memeorandum: O'Care truth sinks in (New York Post)

3:45 PM ET, August 4, 2011

Top Items:

DEBT DEAL DOESN'T RESCUE OBAMA FROM FLORIDA CRASH, QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY POLL FINDS; ROMNEY CLOSES GAP IN 2012 PRESIDENTIAL RACE — The national debt ceiling deal does not rescue President Barack Obama's crashing job approval rating in Florida as he gets a negative 44 …

Discussion: Firedoglake, msnbc.com, CNSNews, Washington Post, USA Today, Post on Politics, The Daily Caller, CNN, Naked Politics, The Moderate Voice, The Note, Taylor Marsh, Political Punch, The Greenroom, Taegan Goddard's … and Pajamas Media

Emily Ramshaw / The Texas Tribune:

Perry's Surgery Included Experimental Stem Cell Therapy — Keywords: — Enlargephoto by: Todd Wiseman / Bob Daemmrich / Bryan Jones — When Gov. Rick Perry emerged from back surgery on July 1, he tweeted that his “little procedure” — a spinal fusion and nerve decompression designed …

Discussion: USA Today, JustOneMinute, msnbc.com, LifeNews.com and CBN.com

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry wages an assault on state's university establishment

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and National Review

Hotline On Call:
Democratic Insiders View Romney as Obama's Main Threat

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, GOP 12 and iOwnTheWorld.com

David Mildenberg / Bloomberg:
Perry Courting Presidential Run Calls Iowans While Wooing Donors

Discussion: GOP 12 and msnbc.com

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Inside the Huntsman ‘drama’ — A blistering internal feud in the Jon Huntsman presidential campaign is erupting into public view, with dueling camps trading charges and an exodus of campaign officials. — And now, a longtime family friend tells POLITICO that Huntsman's wife and father fret …

Discussion: CNN, Daniel W. Drezner, Eunomia, The Caucus, Naked Politics, Online NewsHour, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Lawyers, Guns & Money and GOP 12

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Inside the Huntsman ‘drama’ — 'Goodness will overcome the temporary difficulties and early turf-protecting," wrote the candidate.

Discussion: The Note, USA Today, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic Online, Politics, CNN, RedState, The Caucus, Washington Post, The Page, Hotline On Call, msnbc.com, Ben Smith's Blog and Indecision Forever

Paul Krugman:

Rates of Wrath — Not good news in stock markets — but you really have to look at the bond markets to get the full awfulness of the situation. — The US 10-year bond rate is now down to 2.5%. So much for those bond vigilantes. What this rate is saying is that markets are pricing …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Grasping Reality …

Graham Bowley / New York Times:

Stocks Dive on Fears of Global Slowdown — Stocks around the world fell sharply Thursday on intensifying investor fears about a slowdown in global economic growth and worries about Europe's ongoing debt crisis, which is centered now on Italy and Spain. — Stock market indexes …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, neo-neocon, Balloon Juice, Gothamist and Prairie Weather

Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Stocks Slide 3%

Discussion: The Consumerist, Daily Kos and Gawker

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Romney signs marriage pledge — Former Gov. Mitt Romney has joined Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Sen. Rick Santorum in signing a pledge to oppose same-sex marriage on a number of specific fronts. — The three candidates signed the pledge advanced by the National Organization for Marriage …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Little Green Footballs, National Review, ThinkProgress, GOP 12, Outside the Beltway, Equality Matters, USA Today, The Page, NOM Blog and AMERICAblog Gay

Steve Chapman / Reason:
Phony Federalism — The Republican Party is a fickle friend to the 10th Amendment.

Discussion: Hit & Run

Paul Krugman:

Wrong And Right — Bruce Bartlett and others send me to this eloquent David Frum piece, which concludes: … The knee-jerk response of commenters is “But the Obama stimulus failed, deficits, yada yada. Also, Krugman has a beard.” Or something like that.

Discussion: FrumForum and Prairie Weather

David Frum / FrumForum:

Were Our Enemies Right? — In February 1982, Susan Sontag made a fierce challenge to a left-wing audience gathered at New York's Town Hall: … Posing that question won Sontag only boos from an audience that the New York Times described as “startled.” Yet the question has only gained power over the intervening years.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Grasping Reality …, Ricochet Conversation Feed and Free exchange

The Politico:

Obama's big drags — The politics of the debt fight were a drag for President Barack Obama, yanking his popularity to new lows. Here's an even bigger drag: Obama emerges from the months-long fracas weaker - and facing much deeper and more durable political obstacles - than his own advisers ever imagined.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Moderate Voice, Verum Serum, Chicago Tribune, The New Republic and msnbc.com

WorldNetDaily:

Happy birthday? — How much don't we know about Barack Obama as he nears the end of his third year of White House occupation? — Well, he claims today is his 50th birthday. — Yet, incredibly, it is still only an unsubstantiated claim - and, perhaps, more suspect than ever.

Discussion: Salon, The Wire and Right Wing Watch

The Onion: Obama Turns 50 Despite Republican Opposition

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Pelosi: Republicans Aren't Interested In Deficit Reduction, They Are Interested In Destroying Government — In an interview with ThinkProgress and other online reporters this morning, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) flatly asserted that Republicans were not interested in deficit reduction.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Puzzled Dems ask: Why, oh why, won't Republicans be flexible?

Discussion: The New Republic, Gawker, Daily Kos, TPMDC and Hullabaloo

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Pelosi Vows Dems Won't Get Rolled Again

Discussion: Grasping Reality …

Yahoo! News:

US borrowing tops 100% of GDP: Treasury — US debt shot up $238 billion to reach 100 percent of gross domestic project after the government's debt ceiling was lifted, Treasury figures showed Wednesday. — Treasury borrowing jumped Tuesday, the data showed, immediately after President Barack Obama signed …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Enterprise Blog, Hit & Run, theblogprof, RedState, Heritage Action for America, Questions and Observations, Datechguy's Blog, americanthinker.com, Maggie's Notebook, Scared Monkeys, Babalú Blog, Pajamas Media, Conservatives4Palin, Weasel Zippers, Power Line and The Lonely Conservative

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
U.S. eats up most of debt limit in one day

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, JammieWearingFool and Scared Monkeys

Stephanie Clifford / New York Times:

Even Marked Up, Luxury Goods Fly Off Shelves — Nordstrom has a waiting list for a Chanel sequined tweed coat with a $9,010 price. Neiman Marcus has sold out in almost every size of Christian Louboutin “Bianca” platform pumps, at $775 a pair. Mercedes-Benz said it sold more cars last month …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Agence France Presse, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, Moneyland, Balloon Juice, Shakesville, PR Newswire and Prairie Weather

Rasmussen Reports:

69% Say It's Likely Scientists Have Falsified Global Warming Research — The debate over global warming has intensified in recent weeks after a new NASA study was interpreted by skeptics to reveal that global warming is not man-made. While a majority of Americans nationwide continue …

Discussion: Moe Lane, Weasel Zippers, The Moderate Voice, The Gateway Pundit, Questions and Observations, americanthinker.com, Right Wing News and JammieWearingFool

Darren Samuelsohn / The Politico:
Pawlenty: Natural causes led to warming

Discussion: The New Republic, miamiherald.typepad.com and The Huffington Post

Megan Boehnke / Knoxville News-Sentinel:

Satirical mints poking fun at Obama pulled from UT bookstore — Web Search powered by YAHOO! SEARCH — PHOTO BY SAUL YOUNG, COPYRIGHT © 2011 // BUY THIS PHOTO — Boxes of breath mints, like this one pictured at Vice Chancellor for Communication Margie Nichols' office on Wednesday …

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, Mediaite and Right Wing News

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:

Pressured by White House, Treasury Secretary Is Expected to Stay at Post — WASHINGTON — Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary and dean of President Obama's economic team, is expected to stay through the president's term after intense White House pressure, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

Discussion: The Politico, USA Today, Hot Air, Money & Company, Outside the Beltway, ThinkProgress, UrbanGrounds, The Caucus, Booman Tribune, New York Magazine, The New Republic, Fausta's Blog, White House Dossier, The Page, Oliver Willis and Instapundit

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

Dow plunges after debt deal, raising anxiety over economy — The Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost more than 300 points at midday Thursday, erasing gains for the year. — The index has lost more points in the last two weeks than it did after the House initially failed to approve …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Michelle Malkin

Nathaniel Popper / Money & Company:
Dow plunges 350 points on fears about global economy

Discussion: CNNMoney.com, CNBC, Dow Jones Newswires, The Moderate Voice, Reuters, nation.foxnews.com and TalkLeft

Reuters:

U.S. incomes fell sharply in 2009 — (Reuters) - U.S. incomes plummeted again in 2009, with total income down 15.2 percent in real terms since 2007, new tax data showed on Wednesday. — The data showed an alarming drop in the number of taxpayers reporting any earnings from a job …

Discussion: TaxProf Blog, New Deal 2.0, AMERICAblog News and The Awl

New York Post:

O'Care truth sinks in — The first ideological tentacles of ObamaCare began snaking their way into the pocketbooks of private insurers and the consciences of religious Americans when, on Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services issued new guidelines requiring insurers …

Nedra Pickler / Associated Press:

Judge allows American to sue Rumsfeld over torture … WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge is allowing an Army veteran who says he was imprisoned unjustly and tortured by the U.S. military in Iraq to sue former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld personally for damages.

Discussion: Guardian, Sky Dancing, The Moderate Voice, TPMDC, The Politico, Law Blog, Citizens for Legitimate … and Associated Press

Paul Bedard / US News:

Report: Obama Administration Added $9.5 Billion in Red Tape in July — Conservatives take aim at job-killing regulations — Many House and Senate conservatives are reviving their battle against federal regulations, claiming that the president hasn't stopped issuing job-killing rules during the debt ceiling fight.

Discussion: Maggie's Notebook, Nice Deb, Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Jason Hanna / CNN:

Do presidents age faster in office? — (CNN) — President Barack Obama has had the weight of the free world on his shoulders for the 2½ years, and he might be starting to look like it. — At 50, which he turns Thursday, his hair is a little grayer, and his face and neck are a little more creased …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog