Top Items:
Jordan Fabian / Ballot Box:
Pa. Democrat admits helping Tea Party candidate — A Pennsylvania Democratic House candidate on Tuesday admitted to helping a third candidate get on the ballot in the hopes he would siphon votes away from his Republican opponent. — Bryan Lentz, the Democratic nominee running for the seat …
Discussion:
Philly.com, Don Surber, Suburban Guerrilla, JammieWearingFool, National Review, iOwnTheWorld.com and All American Blogger
RELATED:
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
A Tea Party of populist posers — On the morning of Oct. 14, a cyber-insurgency caused servers to crash at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. — The culprits, however, weren't attacking the chamber; they were well-meaning citizens who overwhelmed the big-business lobbying group with a sudden wave of online contributions.
Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Tea Party Express's pricey cruises — When the Tea Party Express helped Joe Miller win a shocking upset in Alaska's GOP Senate primary, it cruised to victory in more ways than one. — For seven weeks this summer, staff members of the political action committee coordinated their efforts …
Discussion:
CNN, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Anchorage Daily News
Shane D'Aprile / The Hill:
THE HILL POLL: Voters are not worried about ‘extreme’ label on candidates
THE HILL POLL: Voters are not worried about ‘extreme’ label on candidates
Discussion:
The Politico, The Note and Commentary
Judy L. Thomas / Kansas City Star:
NAACP releases report accusing tea party groups of links to bigots
NAACP releases report accusing tea party groups of links to bigots
Spiegel Online:
‘Obama Has Turned Out to Be an Utter Disaster’
‘Obama Has Turned Out to Be an Utter Disaster’
Discussion:
Raw Story, The Politico, Mediaite, Riehl World View, Hot Air and The Daily Caller
Lee Fang / ThinkProgress:
MEMO: Health Insurance, Banking, Oil Industries Met With Koch, Chamber, Glenn Beck To Plot 2010 Election — In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups …
Discussion:
24Ahead, Gawker, The BRAD BLOG, Crooks and Liars, Raw Story, Daily Kos, Yglesias, Hullabaloo, Weigel, Ezra Klein, Ben Smith's Blog, The Political Carnival and Climate Progress
RELATED:
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
What Role Have Scalia And Thomas Played In The Koch Money Machine?
What Role Have Scalia And Thomas Played In The Koch Money Machine?
Discussion:
Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog and Guardian
Lpratapas / CNN:
CNN/Time Poll: All tied up in Alaska Senate race — (CNN) - A new poll indicates a dead-even race in the Alaska battle between Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller and GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who's running for re-election as a write-in candidate. But a CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
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Michael Scherer / Time:
Poll: Murkowski Stays Close with Miller — but Write-In Confusion Could Hurt Chances
Poll: Murkowski Stays Close with Miller — but Write-In Confusion Could Hurt Chances
Discussion:
Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin.com, The Page and Hotline On Call
Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
DeMint hits Murkowski on abortion in TV ad
DeMint hits Murkowski on abortion in TV ad
Discussion:
TPMDC and Weasel Zippers
Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Soros Donates $1 Million to Media Matters — Media Matters, the liberal activist group that wages a rhetorical war against Fox News Channel and others in the conservative press, will announce on Wednesday the receipt of a $1 million donation from the philanthropist George Soros.
Andy Borowitz / News Desk:
Shouts & Murmurs: Three Things to Do When Clarence Thomas's Wife Calls You — Like many Americans, over the past several years I have been the recipient of multiple unwelcome voicemails from the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. These calls have come in the middle of the night …
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Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:
Maddow Falsely Claims Politician Had Advance Warning of Oklahoma City Bombing — I'm pretty sure that this was an error, not a knowing misstatement—when you're on a daily news cycle, the sad fact is that you probably won't remember everything you've ever said. Nonetheless, this demands a retraction:
Discussion:
Political Byline
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Jack Coleman / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Rachel Maddow at Most Shameless: Claims GOP Congressman ‘Received Advance Notice’ of Oklahoma City Bombing — “Lean Forward,” MSNBC's new slogan suggests. The better to stick a shiv in your opponent's back. — Ethics-averse Rachel Maddow did exactly that on her MSNBC show last night.
Kevin Sieff / Washington Post:
Virginia 4th-grade textbook criticized over claims on black Confederate soldiers — A textbook distributed to Virginia fourth-graders says that thousands of African Americans fought for the South during the Civil War — a claim rejected by most historians but often made by groups seeking …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Rough Sketch, The Lede, Gawker, Little Green Footballs, The Maddow Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Unfogged
Emily Guevara / Tyler Morning Telegraph:
Sold-Out Crowd Gives Former President Bush Three Standing Ovations During Speech — Former President George W. Bush pulled back the curtain of the Oval Office and gave East Texans a picture of what his job was like during the high and low points. — With trademark humor and conviction …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Wake up America and Weekly Standard
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Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Making Ignorance Chic — Casanova's rule for seduction was to tell a beautiful woman she was intelligent and an intelligent woman she was beautiful. — The false choice between intellectualism and sexuality in women has persisted through the ages. There was no more poignant victim of it than Marilyn Monroe.
Discussion:
Conservatives4Palin.com, Taylor Marsh, Commentary, AMERICAblog News and National Review
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Colorado Pols:
You Knew They'd Hit The Wrong Markey Eventually — UPDATE #2: Rep. Ed Markey (the Democrat from Massachusetts — the male Markey) chimes in with his own quote: … UPDATE: We've created this handy-dandy tool that allows you to quickly figure out which Markey you are trying to discuss …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, CNN, New York Magazine, TPMDC, Colorado Independent and skippy the bush kangaroo
Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:
A Culture of Poverty — In 2008, I was sent out to the Democratic convention to work on a piece for this magazine about Michelle Obama. I had just been hired on as a contributing editor, and was ecstatic. There was a community of young bloggers out there—Chris Bodenner, Alyssa Rosenberg, Dayo Olapade etc.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
New York Times:
Spitzer's Harvard Club Application? Rejected — In his emergence from political disgrace, Eliot Spitzer has played multiple roles: political commentator, financial columnist, college professor, and, most recently, CNN host. — One role he will not be playing: a member of the Harvard Club of New York City.
Discussion:
DealBook, The Daily Politics, Room Eight, Gothamist, Above the Law and New York Magazine
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Pelosi's Favorable Rating as Speaker Drops to 29%, a New Low — Nearly 6 in 10 independents now view her unfavorably — PRINCETON, NJ — Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's favorable rating is down seven percentage points since May to 29%, a new low for her since assuming the top congressional post.
Discussion:
The Hill, Hot Air, USA Today, Indecision Forever, Weasel Zippers, Ballot Box, Politics Daily, The Politico, AmSpecBlog, JammieWearingFool, GayPatriot and HotAirPundit
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Just Knock It Off — Some of Israel's worst critics are fond of saying that Israel behaves like America's spoiled child. I've always found that analogy excessive. Say what you want about Israel's obstinacy at times, it remains the only country in the United Nations that another U.N. member …
Discussion:
Wonk Room, Commentary, Israel Matzav, Foreign Policy and Israpundit
Dan Froomkin / NiemanWatchdog.org:
Nine stories the press is underreporting — fraud, fraud and more fraud — From liars' loans to liars' liens, the financial and foreclosure crisis has been one big story of banks defrauding their customers — a vast criminal enterprise. You wouldn't know it from a lot of the media coverage, though.
Discussion:
Firedoglake
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
Democrats suffer from Americans' unwillingness to accept economic reality — It's one of the great fallacies in politics: Candidate Jones says X, Y and Z during the campaign. Candidate Jones wins the election. Ergo, the public agrees with X, Y and Z. — Certainly there are times …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and Dennis the Peasant
Jillian Rayfield / TPM LiveWire:
Glenn Beck: Evolution Is 'Ridiculous — I Haven't Seen A Half-Monkey, Half-Person Yet' — Have you ever seen a half-monkey, half-person? No? Well neither has Glenn Beck, which is how he knows evolution doesn't exist. — On his radio show today, Beck wondered how many people …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, Rough Sketch, Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Climate Progress and TPMMuckraker
Ezra Klein:
The case for a foreclosure moratorium — John Taylor is president and chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and he's among those calling for a foreclosure moratorium — and not just because the paperwork was awry. We spoke this afternoon.
Investor's Business Daily:
Decrees Of Separation — First Amendment: A law school audience fell into fits of laughter when a Senate candidate asked, “Where in the Constitution is separation of Church and State?” In fact, the phrase is nowhere in the document. — Tuesday's debate between Delaware's U.S. Senate hopefuls …
Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Afternoon Fix: Huckabee bashes Conway in new ad and robocall; Democrats' House and Senate committees spread around $20 million; dead heat in Murray-Rossi race — Make sure to sign up to get “Afternoon Fix” in your e-mail inbox every day by 5 (ish) p.m.! — EARLIER ON THE FIX
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and GOP 12
David Harsanyi / Denver Post:
Rise of the bitter clingers — Many of my more enlightened friends like to ask me: How could someone as intellectually gifted, delightfully urbane, profoundly moral and breathlessly handsome not want to spit at these stupid Tea Party candidates with their stupid positions and their stupid stupidity?
Discussion:
protein wisdom
Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Racist Email Flap Blows Up Virginia Beach GOP — Virginia Beach is the biggest city in Virginia, and the hometown of the state's current Republican Governor, Bob McDonnell. Now it's also home to the latest example of a racist email forward destroying a prominent conservative's political credibility and possibly career.
Ezra Klein:
The individual mandate's problem is not the Constitution — Here are some of the Republican senators who co-sponsored an individual mandate for health care when it was included in John Chafee's 1993 bill and are still serving in the upper chamber: Bob Bennett, Kit Bond, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch and Richard Lugar.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and Wonk Room
Rasmussen Reports:
Most Voters Oppose the Reelection of Anyone Who Voted for the Health Care Law, Auto Bailouts, Stimulus Plan — Incumbents, beware: The major votes you've cast in Congress over the past couple years appear likely to come back to haunt you this Election Day. — A new Rasmussen Reports …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Gateway Pundit and Wake up America
Noemie Emery / Washington Examiner:
They're not elites, they're just wrong — Anne Applebaum, a serious woman wed to the serious Radek Sikorski, and the author of a great book on the Soviet Gulag, is defending the court of President Obama against charges made by Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Ginni Thomas, et al …
Catherine Herridge / Fox News:
EXCLUSIVE: Al Qaeda Leader Dined at the Pentagon Just Months After 9/11 — Oct. 2008: American-born Al Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. — Anwar Al-Awlaki may be the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list, but he was also a lunch guest of military brass …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch