Top Items:
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
William Jefferson verdict: Guilty on 11 of 16 counts — ALEXANDRIA, VA. - Former Democratic Congressman William Jefferson was found guilty of 11 of 16 corruption charges today by a federal jury. — The jury of eight women and four men returned a guilty verdict following five days of deliberation.
Discussion:
Law Blog, TPMMuckraker, Wonkette, Gateway Pundit, Salon, On Deadline, Macsmind, msnbc.com, Blue Crab Boulevard, AMERICAblog News and Flopping Aces
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Washington Post:
Jury Convicts Former Congressman Jefferson of Bribery — Former congressman William J. Jefferson was convicted of corruption charges Wednesday in a case made famous by the $90,000 in bribe money stuffed into his freezer and a legal battle over the raid of his Washington office that reached the highest levels of the U.S. government.
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Let the Big Dog Run — When I look at the incorrigible Kim Jong-il, an insult hurled by the incomparable Billy Wilder comes to mind. — Leon Wieseltier, the literary editor of The New Republic, was having dinner with Wilder years ago when the subject of Swifty Lazar, the very famous and very short agent, came up.
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Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Right Wing Attacks Clinton's Successful Trip To Free American Journalists In North Korea — Yesterday, super-hawk John Bolton was upset that President Clinton, along with a group that included Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta, went over to North Korea to negotiate …
The Corner:
Krauthammer's Take — From last night's All-Stars: On North Korea releasing U.S. journalists to President Clinton: Well, it's the return of hostages in exchange for stuff. And we will learn about that stuff. It's clear that this was wired in advance. There probably was an apology [offered by President Clinton in Pyongyang].
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Don Surber, Jules Crittenden, Washington Monthly, American Power, Salon and The Plank
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Washington Post Kills ‘Mouthpiece’ Video Series — The Washington Post has brought down the curtain on “Mouthpiece Theater.” — Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli killed the satirical video series Wednesday after harsh criticism of a joke about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton …
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Mark Preston / CNN:
GOP turns tables on Democrats — WASHINGTON (CNN) — National Republicans turned the tables on their political counterparts Wednesday by redirecting angry telephone calls coming into their switchboard to the Democratic National Committee. — The DNC released a Web video early …
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Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:
Think Progress, MSNBC ‘Manufacture’ a Story With Putative Smoking Gun ‘Mob’ Memo — When the “manufactured” outrage the Left is trying to demonize lines up so inconveniently with public polling, it's sometimes necessary to create evidence for the “manufactured” storyline.
Discussion:
Hot Air, American Power, Right Wing Nut House, Doug Ross, Weasel Zippers and Little Green Links
Reliable Source:
Furor Over an Obama Puff Piece — Student Barack Obama in a 1980 photo shoot at Occidental College. (Lisa Jack/Getty Images) — It was only a matter of time before someone combined a certain memorable image of a young future president with a jokey twist on his campaign slogan …
Carl / Israel Matzav:
Surprise: Mary Robinson wasn't vetted — In The Corner, Tevi Troy reports that Mary Robinson, whose selection as a Medal of Freedom recipient has caused quite a controversy, was not properly vetted. … Who recommended her? Chas Freeman? — And why would backing down ‘make things worse’?
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M Peretz / The Spine:
Obama Needed This Like a Hole in the Head
Obama Needed This Like a Hole in the Head
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, TPMCafe, Zandar Versus The Stupid, JW Political Insider, The Debate Link and Capital J | JTA
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Dem Congressman's Office: His Life Has Been Threatened Over Health Care Bill — Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) will not be hosting any town hall events this August — instead, he's making himself available to constituents for one-on-one meetings about health care reform — and at least part of the reason is this …
Discussion:
Now! Hampshire, Firedoglake, Glenn Thrush's Blog, Blue Crab Boulevard, Confederate Yankee and D-Day
Mike Stark / Firedoglake:
Conservativism's Next Generation: Young, Dumb, and Full of...? — Remember these guys? — Well... I ran into them at the Young America's Foundation convention right after Gingrich's speech. Of course, Gingrich lionized Reagan. He's their legend. And they named an airport after him!
Ashley Hayes / CNN:
Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme to be released — (CNN) — The president she once pointed a gun at has been dead for nearly three years, and her longtime idol and leader, Charles Manson, remains in prison. — However, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme is about to get her first taste of real freedom in more than three decades.
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Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:
Cornyn to Obama: Stop With the Enemies Lists — The White House call for people to inform on anyone spreading “disinformation about health insurance reform” didn't sit well with a lot of people — Obama isn't running a political campaign anymore, he's supposed to be running the country …
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Conn Carroll / The Foundry:
Morning Bell: The People Spreading “Disinformation” About Obamacare
Morning Bell: The People Spreading “Disinformation” About Obamacare
Discussion:
Pajamas Media
The Politico:
Lessons learned from: A) cash for clunkers B) the town halls C) the Clinton rescue mission — The “shout downs” organized by the Republican right meet one of the classic definition of “fascist” tactics—defined as using shouting and disruption to deprive the civil and respectful debate of ideas.
Rasmussen Reports:
71% Say Obama's Policies Have Driven Up Deficit — Seventy-one percent (71%) of U.S. voters say President Obama's policies have increased the size of the federal deficit, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. — Only five percent (5%) say the president's policies …
Discussion:
The TrogloPundit, Scared Monkeys, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Moderate Voice, The Jawa Report, Neptunus Lex and Don Surber
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Think Progress:
Freshman Democratic lawmaker ‘physically assaulted at a local event’ by activists. — As lobbyist-run groups encourage conservative activists to “rattle” members of Congress at local town hall events, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the president of the freshman Democratic class has revealed that …
Steve Portnoy / Political Punch:
A First Hand View of a Raucous Town Hall Meeting — ABC's Steven Portnoy reports: — There were no lobbyist-funded buses in the parking lot of Mardela Middle and High School on Tuesday evening, and the hundreds of Eastern Maryland residents who packed the school's auditorium loudly refuted …
Roll Call:
House Orders Up Three Elite Jets — Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington, D.C., by private jet to attend a hearing about a possible bailout of their companies. — But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel …
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
CNN Refusing To Run Health Care Ad Critical Of Insurance Industry — What on earth is going on at CNN? — The network — already taking criticism for declining to run an ad criticizing Lou Dobbs — is now refusing to run an ad nationally criticizing the insurance industry, the group that tried to place the ad tells me.
Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:
Birthers of a Nation & The Paranoid Style of American Liberalism — I think Jamie Kirchik has the politics pretty much exactly right. Eugene Robinson, Joe Conason and E.J. Dionne, in addition to all the politicians and bloggers Jamie mentions, have been pumping the birther story in order …
Roger Alford / Associated Press:
Ron Paul son Rand joins Ky. GOP race for Senate — FRANKFORT, Ky. — Rand Paul, the son of 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul, ended months of speculation Wednesday by saying he will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated next year by fellow Republican Jim Bunning.
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog
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Andrew Clark / Guardian:
Murdoch to charge for all news sites — Times and Sun readers to pay as loss-making Murdoch declares end to free-for-all — The billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch suffered the indignity of seeing his global empire make a huge financial loss yesterday and promptly pledged to shake …
Discussion:
Macsmind
Washington Post:
Obama Plans to Use More Than Bombs and Bullets to Fight Terrorism — The U.S. government must fundamentally redefine the struggle against terrorism, replacing the “war on terror” with a campaign combining all facets of national power to defeat the enemy, John O. Brennan …