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 …
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.
Discussion:
rubber hose, pandagon.net, Donklephant, Brave New Films blog, Washington Monthly, Think Progress and Osborne Ink
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, Crooks and Liars, The Page and The Plum Line
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.
New York Times:
Health Compromise Floated Before Obama Speech — WASHINGTON — As President Obama and top advisers drafted his eagerly awaited health care speech to Congress, new details emerged Monday about fees and coverage limits under a proposal being floated by the chairman of a crucial Senate committee.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Business Channel, TPMDC, The Politico, Washington Post, Democracy in America, The Caucus, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Liberal Values, The Hill, Air America Media blogs, D-Day, WSJ.com, The Confluence, TalkLeft, New York Times, Connecting.the.Dots, msnbc.com and Jed Report
Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard:
A Bad Day for the ‘Public’ Option — Via Jim Geraghty on Twitter: “Politico's Jim Vandehei on CNN: 'There's not going to be a public option in this bill.' Says White House tells him OTR they know it.” — Blue Dog Mike Ross of Arkansas comes out against a public option, in a move that may embolden other Blue Dogs:
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:
Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, DownWithTyranny!, Unreported, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, AMERICAblog News, TPMDC and The Page
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
BREAKING: Read the Baucus healthcare proposal
BREAKING: Read the Baucus healthcare proposal
Discussion:
The Corner on National …
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 …
Discussion:
Reason, BBC, Power Line, The Democratic Daily, Salon, theblogprof, Hot Air, The Corner on National …, The Foundry, Conservative Dallas, The Sundries Shack, Cato @ Liberty, Political Byline, Sister Toldjah, Wizbang, A Blog For All, The TrogloPundit, Cold Fury, Althouse, QandO, Pajamas Media, Dr. Melissa Clouthier and PoliBlog
Wall Street Journal:
Obama and the Left — The lesson of the rise and fall of Van Jones. — Printer — Friendly — The abrupt resignation of White House aide Van Jones, deep in the news hiatus of Labor Day weekend, will probably be forgotten in a few days. But it's a story that still deserves elaboration …
Discussion:
The Opinionator, QandO, The Huffington Post, The Greenroom, The Note, The Moderate Voice, NewsBusters.org, Babalú Blog, Commentary and Cold Fury
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Fox News:
Obama: No More Mr. Nice Guy?
Obama: No More Mr. Nice Guy?
Discussion:
The New Republic, JammieWearingFool, Confederate Yankee, Gateway Pundit, NewsReal Blog, Hot Air and Pajamas Media
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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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.”
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cbpp.org:
Employer Requirement in Baucus Health Package Would Have Unintended Effect of Discouraging Hiring of Low-Income and Minority Workers — While an employer responsibility requirement is an essential component of health care reform, a proposal included in the new health reform package …
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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.
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 …
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!
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
Elliott Abrams / Washington Post:
What President Jimmy Carter Missed in His Op-Ed on the Middle East — In an op-ed on Sunday ["The Elders' View of the Middle East"], former president Jimmy Carter, speaking on behalf of a self-appointed group of “Elders,” described a rapacious Israel facing long-suffering, blameless Palestinians …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Ben Smith's Blog, Power Line, YID With LID, Wonk Room, Commentary, Israel Matzav, Yourish.com, Taylor Marsh and TigerHawk