Top Items:
Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:
Former First Lady Betty Ford Dead at 93 — Betty Ford, wife of former President Gerald Ford and the founder of the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and addiction, has died at age 93. — In public, she was one of the most visible and outspoken first ladies in history.
Discussion:
The Politico, Associated Press, Hot Air and The Jawa Report
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Enid Nemy / New York Times:
Betty Ford, Former First Lady, Dies at 93 — Betty Ford, the outspoken and much-admired wife of President Gerald R. Ford who overcame alcoholism and an addiction to pills and helped found one of the most well-known rehabilitation centers in the nation, has died at 93.
Discussion:
Online NewsHour, The Atlantic Online, Connecting.the.Dots, Big Government and FrumForum
Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Following Controversy Over Pledge, Family Leader Clarifies Anti-Porn Statement — GOP presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum both signed a candidate pledge by the influential social conservative group THE FAMiLY LEADER which ThinkProgress, ABC, the Washington Post …
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Slate and The Hill
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The Note:
Bachmann Signs Pledge for Ban on Porn and Same-Sex Marriage — ABC News' Russell Goldman (@GoldmanRussell) reports: — Michele Bachmann became the first presidential candidate to sign a pledge, vowing to support a constitutional amendment that defines marriage between a man and a woman, and which calls for a ban on all pornography.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, The American Conservative, ThinkProgress, The Politico and Mediaite
Cheryl Contee / Jack & Jill Politics:
Michelle Bachmann Signs Pledge that Says Black Children Better Off During Slavery
Michelle Bachmann Signs Pledge that Says Black Children Better Off During Slavery
Discussion:
M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …, Blogcritics, Religion Dispatches, Balloon Juice, Top of the Ticket, Mediaite, Opinionator, The Maddow Blog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Atlantic Online, Wonkette, Atlas Shrugs, Liberal Values, Jezebel, Pirate's Cove, The Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, ThinkProgress, Minnesota Independent and GOP 12
Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:
The FAMiLY Leader's Marriage Pledge Says Unwed Slaves Preferable Parents For African-Americans
The FAMiLY Leader's Marriage Pledge Says Unwed Slaves Preferable Parents For African-Americans
Discussion:
Dump Michele Bachmann
Baratunde / baratunde.com:
Michelle Bachmann is running for president on a pro-slavery, anti-porn platform?
Michelle Bachmann is running for president on a pro-slavery, anti-porn platform?
Discussion:
Truth Wins Out, pandagon.net, Daily Kos, Pharyngula and ThinkProgress
Elizabeth Flock / Washington Post:
Michele Bachmann signs pledge that says homosexuality is a choice
Michele Bachmann signs pledge that says homosexuality is a choice
Discussion:
Sister Toldjah, The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Verum Serum, Talk Radio News Service, NY Daily News and Sadly, No!
Susan Crabtree / TPMDC:
Rep. Ryan Tastes The Grapes Of Wrath — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), a leading advocate of shrinking entitlement spending and the architect of the plan to privatize Medicare, spent Wednesday evening sipping $350 wine with two like-minded conservative economists at the swanky Capitol Hill eatery Bistro Bis.
Discussion:
Erick's blog, The Sundries Shack, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, Harry's Place, The Raw Story and New York Magazine
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Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:
Paul Ryan's $350 Bottle of Wine — Remember John Edwards's $400 haircut? That turned out to be quite a problem for him. It looks like Paul Ryan is about have a similar problem on his hands. According to this astounding article (with pictures) at Talking Points Memo, Ryan …
Discussion:
Corrente
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
What did David Plouffe really say about unemployment? — Senior Obama adviser David Plouffe is getting widely pilloried on the right today for claiming that people won't vote in 2012 “based on the unemployment rate.” — Plouffe made the comments to reporters at a Bloomberg breakfast earlier this week.
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Jake Tapper / Political Punch:
What's the White House Doing Today to Create Jobs? …
What's the White House Doing Today to Create Jobs? …
Discussion:
Sky Dancing, Hot Air, Washington Wire, Outside the Beltway and Datechguy's Blog
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
What was the point of that Rose Garden speech?
What was the point of that Rose Garden speech?
Discussion:
Advancing a Free Society and Ricochet Conversation Feed
Julie Mason / Reuters:
Plouffe: It's about vision, not jobs
Plouffe: It's about vision, not jobs
Discussion:
The Politico, CNN, Hot Air, The Hill, Pajamas Media, New York Magazine and And So it Goes in Shreveport
David Leonhardt / Economix:
The Cost of Austerity — The main problem with the job market is the lack of hiring by private employers. Above all, they aren't sure what the future will bring. — Financial crises have long hangovers, and this one is no exception. Home sales and car sales remain depressed …
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Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
CHART: Over 500,000 Government Jobs Lost Since Obama's Inauguration
CHART: Over 500,000 Government Jobs Lost Since Obama's Inauguration
Discussion:
Top of the Ticket, PERRspectives, Washington Monthly, Swampland and Jezebel
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
House liberals launch organizing drive against entitlements cuts — House liberals are launching an organizing drive inside the Democatic caucus, in an effort to line up Democrats and get them to commit to opposing any final deficit deal that contains any cuts to entitlements benefits, according to a letter I've obtained.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
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Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
What's In A Name? Dems Support Social Security Benefit Cut — By Calling It Something Else
What's In A Name? Dems Support Social Security Benefit Cut — By Calling It Something Else
Seung Min Kim / The Politico:
Nancy Pelosi: No entitlement cuts
The Politico:
Entitlements talk spooks Dems
Entitlements talk spooks Dems
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, The Note, Daily Kos and Weasel Zippers
John M. Becker / Truth Wins Out:
I Received ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapy at Marcus Bachmann's Clinic — TWO Exclusive Investigative Report by John M. Becker — The date was Thursday, June 30, 2011. I turned on the television and listened half-heartedly to the commercials as I busied about doing other things.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Dump Michele Bachmann
Erika Gudmundson / U.S. Department of the Treasury:
FACT CHECK: Treasury General Counsel George Madison Responds to New York Times Op-Ed on 14th Amendment — Treasury's General Counsel George Madison submitted to the New York Times today the following letter to the editor: — 620 Eighth Avenue — New York, NY 10018 — To the Editor:
Discussion:
Washington Post, Balkinization, Washington Wire, Firedoglake, Gawker, TPMDC, New York Magazine and Talking Points Memo
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Dan Amira / New York Magazine:
President Obama Receiving Sycophantic Laughter — While President Obama certainly has an above-average sense of humor for a politician — easy-going, self-effacing, maybe a little corny at times — he's not known as one of the planet's foremost comedians. Yet photographic evidence compiled …
Discussion:
Pajamas Media
Paul Tough / New York Times:
No, Seriously: No Excuses — In the early days of the education-reform movement, a decade or so ago, you'd often hear from reformers a powerful rallying cry: “No excuses.” For too long, they said, poverty had been used as an excuse by complacent educators and bureaucrats who refused …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post and ThinkProgress
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Byron Tau / Ben Smith's Blog:
DSCC fires back at Koch brothers — The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, after soliciting funds from the Koch Brothers, have decided that they're a much better foil. DSCC executive director Guy Cecil writes a letter in response, blaming the DSCC campaign solicitation on a staff error:
Discussion:
Power Line, Weasel Zippers and Wonkette
Eli / Firedoglake:
Worst President Ever, Revisited — No, I'm not ready to crown Barack Obama the Worst President Ever just yet, but consider this: — Yes, George W. Bush wrecked our economy, destroyed New Orleans, turned a budget surplus into massive deficits, ignored warnings of a major terrorist attack …
Christine Hauser / New York Times:
Job Growth Falters Badly, Clouding Hope for Recovery — The United States economy added a meager 18,000 jobs in June, up from a gain of a revised 25,000 jobs in May, the Department of Labor said on Friday. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent in May, the department said.
Discussion:
CNN, FiveThirtyEight, New York Times, AlterNet, CNBC, Economix, Money & Company, Crooked Timber, Calculated Risk, Speaker, White House.gov Blog, AmSpecBlog, The Atlantic Online, Bloomberg, No More Mister Nice Blog, Lynn Sweet, Daily Kos, BizzyBlog, GayPatriot, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, Emptywheel, The Nation, New Deal 2.0, Freakonomics, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Corrente, Booman Tribune, Oliver Willis, ThinkProgress, Truthdig, Gothamist, AMERICAblog News, Economist's View, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Scared Monkeys, Washington Monthly, Shakesville, The Western Experience, Online NewsHour, FrumForum, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Lonely Conservative
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Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
What Really Matters — I don't want to take it too seriously, but I think this Gallup data on who is and isn't expressing satisfaction with their lives helps us understand which dimensions of economic inequality in America do and don't matter: — What you're seeing here is that being unemployed or being seriously poor is terrible.
Discussion:
Modeled Behavior and TheMoneyIllusion
The Politico:
Perry calling Iowa activists as potential donors convene — Rick Perry has started calling Iowa Republicans and a former RNC finance chairman is helping to convene a meeting of national donors later this month in Austin to discuss financing a potential 2012 campaign — signs that the Texas governor …
Discussion:
The Note, Iowa Caucuses and FrumForum
Douglas Belkin / Wall Street Journal:
Chicago Power Broker Gets Heat Over Security Detail — CHICAGO—For 28 years, city Alderman Edward Burke has been protected by a squad of four bodyguards, a perquisite almost unheard of among municipal legislators. — Now pressure is building for Mr. Burke's security detail to be eliminated …