Top Items:
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Real Romney — The purpose of the Republican convention is to introduce America to the real Mitt Romney. Fortunately, I have spent hours researching this subject. I can provide you with the definitive biography and a unique look into the Byronic soul of the Republican nominee:
RELATED:
BuzzFeed:
Chaos On The GOP Convention Floor — Shouting match erupts between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney supporters as the convention unceremoniously votes on Rules, Credentials. — TAMPA — A shouting match erupted on the floor of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday afternoon …
Discussion:
Say Anything
Alex Alvarez / Mediaite:
David Letterman Presents: ‘Ann And Mitt Romney Lies’ — David Letterman isn't exactly “Mitch Romney"'s biggest fan. Last night, the Late Show host introduced a new segment he's calling “Ann and Mitt Romney Lies.” (I feel like that's missing some helpful punctuation, non?)
Discussion:
The Raw Story
Erick Erickson / RedState:
GOP Rules Committee Rapidly Moving to Shut Out Grassroots at 2:00 p.m. Today — At 2:00 p.m. today in Tampa, the Republican National Committee, led by Team Romney, is moving to shut down conservative grassroots activists. I've been on the phone with several individuals involved in the fight …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Texas on the Potomac, FreedomWorks, ABCNEWS, Taylor Marsh, The Impolitic, BuzzFeed, Guardian, The Other McCain, FreedomWorks blogs, Hit & Run, protein wisdom, The Right Scoop, Conservatives4Palin, The American Conservative, Republican Liberty Caucus and Michelle Malkin
John Cook / Gawker:
Leader of Army Plot to Assassinate Obama Apparently Attended the 2008 Republican Convention as a Page
Leader of Army Plot to Assassinate Obama Apparently Attended the 2008 Republican Convention as a Page
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, NationalJournal.com, Truthdig, The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette, emptywheel, Crooks and Liars, Corrente, Associated Press, The Democratic Daily, CANNONFIRE, Jay Bookman, Texas on the Potomac, www2.tbo.com, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Talking Points Memo, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and The Atlantic Wire
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Boehner: Romney favorability lagging because he's ‘shy’
Boehner: Romney favorability lagging because he's ‘shy’
Discussion:
Politico
BuzzFeed:
Romney Camp Bets On Welfare Attack — Their most powerful weapon, a top aide says. “We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers,” says Newhouse. — Source: youtube.com — Mitt Romney's aides explained with unusual political bluntness today why they are spending heavily …
RELATED:
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Fact checking for thee, but not for me — Get this: The Romney campaign's position is now that the Obama camp should pull its ads when fact checkers call them out as false — but that Romney and his advisers should feel no such constraint. — This is not an exaggeration.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Mediaite, Taegan Goddard's … and Little Green Footballs
Colleen Nelson / Washington Wire:
Who Is Thursday's Mystery Convention Speaker? — TAMPA, Fla. - Republican convention planners appear to have a surprise planned for those tuning in Thursday night. — Buried deep in the convention schedule released Monday is a vague reference to a mystery speaker scheduled for the event's final evening.
RELATED:
Jim Geraghty / National Review:
A Mystery Speaker for Thursday? ... Could It Be... Her? — From the Tuesday edition of the Morning Jolt, now in the hands of the editors, and soon on its way to you... The more you think about the idea, the more it makes sense - whatever controversy and intense reactions Sarah Palin …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Politico, Pat Dollard, Taylor Marsh, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Daily Dish
Arlette Saenz / ABCNEWS:
Romney Advisors Claim Ignorance on Mystery RNC Speaker
Romney Advisors Claim Ignorance on Mystery RNC Speaker
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com, Power Line, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air and ABCNEWS
Dylan Byers / Politico:
NYT reporter leaked advance copy of Maureen Dowd column to CIA — Newly available CIA records obtained by Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog group, reveal that New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti forwarded an advance copy of a Maureen Dowd column to a CIA spokesperson …
Discussion:
New York Magazine, emptywheel, Poynter, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Boing Boing, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:
Judicial Watch:
Judicial Watch Obtains Stack of ‘Overlooked’ CIA Records Detailing Meetings with bin Laden Filmmakers — Obama Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications: — Obama White House ‘trying to have visibility into the UBL (Usama bin Laden) projects.’
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, NO QUARTER and Gawker
Sabrina Eaton / Plain Dealer:
Coal miners lost pay when Mitt Romney visited their mine to promote coal jobs — WASHINGTON, D.C. — When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited an Ohio coal mine this month to promote jobs in the coal industry, workers who appeared with him at the rally lost pay because their mine was shut down.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Wonkette, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather and Joe. My. God.
RELATED:
David Edwards / The Raw Story:
Coal miners say they were forced to attend Romney event and donate — A group of coal miners in Ohio feel they would have been fired if they did not attend an Aug. 14 event with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and contribute to his campaign — and to make matters worse, they lost of day of pay for their trouble.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Reality-Based Community
The White House:
Obama Administration Finalizes Historic 54.5 MPG Fuel Efficiency Standards — Consumer Savings Comparable to Lowering Price of Gasoline by $1 Per Gallon by 2025 — WASHINGTON, DC - The Obama Administration today finalized groundbreaking standards that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, Taylor Marsh and The Demos Blog
RELATED:
Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:
EPA issues new fuel-efficiency standard; Autos must average 54.5 mpg by 2025
EPA issues new fuel-efficiency standard; Autos must average 54.5 mpg by 2025
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Maddow Blog and AEIdeas
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama lead declining in Iowa — PPP's newest Iowa poll finds Barack Obama's lead in the state declining all the way to two points. He's at 47% to 45% for Mitt Romney. In July we found Obama ahead 48-43 and in May it was 51-41. — Iowa makes yet another swing state where voters don't really care for either Obama or Romney.
Discussion:
Business Insider, Ballot Box and Hot Air
CNN:
Americans for Prosperity dispatches buses on voter turnout push — Tampa, Florida (CNN) - Representatives for Americans for Prosperity, the conservative super PAC behind tens of millions in political advertising, said Tuesday they were sending three buses around the country to rally activists helping …
Discussion:
Politico
RELATED:
Tarini Parti / Politico:
James O'Keefe not allowed to fly to Tampa — Conservative filmmaker and activist James O'Keefe won't be in Tampa, but the show he was supposed to headline will go on. — O'Keefe will still speak via Skype on “the role of the citizen journalist” and take audience questions …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette and James Madison Institute
Javier Manjarres / The Shark Tank:
Marco Rubio Heckled During Speech, Takes Swipe at Crist — More fun and games at the RNC in Tampa as the Republican Party of Florida's Tuesday breakfast was interrupted by liberal hecklers during Senator Marco Rubio keynote address. Several hecklers stood up and interrupted Rubio during his remarks …
Discussion:
Riehl World News, The Gateway Pundit and The Raw Story
National Review:
PolitiFiction — The website PolitiFact is going to be truth-squadding the Republican convention speakers this week, delivering verdicts on which claims are “mostly true” and which deserve a “pants on fire” rating. Our advice: Pay no attention to those ratings. PolitiFact can't be trusted to get the story right.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard and Little Green Footballs
Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:
Chinese media slams Romney as convention begins — Tampa - China's state-controlled media lashed out at GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney Monday, warning that his policies would poison U.S.-China relations. … “By any standard, the U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's China policy …
Discussion:
democracyarsenal.org and Taylor Marsh
TDC / The Daily Currant:
Todd Akin Claims Breastmilk Cures Homosexuality — Missouri U.S. senate candidate Todd Akin has stoked more outrage today by claiming that male homosexuality is a disease and that the medical establishment has found the cure. — The Republican congressman, already under fire …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Twitchy, Mediaite, The Hinterland Gazette, Lean Forward and Washington Post
Scott Detrow / NPR:
Methane Making An Appearance In Pa. Water Supplies … Mike and Nancy Leighton's problems began on May 19, just as Mike was settling in to watch the Preakness Stakes. A neighbor in Leroy Township, Pa., called Mike and told him to check the water well located just outside his front door.
Discussion:
Firedoglake
Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Hooters Welcomes Joe Biden to Tampa — Vice President Joe Biden cancelled his scheduled trip to the Republican convention in Tampa because of the threat of bad weather, but that has not stopped a local Hooters restaurant (in nearby Clearwater, Florida) from welcoming him to the area anyway.
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com and Jammie Wearing Fools
Carlos Maza / Equality Matters:
EXCLUSIVE: Undercover At NOM's Anti-Gay Student Conference — Every summer for the past four years, the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM) Ruth Institute has invited college students from across the country to participate in its weekend-long “It Takes A Family To Raise A Village” (ITAF) conference in San Diego, CA.
Discussion:
Advocate, Gay Politics and Joe. My. God.
Jim Mann / Daily Inter Lake:
Sasquatch stunt takes a tragic turn on highway — Kalispell man, 44, dies — A man dressed in a military-style “Ghillie suit” who was attempting to provoke a Bigfoot sighting was struck by two vehicles and killed on U.S. 93 South of Kalispell Sunday night.
Discussion:
ABCNEWS and Outside the Beltway
Politico:
Who's on the inside track for a Romney Cabinet — Mitt Romney said his Cabinet and White House staff will be stacked with men and women from the business world, but his top advisers sketched out for POLITICO a team compromised of many familiar faces in Washington.
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Riehl World News
BuzzFeed:
RNC Primetime Speaker Gave Extensive PowerPoint On How To Build Your Business With Government Money — Small business woman Sher Valenzuela, who is running for Lt. Governor in Delaware, is giving a primetime speech tonight at the “We Build It” themed day of the Republican convention.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Neetzan Zimmerman / Gawker:
Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch: Some Rapes Are More Equal Than Others — In a masterful bit of Orwellian dissonance, Wisconsin's recall-surviving Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch (R) last week called Rep. Todd Akin's attempt to categorize rape “abhorrent, insulting” and “disgusting …
Discussion:
Blogging Blue and Taegan Goddard's …