Top Items:
Washington Post:
Senate Committee's Bipartisan Health-Care Reform Talks Move Toward Center — Bipartisan Talks On Reform Move Toward Center — Senate negotiators are inching toward bipartisan agreement on a health-care plan that seeks middle ground on some of the thorniest issues facing Congress …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Wonk Room, JustOneMinute, msnbc.com, Boston Globe, AMERICAblog News, The Foundry, The Page, Indecision Forever and The Note
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RealClearPolitics Video Log:
Pelosi: Town Hall Protesters Are “Carrying Swastikas” — Nancy Pelosi claims protesters are “carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare.” VIDEO: Man At Town Hall: “You Need To Get The Government The Hell Out Of Our Way” VIDEO: DNC Web Ad Attacks Protesters …
The Huffington Post:
Unions To Take On Conservative Groups Health Care Town Halls — The nation's largest federation of labor organizations has promised to directly engage with boisterous conservative protesters at Democratic town halls during the August recess. — In a memo sent out on Thursday …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, TPMDC, Gateway Pundit, RedState, Michelle Malkin, American Power, The Plum Line, Washington Post, Weasel Zippers and NPR Blogs
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 …
Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:
Think Progress, MSNBC ‘Manufacture’ a Story With Putative Smoking Gun ‘Mob’ Memo
Think Progress, MSNBC ‘Manufacture’ a Story With Putative Smoking Gun ‘Mob’ Memo
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Crowd laughs and applauds at Rep. Akin's comment about lawmakers almost being ‘lynched’ at town halls. — At a “Freedom Conference” meeting earlier this week, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) mentioned that some Democratic lawmakers were almost “lynched” by angry protesters around the country at town hall meetings.
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CNN:
CNN Poll: Obama approval drops 7 points over last 100 days — WASHINGTON (CNN) - As President Barack Obama approaches 200 days in the White House, a new national poll suggests his approval rating has dropped seven points since the 100-day mark in April. The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation …
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Tom Bevan / Real Clear Politics:
After 6 Months, More View Obama's Presidency as a ‘Failure’ Than Bush's — A rather surprising finding from the newly released CNN poll. Question three on the national survey of 1,136 adults (which includes an oversample of African-Americans) asks, “Do you consider the first six months …
Philip Kennicott / Washington Post:
Obama as The Joker: Racial Fear's Ugly Face — ‘Political’ Poster Turns On Violent Symbolism — Between Jack Nicholson's 1989 portrayal of the Joker in “Batman” and Heath Ledger's 2008 characterization in “The Dark Knight,” something sinister happened to the villain's iconic makeup.
Erica Alini / Wall Street Journal:
No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users — They Sit for Hours and Don't Spend Much; Getting the Bum's Rush in the Big Apple — A sign at Naidre's, a small neighborhood coffee shop in Brooklyn, N.Y., begins warmly: “Dear customers, we are absolutely thrilled that you like us …
Taylor Marsh / The Huffington Post:
Dear Huffington Post, About That Headline — Yesterday was a pretty big day. The lives of two amazing journalists were saved, their families spared more emotional agony. It all started, as the New York Times reported it, after being arrested on March 17 near the North Korean border …
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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 …
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, AMERICAN DIGEST, Law Blog, JustOneMinute and Dean's World
David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times:
White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost — WASHINGTON — Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.
Washington Post:
U.S. Considers Remaking Mortgage Giants — ‘Bad Bank’ Would Wipe the Slate Clean for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac by Taking Their Toxic Loans — The Obama administration is considering an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would strip the mortgage finance giants of hundreds of billions …
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Say, isn't this Astroturfing? — The White House and its allies have tossed around accusations of “astroturfing” — fake grassroots movements — at the opposition to ObamaCare with gusto, as town-hall meetings erupt in anger and acrimony towards elected officials who don't bother to read bills before voting for them.
Discussion:
Sister Toldjah
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Financial Times:
Murdoch vows to charge for all online content — Rupert Murdoch has vowed to charge for all the online content of his newspapers and television news channels, going well beyond his prediction in May that the company would test pay models on one of its stronger papers within the year.
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Obama's dissident database could be secret — and permanent — The White House request that members of the public report anyone who is spreading “disinformation” about the proposed national health care makeover could lead to a White House database of political opponents that will be both secret …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Neptunus Lex, Stop The ACLU, Babalú Blog, Power Line, Hot Air, St. Louis Tea Party, Pajamas Media, RedState, Blogs of War, IMAO and Agence France Presse
Attaturk / Firedoglake:
You can never say, “Y'know, that's a good point, maybe I'm wrong” — Marc Ambinder marches on past his intellect — And it isn't just people trying to rationalize why the hell they were all for invading Iraq six and a half years ago. It applies to just about every villager when they get called …
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.
Associated Press:
Psychologists Reject Gay ‘Therapy’ — The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments. — In a resolution adopted by the association's governing council …
Kate Pickert / Time:
Barack Obama's Golf Game — Presidents, like normal people, tend to seek in others what they admire about themselves. Which brings us to the par-5 12th hole at Woodlawn golf course in Fort Belvoir, Va., on Father's Day. Vice President Joe Biden, an 8 handicap, has leaked a 3-wood into the trees near the green.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Guns of August — Jon Cohn says he's “been obsessing over the lack of passion and organization on the left,” though now feeling slightly better. I agree, but it is worth saying that this is almost 100 percent the fault of Max Baucus. — There's a reason, after all …
Discussion:
The Treatment
Twitter Status:
Ongoing denial-of-service attack — We are defending against a denial-of-service attack, and will update status again shortly. — Update: the site is back up, but we are continuing to defend against and recover from this attack.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Business Channel, Guardian, Bits, Time, DailyFinance, Digits, TechCrunch, Silicon Alley Insider, Mashable! and The Sundries Shack
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Health Reform and the Tax Pledge — Polling and focus groups have led the president astray on his top priority. — Printer — Friendly — Americans are now seeing the damage that polls and focus groups can inflict on White House decision-making. President Barack Obama is no longer shaping …