Top Items:
Manu Raju / The Politico:
McConnell to Franken: This isn't ‘SNL’ — When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell laid out his opposition to Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination, someone in the chamber appeared to be moving around in his chair, gasping and rolling his eyes. — It was Sen. Al Franken.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Doug Ross, The Note, USA Today, New York Magazine and Don Surber
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell scolds Franken for making faces from dais during his speech — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) scolded Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on the Senate floor Thursday for allegedly mocking him while he delivered a solemn speech on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
Discussion:
Power Line, Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Politico and Wall Street Journal
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
HEADS THEY WIN, TAILS YOU LOSE.... Time will tell what the Senate …
HEADS THEY WIN, TAILS YOU LOSE.... Time will tell what the Senate …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post and The Plum Line
Jill Lawrence / Politics Daily:
GOP's McConnell on Birthright Citizenship: No One Wants to Alter 14th Amendment
GOP's McConnell on Birthright Citizenship: No One Wants to Alter 14th Amendment
Discussion:
GRITtv, The Moderate Voice, The Washington Independent, TPMDC and Indecision Forever
Kirk Victor / Hotline On Call:
Romer To Leave White House — Christina Romer, chairwoman of Pres. Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, has decided to resign, according to a source familiar with her plans. — Romer, an economics professor at the University of California (Berkeley) before taking the key admin post, did not respond to repeated calls to her office.
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Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Top Obama Adviser on Economics to Step Down — WASHINGTON — Christina D. Romer is resigning as the chairwoman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, the White House announced on Thursday night. She will be the second member this summer to leave an economic team that has steered …
Discussion:
Free exchange and National Review
Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
Christina Romer, chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, to resign — Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, has resigned her post to return to her old job as an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, the White House said Thursday.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Matthew Yglesias, Reuters, Ezra Klein and Greg Mankiw's Blog
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Flimflam Man — One depressing aspect of American politics is the susceptibility of the political and media establishment to charlatans. You might have thought, given past experience, that D.C. insiders would be on their guard against conservatives with grandiose plans.
Discussion:
Clusterstock, Paul Krugman, TalkLeft, AmSpecBlog, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather, Hullabaloo, Economist's View and Balloon Juice
Motoko Rich / New York Times:
Private Growth Is Tepid as U.S. Economy Sheds Jobs Overall — With the American economic recovery hanging in the balance, private employers added 71,000 jobs in July, up from a downwardly revised 31,000 in June but below the consensus forecast of 90,000. The unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.5 percent.
Discussion:
Calculated Risk, Washington Monthly, Free exchange, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Employers Shed Jobs — Unemployment Rate Held Steady at 9.5% in July — WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy shed more jobs than expected in July while the unemployment rate held steady at 9.5%, a further sign the economic recovery may be losing momentum.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin
Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:
Economy sheds 131,000 jobs in July
Economy sheds 131,000 jobs in July
Discussion:
msnbc.com and New York Magazine
Gretchen Morgenson / New York Times:
Exotic Deals Put Denver Schools Deeper in Debt — In the spring of 2008, the Denver public school system needed to plug a $400 million hole in its pension fund. Bankers at JPMorgan Chase offered what seemed to be a perfect solution. — The bankers said that the school system …
Discussion:
The Fix, The Washington Independent, Open Left, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Hotline On Call
Oleoleolson / AlterNet Blogs:
Massive Censorship Of Digg Uncovered — A group of influential conservative members of the behemoth social media site Digg.com have just been caught red-handed in a widespread campaign of censorship, having multiple accounts, upvote padding, and deliberately trying to ban progressives.
James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
Scalia Was Right — Why the same-sex marriage ruling will stand. — For the first time, a federal judge has held that the Constitution mandates the legal redefinition of marriage. The California Supreme Court had reached a similar conclusion in 2008, and voters responded by amending …
Discussion:
Betsy's Page, American Spectator, neo-neocon, The BLT, PostPartisan and Althouse
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Jesse McKinley / New York Times:
Gay Marriage Ruling a Challenge for Both Parties — SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge's decision on Wednesday overturning Proposition 8 — California's ban on same-sex marriage — has tossed a largely unwanted issue into the middle of the November midterm elections.
Paul Krugman:
Bending The Curve — The new Medicare Trustees Report is out. Comparing Table IIIA-2 in this year's report and last year's report, we get this: — Medicare Trustees — In other words, the Medicare actuaries believe that the cost-saving provisions in the Obama health reform …
Discussion:
JustOneMinute and Grasping Reality …
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Walter Alarkon / The Hill:
Old Washington hands break with GOP leaders on Bush-era tax cuts — A number of old Republican hands warning of a deficit crisis have split with the GOP leadership over extending the George W. Bush-era tax cuts. — Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), President Reagan's budget chief David Stockman …
Discussion:
The Politico
Richard E. Cohen / The Politico:
State aid bill a gamble for Dems — Vunerable lawmakers fear voting for more spending, but they don't want to cross the speaker. John Shinkle — When the House returns next week to rubber-stamp the Senate's $26 billion state-aid package, Democrats will take a political crapshoot.
Discussion:
The Page
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Sean J. Miller / Ballot Box:
Rep. Wamp loses gov. primary to Mayor Haslam — Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam (R) defeated Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey (R) to claim the GOP gubernatorial nod Thursday. — Boosted by his support during early voting, Haslam was declared the winner by the Associated Press close …
Discussion:
MyDD and The Politico
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Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Bill Haslam wins GOP nomination for governor in Tennessee
Bill Haslam wins GOP nomination for governor in Tennessee
Discussion:
CNN, Scared Monkeys and The Page
Media Matters for America:
Ben Dimiero & Eric Hananoki: Meet Breitbart's Sherrod writer: Racist sexual “expert” and inventor (who cured cancer) — In two posts on Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment website, Dr. Kevin Pezzi smears Shirley Sherrod as a racist, claiming that “if someone deserves to be put on a pedestal for overcoming racism, it isn't Sherrod.”
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, Eschaton, Washington Monthly, The Poor Man Institute, Little Green Footballs and The Impolitic
Nelson D. Schwartz / New York Times:
2 Top Economists Differ Sharply on Risk of Deflation — When the latest unemployment figures are announced on Friday, all of Wall Street will be watching. But for Richard Berner of Morgan Stanley and Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs, the results will be more than just another marker in an avalanche of data.
Discussion:
Vox Popoli
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obama admin skewers GOP attack on stimulus cocaine monkeys — Are your stimulus dollars really being wasted on getting monkeys high on crack and cocaine? — In recent days, select Republicans and conservatives have taken to bashing the Obama administration over this claim.
Discussion:
Wonkette, RedState, The Other McCain and Washington Monthly
Kenzaburo Oe / New York Times:
Hiroshima and the Art of Outrage — THE Futenma Marine Corps Air Station on Okinawa, one of the largest United States military bases in East Asia, is in the center of a crowded city. The American and Japanese governments acknowledge the dangers of this situation, and they agreed nearly 15 years ago …
Discussion:
Pajamas Media and American Power
Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Boehner: Dem ethics troubles won't have big impact on elections — After a fundraiser for a Republican congressional hopeful in Kentucky, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told a local TV station he doesn't think ethics charges against two Democratic members will play a major role in the upcoming midterm elections.
Discussion:
CNN and The Politico
Jeanne Cummings / The Politico:
Dems accused of tea party tampering — The charges of dirty tricks are being leveled in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey and Florida. AP Photo — Nationally, Democrats say they intend to campaign against the tea party movement. But locally, Democratic officials and activists …
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel and Riehl World View
RELATED:
David Weigel / Slate:
African-American conservatives explain that the only racists …
African-American conservatives explain that the only racists …
Discussion:
sisu, Riehl World View and Hot Air