memeorandum: McConnell gives Franken a piece of his mind (Paul Kane/Washington Post)

12:20 PM ET, August 6, 2010

Top Items:

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: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Economix, Daily Kos, BBC, Guardian, Wake up America, NewsBusters.org, Bloomberg, The Washington Independent, Outside the Beltway, National Review, Left Coast Rebel, Money Game and The Big Picture

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: Clusterstock, The Caucus, Real Time Economics, CNBC, Don Surber and Moe Lane

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:

Jobs Report Terrible, Again — The economy lost 131,000 jobs in July, all of them in the government. Private payrolls added north of 70,000 workers—anemic in the face of our current unemployment rate, but hey, at least it's something. But government jobs fell by 200,000, mostly …

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Weekly Standard

Calculated Risk:
July Employment Report: 12K Jobs ex-Census, 9.5% Unemployment Rate

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Washington Independent, Hot Air, Free exchange, Seeing the Forest, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Weigel, CRimages and Money Game

Christina Romer / White House.gov Blog Feed:
The Employment Situation in July

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, CNN and The Swamp

Michelle Malkin:
Unemployment at 9.5%; another Obama econ adviser bails; Mrs. Obama hits the beach

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, USA Today, Clusterstock, Scared Monkeys and Associated Press

Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:
Weak private hiring shows recovery on the ropes

Discussion: msnbc.com, New York Magazine and AmSpecBlog

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: The Atlantic Online, Ezra Klein, The New Republic, Marathon Pundit and Greg Mankiw's Blog

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.

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Diamond in the Rough

Discussion: Don Surber, Wonk Room, Brendan Nyhan and NewsReal Blog

Bloomberg:
Obama Fed Board Pick Diamond Gets Referred Back to White House by Senate

Discussion: Firedoglake and Reuters

CNN:
Republicans slam White House over new jobs report

Discussion: The Politico, The Other McCain and Ballot Box

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Top Obama Adviser on Economics to Step Down

Discussion: Free exchange and National Review

David Wessel / Wall Street Journal:
Romer to Resign as Obama Adviser

Discussion: The Page

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: Paul Krugman, National Review, Clusterstock, Talking Points Memo, TalkLeft, AmSpecBlog, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather, Hullabaloo, Economist's View, Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns & Money

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: Lawyers, Guns & Money, American Spectator, Betsy's Page, The BLT, neo-neocon, Althouse, Lean Left, RedState, Sadly, No!, ACS Blog, PostPartisan and The Huffington Post

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:
Gay Marriage Ruling a Challenge for Both Parties

Discussion: Law Blog, The BLT and KRLD-AM

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Private Sector Adding Jobs, State Budget Crises Killing Economy — The new unemployment report highlights the fact that the economy remains lousy and John Boehner is going to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives. Ironically, it also demonstrates the bankruptcy of Boehner's way of thinking.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian and Ezra Klein

Ezra Klein:

Jobs report: Public sector loses 202,000 jobs; private sector gains 71,000 — The July jobs report is bad news for jobs, but tepidly good news for recovery. Another 143,000 census positions expired, contributing to a total public sector job loss of more than 200,000 jobs.

Discussion: gopleader.gov and Eschaton

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, Hot Air, Doug Ross, The Note, Michelle Malkin, New York Magazine, Don Surber and USA Today

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell scolds Franken for making faces from dais during his speech

Discussion: Power Line, The Caucus, The Confluence, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, The Politico, Wall Street Journal, WHAS, Sister Toldjah and Washington Post

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
McConnell gives Franken a piece of his mind

Discussion: Law Blog, Salon, The Awl and RHRealityCheck.org

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 Spot, Open Left, The Washington Independent, Sunlight Foundation, The Fix, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Hotline On Call

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

IGNORING AN ALARM.... In light of the latest discouraging jobs report — the third consecutive month in which the job totals were disappointing — there's an obvious course ahead. Heidi Shierholz, an economist from the Economic Policy Institute, said, “The economic case for more government action …

Discussion: Eschaton

Richard E. Cohen / The Politico:
State aid bill a gamble for Dems

Discussion: The Page

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: Questions and Observations and American Power

Richard Fernandez / Pajamas Media: The Foundations of Our World — As the New York Times remembers Hiroshima, try this quiz.

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.

Discussion: Examiner, Guardian, protein wisdom, Gawker, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, Truth Wins Out, ReadWriteWeb, Newshoggers.com and The BRAD BLOG, more at Techmeme »

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Mulling 2012, Pawlenty Takes Restrained Plunge — As he explores a potential presidential run, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has been branded with the “too conventional” label so many times that it's already become a cliché. But Pawlenty insists he's not as boring as many pundits have made him out to be.

Discussion: Weigel, TPMDC and Real Clear Politics

Brookings Institute:

2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll: Results of Arab Opinion Survey Conducted June 29-July 20, 2010 — Shibley Telhami, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy — On Thursday, August 5, Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Huffington Post, Questions and Observations, The Daily Caller and The League of Ordinary …

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 and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

Brooks / SPORTSbyBROOKS:

NBC Takes Olbermann Off Sunday NFL Broadcasts — Multiple media and network television sources confirmed to me Thursday that Keith Olbermann will not appear on NBC's Football Night In America Sunday evening NFL broadcasts this season. — Some members of the FNIA cast and crew were made aware …

Discussion: Hot Air, JammieWearingFool and NewsBusters.org

Wayne Besen / Truth Wins Out:

Bulletin: Porno Pete's ‘Truth Academy’ a Poorly Attended Dud — Earlier today, Peter LaBarbera opened his Truth Academy confernece, a three day gay bashing extravaganza in a Chicago exurb. Despite weeks of flogging the event and several stories in right wing media, our spies tell us that the event was a major dud.

Discussion: Joe. My. God.

Keach Hagey / The Politico:

The RNC's least favorite reporter — One Times scribe has made the infighting within the Republican National Committee his beat. Reuters — The Republican National Committee, embroiled in an internal squabble over the leadership of chairman Michael Steele, is leaking like a sieve.