Top Items:
The Politico:
Rick Perry to make 2012 intentions clear Saturday — Rick Perry intends to use a speech in South Carolina Saturday to make clear that he's running for president, POLITICO has learned. — According to two sources familiar with the plan, the Texas governor will remove any doubt …
Discussion:
The Caucus, The Note, Hot Air, Austin American-Statesman, Washington Post, unionleader.com, GOP 12, AmSpecBlog, PoliTex, The Washington Independent, TPMDC, Outside the Beltway, Gawker, 2012 Campaign Trail Report, The Jawa Report, Iowa Caucuses, The Page, New York Magazine, Joe. My. God., National Review and msnbc.com
RELATED:
The Note:
Tim Pawlenty: Mine Is ‘Not A Shooting Star Campaign’
Discussion:
GOP 12 and Ben Smith's Blog
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Perry to visit NH and SC while presidential candidates gather in Iowa
Discussion:
CNN, The Note, Pajamas Media, GOP 12 and The Page
Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:
LEAP OF FAITH … - POLITICS - PROFILES - THE TALK OF THE TOWN - COMMENT - THIS WEEK'S ISSUE - THE FINANCIAL PAGE - NEWS DESK - THE POLITICAL SCENE
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Daily Beast, Firedoglake, Politics, Concord Monitor, Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine, GOP 12, The Politico, Mediaite, msnbc.com, The Wire, The Reaction, TPMDC, The New Republic, The Raw Story, Coffee & Markets, Iowa Caucuses, Little Green Footballs, FrumForum, Towleroad News #gay, Right Wing Watch, Balloon Juice and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
First Read / msnbc.com:
Bachmann attends church service denouncing homosexuality — WAUKEE, IA — Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann yesterday attended a church here in Iowa, where the pastor called homosexuality “immoral” and “unnatural,” and later showed a testimonial video from a man who claimed …
Paul Krugman:
Aaauuuggghhh! Market Commentary Edition — Carnage in stock markets as I write — and all of the headlines I see attribute it to S&P's downgrade. — They really are trying to make my head explode, aren't they? — Once again: S&P declared that US debt is no longer a safe investment …
Discussion:
Modeled Behavior, Talking Points Memo, AMERICAblog News and Economist's View
RELATED:
JeeYeon Park / CNBC:
Stocks Off Lows, Dow Above 11,000; Vix Soars — Stocks pared some losses in heavy, choppy trading Monday but were still sharply lower as investors fled from risky assets following S&P's downgrade of U.S.'s credit rating last week in addition to ongoing uncertainty over the euro zone crisis.
Discussion:
Calculated Risk, Modeled Behavior, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air and Pajamas Media
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Disconnect — This piece on CNN Money says that “market observers tried to say the downgrade by itself shouldn't matter — that it was expected and that the United States still has a strong credit rating ... But the market wasn't buying it.” And then it goes on to note that investors are rushing to buy up US Treasuries.
Discussion:
CNNMoney.com
Economics of Contempt:
On S&P, Downgrades, and Idiots — This is not going to be one of those posts that laments S&P's decision to downgrade the US, but then says that S&P was probably right about our oh-so-dysfunctional political system. — No, S&P was flat-out wrong — no caveats.
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Times, The Moderate Voice, ABCNEWS, No More Mister Nice Blog, Paul Krugman, Free exchange, The Huffington Post, peoplesworld, Global Public Square, Modeled Behavior, Democracy in America, American Spectator, Associated Press, Felix Salmon, AmSpecBlog, Coffee & Markets, Wizbang, NewsBusters.org blogs and Politics
RELATED:
Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
DNC chairwoman blames Tea Party ‘tyrants’ for US credit-rating downgrade
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and Weasel Zippers
Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Allen West Claims S&P Downgrade ‘Has Nothing To Do With Increasing Revenues’ — S&P Disagrees
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Raw Story, Erick's blog and Daily Kos
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
S&P's History of Relentless Political Advocacy
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight, CNNMoney.com, The Huffington Post, TPMDC and Hullabaloo
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama Job Approval 50% or Higher in 16 States and D.C. — Idaho residents least approving, at 27% — PRINCETON, NJ — Residents of 16 states and the District of Columbia gave President Obama approval ratings of 50% or higher during the first half of 2011, led by the District of Columbia, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Hotline On Call, Washington Post, Swampland, Weasel Zippers and TPMDC
RELATED:
A.Killough / CNN:
CNN Poll: Obama approval rating remains steady in mid 40s — Washington (CNN) - As President Barack Obama stood before cameras Monday afternoon to offer a reassuring assessment of the nation's economy, a new national survey conducted over the weekend indicates that the president's approval rating has held steady.
Discussion:
National Review
The Daily Beast:
Hillary Told You So — As Democratic disgust with Obama's debt fumbling spreads, Clinton supporters recall her ‘3 a.m. phone call’ warnings—and angry, frustrated liberals are muttering that she should mount a 2012 challenge. — At a New York political event last week …
Discussion:
Conservatives4Palin, Shakesville, Pajamas Media, The Monkey Cage, DISSENTING JUSTICE, NO QUARTER, Hullabaloo and nation.foxnews.com
RELATED:
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
The Westen piece — It's not exactly a secret that there is …
Discussion:
Democracy in America, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Daily Caller
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Waiting For A Landslide — In 1955, a political scientist named V. O. Key published an essay entitled “A Theory of Critical Elections.” He argued that realignments in American politics are usually punctuated by transformative elections, in which the old order suddenly gives way and a new majority emerges in its place.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Caucus, The Mahablog, Bark Bark Woof Woof, The New Republic and American Power
Michelle Malkin:
The Conservative Crazy Eyes Cliche & Other Stupid MSM Photo Tricks — Sigh. Seriously, Tina Brown? — Yes, I'm talking about you, Oxford University-educated Newsweek/Daily Beast editor Tina Brown. — You've resorted to recycling bottom-of-the-barrel moonbat photo cliches …
RELATED:
Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Does The Michele Bachmann Newsweek Cover Make Her ‘Look Crazy’?
Discussion:
Gawker and Runnin' Scared
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Obama's horrifyingly bad speech — He was a half hour late. His head turned from side to side as if he were attending a tennis match. He practically never looked in the camera, as if he were averting our gaze. And those were the strong parts of President Obama's disastrous speech.
Rasmussen Reports:
29% Say Tea Party Members Are Terrorists, 55% Disagree — Several prominent Democrats and their media friends have charged the Tea Party with being economic terrorists during the congressional budget debates, but most voters don't see it that way. — Fifty-five percent (55%) …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
House leaders end page program — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced they were ending the House page program. — As of Aug. 31, the program — which employs nearly 70 high school students to serve as messengers and couriers …
Discussion:
The Politico and New York Magazine
New York Times:
A.I.G. Sues Bank of America Over Mortgage Bonds — The American International Group sued Bank of America on Monday over hundreds of mortgage-backed securities, adding to the surge of investors seeking compensation for the troubled mortgages that led to the financial crisis.
Discussion:
DealBook, emptywheel, ThinkProgress, AMERICAblog News, Money & Company, naked capitalism and New York Magazine
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:
It's a Growth Scare — FTalphaville has been saying this all day, and it's right. The action in the markets looks nothing like worries about US solvency; it looks exactly like what you expect to see when markets suddenly realize that the economy's growth prospects look terrible.
Discussion:
Grasping Reality …
Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Poor People Own Appliances Because They're Cheap — My colleagues Melissa Boteach and Donna Cooper have a great piece on the Heritage Foundation's “poor people aren't actually poor because they own cheap electronics” theory of poverty. This infographic nicely highlights the silliness …
Discussion:
Eschaton
David Axe / Danger Room:
Did a New Taliban Weapon Kill a Chopper Full of Navy SEALs? — Updated 8:36 a.m. EDT. — The passengers and crew of the twin-rotor CH-47 Chinook helicopter probably never saw the rocket hurtling towards them. The explosion and fiery crash in Wardak province in eastern Afghanistan early …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, ISAF Latest, Guardian and The Gateway Pundit
John R. Bolton / Human Events:
On Deck: Why I May Run for President — Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations that “the first duty of the sovereign, that of protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies, can be performed only by means of a military force.”
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Atlas Shrugs, The Daily Caller, LewRockwell.com Blog and Pajamas Media
Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Job participation — The White House and much of the chattering class cooed on Friday when unemployment dropped to 9.1 percent and 117,000 jobs were reportedly created in July. But these numbers, upon closer inspection, show no progress on the jobs front.
Discussion:
Hit & Run
William Glaberson / New York Times:
Dog Helps Young Rape Victim Testify — POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — Rosie, the first judicially approved courtroom dog in New York, was in the witness box here nuzzling a 15-year-old girl who was testifying that her father had raped and impregnated her. Rosie sat by the teenager's feet.
Discussion:
Shakesville and New York Magazine
A.Killough / CNN:
CNN Poll: Economic pessimism skyrockets — Washington (CNN) - Americans have a bad case of the economic jitters, as recent drops in the stock market have been accompanied by a sharp rise in the public's economic pessimism, according to a new national poll. — And a CNN/ORC International …
Discussion:
The Politico, The Hill, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, Left Coast Rebel and The Page
Output Producer, CA — 
China Markets Correspondent, Shanghai — 
Senior Assignment Editor, DC — 
Breaking News Editor, Tokyo — 
Senior Correspondent - Wealth, NY — 
Reporter - Ottawa Bureau — 
Local Government Reporter, IA — 
Research Director, CA — 
Immigration Enforcement Reporter — 
Presque Island Reporter, ME — 
Contributing Parks Ed. - SW, CA — 
AI Content Editor, WA — 
Legislative Reporter, TN — 
Editorial Assistant, Remote US — 
Elon Musk Reporter, NY or CA — 
Government & Politics Editor, WA — 
Business & GA Reporter. VT — 
Sports Reporter, WA — 
Energy Reporter, TX — 
Senior Reporter, SC — 
Trade & Climate Correspondent, DC — 
Reporter, WI — 
Political Newsletter Writer, CO — 
Jackson Reporter, MS — 
Music Editor, AZ — 
Breaking News Reporter, NV — 
Fearless Reporter/Producer, IA — 
Reporter II - Technology, Remote — 
Editor, Remote US — 
City Reporter, WA — 
Executive Editor, OR — 
Education & Budget Reporter, CA — 
Senior Writer/Editor, FL — 
Media Editor, Remote — 
