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 …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, CNN, Taylor Marsh, No More Mister Nice Blog, Below The Beltway, Liberal Values, Newshoggers.com and INSTAPUTZ
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CNN:
Specter faces angry crowd at town hall meeting — LEBANON, Pennsylvania (CNN) — A hostile crowd shouted questions and made angry statements Tuesday at a town hall meeting on health care led by Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter. — At one point, Specter shouted into his microphone …
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:
Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, Dennis the Peasant, Left Coast Rebel, Donklephant and Blue Virginia
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.
Discussion:
Democratic Strategist
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Town hall crowd boos Specter when he calls President Obama an ‘American.’ — Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) held a town hall today in Lebanon, PA, which was carried live by all three cable news networks. Towards the end, a man critical of health care reform asked Specter to …
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Specter faces fury: ‘You work for us!’
Specter faces fury: ‘You work for us!’
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog, Below The Beltway, Scorecard's Blog, Ben Smith's Blog and Wake up America
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 …
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Mike Madden / Salon:
The “death panels” are already here
The “death panels” are already here
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Blue Virginia, The Strata-Sphere, Liberal Values, Shakesville, Blog entry, Daily Kos and Ezra Klein
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Nonsense Feedback Loop
Nonsense Feedback Loop
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Ezra Klein, DownWithTyranny!, Washington Monthly and Zandar Versus The Stupid
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 …
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Benjamin Spillman / Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Poll: Reid would lose if Lowden were to run — Republican Sue Lowden would defeat incumbent Democratic Sen. Harry Reid by 6 percentage points in a head-to-head matchup, according to a poll of likely Nevada voters. — Unfortunately for Reid-bashers, Lowden isn't running — at least not yet.
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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.
Dorothy Rabinowitz / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's Tone-Deaf Health Campaign — The president shouldn't worry about the protestors disrupting town hall meetings. He should worry about the Americans who have been sitting at home listening to him. — Printer — Friendly — It didn't take chaotic town-hall meetings …
Discussion:
Power Line, The New Republic, Betsy's Page, JustOneMinute, Bloomberg, Founding Bloggers and Hyscience
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Niall Ferguson / Financial Times:
A runaway deficit may soon test Obama's luck — Felix the Cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat! Whenever he gets in a fix, he reaches into his bag of tricks! — President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. One of the best-loved cartoon characters of the 1920s, Felix was not only black.
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Obama Takes Health Care Debate to a N.H. School — PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Fans and foes of President Obama's push to overhaul health care descended on a local high school here on Tuesday, ostensibly to give the visiting Mr. Obama a piece of their minds. In reality, they appeared to spend a lot more time yelling at each other.
Discussion:
IMAO
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Associated Press:
Obama: Health critics creating ‘bogeymen’ — Town hall meetings across the country have been disrupted by protests — “Your health insurance will be there for you when it counts, not just when you're paying premiums,” said President Barack Obama in New Hampshire. — On the offensive
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Michael Lind / Salon:
Are liberals seceding from sanity? — The left is crazy to insult white Southerners as a group — Back in the 1960s, Seymour Martin Lipset and Richard Hofstadter and other liberal sociologists, historians and political scientists, puzzled that anyone could support Barry Goldwater rather …
Washington Post:
White House Decries Physicians Committee's Poster, Which Mentions Obama Girls — The posters went up last week, 14 in Union Station. On each of the large displays, a thought bubble rises up from a picture of a beautiful 8-year-old: “President Obama's daughters get healthy school lunches.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Political Punch, Political Byline, Politics Daily, The Caucus, JustOneMinute and American Power
RADAR:
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Sarah Palin Resigned Due To Marital Troubles, Says Levi Johnston — Sarah Palin's marriage has been in trouble from the beginning, says Levi Johnston, the father of their grandson Tripp and ex-fiance of daughter Bristol. — What's more Levi told RadarOnline.com …
Discussion:
Doug Ross, The Other McCain, Salon, Indecision Forever, Politics Daily and NY Daily News
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 …
Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Dingell says town hall mobs remind him of the Ku Klux Klan. — Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), currently the longest serving member of the House of Representatives, has been on the receiving end of some rowdy town hall meetings recently. People in attendance have displayed signs comparing President Obama …
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Michelle Malkin:
Obama Kabuki theater in Portsmouth; crowd chants “YES, WE CAN!;” little girl laments “mean things” on protest signs; O lies about single-payer support — The Obama town hall in Portsmouth is underway. The president wrapped up his remarks to the cheers of “YES WE CAN!” from the fair and balanced audience.
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
Haaretz:
Dozens of rabbis fly over Israel praying to defeat swine flu — Dozens of rabbis and Kabbalah mystics armed with ceremonial trumpets took to the skies over Israel on Monday to battle the swine flu virus, according to local media reports. — About 50 Jewish holy men chanted prayers and blew shofars …
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 …
Gateway Pundit:
Classy vs Classless: How Bush Handled Critics vs Obama — Classy vs Classless— President George W. Bush was the punching bag for the democrat media complex for 8 long years. He often had to defend himself from hateful attacks by the unhinged left. But, he never acted bitter or spiteful.