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11:40 AM ET, May 18, 2010

Top Items:

Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:

Blumenthal's Words Differ From His History — At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life. — Multimedia — Enlarge This Image

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Hill, JustOneMinute, Michelle Malkin, msnbc.com, Matthew Yglesias, Talking Points Memo, FiveThirtyEight, The Plum Line, Hot Air, Taegan Goddard's …, Washington Monthly, The Note, The Huffington Post, News Desk, The Daily Caller, AmSpecBlog, Top of the Ticket, MyDD, Wonkette, The Corner on National …, BLACKFIVE, Big Journalism, Associated Press, The Awl, Newsweek Blogs, Cassy Fiano, The Politico, Hotline On Call, USA Today, Washington Post, Right Now, The Fix, Mudville Gazette, Weasel Zippers, TPMDC, Mediaite, Sweetness & Light, Guardian, PoliPundit.com, PostPartisan, Indecision Forever, TPMMuckraker, DaTechguy's Blog, Another Black Conservative, Dan_McLaughlin's blog, Gateway Pundit, This Just In, Political Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, This ain't Hell …, Don Surber, Law Blog, The Powers That Be, Outside The Beltway, NewsBusters.org, No More Mister Nice Blog, Betsy's Page, Politics Daily, The Moderate Voice, Open Left, Commentary, YID With LID, NPR Topics, Gawker, Clusterstock, The Eye, Blogs of War, Real Clear Politics, JammieWearingFool, Swampland, Moonbattery, The Other McCain, Neptunus Lex, Weekly Standard, Balloon Juice, TigerHawk, Swing State Project, The Nation, GayPatriot and First Draft

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:

Blumenthal Responds to Vietnam Allegations — Connecticut Attorney General Dick Blumenthal is denying a New York Times report that he routinely lied about his service in Vietnam. — “The New York Times story is an outrageous distortion of Dick Blumenthal's record of service,” …

Discussion: Ballot Box, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Prairie Weather and JammieWearingFool

The Politico:

GOP takes credit for N.Y. Times hit — Pulling back the curtain on journalistic sausage-making usually hidden from voters, a Republican Senate candidate is taking credit for the front-page New York Times story accusing Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of “plainly untrue” remarks about Vietnam service.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Ben Smith's Blog and American Power

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Bombshell: Democratic Senate candidate lied about serving in Vietnam; Update: Blumenthal responds, sort of — Not just any Democratic Senate candidate, either. It's Richard Blumenthal, current attorney general of Connecticut, whom Chris Dodd made way for by retiring earlier this year.

Discussion: National Review, The Strata-Sphere, Public Policy Polling and iOwnTheWorld.com

Paul Bass / New Haven Independent:

Simmons Stands To Gain Most From Blumenthal Expose — (First blush analysis; updated.) The words were all sober. No hint of gloating And yet there was no mistaking the glee in the press release Rob Simmons rushed out Monday night. — A New York Times expose had just hit the web.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Talking Points Memo

Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:
Richard Blumenthal's Bogus War Record

Discussion: Marbury

Linda McMahon / Linda McMahon for Senate:
In Case You Missed It: McMahon Strikes Blumenthal In NYT Article

Discussion: This Just In and The Eye

Kevin / Daily Ructions:
McMahon Strikes. Turns Blumenthal into Bruce Caputo.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, Weasel Zippers, The Corner on National …, msnbc.com, Outside The Beltway, The Moderate Voice, The Eye and Liberty Pundits Blog

J. Taylor Rushing / Ballot Box:
Lieberman undecided on whether to back Republican or Dem in Senate race

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and CNN

Fox News:

Exclusive: Indiana Rep. Mark Souder to Resign Amid Allegations of Affair With Staffer — Eight-term Rep. Mark Souder will announce his resignation Tuesday after it came to light that he was conducting an affair with a female staffer who worked in his district office, Fox News has learned.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Firedoglake, The Caucus, Daily Kos, Weasel Zippers, Towleroad News #gay, The Eye, Liberty Pundits Blog, Hot Air, Politics Nation, AMERICAblog Gay and Don Surber

The Politico:

Souder: ‘I am so shamed’ — Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) is resigning from Congress after telling colleagues he had an affair with a female aide. — “I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff,” Souder said in a statement Tuesday.

Discussion: The Note, CNN, The Swamp, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Townhall.com, Swampland, Hotline On Call and Swing State Project

Justin Elliott / TPMMuckraker:

Family Values GOP Rep To Resign Over Affair (VIDEO) — Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), a champion of abstinence education and traditional family values, will resign effective Friday after an affair with a female staffer in his district office, he announced today. — He said in a statement that he …

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, RHRealityCheck.org, Instapundit and MyDD

Justin Elliott / TPMMuckraker:

Rep. Souder And Mistress Recorded Video Praising Abstinence (WATCH) — Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) had an affair with a part-time staffer named Tracy Jackson, Fox is reporting. Jackson played the role of interviewer for a Souder Web video show on the issues of the day — including one on the value of abstinence.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, The Speakers Lobby and Talking Points Memo

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Mark Souder to resign after affair — Indiana congressman Mark Souder (R) will resign his seat after an affair with a staffer came to light, he said in a statement this morning. — “It is with great regret I announce that I am resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives as well as resigning …

Discussion: Right Now, Liveshots, The Speakers Lobby, Mediaite and Newsweek Blogs

Sylvia A Smith / The Journal Gazette:

Citing ‘relationship’ with staffer, Souder to resign — WASHINGTON — Saying he “sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff,” Rep. Mark Souder, R-3rd, said Tuesday he will resign from Congress.

Discussion: Joe. My. God. and msnbc.com

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
ANOTHER ‘FAMILY-VALUES’ REPUBLICAN RESIGNS AFTER SEX SCANDAL. …

Discussion: The Impolitic

Michael O'Brien / The Hill: Rep. Souder to resign from House

Scott Gottlieb / Wall Street Journal:

No, You Can't Keep Your Health Plan — Insurers and doctors are already consolidating their businesses in the wake of ObamaCare's passage. — President Obama guaranteed Americans that after health reform became law they could keep their insurance plans and their doctors.

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Todd Ackerman / Houston Chronicle:

Texas doctors fleeing Medicare in droves — Texas doctors are opting out of Medicare at alarming rates, frustrated by reimbursement cuts they say make participation in government-funded care of seniors unaffordable. — Two years after a survey found nearly half of Texas doctors weren't taking …

Discussion: Questions and Observations, Pajamas Media and Sweetness & Light

The Politico:

What to watch in Tuesday's primaries — Just four states go to the polls Tuesday, but together they cast a long shadow. — It's the biggest single-day primary so far in 2010 and the outcomes in a handful of key races will provide the clearest indication yet of the depth and intensity …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, The Caucus and Guardian

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Incumbent Armageddon?: What to watch for

Discussion: American Power, FiveThirtyEight, TPMDC, Washington Post and The Politico

The Politico:
Obama steers clear of shaky Specter

Discussion: The Swamp, The New Republic, Slate, Newsweek Blogs, Washington Wire and The New Ledger

Benjamin Joffe-Walt / Jerusalem Post:

Saudi woman beats up virtue cop — Incident follows a wave of challenges to religious authorities. — Talkbacks (16) — Make JPOST.COM your Home Page — Iranian Threat — Jewish World — Local Israel — Arts & Culture — Français — Classifieds — Israel — Middle East

Discussion: Cassy Fiano, Jihad Watch, The Confluence, Stop The ACLU, The Jawa Report, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Another Black Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Neptunus Lex, Betsy's Page, Israel Matzav and Gawker

Dexter Filkins / New York Times:

Suicide Bomber Hits U.S. Convoy in Afghanistan — KABUL, Afghanistan — A man driving a Toyota minivan crammed with explosives steered into an American convoy Tuesday morning here, killing 18 people, including five American soldiers and one from Canada. At least 47 people were wounded …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, BBC, Laura Rozen's Blog, Jules Crittenden and National Review

Amir Shah / Associated Press:
Taliban suicide bomb hits NATO convoy, kills 18

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and The AfPak Channel

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Bomb attack on NATO convoy kills 18 in Kabul

Discussion: FP Passport and The Washington Independent

CNN:

Democrats think Tea Party favorite could hurt GOP chances — Rand Paul is the choice of Tea Party activists in Kentucky. — Bowling Green, Kentucky (CNN) - A win by Rand Paul in Kentucky's Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, a likely prospect according to most polling …

Discussion: The Politico

The Atlantic Online:
Rand Paul Wraps Up in Kentucky

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly and The New Republic

Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:

Obama Won't Say Who Killed Daniel Pearl — At a signing ceremony for the Freedom of Press Act, it is ironic and shameful that Obama could not bring himself to identify the killers who beheaded the man who fearlessly reported on the jihadist terrorists. Obama had this to say:

Discussion: New York Times, Top of the Ticket, Gateway Pundit, The White House, Pundit & Pundette, Weekly Standard, White House.gov Blog Feed, The Corner on National … and RedState

Chip Reid / CBS News:
Press Freedom, Sure. But No Questions.

Discussion: The Foundry, Wizbang, Commentary, Left Coast Rebel, CNN, Another Black Conservative and Pajamas Media

Fox News:

Rev. Wright: ‘Obama Threw Me Under the Bus’ — NEW YORK — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that he is “toxic” to the Obama administration and that the president “threw me under the bus.”

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard and Questions and Observations

Jerry Markon / Washington Post:

Memo from 2002 could complicate challenge of Arizona immigration law — In the legal battle over Arizona's new immigration law, an ironic subtext has emerged: whether a Bush-era legal opinion complicates a potential Obama administration lawsuit against Arizona.

Discussion: Think Progress, TPMMuckraker, Law Blog and Main Justice

David Brooks / New York Times:

Children of the '70s — Today you can walk around the Upper West Side of Manhattan in such ease and safety that you could get the impression it was always this way. But it wasn't. — On July 5, 1961, a gigantic brawl broke out on 84th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues.

Walter Alarkon / The Hill:

Democrats prepare to pass war funding bill without Republican support — House Democrats are preparing to pass an Afghanistan war-spending bill on a party-line vote as Republicans balk at extra provisions the White House wants in the measure. — Passing such a spending bill through …

Discussion: The Politico and Weasel Zippers

Damien Cave / New York Times:

A Generation Gap Over Immigration — MIAMI — Meaghan Patrick, a junior at New College of Florida, a tiny liberal arts college in Sarasota, says discussing immigration with her older relatives is like “hitting your head against a brick wall.” — Cathleen McCarthy, a senior at the University of Arizona …

Discussion: protein wisdom and pandagon.net

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Gingrich forecasts Obama loss — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gives President Barack Obama only a 20 percent chance of being reelected — and says he might be the one to give Obama the boot. — Gingrich, who this week published a book called “To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway