Top Items:
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
McConnell: I Won't Agree To Raise The Debt Limit Without Medicare Cuts — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says substantial Medicare cuts must be part of a spending and deficit cut package to get his support to raise the debt limit. — In a Capitol briefing with reporters Friday …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway and The Raw Story
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David Brooks / New York Times:
Medicare Survival Guide — Sometime this summer, the Democrats and the Republicans will go toe-to-toe over whether to raise the debt ceiling. At the height of the confrontation, President Obama may well address the country and say that even though he has offered the Republicans …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, The New Republic and DailyHowler.com
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
McConnell puts Medicare in the ransom note — The Republican debt-ceiling strategy hasn't been subtle: GOP officials are threatening to cause a recession, on purpose, unless Democrats give them the spending cuts they want. It's Hostage Taking 101. — The trick has been identifying the ransom.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
The Hill:
McConnell: Saying Medicare is off the table is ‘silly talk’ and ‘nonsense’ — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday that Medicare reform must be part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, despite indications that changing the entitlement will be politically unpopular.
Discussion:
The Politico, TalkLeft, The Note and FrumForum
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
A Cornered Animal Is A Dangerous Animal — Public polling, the NY-26 outcome, and other objective indicators make it clear Republicans have boxed themselves into a political corner with their plan to end Medicare. It's a big problem for them politically, and there's no easy way out …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and Booman Tribune
Wall Street Journal:
Mediscare: The Surprising Truth — Republicans are being portrayed as Medicare Grinches, but ObamaCare already has seniors' health care slated for draconian cuts. — The Obama administration has repeatedly claimed that the health-reform bill it passed last year improved Medicare's finances.
Discussion:
JSOnline, Wonk Room, National Review, Pajamas Media and Doug Ross
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Medicare and Mediscares — Yes, Paul Ryan, the chairman …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, NewsBusters.org, The Confluence, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Prairie Weather
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Are Dems drawing hard line on Medicare after all?
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Kevin Hall / The Iowa Republican:
Bachmann's Debacle — “This is a disaster,” said one prominent Polk County Republican. An elected official called it “an embarrassment”. The embarrassing disaster was the result of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann's last minute cancellation of her appearance at the Polk County GOP's Robb Kelley Dinner.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Mediaite
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The Politico:
Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann size each other up — Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are nominally allies, two maverick conservative women who are among the GOP's brightest stars. — Telegenic pols with devoted followings, both appeal to the tea party faithful and would make strong runs …
Discussion:
The Note, Washington Post, Jezebel, REPUBLICAN REDEFINED, CNN, Ben Smith's Blog and Pirate's Cove
Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
What Obama did to Israel — Every Arab-Israeli negotiation contains a fundamental asymmetry: Israel gives up land, which is tangible; the Arabs make promises, which are ephemeral. The long-standing American solution has been to nonetheless urge Israel to take risks for peace …
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Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Judge strikes down corporate donations ban — A federal court in Alexandria, Va. on Thursday struck down a federal ban on corporate campaign contributions, in a case with potentially dramatic ramifications for a campaign finance regulatory system under siege by legal and regulatory attacks.
Discussion:
Election Law Blog, Moe Lane and Gawker
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Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Republican Judge Strikes Down Ban On Corporate Contributions Directly To Candidates — Reagan-appointed federal Judge James Cacheris just ruled that corporations have a constitutional right to contribute money directly to political candidates:
Discussion:
Associated Press, Crooks and Liars, OpenSecrets.org, Daily Kos and Taegan Goddard's …
Clay Dillow / Popular Science:
This Time Lapse Video of the Very Large Telescope At Work is the Coolest Thing You'll See Today — Your Universe (As Seen From the Home Planet) ESO/Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado — There's very little we can write to preface the imagery below, so we'll just set the scene and get out of the way.
Discussion:
Yourish.com and Questions and Observations
Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
CNN Poll: GOP 2012 field still up in the air — Washington (CNN) - Call it a sign of how unsettled the GOP presidential field remains: Two of the three people at the top of new national poll in the battle for the Republican nomination may not even run for the White House.
Stogie / Saberpoint:
Soquel High School Students Suspended for Wearing White T Shirts (They're Signs of “White Supremacy") — Soquel, California — on the Central Coast: — Several high school seniors wore white t shirts to their class's group picture last Wednesday and were suspended for doing so.
Discussion:
Left Coast Rebel and Five Feet of Fury
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Azenith Smith / kionrightnow.com:
Soquel Students Suspended for White Supremacy Claims
Discussion:
Wake up America, Moonbattery and The Daily Caller
Jason Embry / Austin American-Statesman:
Perry says he will consider White House run — Gov. Rick Perry today gave his strongest indication yet that he may run for president. — “I'm going to think about it” after the legislative session ends Monday, Perry said. — For years, Perry has said that he would not run for president and that he had no interest.
Amazon.com:
Amazon.com Reveals the Most Well-Read Cities in America — Cambridge, Mass., tops the list with the most books, magazines and newspapers purchased per capita of any city in the United States — (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Just in time for the summer reading season, Amazon.com announced its list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and The New Editor
Political Punch:
ROBAMA: Is It OK for a President to Autopen a Bill Into Law? — With the Patriot Act set to expire last night, President Obama signed legislation extending it — from France — as first reported by ABC News. — How did he do that? Using an autopen, of course. — Is that allowed?
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The Note:
Obama Won't Personally Sign Patriot Act Extension
Discussion:
The Hill, The Caucus, Boing Boing, The Daily Caller, The Volokh Conspiracy, Top of the Ticket, The Politico, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Gawker, Odd Clauses Watch, Josh Blackman's Blog, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Moderate Voice, rubber hose, Michelle Malkin and New York Magazine
Paul Krugman:
No Ideas — Ezra Klein points us to the House GOP's rather pitiful jobs manifesto. Ezra describes it as “now more than ever”: the GOP's response to the employment crisis is to demand exactly the same things it demands when the economy is doing well. — Actually, the same is true of the Ryan plan …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post and Daily Kos
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The Politico:
Spotlight takes toll on first lady's staff — Less than three years into the job, first lady Michelle Obama is on her third chief of staff and third social secretary. She is on her second communications director, the White House chief usher recently departed, and her press secretary's last day is Friday.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:
Saudi Arabia Scrambles to Limit Region's Upheaval — RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia is flexing its financial and diplomatic might across the Middle East in a wide-ranging bid to contain the tide of change, shield fellow monarchs from popular discontent and avert the overthrow …
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, Newshoggers.com and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS
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Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone:
Wikileaks: Speculators Helped Cause Oil Bubble
Discussion:
Pacific Views, Firedoglake and naked capitalism
Ed Treleven / host.madison.com:
Marshfield man charged in circuit court with attempt to kill abortion doctor — IMAGE (7) — The Marshfield man who drove to Madison to kill an abortion doctor told police that he was next going to go to an abortion clinic in Milwaukee, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Crooks and Liars
The Note:
Rolling Thunder Riders Praise Sarah Palin's Participation in Rally — ABC News' Sheila Marikar [@sheilaym] reports: For the riders of Rolling Thunder, the news that Sarah Palin will participate in their national rally on Sunday came as a surprise. A welcome surprise.
Discussion:
Fox Nation, Ben Smith's Blog, Weasel Zippers and Mediaite
Edward Lewine / New York Times:
Inside Meghan McCain's Bachelorette Pad — The famous daughter of the famous senator shows off her 1,100-square-foot bachelorette home in West Hollywood. — LEAST-REPUBLICAN PIECE OF CLOTHING: My black studded Christian Louboutin heels. They are hard-core. My friend nicknamed them my dominatrix heels.
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative, The Other McCain, Wonkette and Gawker
The Note:
Mitt Romney Supports Ethanol Subsidies, Opposes Tim Pawlenty's ‘Hard Truth’ — ABC News' Emily Friedman (@emilyabc) & Matthew Jaffe (@jaffematt) report: — Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are at odds on one of the biggest issues to voters in Iowa, home of the nation's first presidential caucuses.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Washington Wire, Ballot Box, Pajamas Media, GOP 12 and Outside the Beltway
Rick Perlstein / New York Times:
America's Forgotten Liberal — JANUARY was the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth, and the planet nearly stopped turning on its axis to recognize the occasion. Today is the 100th anniversary of Hubert H. Humphrey's birth, and no one besides me seems to have noticed.
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, A plain blog about politics, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos
Steven Ertelt / LifeNews.com:
Larry Flynt Calls Trig Palin “Brain Dead Virtual Vegetable” — Sarah Palin's son Trig is in the news again following the liberal blog Wonkette bashing her and saying her son, who has Down Syndrome, is “retarded” and “somewhat alive.” Now Hustler published Larry Flynt has gotten in on the attacks.
Discussion:
The Independent, The Jawa Report, Big Journalism and Big Hollywood
The Huffington Post:
Karl Rove: Sarah Palin Doesn't Seem To Think ‘Rules Apply To Her’ (VIDEO) … During an appearance on Fox News' “On the Record” on Thursday night, Karl Rove weighed in on the political ambitions of Sarah Palin as signs emerge that the former Alaska governor may be laying the groundwork …
Discussion:
Guardian, Washington Post, Mediaite, Sister Toldjah and The Moderate Voice
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Breaking: Several Jewish Dems in Congress back Obama on Israel, characterize his stance accurately — Since it's being widely reported that many leading Democrats in Congress are criticizing Obama's stance on the pre-1967 lines, it's perhaps also worth mentioning that a few Jewish Congressional Dems have stepped forward to defend him.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and New York Times
Brendan Greeley / Business Week:
Tyler Cowen, America's Hottest Economist — The George Mason University professor has written a bestseller, The Great Stagnation, keeps an influential blog, and reads way too many books — Tyler Cowen sits with a cranberry juice and a pile of books he no longer intends to read.
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway and The Moderate Voice
Darren Samuelsohn / The Politico:
Gingrich recalls ‘global cooling’ — Newt Gingrich doesn't buy the established science of global warming, especially when there were warnings in the 1970s of a new Ice Age. — “Now many of those scientists are still alive, and they were absolutely convinced,” the GOP presidential contender …
Discussion:
New Hampshire Primary 2012
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