Top Items:
Tim Teeman / Times of London:
Gore Vidal: 'We'll have a dictatorship soon in the US' — The grand old man of letters Gore Vidal claims America is ‘rotting away’ — and don't expect Barack Obama to save it — A conversation with Gore Vidal unfolds at his pace. He answers questions imperiously, occasionally playfully, with a piercing, lethal dryness.
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Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Newsmax removes column that called for military coup to resolve the ‘Obama problem.’ — In a column published on the right-wing site Newsmax yesterday, John L. Perry writes that a military coup against President Obama is possible. Newsmax appears to have taken down the column from its website this morning.
John L. Perry / NewsMax.com:
Obama Risks a Domestic Military ‘Intervention’ — There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America's military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don't dismiss it as unrealistic. — America isn't the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, Confederate Yankee, Right Wing Nut House, The Jawa Report, Another Black Conservative, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Taylor Marsh, DownWithTyranny!, At-Largely, JustOneMinute, Conservative Dallas, GayPatriot, The Moderate Voice, Reason, Stop The ACLU, The Mahablog, CANNONFIRE and Pam's House Blend
Nick Allen / Telegraph:
Roman Polanski: backlash as Whoopi Goldberg says director didn't commit ‘raperape’ — Whoopi Goldberg is facing a fierce backlash after saying that film director Roman Polanski didn't commit “rape-rape” when he had unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl. — Goldberg, star of The Color Purple …
Discussion:
Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Hot Air, timperkins.me, NewsBusters.org, Redhot, Pajamas Media and Shot in the Dark
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New York Times:
The Polanski Case — Roman Polanski was arrested on Saturday at the Zurich airport on an American-issued warrant. But to hear the protests from the French, the Poles and other Europeans, you might have thought the filmmaker was seized by some totalitarian regime for speaking truth to power.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, The Glittering Eye, The New Republic, Althouse, Hot Air and NewsBusters.org
Luchina Fisher / ABCNEWS:
Roman Polanski: What Did He Really Do? — 13-Year-Old's Testimony Tells Story Behind Polanski's Guilty Plea to Unlawful Sexual Intercourse — In the more than 30 years since director Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl and then fled the country before he was sentenced …
Discussion:
The Reaction
New York Times:
Powerful Player Joins Polanski Team
Powerful Player Joins Polanski Team
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Law Blog, American Power, National Review Online, Politics Daily, Mediaite, CNN and The Independent
Robert Harris / New York Times:
Why Arrest Roman Polanski Now?
Why Arrest Roman Polanski Now?
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The New Republic, Pajamas Media, Bookworm Room, Runnin' Scared and FP Passport
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Where Did ‘We’ Go? — I hate to write about this, but I have actually been to this play before and it is really disturbing. — I was in Israel interviewing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin just before he was assassinated in 1995. We had a beer in his office. He needed one.
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Victoria Gotti / New York Post:
Sarah's lectures a tough sell — SARAH Palinis said to have pocketed a $7 million advance for the 400-page memoir she turned in four months early, but she might not have such an easy time on the lecture circuit. — After quitting as governor of Alaska in July, Palin signed …
Discussion:
Ruby Slippers, Ben Smith's Blog, Newsweek Blogs, Taegan Goddard's …, Think Progress, Wonkette, Top of the Ticket, Newshoggers.com and GOP 12
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JammieWearingFool:
'Blithering Idiot's' Book Already No. 1 at Barnes and Noble and No. 2 at Amazon — The left may have a collective aneurysm by the time Going Rogue is released, and that's still not until November 17. — I figure by the end of the day it'll be No. 1 at Amazon. — Crazy Andy must be losing it.
Peter Hamby / CNN:
Republicans decide not to introduce Grayson resolution — WASHINGTON (CNN) - House Republicans changed course on Wednesday and decided not to move forward with a resolution condemning Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, for saying that the GOP health care plan calls for sick people to “die quickly.”
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George Stephanopoulos / George's Bottom Line:
Grayson Doubles Down — Rep. Alan Grayson , D-Fla. …
Grayson Doubles Down — Rep. Alan Grayson , D-Fla. …
Discussion:
The Note, Ben Smith's Blog, The Huffington Post, Hullabaloo, Emptywheel and The Washington Independent
Jeffrey Young / The Hill:
Senators turn back ID requirement for immigrant healthcare — Senate Finance Committee Democrats rejected a proposed a requirement that immigrants prove their identity with photo identification when signing up for federal healthcare programs. — Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley …
Discussion:
RedState
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Mark Schmitt / American Prospect:
Reconciliation Myths. — “A Primer on Reconciliation,” put together by Ken Strickland of NBC at First Read does a nice job of explaining the arcane process and some of the limits that will make it both difficult and risky to push health reform through that process, despite the appealing feature …
Keith Koffler / Roll Call:
Obama Drafts Health Care Fallback Plan — The White House has been secretly drafting its own health care legislation that it may unveil at some point during the debate if officials believe it would help secure passage of a bill, according to sources familiar with the effort.
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Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Washington Sketch: Senate Democrats Spar With One Another During Health-Care Debate
Washington Sketch: Senate Democrats Spar With One Another During Health-Care Debate
Discussion:
The Politico, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Note, AMERICAblog News, Don Surber and George's Bottom Line
Jesse Lee / WhiteHouse.gov Blog:
Reality Check: Trying to Turn a Point of Pride into a Moment of Shame — Last night Fox News continued its disregard for the facts in an attempt to smear the Administration's efforts to win the Olympics for the United States. In the past, hosting the Olympics has been a source of pride …
Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
National Review's John Derbyshire: Women Should Not Have The Right To Vote — John Derbyshire, a British-American conservative author and columnist for the National Review, has written a new book titled We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism. The book contains a section called “The Case Against Female Suffrage.”
Democracy Corps:
Olympia Snowe: The Political Problems of Stopping Health Care Reform — Olympia Snowe enjoys broad support in her home state, but she faces significant political problems if she opposes President Obama's health insurance reform. A Snowe vote against health insurance reform results …
Discussion:
The Plum Line
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
More Independents Lean GOP; Party Gap Smallest Since '05 — Democratic advantage on leaned party ID is 48% to 42% — PRINCETON, NJ — In the third quarter of this year, 48% of Americans identified politically as Democrats or said they were independent but leaned to the Democratic Party.
Neil Nagraj / NY Daily News:
Exhibit featuring nude photo of 10-year-old Brooke Shields sparks outrage — An exhibition at the Tate Modern will feature a photograph of a nude ten-year-old Brooke Shields alongside sexually explicit pop art - a decision akin to rolling out a welcome mat for perverts, outraged critics charge.
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
What Obama won't say about the Afghan war today, at least publicly — This is a messy time for the nation's politics. And this seemingly serene autumn day is quietly crucial. — Despite all the excitement and promise of a fresh Barack Obama administration cleaning house from eight years …
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Ben Smith / The Politico:
Sex, scorn and videotape — When John Edwards returned to North Carolina in the course of his long quest for the presidency, Andrew Young always met him at the airport in Edwards's big black Chevy Tahoe. Young drove, and Edwards rode shotgun, silently raising his left hand whenever he wanted a Diet Coke …
Discussion:
Gawker
Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:
Goldberg Calls Out Fox News Hosts ‘Pretending To Be Journalists’...On Fox News — Something happened on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor last night that rarely occurs in cable news - criticism of a network, on that network. FNC Contributor and weekly Factor guest Bernie Goldberg was on with Bill O'Reilly …
Jeff Poor / NewsBusters.org:
Bette Midler Warns Glenn Beck Could Set Off a Rwanda-Like Civil War in U.S. — Update at bottom (2:03 p.m.): Beck fires back — It's just what the primetime cable news lineup needed - another hour-long program tilted toward left-of-center politics with character assassination on conservatives.