Top Items:
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 …
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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. — Boehner distanced himself …
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 …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Great National Tragedy is ... The Escrow Account? — Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), ranking member of the House Energy committee, where BP's CEO is testifying today, just said: “It is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown …
Discussion:
TPMDC
Conn Carroll / The Foundry:
Morning Bell: An Offer BP Couldn't Refuse
Morning Bell: An Offer BP Couldn't Refuse
Discussion:
Associated Press, The Atlantic Online, Gateway Pundit, Chicago Boyz, AMERICAblog News and CNN
Corky Siemaszko / NY Daily News:
Texas Rep. Joe Barton apologizes to BP CEO Tony Hayward over White …
Texas Rep. Joe Barton apologizes to BP CEO Tony Hayward over White …
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.
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:
Wake up America, BuzzFlash.org, The Moderate Voice, The Impolitic, The Political Carnival and Macsmind
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Matt Lewis / Politics Daily:
Chris Matthews' Documentary ‘Rise of the New Right’: A Curveball From the Left — If MSNBC was looking to officially become the cable channel of the far left, it may have finally succeeded Wednesday night with the airing of Chris Matthews' documentary, “The Rise of The New Right.”
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Right Wing News, Betsy's Page, msnbc.com, NewsBusters.org and Riehl World View
Dana Loesch / thedanashow.wordpress.com:
The Playboy Article on the Tea Party — I can't wait to tell my Baptist mother that her daughter is in Playboy. — This month's issue of Playboy features an interesting article on the tea party movement and in particular, focuses on a particular group of activists, myself included.
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Riehl World View, Founding Bloggers, Gateway Pundit, Aaron Gardner's …, New York Magazine and Moe Lane
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 …
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:
Politics Daily, Ballot Box, Townhall.com, Commentary, Wake up America, AmSpecBlog and Real Clear Politics
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 …
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David Gardner / Daily Mail:
Bullied into a £13bn cave-in: Obama forces BP to set up huge compensation fund for U.S. oil spill victims - and British pensioners will pick up the bill — The crisis engulfing BP plumbed new depths last night as President Obama bullied the company into depositing £13.5billion …
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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.
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.
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.
Wall Street Journal:
Crude Politics — The drilling experts speak out on the Obama deepwater moratorium. — Before the Obama Administration sweeps under the carpet the controversy over the drilling experts it falsely used to justify its moratorium, the incident bears another look.
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Behind Closed Doors Four Key Democrats Maneuver To Weaken Financial Reform — Several House Democrats with close ties to the financial industry, including four members of the conference committee hashing out the final bill, are pushing to weaken the Wall Street reform legislation in the conference committee.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, New Deal 2.0, Sunlight Foundation, TPMMuckraker and Washington Post
Washington Times:
Walpin-gate swings wide open — Two big new twists on anniversary of IG firing — One year to the day after illegally firing AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin, the Obama administration is scrambling to ward off further embarrassments related to the case.
Associated Press:
AP-GfK poll shows gains for health care overhaul — WASHINGTON (AP) — The patient is alive and kicking. A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds public support for President Barack Obama's new health care law has risen to its highest point. — The nation remains divided …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Washington Monthly, Taegan Goddard's …, The Political Carnival and The Speakers Lobby
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.
Gail Collins / New York Times:
The Boring Speech Policy — On Monday night in Ohio, a 62-foot-tall statue of Jesus got hit by lightning and burned to the ground. (The adult bookstore across the street was unscathed.) Less than 12 hours later, Gen. David Petraeus — who is not God, although certain members of Congress …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
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.
Bill Gertz / Washington Times:
Inside the Ring — Missile defense deal? — The Obama administration is secretly working with Russia to conclude an agreement that many officials fear will limit U.S. missile defenses, a key objective of Moscow since it opposed plans for a U.S. missile defense interceptor base in Eastern Europe …