Top Items:
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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Ezra Klein:
You wouldn't like Lindsey Graham when he's angry — If the policy inside the Kerry-Lieberman-Graham climate change bill seem to have finally come together, it looks like the politics are about to come apart. In a move that's surprised pretty much everybody, Harry Reid and the White House …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, EnviroKnow, Washington Post, The New Republic, American Spectator, cab drollery and Riehl World View
Frank Sharry / The Huffington Post:
Lindsey Graham and the Real “Cynical Political Ploy” on Immigration
Lindsey Graham and the Real “Cynical Political Ploy” on Immigration
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, Los Angeles Times, Washington Monthly, Climate Progress, CNN, USA Today, Time, EnviroKnow and Firedoglake
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.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, ABCNEWS, The Huffington Post, The Plum Line, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Eschaton and The Hill
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 …
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Jimmy Orr / Top of the Ticket:
Creators of ‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’ drop gag after everybody gets angry — “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day?” — As South Park's Sheila Broflovski would say: “What, What, WHAT?” — The outcry from Comedy Central's decision to censor an episode of South Park with depictions of Muhammad …
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 …
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Political Punch:
Anti-Defamation League: National Security Adviser Jones Told “Inappropriate, Stereotypic” Joke About Jewish Merchant — As first noted by the Jewish newspaper The Forward, at an event last week at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy - a pro-Israel think tank …
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Sammy Benoit / YID With LID:
National Security Adviser Jones: Jews Are Greedy Merchants
National Security Adviser Jones: Jews Are Greedy Merchants
Discussion:
The Anchoress, Power Line, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Mediaite, Grim's Hall, Gateway Pundit, Riehl World View, DaTechguy's Blog and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
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:
Bloomberg, DailyFinance, TalkLeft, Commentary, Prairie Weather, European Tribune, The Politico and Paul Krugman
Mark Halperin / Time:
Obama Ahead of Election 2010: The Secrets of His Success — Barack Obama's right-wing opponents cast him as a socialist failure. His left-wing hecklers see him as an overcautious hedger. But, critics notwithstanding, the President is on a path to be a huge success by the time of November's midterm elections.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Obama seeks to ‘reconnect...young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women’ for 2010 — The Democratic National Committee this morning released this clip of the president rallying the troops, if rather coolly, for 2010. Obama's express goal: “reconnecting” with the voters who voted …
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 …
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.
Discussion:
TPM LiveWire
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Tammy Vigil / KDVR:
Colorado closely watching Arizona illegal immigrant crackdown
Colorado closely watching Arizona illegal immigrant crackdown
Discussion:
Patchwork Nation
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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Pierre Thomas / ABCNEWS:
Behind the Scenes at Homeland Security — Napolitano Calls Arizona Immigration Law ‘Misguided,’ Wants Reform With Fines, Biometric Registration, Mandatory English — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in an exclusive interview she agreed with President Obama's assessment …
Discussion:
Feministe
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John O'Connor / The State:
Bauer takes aim at the ‘lazy’ in S.C. — Republican gubernatorial debate held in Spartanburg — SPARTANBURG - Lazy state residents are contributing to the number of illegal immigrants in South Carolina, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said during a Republican gubernatorial debate Friday, living off public aid rather than working.
Wall Street Journal:
Deal Near on Derivatives — Berkshire Presses Lawmakers to Roll Back Proposed Curbs, Avoiding Potential Hit — WASHINGTON—Democrats took a step toward their goal of overhauling financial regulation, reaching a tentative deal to set restrictions on trading in exotic financial instruments known as derivatives.
USA Today:
Economists say recovery looks stronger than expected — The recovery is shaping up to be stronger than expected and there is little risk the economy will slip back into a recession, according to USA TODAY's quarterly survey of 46 leading economists. — Yet most still say the rebound …
Discussion:
EdLabor Journal
Michael Scherer / Swampland:
Dead Girl, Live Boy, Failed Bank: Alex Giannoulias Makes His Play — The Illinois Senate race is playing out like an academic case study in crises management. Imagine this: Your client, a former chief loan officer for a local bank, is a Democrat heading into a Republican election year, in a state long stained by political corruption.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
The GOP's Terrible FinReg Bluff — As of now, it looks like the Republicans will filibuster the first vote on financial reform. It also looks like they're pursuing the most asinine political strategy I've ever heard of, according to Politico: … So wait.