Top Items:
New York Times:
Bill Clinton and Journalists in Emotional Return to U.S. — WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton arrived in Los Angeles Wednesday morning after a dramatic 20-hour visit to North Korea, in which he won the freedom of two American journalists, opened a diplomatic channel …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, L.A. Now, LA Daily, The Confluence, Shakesville, D-Day, Daniel W. Drezner, The Foundry, The Caucus, LA Observed, The Page, The Lede, NPR Blogs, rubber hose, Taylor Marsh, Brilliant at Breakfast and Mediaite
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Wall Street Journal:
Paying Kim's Price — Was Mr. Clinton's visit the down payment for a larger set of American concessions? — Printer — Friendly — The last time an American civilian was held prisoner by North Korea, in 1996, it took a visit from then-Congressman Bill Richardson to secure his release.
Discussion:
The Opinionator, The Washington Note, Taylor Marsh, Fausta's Blog, Big Brass Blog, QandO and protein wisdom
Rachel Slajda / Talking Points Memo: Obama on Journos' Release: ‘All Americans Should Be Grateful’ To Clinton And Gore
John R. Bolton / Washington Post:
Clinton's Unwise Trip to North Korea
Clinton's Unwise Trip to North Korea
Discussion:
CBS News, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, thedanashow.wordpress.com, Full Comment, News Hounds, Salon, Washington Monthly, RealClearWorld, PoliBlog, Scared Monkeys, American Spectator, The Fix, alicublog, The BLT, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Think Progress, Macsmind, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Washington Note, Commentary, Agence France Presse, Atlas Shrugs, Israel Matzav, Crooks and Liars, Wizbang, ATTACKERMAN, Josh Gerstein's Blog, BBC, Sadly, No!, Liberty Street, PrairiePundit, Patterico's Pontifications, Firedoglake, The Washington Independent, Romenesko and AMERICAblog News
CNN:
CNN Poll: Americans split on Obama's health care proposals — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Americans appear split over President Barack Obama's health care reform proposals, according to a new national poll. — Fifty percent of those questioned in CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday morning …
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Quinnipiac University:
Scrap Health Care Reform If It Adds To Deficit, U.S. Voters Tell Quinnipiac University National Poll; Voters Disapprove Of Obama's Handling Of Health Care — American voters, by a 55 - 35 percent margin, are more worried that Congress will spend too much money and add to the deficit …
The Politico:
Obama: ‘Left-wing groups’ should back off. — OBAMA WAVES OFF LIBERALS: On the same day that MoveOn.org announced a new wave of ads to pressure centrist ... ... Democrats on health care reform, President Obama told Senate Democrats he wished “left-wing groups” would back off.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, The Plum Line, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Don Surber and Wall Street Journal
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
DOES OBAMA WANT ‘LEFT-WING GROUPS’ TO BACK OFF?.... This Politico report is bound to raise a few eyebrows, but as was the case the last time this came up, I think there may be more to this than meets the eye. … I wouldn't be at all surprised if the president did, in fact …
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. ...
Michelle Malkin:
Tea Party-bashers gone wild — Creators Syndicate — The activist Left can't stand competition. Last week in Long Island, NY, opponents of the Democrats' government health care takeover legislation outnumbered Obama supporters ten to one. The Tea Party activists toted American flags …
Discussion:
Political Punch, The Plum Line, RedState, Hot Air, Wake up America, Minnesota Independent and Pundit & Pundette
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Sandhya Somashekhar / Washington Post:
Obama's Domestic Policies Are Having Immediate Effects on Race for Va. Governor — Some Voters Who Backed President Disillusioned Over Economic Pledges — The coffee was still brewing when Chris Ann Cleland got her first reminder of the day that voting for Barack Obama might have been a mistake.
Discussion:
Below The Beltway, Wake up America, msnbc.com, The Strata-Sphere, The Campaign Spot, Commentary, The Plank and Public Policy Polling
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 …
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Rolfe Winkler:
Buffett's Betrayal — When I was 14, Warren Buffett wrote me a letter. — It was a response to one I'd sent him, pitching an investment idea. For a kid interested in learning stocks, Buffett was a great role model. His investing style — diligent security analysis, finding competent management …
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.
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Dana Loesch / thedanashow.wordpress.com:
Russ Carnahan rattled at Cash for Clunkers presser — Carnahan held a press conference at McMahon Ford in south St. Louis city. Constituents who showed up to politely and peacefully voice their concerns were both barred from entering the lobby where Carnahan was fielding press inquiries …
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Boston Globe:
Mass. bashers take note: Health reform is working — PUNDITS and politicians who oppose universal healthcare for the nation have a new straw man to kick around - the Massachusetts reform plan that covers more than 97 percent of the state's residents. In the myth that these critics have manufactured …
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Palin calls divorce report ‘made up’ — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tells POLITICO that widespread blogosphere reports about a possible divorce from her husband, Todd, are “made up.” — In a brief telephone interview on Tuesday night, Palin quipped that she loves finding out “what's goin' on in my life from the news.”
Helen Kennedy / NY Daily News:
Shepard Fairey-designed Obama portrait on cover of upcoming Rolling Stone — Artist Shepard Fairey, whose iconic HOPE campaign poster of Barack Obama was a global sensation, is back with a new image that both questions and deifies the President. — Appearing on the cover of the Aug. 20 Rolling Stone …
Kathleen Parker / Washington Post:
Sen. George Voinovich and the GOP as a Party of the South — Southern writer Walker Percy liked to poke fun at Ohioans in his novels, just to even things out a bit. — “Usually Mississippians and Georgians are getting it from everybody, and Alabamians,” he once explained to an interviewer.
Reid Wilson / The Hill:
Bush staffers' run for election likely to test W's legacy — At least eight former staffers who worked for George W. Bush's administration are running for office. — Even though President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney left the White House with poor approval ratings …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Copyright Forever? — Nate Anderson has an excellent review of Mark Halperin's recent book-length brief for unlimited and very strong copyright, Digital Barbarism: A Writer's Manifesto. I just wanted to amplify one point: … The related issue is that while re-writing Doctor Zhivago …
Discussion:
Ars Technica
Kevin Drum / MoJo Blog Posts:
California's Prison Disaster — A couple of weeks ago I described California as “a penal colony with a nice coastline.” The coastline is still nice, but a three-judge panel has finally ordered the state to get off its ass and do something about our wretched and overflowing prison system:
Attaturk / Firedoglake:
Preemptive dodging — Apparently Glenn Beck was either forced, or decided, to tell the maniacs that form a large portion of his audience NOT TO KILL OTHER PEOPLE. So he's preemptively washed his hands. — But let's face the great lie of American history and the on-going threat to the nation's first black President.
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
Matt Welch / Reason:
Andrew Sullivan: Opposition to Cash-for-Clunkers Shows GOP Not Serious About Limited Government — Ideological shape-shifter and presidential benefit-of-the-doubt-giver Andrew Sullivan types the following words consecutively: … I'm nobody's conservative, but I'm pretty sure …
Michael Yon:
Common Scenes & Common Thoughts — Common Days & Nights — 05 August 2009 — The helicopter pilot wearing night vision goggles roared in so fast it looked as though he were crashing. The four green Cylums (Americans call them Chemlights) mark the HLS.