Top Items:
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Franken Destoys Focus On The Family Witness, Exposes Misuse Of HHS Study — During this morning's Senate DOMA hearings, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) destroyed Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery's argument that children are better off with opposite-sex parents by demonstrating how Minnery misrepresented an HHS study.
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Politics:
Former Senator Judd Gregg Says Shutdown Needed Before House Will Agree To Debt Limit Deal — Former Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) says Social Security checks will need to be halted before House Republicans will agree to a deal to raise the debt limit. — A deficit hawk and former Chairman …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway
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Sam Youngman / The Hill:
White House says Obama could agree to short-term debt ceiling hike
White House says Obama could agree to short-term debt ceiling hike
Discussion:
Big Government
Courtney Comstock / Clusterstock:
Goldman Just Held A Call On The Debt Ceiling — Here's Judd Gregg's Bearish Prediction
Goldman Just Held A Call On The Debt Ceiling — Here's Judd Gregg's Bearish Prediction
Discussion:
James Pethokoukis
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
House Dem opposition rises against McConnell fallback debt-ceiling plan
House Dem opposition rises against McConnell fallback debt-ceiling plan
Discussion:
The Politico, Washington Monthly, Slate, Washington Post, Hot Air and New York Times
Fortune:
Larry Summers calls Winklevoss twins ‘A**holes’ — NEW YORK (Fortune) — What did Larry Summers really think of the Winklevoss twins? — “Rarely, have I encountered such swagger, and I tried to respond in kind,” the former president of Harvard said in an interview at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference.
Discussion:
Felix Salmon, Gawker, Shakesville and New York Magazine, more at Techmeme »
David Brody / The Brody File:
Never Before Seen: The ‘Inside Scoop’ on Some 2012 Presidential Contenders — On this week's edition of The Brody File show, some never before seen footage from my interviews with Sarah Palin, Speaker John Boehner, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann as we get the 'scoop" on some of their “personal preferences.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and ThinkProgress
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Christian Heinze / GOP 12:
Palin: Journalists can learn from me — Today, David Brody released unseen footage from his Sarah Palin interview. This bit — at 21:55 in — caught my ear. — Palin:
Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Wasserman Schultz brushes off West email — Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) is dismissing Tuesday's personal attack by Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) as political bluster, not a hatchet job on the congresswoman, her office said Tuesday. — “I don't think that Congressman West is upset …
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Cantor's wealthy backers: raise our taxes — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has scuttled any possible debt-reduction compromise, insisting House Republicans can't agree to so much as a penny in new revenue. Every tax cut billionaires enjoy is sacred; every corporate-jet owner mustn't …
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JSOnline:
Democratic senator Hansen retains seat in recall attempt — Tea party activist, attorney are winners in Republican primaries — By Tom Tolan, Lee Bergquist and Georgia Pabst of the Journal Sentinel — Democratic state Sen. Dave Hansen of Green Bay was the first of nine state senators …
Discussion:
CNN, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*
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First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Disconnect — Disconnect between Obama …
First Thoughts: Disconnect — Disconnect between Obama …
Discussion:
Online NewsHour, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly and New York Magazine
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Pawlenty says WH hopefuls must be able do the job — Tim Pawlenty moved closer Wednesday to raising doubts about Michele Bachmann's fitness for office. — While repeating his previous comments that he'd defer to doctors on Bachmann's particular health situation, Pawlenty said broadly …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, GOP 12, National Review, TPMDC and Shakesville, more at Mediagazer »
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Robert Greenstein / Off the Charts Blog:
Clarifying Some Misunderstandings about the “Gang of Six” Plan — Some of the early reporting on the deficit reduction plan that the Senate's “Gang of Six” released today appears to have incorrectly or incompletely described two principal elements of the plan: its reductions in health care programs and its revenue increases.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and The Nation
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Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Boehner's office says Gang of Six proposal ‘appears to fall short’
Boehner's office says Gang of Six proposal ‘appears to fall short’
Discussion:
CNN, ThinkProgress, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Erick's blog, The Politico, The New Republic, Roll Call, RedState and Politics
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Gang of Six: A Day Late...
Gang of Six: A Day Late...
Discussion:
The Politico, The Hill, The Note, A plain blog about politics and The Daily Dish
Ron Nixon / New York Times:
Cost-Cutters, Except When the Spending Is Back Home — WASHINGTON — Freshman House Republicans who rode a wave of voter discontent into office last year vowed to stop out-of-control spending, but that has not stopped several of them from quietly trying to funnel millions of federal dollars into projects back home.
Discussion:
msnbc.com, The Moderate Voice and Politics
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Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Christie on the decline — Chris Christie's popularity has declined significantly over the first half of 2011 and he would have a very difficult time winning reelection if voters in New Jersey went to the polls today. — Only 43% of voters in the state approve of the job Christie is doing to 53% who disapprove.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taegan Goddard's …, The Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller and GOP 12
Jonnie Marbles / Guardian:
Why I foam-pied Rupert Murdoch | Jonnie Marbles — Some people might think my action played into Murdoch's hands, but I did it for all the people who couldn't — First things first: I don't hate octogenarians. I don't have a vendetta against anyone over 80 who likes to begrudgingly give evidence to parliamentary committees.
Discussion:
David Allen Green, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Marbury, The Daily Caller and New York Magazine
Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:
State Dept. contract officer steers $52 million to secret husband, daughter — A special investigation by The Daily Caller has discovered that a State Department contract specialist participated in awarding more than $52 million in taxpayer-funded contracts to a company owned and operated by her husband and daughter.
Discussion:
National Review, Hot Air and International Liberty
Elise Foley / The Huffington Post:
Tom Harkin: House Republicans Have Morphed Into ‘A Cult’ … WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats attacked the “Cut, Cap and Balance” measure on Wednesday, calling the House-passed bill “devoid of substance” and “dead on arrival” in the Senate, where it will receive a vote later this week.
Discussion:
Daily Kos and The Daily Caller
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Is Grassley Hinting That Maggie Gallagher Was Too Scared To Testify Against DOMA? — During his opening statement at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on repealing the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) vehemently defended the discriminatory law and reiterated …
Discussion:
Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay
John Bresnahan / The Politico:
Maxine Waters ethics panel outsourced — Stung by allegations of misconduct within the panel, the House Ethics Committee has hired an outside counsel to take over the case against Rep. Maxine Waters. — Billy Martin, a partner at the law firm Dorsey and Whitney, has been hired by the committee to …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Washington Post, PolitickerNY, National Review and ProPublica
Abby Phillip / The Politico:
Obama to nominate fourth openly gay judicial candidate — President Barack Obama intends on Wednesday to nominate the fourth openly gay judicial candidate of his administration to U.S. district court, according to a White House official. — The White House plans to announce the nomination …
Discussion:
Towleroad News #gay
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Rumsfeld had role in Perry meeting — Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld helped organize Rick Perry's foreign policy and national security briefing in Austin last Wednesday, Rumsfeld's staff confirmed today. — Perry's aides have been tight-lipped about the gathering …
Discussion:
The Note, GOP 12 and National Review
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
The tide of public opinion keeps turning — For the better part of the year, congressional Republicans were able to argue, accurately, that Americans opposed raising the debt ceiling. It was arguably the only honest claim the GOP made in this debate: poll after poll showed public opposition to doing the right thing.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Wire, Guardian, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Balloon Juice
John Nolte / Big Hollywood:
Numbers Don't Lie: “The Undefeated” Had a Remarkable Box Office Debut — Box Office Mojo is a universally accepted and respected source for box-office numbers, mainly because they've always done a very professional job of sticking to numbers and avoiding the business and political nonsense that tarnishes so many others.
Discussion:
Conservatives4Palin
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Rep. Allen West calls DNC chair ‘vile ... despicable’ - Tracy Schmaler promoted at Justice - What Chris Christie told the tycoons - GOP losing perception war - Jamal Simmons, Ed Henry are 40 — THE NARRATIVE — Jake Tapper, on “Good Morning America,” re new WP-ABC: “Horrible numbers for President Obama …
Discussion:
Gawker, Washington Post and Hullabaloo
Tina Korbe / Hot Air:
Report: Private sector job creation ground to a halt almost instantly after Obamacare passed — A new report out yesterday from The Heritage Foundation shows private sector job creation dropped dramatically almost immediately after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) into law.
Discussion:
Heritage Foundation and Pajamas Media
ThinkProgress:
NOM Rabbi Blames Gay Marriage For 8 Year Old's Murder — The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) recently invited Rabbi Yehuda Levin to join them at a rally protesting New York's same sex marriage bill, despite Levin's long history of offensive comments.
Discussion:
Good As You, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Towleroad News #gay and Joe. My. God.
Center for American Progress:
Interactive Map: No Debt Limit Increase Means Big Cuts to State Services — On August 2, if Congress fails to raise the debt limit, the United States will have its credit rating downgraded, interest rates will likely rise dramatically, and the federal government will be forced …
Discussion:
TPMDC and ThinkProgress