Top Items:
New York Times:
Strauss-Kahn Case Seen as in Jeopardy — The sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is on the verge of collapse as investigators have uncovered major holes in the credibility of the housekeeper who charged that he attacked her in his Manhattan hotel suite in May, according to two well-placed law enforcement officials.
Hans Nichols / Bloomberg:
Geithner Said to Consider Leaving Treasury After Debt Debate — Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has signaled to White House officials that he's considering leaving the administration after President Barack Obama reaches an agreement with Congress to raise the national debt limit …
Discussion:
CNSNews, Hit & Run, James Pethokoukis, The Politico, Wall Street Journal, The Hill, New York Times, Reuters, Firedoglake, The Page, Gawker, Outside the Beltway, Wizbang, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Dealbreaker, Ricochet Conversation Feed, MarketBeat, Angry Bear, Michelle Malkin, Political Punch, msnbc.com, The Lonely Conservative, The New Republic, New York Magazine, Daily Kos and FrumForum
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The Huffington Post:
Tim Geithner: 14th Amendment Says Debt ‘Shall Not Be Questioned’ … WASHINGTON — At a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, President Obama was asked whether he believed that the debt ceiling was constitutional or whether the 14th Amendment required the government to meet all of its obligations regardless of the debt-limit statute.
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, FrumForum and Firedoglake
Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
Wonkbook: The two parties have just begun to fight
Wonkbook: The two parties have just begun to fight
Discussion:
Slate, Wall Street Journal and ThinkProgress
Tim Mak / The Politico:
Mark Halperin suspended over Obama remark on Morning Joe (video) — MSNBC senior political analyst Mark Halperin was suspended on Thursday by the cable network after he called President Obama “a dick” on a popular morning show and then quickly apologized. — “I thought he was a dick yesterday …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, nbcuniversal.presscentre.com, TVNewser, Washington Monthly, Hotline On Call, Althouse, The Huffington Post, The Lonely Conservative, Mediaite, NewsBusters.org blogs, Washington Post, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, The New Republic, FishbowlDC, No More Mister Nice Blog, And So it Goes in Shreveport, RedState, Sense of Events, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Sky Dancing, CNN, The Last Tradition, Balloon Juice, The TrogloPundit, The Moderate Voice, Opinion L.A., The Garlic, New York Magazine, The Other McCain, ImmigrationProf Blog, Ben Smith's Blog, Outside the Beltway, Booman Tribune, AmSpecBlog, Hold Fast, Gawker, American Power, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Scared Monkeys, Indecision Forever, Betsy's Page, Michelle Malkin, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Taylor Marsh, Runnin' Scared and NationalJournal.com, more at Mediagazer »
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Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
MSNBC's suspension of Mark Halperin is way over the top — MSNBC just announced that they have “indefintely” suspended Mark Halperin for claiming that Obama was “kind of a dick” at his presser yesterday. Here's MSNBC's statement: — I'm sorry, but this is crazy.
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Axelrod: What Halperin said was ‘stupid and tasteless,’ but ultimately a ‘mistake’
Axelrod: What Halperin said was ‘stupid and tasteless,’ but ultimately a ‘mistake’
Discussion:
Media Decoder, TPMDC, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and New York Magazine
Jackie Kucinich / USA Today:
Rep. McCotter to launch presidential bid on July 2 — Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich. will launch his presidential campaign on July 2, making him the third sitting member of the House to run for the White House in 2012. — McCotter will make his bid official in his home state of Michigan …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Iowa Caucuses, Outside the Beltway, TPMDC and The Daily Caller
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Mike Murphy / Swampland:
How Michele Bachmann's Surge Reshuffles the GOP Presidential Race
How Michele Bachmann's Surge Reshuffles the GOP Presidential Race
Discussion:
The New Republic, CNN, Washington Post, Democracy in America, Ricochet Conversation Feed and Eunomia
Cristina Marcos / Ballot Box:
FEC rules in favor of Stephen Colbert — The Federal Election Commission ruled Thursday that comedian Stephen Colbert could form his eponymous political action committee with a media exemption. — “I am sorry to say, we won,” Colbert declared to supporters outside the FEC building after the commissioners issued their advisory.
Discussion:
The Caucus, Washington Post, Reuters, The Politico and The TrogloPundit
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Chris Good / The Atlantic Online:
Colbert's ‘SuperPAC’ Pushes the Limits of Election Law
Colbert's ‘SuperPAC’ Pushes the Limits of Election Law
Discussion:
CBS News and New York Magazine
Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Stephen Colbert's running PAC shtick creates sticky mess
Stephen Colbert's running PAC shtick creates sticky mess
Discussion:
CNN, The Note, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Politics and Hit & Run
Sarah Mimms / NationalJournal.com:
FEC Rules Narrowly on Colbert Request
FEC Rules Narrowly on Colbert Request
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, WDBJ-TV, Mediaite, The Atlantic Online, The Raw Story, The TrogloPundit and Prairie Weather
First Read / msnbc.com:
Romney backtracks on argument that Obama made economy worse — Over the last few weeks, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has argued that President Obama's policies have made the economy worse. — Here was Romney in New Hampshire on Monday:
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
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Kasie Hunt / The Politico:
Mitt Romney, Democrats engage on jobs record
Mitt Romney, Democrats engage on jobs record
Discussion:
Fox Nation and FrumForum
Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
Fund-Raising Begins Slowly for G.O.P. Candidates — Fund-raising by the Republican presidential candidates appears to be off to a slow start this year, hindered by the struggling economy, the absence of a clear and compelling front-runner, and the desire of many of the party's biggest donors to wait and see how the race develops.
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's … and FrumForum
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Danny Sullivan / Daggle:
An Open Letter To Jeff Bezos On Terminating The Amazon Affiliate Program In California — Dear Jeff- — Thank you for your letter today, informing me that after seven years of being one of your affiliates — and having earned for you about $150,000 in that time — that you “deeply regret” …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, more at Techmeme »
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John Cook / Gawker:
Roger Ailes' Secret Nixon-Era Blueprint for Fox News — Republican media strategist Roger Ailes launched Fox News Channel in 1996, ostensibly as a “fair and balanced” counterpoint to what he regarded as the liberal establishment media. But according to a remarkable document buried deep within …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Garlic, New York Magazine and Taegan Goddard's …, more at Mediagazer »
Jon Walker / Firedoglake:
Social Security Benefits Cuts Are in the Mix in Debt Ceiling Negotiations — Stealth Social Security benefits cuts are potentially part of the debt ceiling deal currently being negotiated by President Obama and the Congressional Republican leadership, per Politico:
Discussion:
alicublog, The Politico and CNN
RELATED:
Chris Strohm / NationalJournal.com:
Holder: Justice to Drop Investigations Into CIA Officials Involved in Torture — The Justice Department will end a wide-ranging probe into the CIA's past interrogation, rendition, and detention activities, but it will launch a formal criminal investigation into agency officials involved …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Danger Room and ThinkProgress
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Project Syndicate:
Confessions of a Financial Deregulator — print recommend Send link clip secure rights — BERKELEY - Back in the late 1990's, in America at least, two schools of thought pushed for more financial deregulation - that is, for repealing the legal separation of investment banking …
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Paul Bedard / US News:
Harvard: July 4th Parades Are Right-Wing — Democratic political candidates can skip this weekend's July 4th parades. A new Harvard University study finds that July 4th parades energize only Republicans, turn kids into Republicans, and help to boost the GOP turnout of adults on Election Day.
Kate Sheppard / Mother Jones:
Kansas To Shut Down All but One Abortion Clinic Friday — It's official. Every abortion provider in the state of Kansas has been denied a license to continue operating as of July 1. As we reported last week, strict new state laws put in place this month threatened to close the remaining three abortion clinics in Kansas.
Sean Collins Walsh / New York Times:
House Panel Members Joust Over Border Gun Program — WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats on the House oversight committee this week intensified their efforts to shape the narrative surrounding Operation Fast and Furious, the border-security strategy that allowed guns to be shipped illegally …
Discussion:
FrumForum
Scott Wong / The Politico:
Chuck Schumer unveils jobs plan — A bill to create construction jobs and fund new highway infrastructure. A clean-energy jobs program. Reforming the immigration system for high-skilled workers. And a variety of tax cuts and credits. — None of them are new ideas …
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers and Taylor Marsh
Mark Oppenheimer / New York Times:
Married, With Infidelities — Last month, when the New York congressman Anthony Weiner finally admitted that he had lied, that his Twitter account had not been hacked, that he in fact had sent a picture of his thinly clad undercarriage to a stranger in Seattle, I asked my wife of six years …
Discussion:
Althouse
Brian Palmer / New York Times:
Fire Up the Grill, Not the Atmosphere — FOOD is responsible for 10 to 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. By many estimates, cooking represents more of a meal's carbon footprint than transport. For certain vegetables, it accounts for more emissions than agriculture, transport and disposal combined.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Moonbattery
New York Times:
Ballad of the Long Shot — Before you announced your campaign, you said that the liberal establishment is scared that “a real black man might run against Barack Obama.” Are you suggesting Obama isn't really black? — A real black man is not timid about making the right decisions, that's what I meant.
Discussion:
USA Today, No More Mister Nice Blog and Political Insider
Thomas Burr / Salt Lake Tribune:
In Utah, Huntsman's son hits Romney rally — • Will Huntsman, son of presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, attended a rally on Friday for rival White House hopeful Mitt Romney and posed for a photo with the former Massachusetts governor. — In a photo obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune …
Discussion:
CNN, Ballot Box and New York Magazine
The Politico:
Dysfunctional Congress ‘worse’ than ever? — Even on an individual level, members of Congress are casting wary glances at each other — as the newly elected bash the institution and veteran lawmakers say they can't fathom what motivates their junior colleagues.
Discussion:
americanthinker.com
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
How health care rulings are covered — Regular readers may recall an item from February, in which I compared coverage of health care court rulings from several major media outlets. Given yesterday's developments, it's time to revisit the subject. — To briefly review …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The New Republic, Daily Kos and AMERICAblog News
Steven Greenhouse / Economix:
The Wageless, Profitable Recovery — Economists at Northeastern University have found that the current economic recovery in the United States has been unusually skewed in favor of corporate profits and against increased wages for workers. — In their newly released study …
Discussion:
Daily Kos