Top Items:
New York Times:
Obama Aides Aim to Simplify and Scale Back Health Bills — WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to address a joint session of Congress next week in an effort to rally support for health care legislation as White House officials look for ways to simplify and scale back the major Democratic bills …
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Ezra Klein:
The Divisions in the White House Over Health-Care Reform — This is health-care reform's endgame, or close to it. Next Wednesday, Barack Obama will give a prime-time address before both houses of Congress. But that's not all he's giving Congress. The administration is going to put a plan down on paper.
Matthew Mosk / Washington Times:
WH withdraws call for students to ‘help’ Obama — The Obama administration late Wednesday withdrew a recommendation that school children who watch a video featuring President Obama next week write about how they might “help the president” as part of a classroom assignment.
Discussion:
Betsy's Page, Maggie's Farm, Commentary, Don Surber, Sweetness & Light and Adrienne's Catholic Corner
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
PULLING THE ‘TRIGGER’?.... Several months ago, Sen. Olympia Snowe …
PULLING THE ‘TRIGGER’?.... Several months ago, Sen. Olympia Snowe …
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
WH deletes line about schoolkids helping Obama from speech prep materials
WH deletes line about schoolkids helping Obama from speech prep materials
Discussion:
Cato @ Liberty
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
White House Floating “Snowe” Trigger
White House Floating “Snowe” Trigger
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Confluence, Hot Air, The New Republic, MoJo Blog Posts and MyDD
Kate Devlin / Telegraph:
Sentenced to death on the NHS — Patients with terminal illnesses are being made to die prematurely under an NHS scheme to help end their lives, leading doctors warn today. — In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death.
New York Times:
Kennedy Memoir Doesn't Ignore Lows — In a memoir being published this month, Senator Edward M. Kennedy called his behavior after the 1969 car accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne “inexcusable” and said the events might have shortened the life of his ailing father, Joseph P. Kennedy.
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Carl Hulse / The Caucus:
Kennedy Memoir Talks of Chappaquiddick, J.F.K. and Other Presidents — In a memoir being published posthumously, Senator Edward M. Kennedy talks remorsefully about the car accident that claimed the life of Mary Jo Kopechne - a turn of events many consider a chief reason that he was never able …
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Obama and the Perfect Political Storm — It's hard to sell change voters don't think they need. — Printer — Friendly — August was the worst month of Barack Obama's presidency. And he seems to know it—he is now planning to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress 232 days …
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The Politico:
Obama's speech: High risk, high reward
Obama's speech: High risk, high reward
Discussion:
Kausfiles, Verum Serum, Crooks and Liars, The Page, The Confluence, Open Left, TPMDC, Pat Dollard, Commentary and The Opinionator
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama to address Congress on reform
Obama to address Congress on reform
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, PR Newswire, Democracy in America, All American Blogger, Riehl World View, The Huffington Post, Politics Daily, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Stop The ACLU, FiveThirtyEight, The Plum Line, The Confluence, CNN, Macsmind, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, RedState, Weekly Standard and MyDD
Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:
Schilling ineligible to run as Republican — Former Red Sox pitching ace Curt Schilling may be making noises about running for the Senate to succeed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) but, according to Massachusetts election law, he's ineligible to run as a Republican.
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Curt Schilling / 38 Pitches:
Potential Senate candidacy
Potential Senate candidacy
Discussion:
Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, MyDD, Scared Monkeys, Truthdig, Senate Guru, The Hill, The Page and Weasel Zippers
Helene Cooper / New York Times:
G.O.P. Support May Be Vital to Obama on Afghan War — WASHINGTON — As President Obama prepares to decide whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, the political climate appears increasingly challenging for him, leaving him in the awkward position of relying on the Republican Party, and not his own, for support.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Politics Daily, msnbc.com, Commentary, Cato @ Liberty, The Page, Vox Popoli, GOP.com, OxBlog, The Moderate Voice and Raw Story
RELATED:
Laurel Wentz / AdAge:
9/11 Ad for WWF Causes Tsunami of a Crisis for DDB Brasil — Apology Doesn't Stave Off Global Compensation; Video Version Surfaces — An obscure ad that ran once in a small Sao Paulo newspaper months ago has come back to haunt DDB Brasil and its conservation client, the WWF in Brazil …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Hot Air, Green Sheet, Mediaite, American Power, Pajamas Media, Adrants and Gawker
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Michelle Malkin:
“I pledge to be of service to Barack Obama” — As if I needed any more evidence to bolster today's column about the Obama junior lobbyist campaign in America's schools, here's another item fresh from the headlines in Utah:
RELATED:
Peter Popham / The Independent:
I have been abducted by aliens, says Japan's first lady — Move over Michelle, watch your backs, Carla and Sarah. There's a new kid on the first lady block, and she looks like upstaging the lot of you. — Miyuki Hatoyama, wife of Japan's Prime Minister-elect, Yukio Hatoyama …
New York Post:
SPITZER'S BABE SLAPS THE SNOBS — TELLS WOMEN: YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN ME! — The high-paid escort who notoriously romped with disgraced ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer has a message to New York ladies: You're no better than me! — “Get real and get over yourself,” Ashley Dupre bluntly tells all the women out there who “just love to judge.”
KTLA:
Man's Finger Bitten Off in Scuffle at Health Care Rally — THOUSAND OAKS — A 65-year-old man had his finger bitten off Wednesday evening at a health care rally in Thousand Oaks, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. — Sheriff's investigators were called to Hillcrest and Lynn Road at 7:26 p.m.
Discussion:
Freedom's Lighthouse, Don Surber, Top of the Ticket, Gateway Pundit and Confederate Yankee
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Buchanan's Apologia for Hitler — As if some neocon were setting out to parody dovish thinking on contemporary issues, paleocon Pat Buchanan has gone and written a “blame Britian first” account of the origins of World War II. Apparently, according to Buchanan, Hitler was just seeking …
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Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
Pat Buchanan: Sotomayor? Racist. Hitler? Misunderstood.
Pat Buchanan: Sotomayor? Racist. Hitler? Misunderstood.
Discussion:
TPMMuckraker, The Moderate Voice, The Jawa Report, Air America Media blogs, Raw Story and Reason
Scott Kraus / Morning Call:
A health care debate without ill will — Hoping to unseat Specter, Toomey and Sestak tackle hot-button issue in Allentown forum. — U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak (right) shares a beer with former Congressman Pat Toomey at Allentown Bewworks after their health care forum held at Muhlenburg College on Wednesday.
Charles Hurt / New York Post:
STAFF AS ‘FORGETFUL’ AS THE BOSS — WASHINGTON — Charlie Rangel's “forgetfulness” is apparently contagious. — Two of his top aides are among about a dozen highly paid staffers on the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee who have filed a flurry of amendments correcting their financial-disclosure statements since 2002.
Discussion:
JammieWearingFool
RELATED:
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
Accountability, but at What Cost? — My friend and fellow columnist Eugene Robinson has written a characteristically passionate and well-reasoned piece commending Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to name a special counsel to examine possible law-breaking by interrogators of terrorist subjects during the last administration.
Wall Street Journal:
The Revolt of the Masses — Electorates are casting a global no-confidence vote in their leaderships. — Printer — Friendly — When the political world arrives at the point where even the Japanese rise up to toss a party from office after almost 54 years in power, it's time to see something's happening here, Mr. Jones.
Republican Party of Florida:
Greer Condemns Obama's Attempt to Indoctrinate Students — Tallahassee- Â Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer today released the following statement condemning President Obama's use of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda.
Discussion:
TPMDC, ATTACKERMAN, Matthew Yglesias, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, The Reaction and msnbc.com
RELATED:
Nia-Malika Henderson / The Politico:
Right blasts Obama speech to students
Right blasts Obama speech to students
Discussion:
TPMDC, Little Green Footballs, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Enterprise Blog, Fox News, Pajamas Media, RBO, Pat Dollard and Dr. Helen