, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Pundit & Pundette, Gateway Pundit, Media Blog and The Sundries Shack

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

Kevin Helliker / Wall Street Journal:

Killer App for Clunkers Spurs Market — Rebate Program Prescribes Chemical to Stop Car Engines — for Good; Mechanics 'Can't Wait' — Robert Mueller deals in chemicals for a living — things that can unstick glue, thin paint, make plastic — but he'd never seen an order like the one he got for sodium silicate.

Discussion: Clusterstock

Laura A. Munson / New York Times:

Those Aren't Fighting Words, Dear — LET'S say you have what you believe to be a healthy marriage. You're still friends and lovers after spending more than half of your lives together. The dreams you set out to achieve in your 20s — gazing into each other's eyes in candlelit city bistros …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

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, NewsBusters.org, Mediaite, Company Town, Michael Calderone's Blog, The Confluence and Open Left

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

And for the Blue Team? — We spent most of Monday reporting on these tea-bagging crowds going to Democratic health care town hall meetings to shout down the hosts and shut the events down. It's classic agitprop, very akin to the ‘Brooks Brothers riot’ down in Florida during the recount.

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.