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.
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Law Blog, TPMMuckraker, Wonkette, Gateway Pundit, Salon, On Deadline, Macsmind, msnbc.com, Blue Crab Boulevard, AMERICAblog News and Flopping Aces
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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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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].
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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David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Michael Steele Takes Credit for RNC Phone Prank — On today's call with reporters, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele took credit for the RNC's response to a new Democratic National Committee ad asking voters to call Republicans and tell them to stop ginning up town hall heckling.
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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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, Weasel Zippers, Doug Ross and Little Green Links
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, The Moderate Voice, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Jawa Report, Neptunus Lex and Don Surber
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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’?
Discussion:
Moe_Lane's blog
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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 …
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 …
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.
Conn Carroll / The Foundry:
Morning Bell: The People Spreading “Disinformation” About Obamacare — The White House is losing the health care debate. Polls from National Public Radio, Wall Street Journal/NBC News, The Washington Post, Gallup, and Pew all show that the American people do not support President Barack Obama's health care plan.
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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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Raw Story, Media Decoder and Eye on 2010
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Cornyn promises well-funded challenger for Reid — Nevada Republicans have been unsuccessful in finding a top-tier candidate, but the head of the GOP's Senate campaign arm promised Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would face a strong challenge in 2010. — National Republican Senatorial Committee …
Discussion:
Top of the Ticket
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Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Liasson: ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program ‘is like a mini-Katrina.’ — Last night, Fox News aired a clip of a woman at a Philadelphia town hall meeting over the weekend berating Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) about health care reform. “What I see is a bureaucratic nightmare, senator. ...
Spencer Ackerman / ATTACKERMAN:
MSM: It Wouldn't Kill You To Give Noah Shachtman His Due — On Monday, when we were talking about Ian Shapira's gripe with Gawker excerpting his Post material too heavily, I noted that mainstream media outlets have a widespread and unfortunate tendency to refuse crediting any rival outlet …
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Boxer: Protesters too well dressed to be sincere — Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) appeared on Hardball last night in support of the Left's attempt to discredit the people showing up to townhalls in protest of ObamaCare. Boxer says she can tell that they're fakes, because they're too well dressed.
Discussion:
protein wisdom, QandO, Weekly Standard, Founding Bloggers, theblogprof, Michelle Malkin, Blue Crab Boulevard, American Power, Gateway Pundit, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Flopping Aces, The Sundries Shack, Little Green Links, Betsy's Page, NewsBusters.org and And So it Goes in Shreveport
ABCNEWS:
Woman Who Tried to Kill Ford to Be Released Aug. 16 — Manson Follower ‘Squeaky’ Fromme to Get Out of Prison — Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, the Charles Manson cult follower who tried to kill President Ford, is scheduled to be released from prison next week.
On Politics:
Rand Paul joins race, fundraises in NYC — Rand Paul, son of former presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, officially entered the Kentucky Senate race today to replace retiring Republican Sen. Jim Bunning. — In an e-mail to supporters sent this afternoon, the Republican ophthalmologist …
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny!
Hamid Dabashi / CNN:
Commentary: Huge risks in Iran sanctions — Hamid Dabashi is the author of “Iran: A People Interrupted.” He is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. His Web site is http://www.hamiddabashi.com/.
Discussion:
Eunomia
Right Wing News:
Joker Obama Flyers Show Up At George Washington University & Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Updated) — Supposedly, prior to yesterday, the Joker Obama posters had only shown up in LA and Atlanta. Well, now a few hundred have shown up at George Washington University. Here are a few pics I was emailed yesterday.
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The Jawa Report
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