memeorandum: So desperate they'll believe anything — the fake Obama thesis debunked (Simon Maloy/Media Matters for America)

11:40 AM ET, October 24, 2009

Top Items:

Prognosis improves for public insurance — MOMENTUM SHIFT IS DRAMATIC Top Democrats push option in health-care legislation — Democratic leaders in the Senate and House have concluded that a government-run insurance plan is the cheapest way to expand health coverage …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Caucus, New York Times and Raw Story

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

Sources: White House Pushing Back Against Senate Public Option Opt Out Compromise — Multiple sources tell TPMDC that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is very close to rounding up 60 members in support of a public option with an opt out clause, and are continuing to push skeptical members.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, The Confluence, Newshoggers.com, Daily Kos, Ezra Klein, The Hill, Firedoglake, The Reality-Based Community, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, No More Mister Nice Blog, AMERICAblog News, The New Republic, MyDD, Crooks and Liars, TalkLeft, Taylor Marsh and The Politico

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:

White House Denies Report That It Wants To Weaken Public Plan — The White House is denying reports that officials are pressuring Sen. Harry Reid to scale back the scope of the “public option” that'll be attached to the Senate health insurance bill. Talking Points Memo reported …

Discussion: Blue Virginia, TalkLeft, Daily Kos, TPMDC, Firedoglake and Washington Monthly

Ezra Klein:
White House to Reid: We hope you know what you're doing

Discussion: Firedoglake, Left in the West, FiveThirtyEight, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, The Greenroom, TalkLeft, The Plum Line and TPMDC

Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Pawlenty Says He Would Lead A Campaign To Opt Out Of The Public Option In Minnesota

Discussion: Minnesota Independent

Eric Zimmermann / The Hill:
Liberal groups take on Rahm

Discussion: The Politico and TPMDC

The Huffington Post:
Reid Is Only One Or Two Votes Shy On Opt-Out Public Option

Discussion: Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, The Huffington Post, Salon, Open Left, Firedoglake, TPMDC, TalkLeft, Daily Kos and The Plum Line

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Obama's Minions Are Ingrates — The Bush administration did leave a plan for Afghanistan. — On October 18, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel appeared on the Sunday morning talk shows and, in the process of answering questions about Barack Obama's strategy on Afghanistan …

Discussion: Power Line and Commentary

Jeff Greenfield / CBS News:

President Obama's Feud with FOX News — After Months of Taking Heat from FOX News Stars, the White House is Firing Back — (CBS) After months of taking incoming fire from the prime-time stars of Fox News, the Obama White House is firing back, charging that FOX News is different from all other news.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

Christina Bellantoni / TPMDC:

WH: We're Happy To Exclude Fox, But Didn't Yesterday With Feinberg Interview — Adding to the Fox News v. White House feud today is a dust-up over an interview with pay czar Ken Feinberg. Turns out, it was a sort of miscommunication, but the White House adds that if they had left Fox …

Discussion: News Hounds, The Impolitic, Talking Points Memo and At-Largely

Joe Klein / Swampland:
OutFoxed? — Let me be precise here: Fox News peddles a fair amount of hateful crap.

Discussion: The Mahablog, Company Town, Firedoglake, Salon, The Confluence, The Moderate Voice, NewsBusters.org, JammieWearingFool, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, No More Mister Nice Blog, TPMMuckraker, Hullabaloo, MoJo Blog Posts, Washington Monthly and The Corner on National …

Fox News:
Administration Loses Bid to Exclude Fox News From Pay Czar Interview

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Liberal Values, TVNewser, At-Largely, The Foundry, TigerHawk, Hot Air and Left Coast Rebel

Simon Maloy / Media Matters for America:

So desperate they'll believe anything — the fake Obama thesis debunked — It really gets to be pretty pathetic sometimes, watching the conservatives grasp at every straw they can in order to attack and discredit a president they don't like. — If you listened to Rush Limbaugh today or visited Fox Nation …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Salon, The Washington Independent, Pajamas Media, Jumping in Pools and Little Green Footballs

Wall Street Journal:

Troop-Boost Plan Gains Backing — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is moving toward a hybrid strategy in Afghanistan that would combine elements of both the troop-heavy approach sought by its top military commander and a narrower option backed by Vice President Joe Biden …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Commentary and Taylor Marsh

George Will / Washington Post:

George F. Will on GOP lightning rod Michele Bachmann — When Marcus Bachmann came home that Saturday evening in 2000, he checked the telephone answering machine and was mystified by the many messages congratulating his wife for something. “Michele,” he said, “do you have something to tell me?”

Discussion: Power Line and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Scott Goldstein / Dallas Morning News:

Dallas police ticketed 39 drivers in 3 years for not speaking English — sgoldstein@dallasnews.com — Dallas police wrongly ticketed at least 39 drivers for not speaking English over the last three years, Police Chief David Kunkle announced Friday while promising to investigate …

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog, Wonk Room and Crooks and Liars

Luke Rosiak / Real Time Investigations …:

Entering digital age an expensive proposition for GOP — The Republican National Committee shelled out $1.4 million dollars over the last six months for Web sites and services, much of which was spent on GOP.com, the party's major Web presence that was unveiled this month, new Federal Election Commission expense reports show.

Discussion: The Hill, Little Green Footballs, Gawker and The Washington Independent

BBC:

We're too rich! Affluent Germans petition to pay more taxes — A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes. — The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany's economic recovery.

Discussion: AMERICAblog News and FP Passport