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Democrats Seem Set to Go Alone on a Health Bill — WASHINGTON — Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority's cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks.
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White House Is Seeking to Repair Intraparty Rift About Public Option — Public Option Wasn't Intended as Major Focus — President Obama's advisers acknowledged Tuesday that they were unprepared for the intraparty rift that occurred over the fate of a proposed public health insurance program …
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I am finally scared of a White House administration — The members of that ultimate federal board will themselves not have examined or seen the patient in question. For another example of the growing, tumultuous resistance to “Dr. Obama,” particularly among seniors, there is a July 29 …

Without Public Option, Enthusiasm for Health Care Reform, Especially Among Democrats, Collapses — Just 34% of voters nationwide support the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats if the so-called “public option” is removed.

Time to Give Up on the Public Option — Enough already with the public option! — It is not the be-all and end-all of health-care reform. It is not the long-awaited safety net for the uninsured. And if, as many liberals hope, it turns out to be nothing more than Medicare for All …
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Blue Dog: Votes aren't there to go it alone on public option

White House insists it wants bipartisan health bill
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Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, CNN, Taylor Marsh, TPMDC and Dennis the Peasant

Bachmann: Health Care Reform Is Unconstitutional
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The Political Carnival


More See White House and GOP Leaders at Odds — Democratic Favorable Ratings Slide — Americans are in an increasingly sour mood about Washington. Barack Obama's approval ratings continue to inch downward and a growing proportion of Americans (63%) think that the president and Republican leaders …
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White House Will Weather Liberal Anger; Baucus Doubles Down — The White House and Senate Democrats won't buckle to demands from liberals that they revise their health care strategy, officials said today. — White House advisers and Democratic strategists concede that President Obama's poll numbers …
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TalkLeft

FIRST THOUGHTS: OBAMA'S GOOD, BAD NEWS — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg — *** Good news and bad news: The (relatively) good news for the Obama White House in the new NBC News poll is that the contours of the health-care debate haven't really changed …
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CREATING A STRONG INCENTIVE TO LIE.... Following up on the earlier item …
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The Swamp, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Weekly Standard, FiveThirtyEight, TPMDC and The Plum Line

A deeper look at the birthers — After we conducted polls over the last couple of weeks finding significant numbers of ‘birthers’ in North Carolina and Virginia, we decided to take the question national but also drum down more specifically on where exactly the people who think Barack Obama …

Is there really a boycott of Glenn Beck? Update: Law of unintended consequences? — We've heard about the boycott of the Glenn Beck Show on Fox News Channel, one where as many as 20 advertisers have dropped their spots, thanks to pressure from left-wing groups angry at ... well, their latest anger du jour.
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The Daily Dish, The Sundries Shack, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, DefendGlenn.com and Don Surber
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Barney Frank goes toe to toe at health care town hall — (CNN) — Most Congress members conducting town hall meetings this month have chosen a noncombative posture to deal with angry participants who disrupt the proceedings. Not Rep. Barney Frank. — At a lively two-hour meeting Tuesday night …
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Was Barney Frank's ‘Nazi’ Questioner a LaRouche Cultist? [UPDATE: Confirmed] — Update: Yes, the woman was a LaRouche cultist. The full video is here, and I've added her full comments. I'm getting a lot of links to this video today, in which Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) …
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A Conservative's Road to Same-Sex Marriage Advocacy — Theodore B. Olson's office is a testament to his iconic status in the conservative legal movement. A framed photograph of Ronald Reagan, the first of two Republican presidents Mr. Olson served, is warmly inscribed with “heartfelt thanks.”
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The Volokh Conspiracy, #gay, The Corner on National …, Law Blog, New York Magazine, The Daily Dish, Law Dork and Gawker
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TV News Giant Don Hewitt Dies At 86 — CBS News Legend And “60 Minutes” Creator's Career Spanned 60 Years — (CBS) Don Hewitt, recognized as a father of modern television news and the creator of the medium's most successful broadcast, “60 Minutes,” died Wednesday after battling pancreatic cancer.


At Least 95 Killed in Series of Attacks in Baghdad — BAGHDAD — At least 95 people were killed and 563 wounded in a series of truck bombings and other attacks on Wednesday that rocked areas around official buildings in central Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said.
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Keep Off the Astroturf — WITH the “public option” part of President Obama's health care reform plan looking dead in the water, many of its supporters are taking issue with the legitimacy of its opposition. “We call it ‘Astroturf,’ ” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said of the protesters at town-hall meetings.
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Senate bid dogged by Fiorina's failure to vote — (08-18) 19:51 PDT — Republican Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, took her first formal step Tuesday to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer - but does she pass the Citizenship 1o1 test?


New Doubts Raised Over Famous War Photo — After nearly three-quarters of a century Robert Capa's “Falling Soldier” picture from the Spanish Civil War remains one of the most famous images of combat ever. It is also one of the most debated, with a long string of critics claiming that the photo …
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The New Republic

Back in Home Districts, Much-Wooed Blue Dogs Not Barking for Health Care Reform Legislation — The 52 members of the House Blue Dog Caucus of moderate to conservative Democrats are, like most other members of Congress, back in their home districts. — Members of this group …
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TalkLeft


Dem investigators target insurers — House Democrats are probing the nation's largest insurance companies for lavish spending, demanding reams of compensation data and schedules of retreats and conferences. — Letters sent to 52 insurance companies by Democratic leaders demand extensive documents …
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Townhall.com


Will Huckabee Pay A Price For Rejecting the Two-State Solution? — The former (and likely future) presidential candidate's statements during a Middle East visit are to the right even of his own party. — On Monday, a radical cleric issued a statement rejecting a two-state solution for Israel-Palestine …