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Gut Test For Sanders — Most of the talk about tonight's first Democratic debate has revolved around Hillary Clinton and her need to be “likable” or “personable” or “authentic” or what have you, and the “also run” candidates like O'Malley and Webb who have an opportunity for massive publicity …
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight and ABC News
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Bernie Sanders Isn't Socialist Enough for Many Socialists — The organized left is atwitter with talk of the Vermont senator's candidacy. Much of it is negative. — How to define the political philosophy Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders? — On Meet the Press on Sunday …
Discussion:
MarketWatch, MSNBC and ABC News

What a win looks like — <p>LAS VEGAS — If the Republican debates demonstrated anything, it's that an entertaining front-runner makes for a fireworks-filled event. Tuesday's first Democratic forum will be a little different, but the stakes no lower.</p><p>Each contender on stage at the Wynn …
Discussion:
The Week


The Note: Debate Expectations: Democratic Edition
Discussion:
Bloomberg.com news, The Week and Bloomberg Business

Draft Biden Releases New TV Ad to Air Before Democratic Debate
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Taylor Marsh

Democratic Debate Will Reveal Subtle Divides, if Not Wide Gaps
Discussion:
CNN, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, The Week, Washington Post and OnPolitics

Gillibrand: I bet Biden will run for president
Discussion:
Bloomberg Business

Hillary donors worry: ‘All the energy is with Bernie’
Discussion:
New York Times and Towleroad

Sidelined by Democrats, Larry Lessig considers running against them
Discussion:
BillMoyers.com, Salon, CNN, Liberal Values, New York Times and Guardian


Nudes Are Old News at Playboy — Last month, Cory Jones, a top editor at Playboy, went to see its founder Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion. — In a wood-paneled dining room, with Picasso and de Kooning prints on the walls, Mr. Jones nervously presented a radical suggestion: the magazine …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Independent Journal, Hit & Run, Guardian, American Power, Telegraph, The Federalist, Raw Story, Hollywood Life, Althouse, Refinery29, The Big Lead, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, The Verge, Slantpoint, USA TODAY College, The Week, Instapundit, Rare, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Consumerist, Mashable, The Daily Caller, TheBlaze.com, Mediaite and Joe.My.God., more at Mediagazer »

The Republicans' Incompetence Caucus — The House Republican caucus is close to ungovernable these days. How did this situation come about? — This was not just the work of the Freedom Caucus or Ted Cruz or one month's activity. The Republican Party's capacity for effective self …
Discussion:
driftglass and No More Mister Nice Blog
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EXCLUSIVE: Records show Ben Carson became Republican less than one year ago
Discussion:
Liberaland

The Adults Take the Stage in the Democratic Debate
Discussion:
RedState and Slantpoint


Busted ! CNN Uses Jeb Bush Staffer Planted In Audience To Frame Donald Trump Narrative/Hit Job.... During an appearance at a Jon Huntsman “No Labels” event, a female audience member named Lauren Batchelder played the role of a female antagonist toward candidate Donald Trump.


What The Big GOP Meltdown Reveals From A Guy Who Saw It All Coming — The epic GOP meltdown of 2015 should not come as a surprise. — The modern Republican Party had been careening toward this kind of wheels-off-the-track moment for a long time. Its knee-jerk rejectionism …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
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Sources: McConnell floats entitlement changes in high-stakes fiscal talks
Discussion:
Political Wire

The House Benghazi investigation is now thoroughly discredited as a partisan sham.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, addictinginfo.org, Hullabaloo and Washington Post

A ‘Cancer’ on the Clinton Candidacy — <p>Halfway through her long and humbling summer, Hillary Clinton ran into an old friend who wanted to know how she was bearing up under the pressure of near-daily revelations about the use of her private email server during her time in the State Department.
Discussion:
RedState, NBC News, Daily Mail and National Review


AP Exclusive: Clinton server's software had hacking risk — 1 photo — WASHINGTON (AP) — The private email server running in Hillary Rodham Clinton's home basement when she was secretary of state was connected to the Internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers …
Discussion:
Power Line, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, America Rising, ABC News and Fox News


The Gorgeous Balance of Emilia Clarke, Sexiest Woman Alive 2015 — Friendly and fierce. Kid sister and killer. Movie star and girl next door. — VINCENT PETERS + ESQUIRE — Years ago, when I was a grad student, I worked at an ice cream shop in Oxford called George & Davis'.
Discussion:
Refinery29, Hollywood Life, Just Jared and The Daily Caller


Police: Lakeland woman live streams herself driving drunk — Video courtesy Lakeland Police Department — LAKELAND (FOX 13) - A Lakeland woman was not only Periscoping while driving, police say she was live-streaming herself driving drunk and telling the world how drunk she was.
Discussion:
WFLA-TV, WGN-TV, The Daily Caller, Fox News Insider and KFOR-TV
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Latest Unease on Right: Ryan Is Too Far Left — WASHINGTON — Far-right media figures, relatively small in number but potent in their influence, have embarked on a furious Internet expedition to cover Representative Paul D. Ryan in political silt. — In 2012 when Mitt Romney picked Mr. Ryan …
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Backgrounder: Health Care Plan — America's health care system has long been an anachronism. It works by payment rules, regulations and tax policies that date back to the 1940s and 1960s and have made little sense for decades. No wonder it is expensive, complex and inaccessible.
Discussion:
Mother Jones and National Review
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Here's how Jeb Bush would repeal and replace Obamacare
Discussion:
National Review, Weekly Standard, Bloomberg View and Slantpoint

Rift in Obama administration over Putin — <p>Vladimir Putin's intervention in Syria is creating new rifts inside an exhausted and in some cases demoralized Obama national security team, where officials pushing for bolder action see the president as stubbornly unwilling to assume new risk …
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Russia and Iran running neck-and-neck in Obama-humiliating sweepstakes
Discussion:
Washington Post, CNN, Refinery29, Front Page Magazine and Wall Street Journal


Julianne Moore Launches Gun Safety Campaign: ‘This Is My Responsibility As a Parent’ — Like many parents, Oscar-winner Julianne Moore was deeply affected by the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012. — “I remember my daughter [Liv, 12] came to work with me that day.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Daily Mail, Mashable and Slantpoint


Luke Gatti, UConn ‘Mac And Cheese’ Student, Offers Apology Via YouTube … The University of Connecticut student whose obscenity-laced tirade about wanting bacon jalapeno macaroni and cheese at the Student Union went viral a week ago has posted an apology on YouTube.
Discussion:
Salon, Independent Journal, WGN-TV and Mediaite


Dan Rather's Big Lie hits the big screen — There are many things that real people do to become the subject of sympathetic movies. Make a flawless emergency landing in the Hudson River with a disabled jet full of passengers. Survive a devastating storm atop Mt. Everest.
Discussion:
Jewish World Review and Power Line