Top Items:
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Carper quietly devises third option — Sen. Tom Carper bided his time on health care reform. — Rarely in the spotlight, and unfailingly restrained, the Delaware Democrat never staked out a public position on the government insurance option, solidifying his status as the model of an undecided moderate in need of persuading.
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Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
NV-Senate: Lowden Announces Against Reid — Former Nevada state Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Lowden will announce her bid to challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today, immediately becoming the highest-profile candidate in an increasingly crowded field hoping to unseat the Nevada Democrat.
Discussion:
The Page
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Talking Points For Obama's Political Operation Describe Public Option …
Talking Points For Obama's Political Operation Describe Public Option …
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Post editors should read their own columnists — The Washington Post Editorial Page today lashes out at “Roman Polanski's apologists,” a group it says is “typified by the comments of Swiss filmmaker Otto Weisser, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, film and TV celebrity Whoopi Goldberg” …
Discussion:
American Prospect, The Daily Dish, The Sideshow, American Thinker and The Huffington Post
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Rasmussen Reports:
Roman the Rapist — A Commentary By Susan Estrich — He had sex with a 13-year-old girl. He got her to go to Jack Nicholson's house by promising that she would be in a photo shoot. When she got there, he fed her a Quaalude and alcohol — champagne for a 13-year-old, how enticing — and then he raped her.
Los Angeles Times:
In Roman Polanski case, is it Hollywood vs. Middle America? — Reactions to the extradition of the fugitive filmmaker show a sharp divide. — Roman Polanski (Getty Images) — From Michael Moore's politics to on-screen sex and violence, the movie business is constantly being assailed for not sharing the country's values.
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications, Big Hollywood, L.A. NOW, Feministe and Wilshire & Washington
Washington Post:
The Sordidness of Polanski's Crime Justifies U.S. Adjudication — Sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl isn't ‘a little mistake.’ — FIRST, THERE was: “He's a brilliant guy, and he made a little mistake 32 years ago.” Next came: “Whatever you think about the so-called crime . . . it is a shocking way to treat such a man.”
Yochi J. Dreazen / Wall Street Journal:
Gates Doubts U.S.'s Afghan Strategy — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama met with senior counselors for three hours Wednesday to launch his review of Afghan war strategy, amid indications that his defense secretary — the key link between the White House and the military — is among those undecided about the right approach.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, Commentary, JustOneMinute, The Washington Independent and National Review Online
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New York Times:
McChrystal Rejects Lower Afghan Aims — LONDON — The top military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, rejected calls for scaling down military objectives there on Thursday and said Washington did not have unlimited time to settle on a new strategy to pursue the eight-year-old war.
Michael Yon / Washington Times:
The Greatest Afghan War — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — The Greatest Afghanistan War has deteriorated so noticeably that one can now feel the enemy's growing pulse. Each month it beats steadier, stronger, and in 2010 it will finally be born. — On Sept. 11 in Kandahar, a South African civilian …
Discussion:
Michael J. Totten
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Pawlenty preps 2012 campaign team — Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been quietly assembling the blueprint of a presidential campaign and will announce Thursday the support of a group of high-level political strategists and donors, complemented by a handful of top new media consultants, POLITICO has learned.
Quinnipiac University:
Pennsylvania Senate Seesaw Tips To Toomey, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Obama's Approval Drops Below 50 Percent — The seesaw 2010 Senate race in Pennsylvania tips to Republican Pat Toomey, who has 43 percent to recently converted Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter's 42 percent, too close to call …
Discussion:
Glenn Thrush's Blog, Politics Daily, Salon, The Hill, Commentary, race42008.com, Taegan Goddard's … and TPMDC
James Pethokoukis:
Obama's not-so-secret plan to raise taxes — Does President Obama have a secret plan to raise taxes on middle-class Americans — and,well, pretty much everybody else — with a European-style, value-added tax? Actually, it's not such a big secret. Connect the dots:
Discussion:
The Corner on National …, Political Byline, Cato @ Liberty, American Power and Sister Toldjah
Wall Street Journal:
Stimulus Spending Doesn't Work — Our new research shows no evidence of a Keynesian ‘multiplier’ effect. There is evidence that tax cuts boost growth. — Printer — Friendly — The global recession and financial crisis have refocused attention on government stimulus packages.
Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Cantor: Obama's not met with GOP leaders since May — President Obama has cut off communication with Republican leaders, going more than four months without hosting the bipartisan congressional leadership at the White House to discuss his health care proposal, the No. 2 Republican in the House said Wednesday.
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Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Bachmann: Dems would allow abortions for 13-year-olds — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is picking up on a blogospheric conservative drumbeat by charging that confidentiality clauses in the health reform bills passed by three House committees would allow 13-year-old girls to get abortions without informing their folks.
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Dick Morris / Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:
New Player in Health Care Reform Fight — Here's an interesting development in the health care reform battle: Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, jumps into the fight with an advertisement backing President Obama's plan. — Said President Jim Guest: “You may wonder …
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Sharon Waxman / The Wrap:
Exclusive: Comcast in Talks to Buy NBC-Universal from General Electric (updated) — Deal was negotiated at a meeting among bankers in New York on Tuesday. Comcast denies a deal is done, but does not deny talks — Comcast, the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Huffington Post, Mediaite, Media Decoder, Silicon Alley Insider, TVNewser, TVbytheNumbers and Mashable!
Maxim Lott / Fox News:
Obama's ‘Safe Schools’ Czar Admits He Poorly Handled Underage Sex Case — Kevin Jennings was teaching high school in 1988 when a gay student confessed an involvement with an older man. Rather than reporting it, he told the boy, “I hope you knew to use a condom.” — FOXNews.com
Jack Shafer / Slate:
The downside of nonprofit news organizations like MinnPost, Voice of San Diego, and the Washington Independent. — The nonprofit news business—if that isn't a contradiction in terms—is spreading like a midsummer algae bloom. — Philanthropists, who in different times would have endowed …
Patrick / Now! Hampshire:
Portsmouth PD: Shea-Porter was removed from Bush town hall by two police officers — Two officers of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Police Department removed Carol Shea-Porter and Susan Mayer from a February 2005 town hall event hosted by then-President George W. Bush at the request of the owner …
Discussion:
Moe_Lane's blog
Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE TAKES THE PRIZE — White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee took home the top prize in the 16th annual “D.C.'s Funniest Celebrity” contest on Wednesday evening, and he did so in a very unconventional way. Instead of adopting a traditional comedic routine of joke buildup and punchline …
Glenn Thrush / Glenn Thrush's Blog:
Pelosi: No Grayson apology necessary — Nancy Pelosi is shrugging off GOP calls for a mea culpa from Alan “they want you to die quickly' Grayson. — “We have to have a debate that is not distracted from... Apparently Republicans are holding Democrats to a higher level than they are holding …
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Politico: Freaky-deaky Edwards love child scandal even freaky-deakier than thought — Add six cups of freaky, a quart of deaky, stir well, then let chill overnight. The next day: Voila. If you're reading this on the east coast, where it's already past nine, I'd advise turning on a light …
New York Times:
China Celebrates 60 Years of Communist Rule — BEIJING — China's leaders marked their nation's 60th anniversary on Thursday with a precision display of military bravado, a fleet of floats representing everything from a giant fish to Mount Everest and, improbably, a female militia unit toting submachine guns …
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Can't Outsource Afghanistan — George Bush succeeded in Iraq by talking to his generals regularly. — Printer — Friendly — So our top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has told CBS's “60 Minutes” that he has spoken with President Barack Obama only once since June.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Commentary, JustOneMinute, Gateway Pundit, YID With LID and Pundit & Pundette
Matt Viser / Boston Globe:
Coakley fund-raising off at a sprint — More than $2m tallied in a month — Attorney General Martha Coakley, right, greeted Ellen R. Malcolm, founder of EMILY's List, with other supporters last night at a campaign event in Boston. (Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)
Discussion:
The Hill
Penelope Green / New York Times:
A Modern Answer to the Commune — JOHANNA BRONK wants to make communal vegetarian meals and keep chickens. Mariel Berger hopes for social, artistic and political collaborations. Harmony Hazard is into hula hooping, book groups and anarchism. — Oh, to be a young city-dweller in search of a house share.
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Palin co-author: Evangelical, partisan — Sarah Palin's most consequential choice since leaving the Alaska governor's mansion may be her co-author - a staunch conservative, devoted evangelical Christian, and intensely partisan Republican from far, far outside the Beltway.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
McDonough to be NSC chief of staff — The departure of the chief of staff of the National Security Council, Mark Lippert — just reported by Al Kamen — confirms the stature of Denis McDonough as the key staff foreign policy advisor to President Obama. — I'm told McDonough — the the NSC …