Top Items:
The Commonwealth Fund:
Gaining Ground: Americans' Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care After the Affordable Care Act's First Open Enrollment Period — A new Commonwealth Fund survey finds that in the wake of the Affordable Care Act's first open enrollment period, significantly fewer working-age adults …
RELATED:
Jenna Levy / Gallup:
In U.S., Uninsured Rate Sinks to 13.4% in Second Quarter — Significant decline in uninsured rate across age groups since the end of 2013 — WASHINGTON, D.C. — The uninsured rate in the U.S. fell 2.2 percentage points to 13.4% in the second quarter of 2014.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Business Insider and US News
Jonathan Chait Follow / New York Magazine:
Libertarian Accidentally Shows How Obamacare Is Succeeding — Reading months of doomsaying all at once tells a different story. — The Commonwealth Fund has a new survey showing that the proportion of adults lacking health insurance has fallen by a quarter, from 20 percent of the population to 15 percent.
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Washington Monthly
Timothy Jost / Washington Post:
Courts won't void the Affordable Care Act over semantics
Courts won't void the Affordable Care Act over semantics
Discussion:
National Review
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Obamacare Haters, Your Case Just Got Weaker
Obamacare Haters, Your Case Just Got Weaker
Discussion:
New York Times, American Prospect, The Dish and Business Insider
Margot Sanger-Katz / New York Times:
Newest Health Insurance Customers Are Generally Happy
Newest Health Insurance Customers Are Generally Happy
Discussion:
PoliticusUSA, Bloomberg View, Daily Kos, ABC News, The Incidental Economist and ThinkProgress
Speaker.gov:
Boehner: This Is About Protecting the Constitution — WASHINGTON, DC - House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement announcing that the House would initiate legal action over President Obama's unilateral actions on the health care law's employer mandate in 2013:
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, Guardian, Daily Kos and National Review
RELATED:
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Boehner To Sue Obama For Unilateral Delay Of Obamacare Employer Mandate — House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday revealed that he plans to sue President Barack Obama for his unilateral delay of the Obamacare employer mandate, ratcheting up the tension between the White House …
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
Barack Obama on impeachment: ‘Really?’ — Go ahead, President Barack Obama told House Republicans Thursday. Impeach him. — “You hear some of them: ‘Sue him! Impeach him!’” Obama said in a relaxed, sniping campaign-style speech in Austin, Texas, recounting the resistance he's run into for signing executive actions.
Discussion:
CNN
Sarah Mimms / NationalJournal.com:
Boehner Goes Off On Obama Over Immigration Crisis
Boehner Goes Off On Obama Over Immigration Crisis
Discussion:
Shakesville
Gail Collins / New York Times:
The Rant Agenda — So little time, so much bad behavior to complain about.
The Rant Agenda — So little time, so much bad behavior to complain about.
Discussion:
CNN
James Oliphant / NationalJournal.com:
Obama's Texas Two-Step
Obama's Texas Two-Step
Discussion:
Fox News, The Hill, Hot Air, RedState and JustOneMinute
Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Pundits Collectively Lose It Over A Quote Obama Didn't Even Say — Many pundits on Thursday were shocked by the gall of President Obama to say that he doesn't “do photo-ops,” a mere day after glossy, White House-sanctioned shots surfaced of him sipping beer and shooting pool with the Colorado governor.
Discussion:
Townhall.com and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Gov. Perry: The face of GOP opposition
Gov. Perry: The face of GOP opposition
Discussion:
CNN, Politico, Washington Monthly, Washington Post and ABC News
Jackie Calmes / Boston Globe:
Obama Challenges Perry to Rally GOP Around Border Plan
Obama Challenges Perry to Rally GOP Around Border Plan
Discussion:
Hot Air, Fox News, Washington Post, American Spectator, CBS News, USA Today, National Review, Talking Points Memo and CBS DC
Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
CNN Host Confronts Rick Perry On His Obama ‘Conspiracy’ Theory (VIDEO)
CNN Host Confronts Rick Perry On His Obama ‘Conspiracy’ Theory (VIDEO)
Discussion:
The Mahablog, Liberaland, The Huffington Post and New York Times
Politico:
GOP to Todd Akin: Shut up — Todd Akin is back talking about rape in his new book and Republicans have a message for him: Shut up. — The Missouri Republican's memoir offers no apologies for his comments on “legitimate rape,” his bruising loss to Sen. Claire McCaskill or the effect …
Discussion:
Liberaland and Taylor Marsh
RELATED:
Politico:
Todd Akin's only regret
Todd Akin's only regret
Discussion:
The Daily Banter, ThinkProgress, Yahoo! News, OnPolitics, Daily Kos and Washington Post
Sasha Goldstein / NY Daily News:
Washington man first to buy legal weed in Spokane is fired after spotted on news — Mike Boyer, 30, was canned Tuesday after waiting 20 hours to buy pot and immediately going home to smoke. He was called up for urine analysis after he was spotted on TV buying the pot. Boyer told The News he ‘regrets nothing.’
Discussion:
Liberaland, Mashable and The Raw Story
RELATED:
Sarah Desprat / Twitchy:
‘WHAT A FREAKIN’ LIE'! Reuters, Yahoo busted for bogus headline about Obama at border [pics]; Update: Headline changed, still wrong — President Obama really gets around. After all, those funds aren't gonna raise themselves! In a short span of time this week, the president has spent time in Denver …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Rush Limbaugh and NewsBusters
Valerie Richardson / The Colorado Observer:
Bloomberg: Colorado Gun Recall Towns So Rural, They Don't Have Roads — DENVER — In what may come as a surprise to residents of Colorado Springs and Pueblo, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't think those cities have roads. — Bloomberg told Rolling Stone that he was …
Discussion:
Politico, Twitchy and The Daily Caller
RELATED:
Eli Stokols / KDVR.com:
Bloomberg dismisses Colo. Springs, Pueblo as roadless, rural backwaters
Bloomberg dismisses Colo. Springs, Pueblo as roadless, rural backwaters
Discussion:
National Review
Niam Yaraghi / Brookings Institute:
Have the Anti-Obamacare Ads Backfired? — According to the recent report of nonpartisan analysts Kantar Media CMAG, ACA opponents have spent 450 million dollars on anti-Obamacare ads so far. Spending on negative ads outpaced positive ones by more than 15 to 1. This map shows the spending on negative ads in each state.
Discussion:
Mediaite and Balloon Juice
RELATED:
Eleanor Clift / The Daily Beast:
Jill Abramson Talks Obama Secrecy and Her New York Times Firing — Two months after her abrupt exit from the Gray Lady, the former executive editor delivered a speech about how different Obama is from Bush—and why she was dismissed from her post. — Aside from her unceremonious firing …
Discussion:
Politico, The Huffington Post, Poynter and Washington's Blog, more at Mediagazer »
Jacob Fischler / BuzzFeed:
Major Union Drops Partnership With United Negro College Fund Because Of The Kochs — “This was a betrayal of everything the UNCF stands for,” AFSCME president says. — Shannon Stapleton / Reuters / Reuters — WASHINGTON — One of the nation's largest public-sector unions is severing …
Discussion:
Red Alert Politics and The Daily Caller
Ann Coulter / The Clarion-Ledger:
McDaniel backers killing his political future — By continuing the fight over the primary, Chris McDaniel and his supporters are risking a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, not to mention McDaniel's own political future. — CONNECT — Chris McDaniel, candidate for the U.S. Senate …
Discussion:
protein wisdom, Talking Points Memo, OnPolitics, Politico, Liberaland and Washington Post
Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:
IRS worker campaigned on help line — An IRS help line worker has been suspended for 100 days without pay for urging callers to reelect President Barack Obama in 2012, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel announced on Thursday. — The employee, who was not named, “acknowledged that he had used …
Discussion:
CNN and The Daily Caller
William Saletan / Slate:
The Gaza Rules — Israel, unlike Hamas, isn't trying to kill civilians. It's taking pains to spare them. — According to many critics, Israel is slaughtering civilians in Gaza. It's “purposefully wiping out entire families,” says an Arab member of Israel's parliament.
Discussion:
NewsBusters, The Raw Story, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, American Thinker, Israpundit, Jerusalem Post and RedState
Scott Kaufman / The Raw Story:
Alex Jones sinks to a new low, calling Michelle Obama ‘the First Tranny’ — Right-wing radio host Alex Jones posted a report online today in which he urged listeners to seriously consider the truth behind Joan Rivers' statement that Barack Obama is the first gay president because his wife, Michelle, is a “tranny.”
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Daily Banter