Top Items:
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
And the award for the most ridiculous poll sampling goes to ... Move over, CBS. Hang up the kid-leather gloves, WaPo/ABC. There's a new sample-skewing sheriff in town, and it's the Associated Press. In a new definition of “outlier,” the AP reported that its latest poll …
Discussion:
Nice Deb, Pajamas Media, Moe Lane and iOwnTheWorld.com
RELATED:
Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Latest AP Poll Sample Skews to Democrats by 17 Points — Wow! The AP poll has Obama's approval rating hitting 60 percent! And 53 percent say he deserves to be reelected! — And on the economy, 52 percent approve of the way Obama's handling it, and only 47 percent disapprove!
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Guardian
Peter Nicholas / Los Angeles Times:
Bin Laden death now part of Obama's re-elect message — President Obama speaks at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Austin, Tex. Tuesday. (Jim Young/Reuters) — Reporting from Austin, Tex.— Osama bin Laden, mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, is now an applause line in a presidential campaign speech.
Associated Press:
AP-Gfk poll: Obama approval hits 60 percent — WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years — 60 percent — and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Discussion:
TPMDC, The Moderate Voice, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Gawker and FiveThirtyEight
Bloomberg:
Boehner's Views on Economy Contradicted by Studies — House Speaker John Boehner, giving Wall Street leaders his prescriptions for growing the U.S. economy and reducing the nation's debt, built his case on several assertions that are contradicted by market indicators and government reports.
Discussion:
Yglesias, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, The Caucus, The Moderate Voice, ThinkProgress, Wonkette and The New Republic
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Peter Lattman / DealBook:
Galleon's Rajaratnam Found Guilty — Updated — Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire investor who once ran one of the world's largest hedge funds, was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy on Wednesday by a federal jury in Manhattan. He is the most prominent figure convicted in the government's crackdown …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, TalkLeft, Gothamist, New York Magazine, Gawker, Dealbreaker and JammieWearingFool
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Paul Ryan takes aim at AARP, but misses — With the House Republican budget agenda imposing new burdens and hardship on the elderly, it's not surprising that AARP opposes the GOP vision and has said so. Given that Republicans want to end Medicare and gut Medicaid, the nation's leading advocates …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice and Daily Kos
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Ryan: GOP faces messaging challenge in selling 2012 budget
Ryan: GOP faces messaging challenge in selling 2012 budget
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Impolitic and AMERICAblog News
Daniel Malloy / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Party Lines — Post-Gazette.com … Sen. Pat Toomey is serious …
Party Lines — Post-Gazette.com … Sen. Pat Toomey is serious …
Discussion:
Wonk Room and Naked Politics
Adam C. Smith / St. Petersburg Times:
Potential presidential candidate Jon Huntsman makes a stop in St. Petersburg — Jon Huntsman and his wife, Mary Kaye, met with potential donors Tuesday night in Snell Isle in St. Petersburg. Homeowner James MacDougald introduced Huntsman. Al Austin, standing by the chair, led Tampa's successful bid for the 2012 GOP convention.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Note, RedState, Ben Smith's Blog and GOP 12
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McKay Coppins / The Daily Beast:
Huntsman's 2012 Buzz Caused Friction With Obama Team
Huntsman's 2012 Buzz Caused Friction With Obama Team
Discussion:
Eunomia, Ben Smith's Blog and Erick's blog
Jake Tapper / Political Punch:
Top Democrats: Huntsman Would Be Toughest to Beat in 2012; Won't Win GOP Nomination
Top Democrats: Huntsman Would Be Toughest to Beat in 2012; Won't Win GOP Nomination
Discussion:
New York Magazine
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
House GOP freshmen conveniently forget 2010 — A wide variety of House Republicans, especially freshmen in competitive districts, heard from their constituents over the recent two-week break, and discovered that voters aren't impressed with the GOP plan to end Medicare.
Discussion:
TPMDC, New York Magazine and Eschaton
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Marin Cogan / The Politico:
GOP frosh protest Dems' rhetoric on Medicare
GOP frosh protest Dems' rhetoric on Medicare
Discussion:
The Reid Report and FrumForum
Galactic Empire Times:
Obi-Wan Kenobi Is Dead, Vader Says — CORUSCANT — Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mastermind of some of the most devastating attacks on the Galactic Empire and the most hunted man in the galaxy, was killed in a firefight with Imperial forces near Alderaan, Darth Vader announced on Sunday.
Discussion:
Indecision Forever and Questions and Observations
Wall Street Journal:
President to Renew Muslim Outreach — WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is preparing a fresh outreach to the Muslim world in coming days, senior U.S. officials say, one that will ask those in the Middle East and beyond to reject Islamic militancy in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death and embrace a new era of relations with the U.S.
NBC New York:
NJ State Police “Outraged” Over Rapper Invite to White House — Common at the 2011 Common Ground Foundation gala fundraiser at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago last month. — The invitation of rapper Common to the White House this week is drawing the ire of the union representing New Jersey state police.
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Rachel Rose Hartman / Yahoo! News:
Palin joins those balking at White House invite to rapper Common
Palin joins those balking at White House invite to rapper Common
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Political Punch and The Nation
Michael Sean Winters / ncronline.org:
Catholic Academics Challenge Boehner — A group of prominent Catholic academics have signed a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, on the occasion of his forthcoming commencement address at the Catholic University of America. I will provide commentary later today …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Post, New York Times, The Reality-Based Community and Hullabaloo
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
GOP blasts NEA grants to Frisco mimes, accordion festival — A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday grilled the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts over grants to San Francisco mimes and an international accordion festival. — “Those just kind of grants lend themselves to ridicule …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Same-sex marriage and the '16 nomination — It's basically self-parody here at POLITICO to write about the 2016 presidential campaign, and I don't plan to do it much. But I thought it was worth passing on a point Bob Shrum made to me yesterday about one of the three or four Democrats already operating …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and Taegan Goddard's …
Digby / Hullabaloo:
The New York Times hires a fabulous fabulist — Simply The Best — A while back I wrote about the recent media tour of James B Stewart, the author a recent book called Tangled Web: How American Society is Drowning in Lies about the culture of lying in America.
Discussion:
Media Decoder and Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality …, more at Mediagazer »
Jim McNerney / Wall Street Journal:
Boeing Is Pro-Growth, Not Anti-Union — Washington's actions have assaulted the capitalist principles that have sustained America's competitiveness since it became the world's largest economy nearly 140 years ago. — Deep into the recent recession, Boeing decided to invest more than $1 billion in a new factory in South Carolina.
Discussion:
Moonbattery, Questions and Observations, The Daily Caller and Shopfloor
Kevin Lamarque / The Atlantic Online:
How Perpetual War Became U.S. Ideology — Since the last realist president, George H.W. Bush, left office, two groups— neoconservatives and liberal interventionists—have overtaken American foreign policy — The United States has found itself in a seemingly endless series of wars over the past two decades.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
Erik Hedegaard / Rolling Stone:
Donald Trump Lets His Hair Down — A conversation with the host of The Celebrity Apprentice — Like you, we've always wondered what's inside Donald Trump's wallet. So, on a recent visit to his office at the top of Trump Tower in Manhattan, the epicenter of his vast real estate empire …
Discussion:
CNN
The Business Insider:
Irish Bombshell: Government Raids PRIVATE Pensions To Pay For Spending — The Irish government plans to institute a tax on private pensions to drive jobs growth, according to its jobs program strategy, delivered today. — Without the ability sell debt due to soaring interest rates …
Discussion:
Hit & Run and The Market Ticker
Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Peace Corps Volunteers Speak Out on Rape — WASHINGTON — Jess Smochek arrived in Bangladesh in 2004 as a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer with dreams of teaching English and “helping the world.” She left six weeks later a rape victim after being brutalized in an alley by a knife-wielding gang.
Discussion:
Boing Boing, Doughnut Orbitals, The Raw Story, msnbc.com and First Response Action
John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:
Palin and the Curse of a Thin Skin — In the June Atlantic, Joshua Green has a terrific piece called “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin” that gets at the maddening aspect of Palin's gifts and strengths as a politician better than any single article has with the exception of Yuval Levin's COMMENTARY piece two years ago.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online, The Daily Dish, Right Wing News and FishbowlDC
Erik Wasson / The Hill:
White House backs down after subpoena threat from Rep. Issa — The Obama administration will send an official to testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing after Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) threatened to issue a subpoena. — The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) …
Jordy Yager / The Hill:
House intel chairman: Now is the time to ‘break’ al Qaeda's back — The House Intelligence Committee chairman said on Wednesday that Congress must not cut — but rather boost — funding for U.S. intelligence agencies in the wake of Osama bin Laden's killing, insisting now is the time to “break” al Qaeda's back.
Discussion:
FrumForum
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Despite hurdles to passage, Reid vows a vote on DREAM Act — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday vowed to hold a vote on legislation creating a route to legal residency — and ultimately citizenship — for illegal-immigrant students. — Reid declined to say when the …
Discussion:
FrumForum
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
IRS gift tax move could hit new anonymous groups — The Internal Revenue Service appears to have begun to enforce a tax on gifts to the non-profit organizations that were a key vehicle for anonymous politics in the last five years and had promised to play a large role in the presidential cycle …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, msk.com and Don Surber