Top Items:
New York Times:
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.
Discussion:
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Washington Post:
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 …
Discussion:
The Note, AMERICAblog News, The New Republic, Weekly Standard, TPMDC, Wall Street Journal, pandagon.net, Left in the West, USA Today, Open Left, Think Progress, Raw Story, TalkLeft, Reuters, The Hill's Pundits Blog, CBS News, Daily Kos, RedState, Emptywheel, The Media Consortium, Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh, The Caucus, NY Daily News, Salon, Reason, Congress Matters and Right Wing News
Nat Hentoff / Jewish World Review:
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 …
Discussion:
Dr. Sanity, Raw Story, Maggie's Farm, Samizdata.net, PoliGazette, Macsmind and Vox Popoli
Rasmussen Reports:
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.
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
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 …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
TIPPING POINT.... By all appearances, Democrats have gone above and beyond in trying to secure at least some Republican support for health care reform. GOP leaders have gotten a lot of face time at the White House. Dems have signaled a willingness to make all kinds of concessions.
Discussion:
Salon, Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, Progress Illinois, Hot Air and Firedoglake
Michael O'Brien / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:Blue Dog: Votes aren't there to go it alone on public option
Discussion:
Salon
CNN:
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 …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Associated Press, Fox News, Capitol Briefing, Althouse, Mediaite, Outside The Beltway, Liberal Values and Think Progress
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Barney Frank's Townhall — Obviously, not all aspects of the Barney Frank Experience are going to play in Peoria, but I think his fighting spirit is something that progressive politicians in jurisdictions of all kinds could learn from: — Voters don't have a great deal of knowledge about the issues …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
CNN Fails to Report Woman Comparing Obama to Hitler is a Lyndon LaRouche Democrat — CNN's Larry King showed the above video of Barney Frank laying the smack down on a woman at a townhall meeting who compared Obama to Hitler. CNN left out the fact that this woman is a Lyndon LaRouche Democrat.
Discussion:
HotAirPundit, Washington Monthly, JammieWearingFool, TPMDC, Hot Air, NECN, Mediaite, The Washington Independent, Michelle Malkin and Gawker
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
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.) …
Pew Research Center:
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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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:White House Will Weather Liberal Anger; Baucus Doubles Down
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
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 …
Domenico Montanaro / msnbc.com:
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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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:CREATING A STRONG INCENTIVE TO LIE.... Following up on the earlier item …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Weekly Standard, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, FiveThirtyEight, TPMDC and The Plum Line
James Brown / CBS News:
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.
Jo Becker / New York Times:
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.”
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, The Corner on National …, The Daily Dish, #gay, Law Blog, New York Magazine, Gawker, Law Dork and Room for Debate
The Politico:
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 …
RELATED:
Ben Pershing / Capitol Briefing:House Democrats Increase Pressure on Health Insurers
Discussion:
RedState
Ryan Sager / New York Times:
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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Mike Huckabee / Huck PAC:
UPDATE FROM ISRAEL — Since my 10 ½ year term as Governor or Arkansas ended in January 2007, I have not held any public office or represented our government in any capacity. This past week I've had the pleasure of visiting Israel for the eleventh time since 1973, and am already planning my next visit this coming January.
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Larry Rohter / New York Times:
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 …
Discussion:
The New Republic
Carla Marinucci / San Francisco Chronicle:
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?
Martin Feldstein / Wall Street Journal:
ObamaCare Is All About Rationing — Overspending is far preferable to artificially limiting the availability of new procedures and technologies. — Printer — Friendly — Although administration officials are eager to deny it, rationing health care is central to President Barack Obama's health plan.
Discussion:
Democracy in America, Betsy's Page, Pundit & Pundette, Sense of Events, The Greenroom and BizzyBlog
Sam Dagher / New York Times:
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.
Angela Delli Santi / Associated Press:
Christie says failure to report loan was “my mistake” — Gubernatorial candidate Christopher J. Christie said yesterday that his failure to report a $46,000 loan he made to a subordinate when he served as U.S. attorney for New Jersey was an oversight. — Christie said he was fixing …
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