Top Items:
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
How Obama Survived August — At the beginning of the month, I predicted that August might turn out be a bloodbath for Democrats. At the time, the Democratic self-containment on health care had dissolved, cranks were taking over constituent meetings, and that real anxiety about Obama had found …
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Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Americans Still Sharply Divided on Healthcare Reform — Opponents more likely than supporters to base their 2010 vote on the issue — PRINCETON, NJ — The American people are no less divided on healthcare reform today than they were a month ago. A new Gallup Poll finds 39% of Americans saying …
The Hill:
Already, 23 Dems have said they will vote ‘no’ on healthcare reform — At least 23 House Democrats already have told constituents or hometown media that they oppose the massive healthcare overhaul touted by President Barack Obama. — If Republicans offer the blanket opposition they've promised …
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Why Reform Survived August — The August recess began with critics attacking health care reform because of its high price tag. It ended with critics attacking health care reform because of how reformers proposed to reduce that high price tag. The intevening weeks were nightmarish …
CNN:
Baucus plan draws lukewarm reax from Grassley — From CNN's Dana Bash, Ted Barrett and Lisa Desjardins — WASHINGTON (CNN) - A copy of the 18-page health care proposal from Sen. Max Baucus, obtained by CNN from both a Democratic and Republican source, reveals more detail about the Finance Committee chairman's proposal.
Roll Call:
Key Liberals Willing to Bargain — Some Progressives Avoiding Line-in-Sand Stance — Amid fresh signs that the White House is preparing to back a scaled-down health care overhaul that would only include a public insurance option as a fallback plan, several House liberals told Roll Call …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, TPMDC, Daily Kos, D-Day, Open Left, The Page, The Plum Line and Crooks and Liars
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Top House Progressive: Backing Public Option “Trigger” Would Be “Surrender”
Top House Progressive: Backing Public Option “Trigger” Would Be “Surrender”
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, Unreported, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog News, Taylor Marsh, RedState, TPMDC and The Page
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings — The controversy over President Obama's speech to the nation's schoolchildren will likely be over shortly after Obama speaks today at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. But when President George H.W. Bush delivered …
Ezra Klein:
Baucus's Framework: Summary — Let's begin by stating what isn't in Max Baucus's health-care reform framework (pdf): a public plan, serious subsidies between 300 percent and 400 percent of poverty, and a real employer mandate for health-care coverage. Those omissions are disappointing …
Discussion:
The New Republic, The League of Ordinary …, Emptywheel, The Washington Independent, Open Congress and TalkLeft
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Mark Bowden / The Atlantic Online:
The Story Behind the Story — IF YOU HAPPENED to be watching a television news channel on May 26, the day President Obama nominated U.S. Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, you might have been struck, as I was, by what seemed like a nifty investigative report.
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Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Sure, If You Consider The NY Times A Conservative Web Site
Sure, If You Consider The NY Times A Conservative Web Site
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Adviser losing patience with Obama — One of President Barack Obama's former top campaign advisers is “losing patience” with the White House, he told POLITICO Tuesday morning, as frustrations among the president's liberal allies crest over issues from health care legislation to gay rights.
Mere Rhetoric:
Marc Garlasco - Is HRW's Anti-Israel Investigator A Nazi-Obsessed Collector? — UPDATE: I've published a critical followup to this post, both because I've gotten specific emails accusing Garlasco of being a Stormfront.org contributor (100% not true) and because there's a general risk …
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Karl Vick / Washington Post:
As ‘Rescissions’ Spawn Outrage, Health Insurers Cite Fraud Control — Firms Defend ‘Rescissions’ as Fraud Control — LOS ANGELES — The untimely disappearance of Sally Marrari's medical coverage goes a long way toward explaining why insurance companies are cast as the villain in the health-care reform drama.
Lynn Sweet:
Obama warns students about posting on Facebook — For Immediate Release September 8, 2009 — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. So this is the first day of high school? — STUDENTS: Yes. — THE PRESIDENT: Wow. I'm trying to remember back to my first day of high school. I can't remember that far back.
The Prowler / American Spectator:
Valerie Jarrett's Show — The White House shouldn't expect the furor over Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality Van Jones to go away just because he's resigned, says a former Obama Administration transition team member …
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Victor Zapanta / Think Progress:
Rep. Jean Schmidt Tells Birther: ‘I Agree With You’ — Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) spoke at the Voice of America tea party this Labor Day weekend outside of Cincinnati, OH. Following a tense Q&A session — during which, the congresswoman was booed for acknowledging that the Constitution …
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Dep't of Stupid Headlines: L.A. Times Edition — Today, there's an article in the Los Angeles Times entitled: — “Obama is fast losing white voters' support”. — A reasonable person might expect the punchline to be either that the manifest decline in Obama's approval ratings …
Matt Corley / Think Progress:
Lieberman: Public option is ‘not attainable’ because 'the public doesn't support it.' — Last week, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told the Connecticut Post that he believed the only “opportunity to achieve significant reform with bipartisan support” was if the public option was “off the table.”
Steven A. Camarota / Publications:
Illegal Immigrants and HR 3200: Estimate of Potential Costs to Taxpayers — Steven A. Camarota is the Director of Research at the Center for Immigration Studies. — Based on our analysis of Census Bureau data, we estimate that there are 6.6 million uninsured illegal immigrants …
Discussion:
And So it Goes in Shreveport, YID With LID, Blue Crab Boulevard and The Corner on National …
Mark Warren / Esquire:
Bill Clinton, Then and Now: The Esquire Interview — In a sprawling discussion of his past and our common future, the former president compares his administration's early years with Obama's and talks about what he believes — in health care and next year's midterms — is about to happen
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
More Lies from Barack Obama — From today's socialist indoctrination speech: … My father dropped out of tenth grade and has had a totally solid career as a novelist and screenwriter. These smears against the dropout community need to stop!
Sarah Ebner / Times of London:
Mohamed ElBaradei left out evidence of Iran bomb, France claims — This is Mohamed ElBaradei's last year addressing the annual conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency. — He will not be universally missed. Long chided for being soft on Iran, he goes into this year's conference amid …
Ezra Klein:
The Public Plan Is Not the Same Thing as Cost Control — This will not be a popular post, I fear. But one of the themes I'm seeing in a lot of the commentary is that the absence of a public plan is essentially equivalent to the absence of cost control, and the presence of a public plan is pretty much the presence of cost control.
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, Swampland, Crooks and Liars, Economist's View, TalkLeft and The Political Carnival
Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Banks brace for tough battle in the Senate — A year after the financial crisis, the banking industry is bracing for a tough fight with the Senate. — Lobbyists for banks big and small expect Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and other panel members to offer measures …
Discussion:
The Politico