Top Items:
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
A Letter to Michael Steele — You are, I know, a patriot. So I ask you to consider, over this July 4 weekend, doing an act of service for the country you love: Resign as chairman of the Republican party. — Your tenure has of course been marked by gaffes and embarrassments …
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Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
RNC chairman: Obama pursued Afghanistan war ‘trying to be cute’ — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was caught on video at a fundraiser in Connecticut on Thursday raising doubts about the war in Afghanistan. — The Democratic National Committee (DNC) pushed out the video …
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Steele Says We Shouldn't Be In Afghanistan; Calls It Obama's War Of Choice — Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele may be misremembering exactly how and when the Afghanistan war began. — At a Republican Party fundraiser in Connecticut on Thursday, Steele declared …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Democrats.com, West Virginia Blue, Wonkette, Newshoggers.com and FrumForum
Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:
RNC Chair Michael Steele Converts Into Anti-War Protester: Never ‘Engage In A Land War In Afghanistan’ — At a fundraiser in Connecticut on yesterday, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele made some startling declarations about the war in Afghanistan that put him on wrong side …
Barbara Morrill / Daily Kos:
Michael Steele: Afghanistan “was a war of Obama's choosing” — It's long been clear that the Republican Party's strategy since Barack Obama became president was to obstruct and attack, no matter what the issue, no matter what the reality. But this video goes beyond any level of mendacity we've seen over the past 18 months.
Michael Powell / New York Times:
U.S. Economy Shed 125,000 Jobs in June; Rate Is 9.5% — The United States added just 83,000 private-sector jobs in June, a dishearteningly low number that could add to the growing number of economists who warn that the economic recovery is stalling. — Multimedia
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Ezra Klein:
Economy lost 125,000 jobs and 652,000 workers in June — A brutal unemployment report this month. Payrolls dropped by 125,000. In another one of those unwanted lessons in how we calculate unemployment data, the unemployment rate dropped from 9.7 percent to 9.5 percent — but not because people got hired.
Christina Romer / White House.gov Blog Feed:
The Employment Situation in June — Today's employment report shows continued signs of gradual labor market recovery. Private nonfarm payroll employment increased by 83,000 in June and the unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 9.5%. June marks the sixth month in a row …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, The Swamp, The Washington Independent, Democratic National Committee, Pirate's Cove and D.C. Now
Ezra Klein:
The White House's economic message — “Today's employment report shows continued signs of gradual labor market recovery,” reads the first line of Christina Romer's analysis of the May jobs report. She emphasizes the 83,000 jobs created in the private sector (the 125,000 net job loss is due …
USA Today:
What is the Tea Party? A growing state of mind — WASHINGTON — The “Tea Party” is less a classic political movement than a frustrated state of mind. — A year and a half after the idea of a Tea Party burst into view, three of 10 Americans describe themselves in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll …
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Frank Newport / Gallup:
Tea Party Supporters Overlap Republican Base — Eight out of 10 Tea Party supporters are Republicans — PRINCETON, NJ — There is significant overlap between Americans who identify as supporters of the Tea Party movement and those who identify as conservative Republicans.
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Kagan Reminds Senators: Legislation Is Your Job — WASHINGTON — Supreme Court confirmation hearings are usually designed to probe a nominee's conception of the role of the justices. But this week's questioning of Elena Kagan turned into a tutorial on Congressional responsibility.
Discussion:
The Politico, CNN, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Indecision Forever, Prairie Weather and The Huffington Post
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Charlie Cook / National Journal Online:
Hurricane GOP On The Way — MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT: THERE IS A WAVE OUT THERE, AND FOR DEMOCRATS, THE HOUSE IS, AT BEST, TEETERING ON THE EDGE. — Imagine sitting in Washington's Verizon Center, listening blissfully to Carole King and James Taylor, thanks to a fast-thinking friend who managed to score four floor seats.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Hullabaloo, Riehl World View, The Corner on National … and Suburban Guerrilla
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Myths of Austerity — When I was young and naïve, I believed that important people took positions based on careful consideration of the options. Now I know better. Much of what Serious People believe rests on prejudices, not analysis. And these prejudices are subject to fads and fashions.
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Motoko Rich / New York Times:
Factory Jobs Return, but Employers Find Skills Shortage — BEDFORD, Ohio — Factory owners have been adding jobs slowly but steadily since the beginning of the year, giving a lift to the fragile economic recovery. And because they laid off so many workers — more than two million since the end of 2007 …
Discussion:
Economix, The Glittering Eye, Democracy in America, Don Surber, Clusterstock, FrumForum, Angry Bear and Eschaton
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Broadband Grants — It's good that this is happening, but sad to see it happening so late in the game considering when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed: … I think this episode highlights some of the tensions and problems that have plagued our efforts at doing discretionary fiscal stimulus on an adequate scale.
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Sean J. Miller / Ballot Box:
Obama and Reid in animated discussion before Byrd service — President Obama had an animated discussion with the top Senate Democrat en route to the memorial service for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (W.Va.) at the West Virginia State Capitol. — Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) …
Discussion:
The Politico
Moni Basu / CNN:
Death by stoning imminent for Iranian woman, attorney says — (CNN) — Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani, a mother of two, is waiting to die in Iran by a method of execution described by her lawyer as “barbaric” — stoning. — She will be buried up to her chest, deeper than a man would be …
Corky Siemaszko / NY Daily News:
Barack Obama is among best presidents ever - George W. Bush not so much, say scholars in Siena poll — George W. Bush was no FDR, but Barack Obama could be. — That's the verdict of 238 of the nation's leading presidential scholars, who - for a fifth time - rated Franklin Delano Roosevelt …
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Emily Schultheis / The Politico:
Profs rank Obama 15th best president
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel, Outside the Beltway, Cato @ Liberty, American Power and The Confluence
Michelle Malkin:
Assimilation and the Founding Fathers — As we head into Independence Day weekend, my column today reflects on the other “A” word missing from the immigration debate: Assimilation. — Assimilation and the Founding Fathers — by Michelle Malkin — Creators Syndicate — Copyright 2010
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Riehl World View
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