memeorandum: White House stands by ‘truther’ Van Jones (Sam Youngman/The Hill)

2:40 PM ET, September 4, 2009

Top Items:

Busted. Van Jones Linked to 9-11 Truther Movement Back in **January 2002** — Yesterday, news broke out that Barack Obama's communist Green Czar was a 9-11 Truther. The administration much later in the day released a statement saying Van Jones was “not now or ever” involved in the 9-11 Truther movement.

Political Punch:

Controversial Obama Administration Official Denies Being Part of 9/11 “Truther” Movement, Apologizes for Past Comments — A top environmental official of the Obama administration issued a statement Thursday apologizing for past incendiary statement and denying that he ever agreed …

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

White House stands by ‘truther’ Van Jones — The White House would not say whether the White House's green jobs czar, who has been linked to Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists, continues to enjoy the confidence of the president, but an official said he is still a part of the administration.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:

Meg Whitman Blasts Van Jones — Yesterday Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor in California and former eBay CEO, got caught up in the growing controversy over the statements made by White House green jobs czar Van Jones. A tape surfaced of Whitman praising the “marvelous job” …

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Michelle Malkin, Ben Smith's Blog and KansasCity.com Prime Buzz

Andy Barr / The Politico:
Poizner camp: Whitman, Jones in ‘love’

Discussion: D-Day, The Washington Independent and Fox News

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Trutherism-lite, and a second Jones tie

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Jawa Report, Swampland and A Blog For All

Amanda Carpenter / The washington times Blogs:
Another apology may be coming from Van Jones

Discussion: TBogg

Washington Examiner: John M. — Total words about the Van Jones controversy on CNN: 0.

Political Punch:
Another Possible Link Emerges Between Top Obama Official and …

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel and NewsBusters.org

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Unbelievable: Van Jones says 9/11 petition didn't reflect his views …

Discussion: Political Punch, Dean's World, Pundit & Pundette, News Hounds, Don Surber, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Washington Times and NewsReal Blog

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:

Quote of the Day: Where Is America's Partisan Political Ugliness Heading? — Our political Quote of the Day comes from Time's Joe Klein, who attended a health care reform town hall in Arkansas and asks the question I've asked here at TMV many times: just where is America's accelerating trend towards political ugliness headed?

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Don Surber, Nashville Scene and The Swamp

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

IT'S COME TO THIS.... In 1988, then-President Reagan spoke to students nationwide via C-SPAN telecast. Among other things, he talked about his positions on political issues of the day. Three years later, then-President Bush addressed school kids in a speech broadcast live to school classrooms nationwide.

Discussion: American Power, The Daily Dish, Sweetness & Light and QandO

Joe Klein / Swampland:

It Gets Worse — I was at a Blanche Lincoln town hall meeting in Russellville, Arkansas, yesterday—and the number of people who believe that the President has larded the government with communists (!) was astonishing. One woman said there were four known communists in the government and that she'd researched it on the internet.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Washington Monthly, Right Wing Nut House, Paul Krugman, Althouse, The Mahablog, Dennis the Peasant and Gateway Pundit

Rachel E. Stassen-Berger / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Pawlenty sides with critics

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Hill, Christian Science Monitor, MoJo Blog Posts, The Page and Gateway Pundit

New York Times:
Some Parents Oppose Obama Speech to Students

Discussion: And So it Goes in Shreveport, Bloomberg, The New Republic, Hullabaloo, WhiteHouse.gov Blog, Thoughts Of A Conservative …, Democracy in America, City Room, PoliBlog, Front Row Washington, PrawfsBlawg, Columns, The Caucus and Washington Post

Political Punch:
School Districts in Six States to Refrain from Showing Presidential …

Discussion: Salon, No More Mister Nice Blog and Gawker

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Gates: AP decision ‘appalling’ — Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.”

Discussion: BLACKFIVE, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Sister Toldjah

Associated Press:
AP picture shows pain of Afghan war

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Rex Nutting / MarketWatch:

US unemployment rate jumps to 26-year high of 9.7% — WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.7% in August as nonfarm payrolls fell by 216,000, the 20th consecutive monthly decline, the Labor Department estimated Friday.

Discussion: Innocent Bystanders, Wall Street Journal, The Politico, Don Surber, Wake up America and Blue Crab Boulevard

Jack Healy / New York Times:
Unemployment Hits 9.7%, but Job Loss Slows in August

Discussion: Calculated Risk, The Huffington Post, Matthew Yglesias, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Bloomberg, The New Republic, Wonk Room, Washington Monthly, Financial Times, The Caucus, FiveThirtyEight, Daily Kos, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG and Economix

Calculated Risk:
Unemployment: Stress Tests, Unemployed over 26 Weeks, Diffusion Index

Discussion: The Glittering Eye, BizzyBlog and The Curious Capitalist

Holly Rosenkrantz / Bloomberg:

Public Option Not Vital to Health Reform, Teamsters' Hoffa Says — Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) — Teamsters President James Hoffa said dropping the so-called public option wouldn't be a “deal killer” for health-care legislation, signaling a split among leaders of unions that are a core constituency of President Barack Obama.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Firedoglake and RedState

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Ben Nelson Threatens to Blow Up Health Reform

Discussion: TalkLeft

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Ben Nelson: Keeping Public Option Will Cause Reform To “Implode”

Discussion: Lincoln Journal Star

Richard Wolf / USA Today:

White House to reveal visitor names — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to change White House policy by releasing the names of thousands of visitors whose comings and goings traditionally are kept secret by presidents. — President Obama's announcement scheduled for today follows a lengthy legal review.

Discussion: CREW, Democracy in America, Think Progress, The Politico, Political Punch, Wonkette, Washington Monthly and The Page

CREW:
CREW AND OBAMA ADMINISTRATION REACH HISTORIC LEGAL SETTLEMENT …

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation, WhiteHouse.gov Blog, The Mudflats, Newsweek Blogs, MoJo Blog Posts and Swampland

National Review:

Despite Best Efforts, Rep. Baron Hill Ends Up on YouTube In a Compromising Position — Rep. Baron Hill (D., Ind.) cannot possibly be this big a jerk all the time. At a recent town hall, a young woman raised her hand and identified herself as a journalism student working on a school project …

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel

David Brooks / New York Times:

Let's Get Fundamental — If I were magically given an hour to help Barack Obama prepare for his health care speech next week, the first thing I'd do is ask him to read David Goldhill's essay, “How American Health Care Killed My Father,” in the current issue of The Atlantic.

Discussion: The Balance Sheet, MoJo Blog Posts, Daily Kos and Weekly Standard

Domenico Montanaro / msnbc.com:

FIRST THOUGHTS: STUCK IN THE MIDDLE — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg — *** Stuck in the middle with you: As President Obama prepares to deliver his primetime health-care speech on Wednesday, he's finding himself boxed in from the left and right — of his own party.

Discussion: D-Day and FiveThirtyEight

New York Times:
Health Care Idea Has Public Plan Only as Backup

Discussion: The Politico, Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, George's Bottom Line, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Note, The Confluence and Firedoglake

New Jersey Online:

GOP gov. candidate Chris Christie not issued traffic ticket after accident that injured motorcyclist in 2002 — Adding to Chris Christie's campaign trail headaches over his driving record, officials in Elizabeth confirmed tonight the Republican gubernatorial candidate was in a traffic accident …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post and MyDD

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Conservatives back Obama on Afghanistan — Prominent conservative foreign policy thinkers and activists who backed the Iraq war are circulating a letter to President Obama supporting his engagement in Afghanistan against criticism from left and right, and urging him to stay the course.

Discussion: TaylorMarsh.com and MoJo Sections

Patrick Ruffini / The Next Right:

Can We Have Buckley Back? — Over the last few days, Jon Henke has laid out the case for the Right more strongly disavowing outfits like WorldNetDaily that actively peddle Birther nonsense. To the extent the mainstream Right has weighed in, it has been to urge Jon to ignore WND and move on …

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, D-Day, Reason, Balloon Juice and The Other McCain

Charlie Cook / National Journal Online:

Bleeding Independents — OBAMA'S AGENDA HAS FANNED FEARS THAT GOVERNMENT IS EXPANDING TOO FAR, TOO FAST. — Listening to two briefings — one by a Democratic pollster who had just conducted a survey for a group favoring health care reform, the other by a Republican pollster more skeptical …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Wall Street Journal, RedState and Commentary

David Folkenflik / NPR:

Why ‘GQ’ Doesn't Want Russians To Read Its Story … text sizeAAA — For war journalist Scott Anderson, the most confounding part of his recent assignment for GQ magazine to explore the root of terrorist acts in Russia a decade ago wasn't the suggestion of treachery and subterfuge he found.

Discussion: Taibblog, The Daily Dish and Gawker

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

Resurfacing, a Critic Stirs Up Health Care Debate — WASHINGTON — The author Erica Jong first became socially acquainted with former Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey of New York in the late 1990s, a dark time for Ms. McCaughey. — Ms. McCaughey had just lost her bid to unseat her former boss …

Discussion: Grasping Reality …

New York Times:

NATO Plans Inquiry After Afghan Strike Kills Scores — KABUL, Afghanistan — A NATO airstrike before dawn on Friday killed 80 people or more, at least some of them civilians, in a once-calm region of northern Afghanistan that has recently slipped under control of insurgents, Afghan officials said.