Top Items:
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
How Conservatives Are Blowing Their Chance — President Obama is on his way to Portsmouth, New Hampshire at this hour for a town hall meeting on health care. At this same hour last week, several of the President's top political advisers were meeting in a White House conference room to discuss …
RELATED:
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
What's the Point of These Health Care Town Halls? — Michael Crowley liked Senator Claire McCaskill's performance at a town hall earlier today: … I agree, but watching McCaskill on TV what I mostly thought of was that I don't understand why members of congress are holding these town halls.
Political Punch:
President Obama's “Senior” Moment? — Rachel Martin and Jake Tapper report: — President Obama today suggested that the health care reform legislation for which he's pushing has been endorsed by the American Association of Retired Person. — “We have the AARP on board …
WhiteHouse.gov Blog:
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM TOWN HALL — THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Portsmouth! Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Everybody have a seat. Oh, thank you so — AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you! — THE PRESIDENT: I love you back. Thank you. (Laughter.)
Discussion:
Dennis the Peasant, Crooks and Liars, Left Coast Rebel, Washington Monthly, Donklephant, Blue Virginia and Jules Crittenden
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Matthews to Obama protester: Why'd you bring a loaded gun to a town hall with the president? — Good question, especially given the sign this guy was carrying. Considering the lengths to which the Secret Service normally goes to investigate threats against the president …
Discussion:
BLACKFIVE, Raw Story, Salon, Newshoggers.com, Blue Crab Boulevard, Jack & Jill Politics and Freedom's Lighthouse
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Zachary Roth / TPMMuckraker:
Email: Rich Lowry Offered To Help White House Spin Firings — Here's a fun nugget from the U.S. attorney documents (h/t reader B.M.): — It looks like Rick Lowry of National Review offered the White House his services in doing some positive P.R. on behalf of Rove protege Tim Griffin …
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Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Documents Detail Campaign to Oust U.S. Attorney — The dismissal of New Mexico U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias in December 2006 followed extensive communication among lawyers and political aides in the White House who hashed over complaints about his work on public corruption cases against Democrats …
Scott / Power Line:
Does Linda Douglass know about this? part 2 — Barack Obama's denial that he has advocated a “single payer,” Canadian style health care system may not have been the most comic moment of his Portsmouth dog-and-pony show. He also disputed the notion that adding a government plan to “compete” …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Strata-Sphere, Perfunction and Founding Bloggers
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Philip Klein / AmSpecBlog:
Obama Lies on Single-Payer, Disses Post Office
Obama Lies on Single-Payer, Disses Post Office
Discussion:
Sister Toldjah
Ezra Klein:
It Is Democracy, Not Health-Care Reform, That Is Sick — As Josh Marshall says, we've reached a point in the health-care reform discussion where logic has fallen apart. Consider, for instance, Danielle Allen's op-ed this morning. Discussing the insistence of some that health-care reform …
Discussion:
Democracy in America, American Power, The American Scene, Stop The ACLU, Neptunus Lex, Reason, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Will Wilkinson, Talking Points Memo, Liberal Values, Democratic Strategist, Firedoglake, JustOneMinute, The Strata-Sphere, AMERICAblog News and The New Republic
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Brendan Steinhauser / FreedomWorks:
FREEDOMWORKS ISSUES ABJECT APOLOGY TO LEFT — Free-market organization thanks left-wing groups for instruction on the finer points of intelligent policy debate — Washington, DC — Today, FreedomWorks released an apology to leftist political organizations, including MoveOn.org …
The Huffington Post:
Anonymous Group Making Robocalls With Fake Harry Reid Caller ID — Congressional staffers have been plagued over the past two days with telephone calls that appear to be coming from Senate Majority Harry Reid's office but are actually from an anonymous organization highly critical of Democrats.
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
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Peter Daou / ConsiderThisNews:
“Send Them Home With a Bullet in the Head” — I've gone on the record disagreeing with the term ‘Teabaggers’ and with the use of the word ‘un-American’ - I've done so because despite the astroturfing and the faux-grassroots opposition to health care reform, I place a premium on citizen activism …
John H. Richardson / Esquire:
What Really Happens When You Demand the President Produce His Birth Certificate? — You get a bunch of outrageous people — very nice people, mind you, but frustrated enough to believe anything about Obama — storming the offices of the attorney general, the secretary of state, and the FBI.
Michelle Malkin:
Little girl at Obama town hall has not-so-random political connections — As we always like to point out: There are no coincidences in Obama world. — Via the Boston Globe: Surprise! … Tons of readers point to this AR15.com post tracking Hall's political footprint, including this Facebook page and photo:
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Santorum dips toes in 2012 Iowa waters — Add former Sen. Rick Santorum to the list of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates. — POLITICO has learned Santorum will visit first-in-the-nation Iowa this fall for a series of appearances before the sort of conservative activists …
John Cook / Gawker:
Let's Just Say It: We're Scared Someone's Going to Try to Kill Barack Obama — MSNBC just aired video of a man with a pistol strapped to his leg waiting for Barack Obama to arrive at a townhall in New Hampshire. — The man is carrying a sign that says, “It Is Time to Water the Tree of Liberty.”
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend
Dan / Riehl World View:
Jesse Griffin: Just Asking Questions — The investigation into infamous, expletive-spewing, former assistant kindergarten instructor and anti-Palin blogger, who when not encouraging masturbation on a blog he provided a link to on his MySpace page that any student who knew him by name could have discovered …
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Conservatives4Palin.com, Doug Ross, Confederate Yankee, The Greenroom, Right Wing News and AmSpecBlog
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
How Democrats And Republicans Exploit Emotion — The field of cognitive neuroscience has all but given up trying to distinguish between emotion and reason, but political debate evidently lags far behind the science. Some observers of health care politics, particularly on the left …
Chris Ariens / TVNewser:
No More Talk Radio Hosts on CNN? — Exclusive: TVNewser has learned, and a CNN spokesperson confirms, that in his morning editorial meeting today, CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein asked his show producers to avoid booking talk radio hosts. “Complex issues require world class reporting,” …
William D. Cohan / The Atlantic Online:
The Final Days of Merrill Lynch — IT'S BEEN ALMOST a year since Bank of America agreed to buy Merrill Lynch, on September 15, for $50 billion in stock, in what now looks like one of the most fraught deals in the history of American business. The deal was announced on the same …
Discussion:
Clusterstock
Erika Slife / Chicago Tribune:
Obama baby boom: Predicted surge in births goes bust — On Nov. 4, the hope and happiness seemed boundless for supporters of President-elect Barack Obama, leading some to speculate, with a wink and a nod, that in nine months there would be a virtual Obama baby boom — a celebratory uptick in the national birthrate.
Fox News:
Georgia Congressman Who Hosted Rowdy Town Hall Finds Office Vandalized — A Georgia congressman who faced down a rowdy town hall meeting last week found his office vandalized with a swastika painted over the official congressional sign. — FOXNews.com — A Georgia congressman who faced …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Political Insider, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Townhall.com, On Deadline and LewRockwell.com Blog
John / Power Line:
Cap and Trade: Measuring the Disaster — The Heritage Foundation has released a new economic analysis of Waxman-Markey, the cap and trade bill that is dead—we hope—at least for this year. The results aren't pretty. Heritage finds that Waxman Markey would, by 2035:
Peter Hamby / CNN:
Sanford defends expensive travel, denies divorce — (CNN) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford defended his trips on expensive international flights on Tuesday and said that a state Senate probe into his foreign travel is driven by a politically-motivated “feeding frenzy.”
Tom Blumer / NewsBusters.org:
Can't Make It Up: Dem Rep Who Opposes Photo ID To Vote Requiring Photo ID For Town Halls — This is Congressman Eugene Green (HT to an e-mailer), Democrat from Texas, telling the world that if you're not from his District, you're not welcome at his future town hall meetings — oh, and how he'll enforce his new rule (bold is his):
Discussion:
HotAirPundit
Rasmussen Reports:
Support for Congressional Health Care Reform Falls to New Low — Public support for the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats has fallen to a new low as just 42% of U.S. voters now favor the plan. That's down five points from two weeks ago and down eight points from six weeks ago.