memeorandum: Where the Middle East Fights Its Wars (Michael J. Totten)

2:45 PM ET, August 10, 2009

Top Items:

‘Un-American’ attacks can't derail health care debate — Americans have been waiting for nearly a century for quality, affordable health care. — Health coverage for all was on the national agenda as early as 1912, thanks to Teddy Roosevelt's Bull Moose presidential run.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Weekly Standard, The Moderate Voice, Top of the Ticket, Moe_Lane's blog, The Atlantic Politics Channel, JustOneMinute, JammieWearingFool, Townhall.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Swamp, Los Angeles Times, Flopping Aces, QandO, Political Byline, Balloon Juice, Confederate Yankee, Patterico's Pontifications, Riehl World View, Raw Story, Below The Beltway, Politics Daily, Daily Dose, YID With LID, Taylor Marsh, Macsmind, Blue Crab Boulevard, Founding Bloggers, Donklephant, Right Wing News, Michelle Malkin, Scared Monkeys, Think Progress, The Plum Line, Don Surber, Atlas Shrugs, Perfunction, Gateway Pundit, Pundit & Pundette, Dennis the Peasant, AmSpecBlog, Neptunus Lex, Sister Toldjah, Cato @ Liberty, The Next Right, TPMDC, GayPatriot, American Power, Freedom's Lighthouse, Shot in the Dark, Arkansas News, Politics Nation, The Campaign Spot, Sam Adams Alliance, LewRockwell.com Blog, The Caucus, The Page, Instapundit, msnbc.com, Weasel Zippers, Newsalert, The Washington Independent, Washington Post and Kausfiles

Debra J. Saunders / San Francisco Chronicle:

Dissent is patriotic - not — Imagine it's four years ago and an aide to President George W. Bush posted a blog on the Whitehouse.gov Web site that bemoaned Internet criticism of the Iraq war, then continued: “These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain e-mails or through casual conversations.

Discussion: Wake up America, unbossed.com, Dean's World and American Power

Andrew Breitbart / Washington Times:

I am Kenneth Gladney — OPINION/ANALYSIS: — The first round of protests against the Obama administration's chaotic and rapid-fire expansion of government came in the form of grass-roots “tea parties,” which were predictably met with scorn by the Democrat-Media Complex …

Discussion: Think Progress, Gateway Pundit, TBogg, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Roger Ailes

Peter Slevin / Washington Post:
Key Democrat Feels the Heat in Indiana District After Voting …

Discussion: DailyFinance and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:
Pelosi & Hoyer: Protestors “Un-American”

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Townhall.com, Moe Lane and Redhot

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

GLADNEY THE UNINSURED ACTIVIST.... Over the last few days, a conservative activist in St. Louis named Kenneth Gladney seems to have become something of a cause celebre in far-right circles. Depending on which version of events you choose to believe, Gladney either initiated or was involved …

Discussion: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Talking Points Memo, The Mahablog, Gawker, ColoradoPols.com, The Moderate Voice, Newshoggers.com, Gateway Pundit and The Political Carnival

Mark Steyn / The Corner:

Beat Me in St. Louis (cont) — As Jim Treacher says: If Kenneth Gladney was an Obama supporter, right now he'd be more famous than Rodney King. Gotta love this “post-racial America”: Democrat union heavies can beat up a black guy using racial epithets and leave him in a wheelchair unable to speak …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media and Pundit & Pundette

Wall Street Journal:

Taliban Now Winning — U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Warns of Rising Casualties — By YOCHI J. DREAZEN in Kabul and PETER SPIEGEL in Washington — The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy …

Discussion: Times of London, Right Pundits, democracyarsenal.org, Jay Bookman, The Washington Independent, Taylor Marsh, Raw Story, Politics Daily, Wonk Room, Informed Comment and msnbc.com

James Risen / New York Times:
U.S. to Hunt Down Afghan Drug Lords Tied to Taliban

Discussion: Guardian, Times of London, UN Dispatch, The Page, The Washington Independent, MyDD and Truthdig

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

The Unfunny Truth — It's been a melancholy summer for social conservatives. Their movement is fighting a rearguard battle in Barack Obama's Washington. A cluster of family-values politicians — some of whom bunked down in the same Christian-sponsored D.C. townhouse …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Ezra Klein, Sadly, No!, Cafe Talk Aggregator, pandagon.net, First Draft and TBogg

Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:

Prevention and Wellness — On Friday CBO released a letter that discusses how the agency's budget estimates reflect potential reductions in federal costs from improvements in health that might result from expanded governmental support for preventive medical care and wellness services.

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Outside The Beltway

Political Punch:
Congressional Budget Expert Says Preventive Care Will Raise — Not Cut — Costs

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Blue Crab Boulevard, Scared Monkeys, QandO, Wake up America, The Strata-Sphere, Liberal Values, Betsy's Page, Flopping Aces, Pundit & Pundette, Patterico's Pontifications and Washington Post

Walter Alarkon / The Hill:
Deficit grew by $181 billion in July

Discussion: theblogprof, The Foundry, Hot Air, The Caucus, msnbc.com, naked capitalism and Blue Crab Boulevard

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Averting the Worst — So it seems that we aren't going to have a second Great Depression after all. What saved us? The answer, basically, is Big Government. — Just to be clear: the economic situation remains terrible, indeed worse than almost anyone thought possible not long ago.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Reason, Grasping Reality …, DailyFinance, The Sideshow, D-Day, Connecting.the.Dots, Economist's View and Arkansas News

Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:

Obama's Health Care Plan Just Expands Status Quo — “The status quo is unsustainable for families, businesses and government.” — President Obama, June 13 — One of the bewildering ironies of the health-care debate is that President Obama claims to be attacking the status quo when he's actually embracing it.

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Glittering Eye, Hullabaloo and Dennis the Peasant

Jonathan Cohn / The Treatment:
I Didn't Wake Up Planning to Write About Samuelson

Discussion: Ezra Klein

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Tsongas: I won't take ObamaCare because I have better options — Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA) manages to answer the question that Keith Ellison (D-MN) and the rest of her Obama-care supporting colleagues in both the House and Senate have avoided. The crowd, however, didn't like the response very much, and lets Tsongas know it.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, theblogprof and Blue Crab Boulevard

Michelle Malkin:
Rep. Tsongas tries to explain why Congress is exempt from Obamacare.

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Limbaugh responds to David Brooks' “insane” comment — Last week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that town-hall attendees critical of the Democratic health care makeover were “carrying swastikas and symbols like that” to meetings. The next day, Rush Limbaugh responded at length on his radio program …

Discussion: Firedoglake, NewsBusters.org, No More Mister Nice Blog, Power Line and Cold Fury

CNN:

CNN Poll: Dems becoming less popular but no gains for GOP — WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new national poll indicates that the Democratic party's becoming less popular with voters. But the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Monday, suggests that the Republican party has not been able to capitalize on the Democrats' downturn.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Eschaton and The Page

Think Progress:

Gates ‘Furious’ That Brownback And Roberts Placed A Hold On McHugh's Army Secretary Nomination — President Obama named Rep. John McHugh (R-NY) in June as his nominee to become the next Secretary of the Army. Last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved his nomination by voice vote …

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Matthew M. Johnson / Top Stories from CQ:
New York Candidates Wait And So Does Nominee

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jacob Gershman / New York Magazine:

Why Neoconservative Pundits Love Jon Stewart — Back in April, when the debate over torture was roaring, Jon Stewart invited Cliff May, a national-security hawk and former spokesman for the Republican Party, to come on The Daily Show and defend waterboarding. May was hesitant.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Liberal Values, Michael Calderone's Blog and Gawker

Wall Street Journal:

Opposition Emerges to House's Jet Spree — WASHINGTON — Bipartisan opposition is emerging in the Senate to a plan by House lawmakers to spend $550 million for additional passenger jets for senior government officials. — The resistance to buying eight Gulfstream and Boeing planes comes …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Top of the Ticket, Ben Smith's Blog, On Deadline, Wizbang, Wonkette, Right Pundits and Pajamas Media

Rasmussen Reports:

On Health Care, 51% Fear Government More Than Insurance Companies — When it comes to health care decisions, 51% of the nation's voters fear the federal government more than private insurance companies. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 41% hold the opposite view and fear the insurance companies more.

Discussion: Power Line, Megan McArdle, The Strata-Sphere, Hot Air, Don Surber and Wake up America

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

George Soros Pledges $5 Million To Bankroll Health Care Reform Push, Group Says — In another sign of the urgency gripping the pro-health care reform camp, billionaire George Soros has pledged to sink $5 million into the fight, the group getting the money confirmed.

Discussion: Hot Air, Michelle Malkin and Dennis the Peasant

Scott / Power Line:

Does Linda Douglass know about this? — Last week White House flack Linda Douglass responded to a video of Barack Obama expressing support for a government takeover of the health care system (i.e., “single payer") with a vehement denial. Douglass disparaged the video of Obama as “disinformation.”

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, The Foundry, Fausta's Blog and Cold Fury

Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:

Who Are These People? — This probably isn't the ideal way for congressmen to handle their constituents: … One has the sense that lawmakers are just stunned that ordinary citizens would have the temerity to speak up. Spending most of their time with staffers, lobbyists, and fellow legislators …

Discussion: Redhot

Jay Bookman:

It doesn't take Stephen Hawking to figure this one out — The conservative opinion magazine Human Events was reputedly Ronald Reagan's favorite read, and to this day fancies itself the house organ for the hard-right intelligentsia. Among those published regularly in its pages are such luminaries as Newt Gingrich and Ann Coulter.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Monthly

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

'IT'S NOT IN THE BILL'.... The health care discussion between Howard Dean and Newt Gingrich on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” yesterday was pretty good, and it covered a fair amount of ground in a short period of time. There was one exchange, though, that stood out for me.

Discussion: ABCNews.com and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Jonathan Martin / Ben Smith's Blog:

Palin urges restraint at town halls — A few days after suggesting that Democratic health care proposals being debated in Washington may imperil the life of her son, Trig, Sarah Palin on Sunday urged reform opponents to not give the opposition fodder by disrupting town halls.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, Think Progress, Jezebel, TPMDC, Democratic Strategist and MoJo Blog Posts

Michael J. Totten:

Where the Middle East Fights Its Wars — The Middle East is riven with fault lines. Conflicts between Israelis and Arabs, Persians and Israelis, Arabs and Persians, Sunnis and Shias, Islamists and liberals, and democrats and Khomeinists are all stuck in a holding pattern that isn't sustainable.