Top Items:
Ezra Klein:
What's Wrong With the Finance Bill? An Interview With Sen. Jay Rockefeller. — Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) chairs the Finance Committee's Health Care Subcommittee. His support will be crucial — maybe even decisive - in getting health-care reform out of the Finance Committee.
Discussion:
The Hill, TPMDC, The League of Ordinary …, The Plum Line, TalkLeft, TPMCafe, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and The Page
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Baucus and the Threshold — So Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has released his “mark” on proposed legislation — which would normally be the basis for the bill that eventually emerges from his committee. And serious supporters of health care reform will soon face their long-dreaded moment of truth.
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Snowe: I Haven't Changed, My Party Has — It would be easy to over-interpret this statement from Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), but it would be a mistake to dismiss it. — “I've always been a Republican for the traditional principles that have been associated with the Republican party since …
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Obama: Legalize illegals to get them health care — Republicans see a backdoor move toward ‘amnesty’ — President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.
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Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Obama, Too Subtle to Lie, Misleads on Health Reform — You lie? No. Barack Obama doesn't lie. He's too subtle for that. He . . . well, you judge. — Herewith three examples within a single speech — the now-famous Obama-Wilson “you lie” address to Congress on health care — of Obama's relationship with truth.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Don Surber, The New Republic, The Swamp, Betsy's Page and Pundit & Pundette
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senior Democrat turns healthcare debate into fight over illegal immigration — Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is putting Democrats in a bind by seeking to let illegal immigrants benefit from the healthcare overhaul. — Menendez, the only Hispanic senator, has considerable leverage …
Robert F. Worth / New York Times:
Amid Large Protests, Iran Leader Calls Holocaust a Lie — BEIRUT, Lebanon — Tens of thousands of green-clad protesters chanted and carried banners through the heart of Tehran and other Iranian cities on Friday, defying tear gas and truncheons as they turned large swaths …
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, David Rothkopf, The Majlis, Commentary, neo-neocon and The Washington Independent
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The Note:
Miss California Wows Conservatives — ABC News' Teddy Davis and Brittany Crockett Report: — The Value Voters Summit heard from potential Republican presidential candidates and GOP congressional leaders on Friday morning. — But it was Carrie Prejean—former Miss California—who stole the show.
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Irving Kristol, 1920-2009 — Irving Kristol, writer, editor, and social philosopher, has died in Washington at the age of 89. His wisdom, wit, good humor, and generosity of spirit made him a friend and mentor to several generations of thinkers and public servants. —The Editors
Discussion:
Wonkette, The Corner on National …, Gawker, The Other McCain, Shakesville, Salon and Conventional Folly
TheDenverChannel.com:
ABC NEWS: Zazi Admits Al-Qaeda Ties, May Plead Guilty — 3-Day FBI Interrogation Reveals Denver Man Had Received Explosives Training — DENVER — The Aurora man under FBI investigation for alleged ties to a New York bomb plot has admitted he has ties to al-Qaida and is in negotiations …
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David Brooks / New York Times:
No, It's Not About Race — You wouldn't know it to look at me, but I go running several times a week. My favorite route, because it's so flat, is from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol and back. I was there last Saturday and found myself plodding through tens of thousands of anti-government “tea party” protesters.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Newsweek Blogs, The New Republic, The Reaction, No More Mister Nice Blog and CNN
Wall Street Journal:
Bankers Face Sweeping Curbs on Pay — Fed Plans to Limit How Lenders Can Structure Compensation for Executives, Traders, Loan Officers; 5,000 Firms Affected — Policies that set the pay for tens of thousands of bank employees nationwide would require approval from the Federal Reserve …
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Washington Sketch: Michelle Obama Gets Her Farmers Market — Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale. What to do? — Here's how Michelle Obama handled this very predicament Thursday afternoon:
Discussion:
Fausta's Blog, Politics Daily, Pundit & Pundette, JustOneMinute, JammieWearingFool and Reason
Newt Gingrich / Washington Examiner:
The real ACORN scandal: Its enablers — It's hard to know who should be more embarrassed by the revelations about the radical group ACORN, the mainstream media or the politicians who have funneled taxpayer dollars to the group for years. — It took two amateur twentysomething filmmakers to do what ABC …
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Walter Mitty / Breitbart.tv:
OBAMA '07 REVELATION: HEALTH CARE REFORM REQUIRES TAX HIKES — SAVINGS JUST A THEORY — “I've pushed people on the idea of paying higher taxes in order to implement the system.”
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Charles Franklin / Pollster.com:
Sixty-Five Views of HC Reform, One Big Trend — The trend in opinion on health care reform has been a bit tricky of late. After a long and substantial rise of opposition, and an equally long but less sizable decline in support, we came to August, the month for the strange in politics.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
DNC promises ‘rain of hellfire’ — The increasingly aggressive Democratic National Committee on Friday launched a new “Call 'Em Out” website targeting prominent Republicans for statements they have made about President Barack Obama's health reform plans. — “Help debunk the outrageous lies …
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The Politico:
Conservatives use liberal playbook — Conservatives are coming for the Democrats on their blind side — the left. — The evidence is everywhere. — At tea parties and town halls, conservative demonstrators oppose health care reform with signs bearing the abortion-rights slogan …
Wall Street Journal:
Mandatory Insurance Is Unconstitutional — Why an individual mandate could be struck down by the courts. — Printer — Friendly — Federal legislation requiring that every American have health insurance is part of all the major health-care reform plans now being considered in Washington.
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy, SCOTUSblog, Betsy's Page, The Huffington Post, DISSENTING JUSTICE and New York Times
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Former CIA Directors Urge Torture Prosecution Reversal — The Justice Department investigation into CIA torture allegations may have already jeopardized American intelligence capabilities, seven former CIA directors told President Obama. In a letter, the spy chiefs urge …
Rasmussen Reports:
51% Say Congress Should Stop Funding ACORN — Fifty-one percent (51%) of U.S. voters now say Congress should end all federal funding of the controversial community organizing group ACORN. — A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 17% favor continued taxpayer support …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, YID With LID, Moderate in the Middle, Hot Air and National Review Online
Washington Post:
Duo in ACORN Videos Say Effort Was Independent — Duo in Sting Video Say Their Effort Was Independent — The proposition was outrageous, outlandish, and right up James E. O'Keefe III's alley. Hannah Giles was on the phone from the District, and she was asking him to dress like her pimp …
Discussion:
National Review Online, Big Hollywood, Prairie Weather, Don Surber, Reason and Pundit & Pundette
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
A REGIONAL PARTY.... I was looking over the new results from the weekly Research 2000 poll conducted for Daily Kos. Most of the results are about what we've come to expect — President Obama's ratings are more favorable than unfavorable (55% to 38%); neither congressional caucus is popular …
Discussion:
MoJo Blog Posts
National Journal Online:
Who The Bloggers Are Following — Partisan Differences Reign In Reading And Broadcast Material — In the blogosphere, where partisan passion lives, divisions extend to reading and broadcast material, too. — NationalJournal.com's panel of top political bloggers was asked to join …
Timothy Noah / Slate:
My Mistake — How a factual error in Slate ended up in a White House speech. — In his Sept. 9 health care speech to Congress, President Obama said: … Both clauses in this last sentence were untrue, the Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 17. The insurance of the man in question …
Brian M. Rafferty / Queens Tribune:
Pagan ‘King’ Has Council GOP Nod — Dan Halloran, the Republican candidate for City Council facing primary winner Kevin Kim in the 19th District, already has a leadership role in a vast community that very few people know about - or understand. — Halloran is the “First Atheling,” or King …