Top Items:
Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
In debt talks, Obama offers Social Security cuts — President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue.
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Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Dem leader says he'll help GOP on debt-ceiling vote, but at a price — House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Wednesday said he's willing to help Republicans secure the votes they need to pass an increase in the debt ceiling, but not without conditions.
Discussion:
Reuters, The Politico, CNN, The Daily Caller, Booman Tribune and The Hill
New York Times:
President Looks for Broader Deal on Deficit Cuts — WASHINGTON — Heading into a crucial negotiating session on a budget deal on Thursday, President Obama has raised his sights and wants to strike a far-reaching agreement on cutting the federal deficit as Speaker John A. Boehner has signaled new willingness to bargain on revenues.
Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
Cantor says GOP open to cutting tax loopholes in debt deal, but Senate Republicans balk
Cantor says GOP open to cutting tax loopholes in debt deal, but Senate Republicans balk
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Hullabaloo and FrumForum
Rob Bluey / The Daily Caller:
White House uses Twitter to bully critics — President Obama's director of progressive media is obsessed with one particular conservative provocateur. Jesse Lee's duties at the White House include “online response” — and there has been no shortage of responses to one person who routinely communicates with him on Twitter.
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Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:
Rep. Tim Scott Floats Impeachment If Obama Invokes 14th Amendment On Debt Limit (VIDEO) … WASHINGTON — While some have asserted that the debt limit might be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, and therefore President Obama does not need congressional approval to raise it …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and FrumForum
Elaine Quijano / CBS News:
Policy shift in presidential condolence letters
Policy shift in presidential condolence letters
Discussion:
Fox News, The Politico and Shakesville
Washington Wire:
Obama Skirts Question on 14th Amendment's Place in Debt Talks
Obama Skirts Question on 14th Amendment's Place in Debt Talks
Discussion:
Hit & Run
Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Obama's Twitter townhall: A win-win for the White House
Obama's Twitter townhall: A win-win for the White House
Discussion:
CNN, Michelle Malkin, Hot Air and GeekWire, more at Techmeme »
Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
Katie Pavlich Scandal Grows: FBI, DEA Involved With Operation Fast and Furious — Yesterday, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson answered questions from Rep. Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley surrounding Operation Fast and Furious. Melson voluntarily participated in the interview …
Discussion:
Fox News, The Daily Caller and Hot Air
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Hans A. von Spakovsky / Pajamas Media:
Gunwalker: The ATF's Kenneth Melson Blows the Whistle on the Justice Department — A blockbuster development in the Operation Fast and Furious scandal. — In a blockbuster development in the Operation Fast & Furious gun-running scandal, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson secretly testified …
Discussion:
Moe Lane, Power Line, Sister Toldjah, The Lonely Conservative, Wizbang, Nice Deb, Confederate Yankee, Daily Pundit and Hot Air
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Pawlenty co-chairman: Bachmann will be ‘very hard to beat’ in Iowa — Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) is going to be “very hard to beat” in Iowa's Republican caucuses, a co-chairman of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's campaign said Wednesday. — Vin Weber, a former GOP congressman …
Discussion:
The Note, CNN, The Caucus, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Iowa Caucuses and Fox News
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Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Bachmann surging, signs of weakness for Romney — When PPP polled New Hampshire in April Michele Bachmann was stuck at 4%. She's gained 14 points over the last three months and now finds herself within single digits of Mitt Romney. Romney continues to lead the way in the state with 25% …
Discussion:
TPMDC, The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, The Politico, GOP 12, Balloon Juice, The New Republic, Indecision Forever, The Reaction and Ballot Box
Jason Horowitz / Washington Post:
Michele Bachmann's husband shares her strong conservative values
Michele Bachmann's husband shares her strong conservative values
Discussion:
Weigel, Salon, ThinkProgress, Pam's House Blend, The Awl, Shakesville, Pajamas Media and Ben Smith's Blog
Paul Krugman:
The Obama-Keynes Mystery — I'm not alone in marveling at the extent to which Obama has thrown his rhetorical weight behind anti-Keynesian economics; Ryan Avent is equally amazed, as are many others. And now he's endorsing the structural unemployment story too.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
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Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Barack Obama's Dangerous Embrace Of Economic Fatalism
Barack Obama's Dangerous Embrace Of Economic Fatalism
Discussion:
Right Wing News, TalkLeft and The New Republic
Ron Kampeas / JTA:
U.S. says Israel's inclusion on terrorist watch list was a mistake — WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israel was included erroneously on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security terrorist watch list, a U.S. official said. — John Morton, the director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Jihad Watch
RELATED:
Jeff Dunetz / YID With LID:
REVERSAL! DHS Now Says Putting Israel on Terrorist Watch List Was A Mistake
REVERSAL! DHS Now Says Putting Israel on Terrorist Watch List Was A Mistake
Discussion:
The Jawa Report
Merrill Matthews / Human Events:
Gov. Rick Perry: The Candidate Obama Would Fear the Most — More than any other potential GOP presidential candidate, President Obama fears Texas Gov. Rick Perry. That's because Perry is the only one who can devastate virtually any Obama claim. — Take the whine we hear most often from the President …
Discussion:
The Hill, Opinion L.A. and New York Times
RELATED:
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Perry doing better with Texas Republicans
Perry doing better with Texas Republicans
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Ballot Box
Bob Egelko / San Francisco Chronicle:
Court bars enforcement of 'don't ask, don't tell' — (07-06) 13:16 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court ordered a halt today to the armed forces' discharge of openly gay service members, citing the Obama administration's disavowal of laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway and FrumForum
RELATED:
Paul DeMiglio / Frontlines, The SLDN Blog:
07-06-11 SLDN Statement on Ninth Circuit Court's DADT Ruling
07-06-11 SLDN Statement on Ninth Circuit Court's DADT Ruling
Discussion:
New York Times, LGBTQ Nation, Taylor Marsh, Poliglot and Equality Matters
Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Union Workers Replaced With Prison Labor Under Scott Walker's Collective Bargaining Law — While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) law dismantling collective bargaining rights has harmed teachers, nurses, and other civil servants, it's helping a different group in Wisconsinites — inmates.
Discussion:
ECHIDNE of the snakes and The Raw Story
ABCNEWS:
Casey Anthony Juror: ‘Sick to Our Stomachs’ Over Not Guilty Verdict — Casey Anthony juror Jennifer Ford said today that she and the other jurors cried and were “sick to our stomachs” after voting to acquit Casey Anthony of charges that she killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.
Discussion:
Hot Air, TMZ.com, The Informer, Gothamist, Gawker and Verum Serum, more at Mediagazer »
Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
CNN Cancels ‘In the Arena’ With Eliot Spitzer — 1:30 p.m. | Updated CNN on Wednesday cancelled Eliot Spitzer's 8 p.m. political talk show, “In The Arena,” and said it would shift Anderson Cooper's 10 p.m. nightly newscast into the time slot. — The cable news channel also said that Erin Burnett …
Sarah Palin / Facebook:
Media Making Things Up: “Tears” and “Rages” During “The Undefeated”? Really? — Obviously we've seen our share of media lies, but the latest fabrications circulated take a big slice of the cake. The UK Daily Mail reports that I was “in tears” as Todd “rages over Hollywood stars ripping” me in the new film “The Undefeated.”
Discussion:
Daily Mail, The Note, Top of the Ticket, The Daily Caller and The Other McCain
Nick Schulz / Economics 2.0:
How Effective Was The 2009 Stimulus Program? — So the stimulus — the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or ARRA — is starting to wind down. What are the results? — Depends on whom you ask, of course. Conservatives will say unemployment is near double-digits and growth is slow, so clearly it didn't work.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, USA Today, Hit & Run, RedState, Don Surber and Pajamas Media
Paul Broun / National Review:
Thinking Outside the Box: Let's Lower the Debt Ceiling — In the midst of our economic emergency, which is beginning to resemble a full-on Greece-style meltdown, every politician in America has taken to the soap box to say the exact same thing: We need to reduce our national debt and cut spending to get America back on track.
Discussion:
Mother Jones and TalkLeft
Philip Su / Facebook Blog:
Call Your Friends Right From Facebook — Over the last year, the messages team has been working to make it easier to have one on one conversations with your friends. In November, we launched the new messages, which brings together your chats, texts, emails and messages all in one place.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, TechCrunch, PC World, GeekWire, New York Magazine and msnbc.com, more at Techmeme »
Darren Samuelsohn / The Politico:
Bill Clinton likens GOP effort to Jim Crow laws — Former President Bill Clinton Wednesday compared GOP efforts to limit same-day voter registration and block some convicted felons from voting to Jim Crow laws and poll taxes. — In a speech to liberal youth activists Wednesday …
Discussion:
TPMDC, Sister Toldjah, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, CNN and FrumForum
Christi Parsons / Los Angeles Times:
TSA warns of possible airline threat involving implanted bombs — A traveler is inspected at a TSA checkpoint at LAX this year. (Mark Boster) — The government has warned airlines that terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosives into people in an attempt …
Discussion:
Danger Room, SWJ Blog, Wizbang, The Jawa Report and ProfessorBainbridge.com
Political Punch:
Obama Warns Debt Ceiling Should Not Be ‘Used As A Gun’ To Extract Tax Breaks — ABC News' Mary Bruce (@marykbruce) Reports: — In some of his harshest language to date in the fight over the deficit, President Obama warned today that the debt ceiling should not be “used as a gun” …
Discussion:
American Glob, Balkinization, The Note, Pajamas Media, AmSpecBlog and Doug Ross
RELATED:
Elias Groll / The Politico:
Could Barack Obama drop Joe Biden? — Barack Obama will dump Joe Biden for Hillary Clinton. Or Andrew Cuomo. Or whoever's next to emerge in the speculation game. — As political pipe dreams go, the idea that a sitting president will swap out his running mate is one of the oldest — and least likely to come true.
Caitlin Dickson / The Atlantic Wire:
Richard Dawkins Gets into a Comments War with Feminists — Players: Famed evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins; Rebecca Watson, female activist. — Opening Serve: Richard Dawkins made an unexpected appearance in the comments section of biologist PZ Myers' post at Scienceblogs.com last week.
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Vox Popoli and Pharyngula
Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
The GOP's evolving case against taxes — There are two ways to increase taxes. One is you just raise rates, particularly the top rates. Economists in general — and Republican economists in particular — don't much like this approach because it raises taxes on the last dollars you've earned.
Discussion:
The New Republic and A plain blog about politics