Top Items:
Politico:
In the end, it's Mitt — It isn't the chair or the ho-hum convention. Or the leaked video. Or Stuart Stevens. Or the improving economy. Or media bias. Or distorted polls. Or the message. Or Mormonism. — It's Mitt. — With Republicans everywhere wondering what has happened …
Discussion:
Salon, Washington Wire, The Stranger …, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Agonist, Poynter, National Review and Althouse
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Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Whose Idea Was It to Nominate Romney, Anyway? — In what you might regard as an unhealthy sign for Mitt Romney's campaign prospects, conservatives have turned to debating the question of who is to blame for nominating this man in the first place. Arch-conservatives Erick Erickson …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, American Prospect, Fox News, GOP 12, Booman Tribune, Politico, Prairie Weather and The Daily Caller
Fars News Agency:
Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama — TEHRAN (FNA)- According to the results of a Gallup poll released Monday, the overwhelming majority of rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than US President Barack Obama.
Discussion:
BBC, JIMROMENESKO.COM, New York Magazine, The Lede, Weasel Zippers, The Times of Israel, Guardian, Jihad Watch, Blazing Cat Fur, ABCNEWS, Political Capital, ANIMAL, Mediaite, Media Decoder, The PJ Tatler, The Lonely Conservative, FP Passport, Washington Examiner, Jammie Wearing Fools and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »
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Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Iranian news agency duped by Onion
Iranian news agency duped by Onion
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Outside the Beltway and The Back Channel
Elspeth Reeve / The Atlantic Wire:
Just How Racist Is the ‘Obama Phone’ Video? — There was a video leading the Drudge Report on Thursday afternoon of a poor black woman with messed-up teeth saying she's voting for President Obama because he gave her a free phone, and perhaps you have some questions about it. Questions like: Is this video racist?
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Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
Go large, Mitt — In mid-September 2008, Lehman Brothers collapsed and the bottom fell out of the financial system. Barack Obama handled it coolly. John McCain did not. Obama won the presidency. (Given the country's condition, he would have won anyway. But this sealed it.)
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Tom Benning / Trail Blazers Blog:
George W. Bush posts better favorability ratings than Mitt Romney in new Bloomberg survey — Former President George W. Bush smiles as he arrives on the 18th hole at the end of the Bush Center's Warrior Open golf tournament this week in Irving. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Discussion:
American Prospect, Wonkette, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, The Maddow Blog, Daily Kos, National Review, AEIdeas and Political Capital
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Sabrina Siddiqui / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney Favorability Lower Than George W. Bush, Poll Finds
Mitt Romney Favorability Lower Than George W. Bush, Poll Finds
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Examiner and Business Insider
Eli Lake / The Daily Beast:
Attackers Bragged to Qaeda Bosses — Conversations monitored by U.S. intelligence show Ansar al-Sharia jihadists boasted to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb about the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and others—more evidence the assault was not a spontaneous reaction to the anti-Muslim video.
Discussion:
Politico, American Power, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air and nation.foxnews.com
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Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:
Kerry, Rice position themselves on Benghazi attack
Kerry, Rice position themselves on Benghazi attack
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice and ABCNEWS
Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice Skipped Netanyahu Speech
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice Skipped Netanyahu Speech
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, CNN, Nice Deb, Hot Air and White House Dossier
Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:
Rep. West features opponent's mug shot in harsh television ad — Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) released a biting new ad in the battle to keep his House seat that features a mug shot of his opponent while showing the lawmaker serving in the Army. — The 30-second spot compares what West …
Discussion:
Reuters
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Jonathan Mattise / TCPalm.com:
Protesters disrupt West event at Pirates Cove Resort in Port Salerno
Protesters disrupt West event at Pirates Cove Resort in Port Salerno
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit and Washington Examiner
Eric Kleefeld / Talking Points Memo:
Allen West Attacks Dem Opponent For 2003 Bar-Fight, ‘Verbal Assault’ Of Policeman
Allen West Attacks Dem Opponent For 2003 Bar-Fight, ‘Verbal Assault’ Of Policeman
Discussion:
Gawker, Business Insider and Election 2012
Rebel Pundit / BREITBART.COM:
NYC PROHIBITS CONTROVERSIAL SUBWAY ADS IN WAKE OF ISLAMIST'S VANDALISM — Just one day after an Islamic activist attempted to cover over private property in spray paint (and a woman who got in her way), the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York has announced they will amend their rules …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report and Instapundit
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Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:
M.T.A. Amends Rules After Pro-Israel Ads Draw Controversy
M.T.A. Amends Rules After Pro-Israel Ads Draw Controversy
Discussion:
Atlas Shrugs, Hot Air, iOwnTheWorld.com, Algemeiner.com, Gothamist, FP Passport, New York Magazine and The Daily Caller
Lachlan Markay / The Heritage Foundation:
Matt Damon's Anti-Fracking Movie Financed by Oil-Rich Arab Nation — A new film starring Matt Damon presents American oil and natural gas producers as money-grubbing villains purportedly poisoning rural American towns. It is therefore of particular note that it is financed in part …
Bloomberg:
Obama Cabinet Flunks Disclosure Test With 19 in 20 Ignoring Law — On his first full day in office, President Barack Obama ordered federal officials to “usher in a new era of open government” and “act promptly” to make information public. — As Obama nears the end of his term …
Discussion:
emptywheel, Poynter, The Lonely Conservative, Hit & Run, Riehl World News and Wake up America, more at Mediagazer »
Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
The Million Wingnut March — There's been a steadily building discussion, albeit shrouded in some mystery, about the potential impact on Election Day (and to some extent, before it) of right-wing “volunteer poll watchers” who are promising to descend on minority neighborhoods to make sure …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Democratic Strategist, Los Angeles Times, The Moderate Voice and Crooks and Liars
ThinkProgress:
Explaining Today's Great Jobs News — Our guest blogger is Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. — New data released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the private-sector added 450,000 more jobs as of March 2012 than previously thought.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Corrente and The Raw Story
Charles Mahtesian / Politico:
Webb drops the hammer on Romney — Jim Webb's departures from party orthodoxy are frequent. As recently as last November, the retiring Virginia Democratic senator was reluctant to commit to campaigning for President Barack Obama. — So Webb's bladework today on Mitt Romney was as unexpected as it was memorable.
Discussion:
The Maddow Blog, The Daily Dish, Election 2012 and The Reality-Based Community
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Sept. 27: The Impact of the ‘47 Percent’ — After a secretly-recorded videotape was released on Sept. 17, showing Mitt Romney making unflattering comments about the “47 percent” of Americans whom he said had become dependent on government benefits, I suggested on Twitter that the political impact …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Wall Street Journal, Greg's Opinion and AMERICAblog
Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
Democrats to join call for more information on Libya terrorist attack — Senate Democrats on Thursday will join their Republican colleagues in pressing the administration for more information about the deadly attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller and americanthinker.com
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Roger Simon / Politico:
Mitt Romney: King of comedy — It is time to cut Mitt Romney some slack. It is wrong to criticize him until you've walked a mile in his living room. — That last line was a joke that someone posted on Twitter. Jokes have power. When a politician makes a joke, he can make a point …
Discussion:
CNN, Rumproast, Mediaite, TheBlaze.com and The Reaction
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The Poetic Justice of Romney's Self-Immolation — A stake through the heart. — I've been wrong before, and I'll be wrong again, but I may never have been as wrong as I was when I initially predicted that Mitt Romney's heinous diatribe against 47 percent of America would have little direct impact on the election.
Wall Street Journal:
Noonan: 2012 Debates— This Is It, Mitt — How Romney can make the most of his face-off with Obama. — “Governor, the success or failure of your entire presidential campaign will come down to what happens between the hours of 9 and 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3. We're at a hinge point in history.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Napolitano Orders Same-Sex Couples' Immigration Rights To Be Put In Writing — “I have directed [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to disseminate written guidance to the field that the interpretation of the phrase ‘family relationships’ includes long-term, same-sex partners,” the Homeland Security Secretary wrote.