Top Items:
Jon Cohen / Behind the Numbers:
Most back stricter financial reform, advantage Obama — About two-thirds of Americans support stricter regulations on the way banks and other financial institutions conduct their business, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. — Majorities also back two main components …
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THE FATE OF WALL STREET REFORM.... Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scheduled the first procedural vote — the motion to proceed — on Wall Street reform for about 5 p.m. (ET) today. As of yesterday, Republicans were still prepared to voice their unanimous opposition, blocking the debate from getting underway.
Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
The Revolution Will Be Commercialized — Sarah Palin is already president of right-wing America—and it's a position with a very big salary. — On the morning of July 3, 2009, a national holiday, Sarah Palin placed a call to her communications director and told her that she wanted to hold …
Jonathan Martin / Reuters:
‘Nobody wins’ on immigration reform — The Arizona Legislature's passage of a new hard-line anti-immigration law may force both Democrats and Republicans into a place they don't want to be: dealing with the contentious, no-win issue of immigration reform in the midst of an election year.
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Frank Sharry / The Huffington Post:
Lindsey Graham and the Real “Cynical Political Ploy” on Immigration — Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been courageous in working with Democrats on both comprehensive immigration reform and climate change legislation. He has seemed deeply committed to both.
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Not Even in South Park? — Two months before 9/11, Comedy Central aired an episode of “South Park” entitled “Super Best Friends,” in which the cartoon show's foul-mouthed urchins sought assistance from an unusual team of superheroes. These particular superfriends were all religious figures …
Discussion:
Power Line, Balloon Juice, Vox Popoli, Top of the Ticket, DaTechguy's Blog, The Corner on National … and Pajamas Media
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Op-Ed Columnist: Berating the Rating Agencies — Let's hear it for the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Its work on the financial crisis is increasingly looking like the 21st-century version of the Pecora hearings, which helped usher in New Deal-era financial regulation.
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Bloomberg, Commentary, The Politico, Paul Krugman, Prairie Weather and European Tribune
Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
Even Tancredo worries AZ immigration law may go too far: People shouldn't be pulled over for how they look. — Former Colorado Republican congressman Tom Tancredo is known as a far-right ideologue when it comes to immigration, with fellow Republican Dick Armey lamenting that Tancredo is “alienating” Latinos from the GOP.
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Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Obama and Democrats appeal to new voters in midterms — President Obama will declare his stake in the November midterm elections for the first time on Monday as his Democratic Party announces an ambitious strategy to appeal to independent voters in its quest to maintain control of Congress.
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Meredith Traina / WPIX:
Thousands Protest Obama's Stance On Israel — NEW YORK (WPIX) - Thousands of Jews gathered outside the Israeli Consulate Sunday to protest President Obama's position towards Israel. — Organizers said the event supports “Israel's right to build and live in its own country,” …
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Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs:
THOUSANDS IN THE POURING RAIN TO SUPPORT ISRAEL AGAINST OBAMA'S ANTI-ISRAEL POLICIES
THOUSANDS IN THE POURING RAIN TO SUPPORT ISRAEL AGAINST OBAMA'S ANTI-ISRAEL POLICIES
Discussion:
Israel Matzav
Ezra Klein:
How do you measure ‘epistemic closure’? — “Epistemic closure,” Julian Sanchez writes, is the toxic result of “confirmation bias plus a sufficiently large array of multimedia conservative outlets to constitute a complete media counterculture, plus an overbroad ideological justification …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
Sammy Benoit / YID With LID:
National Security Adviser Jones: Jews Are Greedy Merchants — As the National Security Adviser, General James Jones is not known as a friend of the Jewish State. It was Jones who put together the team of Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski to meet with the President and advise him to impose a solution on Israel.
The Politico:
Climate backers try to regroup — Backers of a bipartisan climate change bill are scrambling to revive efforts to pass legislation before the November midterms — even as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sticks by plans to slow-walk the measure behind immigration reform.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Fox News, CNN, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Commentary, CBS News, About.com US Liberal Politics and The Page
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Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:
On climate bill, Democrats work to overcome Graham's immigration objections
On climate bill, Democrats work to overcome Graham's immigration objections
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Ezra Klein, Washington Monthly, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Time, The New Republic and Climate Progress
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Cushy Life of the Rightwinger — If you're a connoisseur of people pointing out that Jonah Goldberg isn't a very intelligent man while simultaneously being too polite to come out and say so directly, I'd highly recommend this post from Conor Friedersdorf.
Simon Johnson / The Atlantic Online:
The Quiet Coup — The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government—a state of affairs …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
McCain unsure Arizona law is legal — John McCain — who has spoken supportively of his state's crackdown on illegal immigrants — appeared torn on the issue at a town hall meeting Saturday: — Although McCain had sounded a note of support for the bill, calling it a “good tool” …
New York Times:
Elite U.S. Units Step Up Effort in Afghan City Before Attack — Small bands of elite American Special Operations forces have been operating with increased intensity for several weeks in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan's largest city, picking up or picking off insurgent leaders to weaken …