Top Items:
Jamie Stiehm / Washington Post:
Oval Office rug gets history wrong — A mistake has been made in the Oval Office makeover that goes beyond the beige. — President Obama's new presidential rug seemed beyond reproach, with quotations from Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy …
Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
Democrats add fiscal austerity as a campaign issue — The candidate was outraged - just outraged - at the country's sorry fiscal state. — “We have managed to acquire $13 trillion of debt on our balance sheet,” he fumed to a roomful of voters. “In my view, we have nothing to show for it.”
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, Pundit & Pundette and Liberty Pundits Blog
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Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
On Economy, Democrats Face a Lack of Unity — WASHINGTON — Democrats are entering the fall sprint to the midterm elections lacking a unifying message to address the lackluster economy, scrambling to come up with further job-creating remedies and out of time to show substantial results before voters go to the polls.
Discussion:
American Power and Balloon Juice
Digby / Hullabaloo:
Loving Their Grandkids To Death — sacrificing them to the Market Gods — Loving Their Grandkids To Death — Howie has a great post up today about the social security con game which you should in full. I just wanted to riff on one little piece of it because it struck me that we haven't been clear about what's going on.
Discussion:
Open Left and Suburban Guerrilla
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
In defense of Alan Simpson — The President's Deficit Commission is designed to be as anti-democratic and un-transparent as possible. Its work is done in total secrecy. It is filled with behind-the-scenes political and corporate operatives who steadfastly refuse to talk to the public about what they're doing.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Firedoglake and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
America has a cow over Alan Simpson's candor on deficits
America has a cow over Alan Simpson's candor on deficits
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Hullabaloo
Gail Collins / New York Times:
The Ungreat Debate — We do not generally look to gubernatorial debates for excitement. But this week there was a fascinating one in Arizona, where Gov. Jan Brewer gave a bad performance of epic proportions. Really, Richard Nixon in 1960 was Demosthenes in Athens compared with this one.
Discussion:
Prairie Weather
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Ariz. governor says she was wrong about beheadings — PHOENIX — A claim by Arizona's governor that rising violence along the U.S.-Mexico border has led to headless bodies turning up in the desert came back to haunt her during a stammering debate performance in which she failed to back it up.
Discussion:
CNN, Arizona Daily Star, Outside the Beltway and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Paul Krugman:
Rahmism — Jon Cohn's post about what the administration may be considering, and what it isn't considering, makes we want to cry. — Look: early on the administration had a political theory: it would win bipartisan legislative victories, and each success would make Republicans who voted no feel left out …
Discussion:
DownWithTyranny! and Grasping Reality …
New York Times:
30 False Fronts Won Contracts for Blackwater — WASHINGTON — Blackwater Worldwide created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, The Hill, Prairie Weather and FrumForum
Aharding / CNN:
Tea Party candidate sparks backlash in Delaware — The Tea Party Express launched new ads supporting Delaware Republican primary Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell. — Washington (CNN) - Fresh on the heels of Joe Miller's surprising win over Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska Republican Senate primary …
Discussion:
AmSpecBlog, Riehl World View, Outside the Beltway, The Other McCain and minx.cc
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Sen. Graham reaches out to Tea Party
Sen. Graham reaches out to Tea Party
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Gateway Pundit and FrumForum
CQ-Roll Call / The Eye:
Alaska: Miller Getting Serious About Fundraising
Alaska: Miller Getting Serious About Fundraising
Discussion:
The Mudflats, The Huffington Post and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
CNN:
Salahi in Playboy? Just ‘another rumor.’ — Michaele Salahi (right) has not received an offer to appear in Playboy, her spokesman told CNN on Saturday. — (CNN) - A spokesman for Michaele Salahi of White House party-crasher fame batted down on Saturday morning a story that claims the …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and PopEater
New York Times:
Endorsements for New York — Like voters around the country, New Yorkers are angry at people in office, and they tend to be most peeved at anybody who works in Albany. — That bad mood has even touched two veteran Democratic congressmen who normally coast to re-election in November.
Discussion:
The Daily Politics and Capital Tonight
Kathleen Lucadamo / NY Daily News:
Embattled Rep. Charles Rangel's legal tab is $1.8 million and rising — The party's over for Charlie Rangel, but not the legal bills. — The embattled Harlem Democrat has forked over $111,170 to lawyers since July from his campaign stash, federal filings released Friday show.
Discussion:
The Hill and JammieWearingFool
Yasir Ghazi / At War:
Punk'd, Iraqi-Style, at a Checkpoint — BAGHDAD — An Iraqi reality television program broadcast during Ramadan has been planting fake bombs in celebrities' cars, having an Iraqi army checkpoint find them and terrifying the celebrities into thinking that they are headed for maximum security prison.
New Zealand Herald:
Mayor: Quake hit city ‘like an iceberg’ — Have you been affected by the quake? — Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker is thankful there has been no loss of life but there had been considerable damage across the city and outlying areas. — The city has been left devastated …
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, CNN and This Just In
Samuel Goldsmith / NY Daily News:
Former President Bill Clinton: Democrats need more time to undo GOP's damage to country — Democrats need more time to get out of the economic hole dug by Republicans during the Bush years, ex-President Bill Clinton said yesterday at a campaign rally for Staten Island Rep. Mike McMahon.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and JammieWearingFool
Phil Izzo / Real Time Economics:
Broader U-6 Jobless Rate up to 16.7%: Why the Jump? — The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.6% in August, but the government's broader measure of unemployment rose even more to 16.7%, the highest rate since April. — The comprehensive gauge of labor underutilization, known as the …
Discussion:
Fausta's Blog, Wake up America, Economist's View and American Enterprise Institute
RELATED:
Christopher S. Rugaber / Associated Press:
Despite hiring, US unemployment rate seems frozen
Despite hiring, US unemployment rate seems frozen
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org