Top Items:
The Politico:
Barton retracts apology to BP — Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) is apologizing for his apology. — After infuriating Democrats and Republicans alike with his public apology to BP and suggesting that a $20 billion escrow fund was a “shakedown” by the White House, Barton is now “retracting” …
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
GOP lawmaker demands Barton step down from top committee spot — A Republican lawmaker from a district affected by the oil spill called on Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) to step down as the ranking member of his committee. — Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), whose Pensacola district is among …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, CBS News, Washington Monthly, Think Progress, DownWithTyranny!, Right Now, The Moderate Voice, Wonkette, Political Punch and TPMDC
Melanie Mason / Dallas Morning News:
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton apologizes to BP CEO for ‘$20 billion shakedown’ — mmason@dallasnews.com — WASHINGTON - Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward on Thursday morning for the “political pressure” his company is facing. — Barton condemned the White House's handling …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Boehner distances himself from Barton's ‘shakedown’ comment — House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) broke with a top Republican on Thursday who suggested BP had suffered a “shakedown” by being forced to set up a $20 billion fund to pay out damages. — Asked at his weekly press conference …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Right Wing News, CNN, Washington Post, The Plum Line, JammieWearingFool and This Just In
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Top Corporate Donor to Barton Is Partner of BP on Deepwater Horizon — Ordinarily, it's not that shocking to see a Republican from Texas defend the petroleum industry. But Rep. Joe Barton's comments to BP CEO Tony Hayward today, in which he described it as a “tragedy” that a …
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Say What? GOPers Slam White House Over BP Gulf Spill Fund — BP is ponying up $20 billion for Gulf Spill oil damages. And quite a few Republicans don't like it one bit. — The Obama administration and BP seem to have come to a solution on paying for damages from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill …
David Weigel / Right Now:
Joe Barton's apology and a potential GOP trap — Giving the opening statement for Republicans at today's BP hearing, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, vigorously defended the company in the wake of Wednesday's compromise on an escrow fund …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
To Barton's Defense — Cornyn says he “shares [Barton's] concerns.”
To Barton's Defense — Cornyn says he “shares [Barton's] concerns.”
Chris Good / The Atlantic Online:
Joe Barton's Apology: A Campaign Meme
Joe Barton's Apology: A Campaign Meme
Discussion:
Most Recent Home Page Posts …
Keith Olbermann / Daily Kos:
Check, Please — I was checking in tonight to see what was new, came across a diary trashing first me and my colleague Rachel, and scrolled through it shaking my head, sadly, until I got to one comment that leaped off the page. … “Can't verify”... “haven't checked” …
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Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:
Keith Olbermann Checks Out Of Daily Kos After Criticism From Left — After taking heat from some of his liberal fans on Twitter over his strong criticism of Pres. Barack Obama's Oval Office speech Tuesday, Keith Olbermann stopped into another of his new media stomping grounds to find more of the same.
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Olbermann leaves Daily Kos — Keith Olbermann announced Wednesday night that he will cease blogging for the liberal Daily Kos over a comment directed at the MSNBC host's coverage. — Olbermann and some of his MSNBC colleagues surprised their left-leaning fans on Tuesday with eviscerating critiques …
The Right Scoop:
Hillary Clinton: Yes, Obama is filing a lawsuit against the Arizona law — Hillary Clinton was interviewed by NTN24 out of Quito, Ecuador on June 8, and was asked about how the Obama administration was handling the Arizona law. She answered frankly, that the justice department …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Ben Smith's Blog, The Daily Caller, Weekly Standard, NO QUARTER, New York Magazine, Pirate's Cove, Weasel Zippers and protein wisdom
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Hilary Stout / New York Times:
A Best Friend? You Must Be Kidding — FROM the time they met in kindergarten until they were 15, Robin Shreeves and her friend Penny were inseparable. They rode bikes, played kickball in the street, swam all summer long and listened to Andy Gibb, the Bay City Rollers and Shaun Cassidy on the stereo.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Enterprise Blog, The Anchoress, Dr. Helen, The Agonist and The Corner on National …
Alan I. Abramowitz / Sabato's Crystal Ball:
Can Republicans Take Back the House? — Editor's Note: These days the best D.C. parlor game is guessing November's House results. We've recently made our own contribution, with a district-by-district analysis that projects—as of early June—a Republican net gain of 32 seats.
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The Daily Dish
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CNN:
Language guru: Obama speech too ‘professorial’ — (CNN) — President Obama's speech on the gulf oil disaster may have gone over the heads of many in his audience, according to an analysis of the 18-minute talk released Wednesday. — Tuesday night's speech from the Oval Office of the White House …
David Weigel / Right Now:
Tea partyers push back against ‘The Rise of the New Right’ with boycott — Tea party groups are reacting strongly and negatively to MSNBC's documentary “The Rise of the New Right,” hosted by Chris Matthews. Yesterday, FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey expressed personal disgust with Matthews …
Discussion:
BuzzFlash.org, The Moderate Voice, Wake up America, The Political Carnival, The Impolitic and Macsmind
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The Huffington Post:
Obama Lunches With Progressive Pundits: Maddow, Robinson, Collins — What's Your Reaction: … President Obama met for lunch on Thursday with a group of predominantly progressive columnists to discuss a range of topics, chief among them the oil spill in the Gulf.
Scott Gordon / nbcdfw.com:
Southwest Finds Shipment of Heads on a Plane — Southwest Airlines employee finds human heads on their way to Fort Worth — A Southwest Airlines employee called police after finding human heads in a package set to be transported to a Fort Worth medical research company, the airline said.
Wall Street Journal:
End Is Seen to Free Checking — Bank of America Corp. and other banks are preparing new fees on basic banking services as they try to replace revenue lost to regulatory rules, in a push that is expected to spell an end to free checking accounts for many Americans.
Discussion:
Felix Salmon, CBS News, Mother Jones, Rortybomb, Hit & Run, Lifehacker, The Corner on National … and PointOfLaw Forum
Jay Cost / HorseRaceBlog:
The Pulpit of a Bully — Mike Allen broke this astounding bit of news yesterday: … The 51st Congress (1889-91) was tagged as the Billion Dollar Congress, a profligate Republican-run legislature that raided the Treasury in an effort to pay off all its supporters.
Mpiccorossi / Pew Global Attitudes Project:
Obama More Popular Abroad Than At Home, Global Image of U.S. Continues to Benefit — Overview — As the global economy begins to rebound from the great recession, people around the world remain deeply concerned with the way things are going in their countries.
Discussion:
The Politico, ABCNEWS, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, RealClearWorld, Ben Smith's Blog, Swampland and The Washington Note
Andy Barr / The Politico:
Palin: Pot is a ‘minimal problem’ — Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin said Wednesday night that law enforcement should not focus its energy on the “minimal problem” of marijuana. — Palin made the comment during an appearance on the Fox Business Network with Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
David Hammer / New Orleans Times-Picayune:
BP acknowledges it never followed blowout preventer law, blames MMS — In response to a U.S. senator's questions — in a letter, BP said it never follows a federal law requiring it to certify that a blowout preventer device would be able to block a well in case of an emergency.
Discussion:
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
Liberal Despair And the Cult Of The Presidency — I've been writing for several months about the curious sense of disappointment afflicting liberals —the belief that they've been let down by a president who is, in fact, racking up historical achievements.
Jason Horowitz / Washington Post:
Pollster Scott Rasmussen's numbers are firing up Republicans and Democrats — ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Here is a fun fact for those in the political polling orthodoxy who liken Scott Rasmussen to a conjurer of Republican-friendly numbers: He works above a paranormal bookstore crowded with Ouija boards and psychics on the Jersey Shore.
Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: Arkansas Senate — Arkansas Senate: Boozman (R) 61%, Lincoln (D) 32% — Republican John Boozman now holds a near two-to-one lead over Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas' U.S. Senate race, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state.
Discussion:
Moonbattery, Ballot Box, Aaron Gardner's …, Politics Daily, Commentary, Wake up America, AmSpecBlog and Real Clear Politics
WTVD-TV:
Poll shows Etheridge trailing after video — RALEIGH (WTVD) — Days after North Carolina Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) was seen in a video confrontation with a man with a camera on a Washington street, a new poll seems to indicate the incident has damaged him with voters.