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Exclusive: Obama Stands By Criticism of Cambridge Police — ABC EXCLUSIVE: Obama Says ‘Cooler Heads Should Have Prevailed’ — President Obama today stood by his comments that the Cambridge, Mass., police department acted “stupidly” in its arrest of Henry Louis Gates …
Discussion:
Power Line, The Politico, CNN, Riehl World View, New York Times, Boston Herald, Boston Globe, The Plum Line, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, Political Byline, The Note, Associated Press, Dean's World, Washington Post, NewsBusters.org, Swampland, Boston Weather …, The Reaction, QandO, Latest Open Salon Blog, Right Wing News, Washington Wire, American Power, The Page, NO QUARTER, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Weekly Standard and Maggie's Farm
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Bill Cosby ‘shocked’ at Obama's statement on Harvard prof's arrest — On a Boston radio program this morning, Bill Cosby suggested that President Obama spoke too soon on the controversial arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. — “I've heard about five different reports …


Bias, Racism, Being a Jerk, and Abuse of Power — Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (wikimedia) — One of the biggest reasons why it's extremely difficult to have a real conversation about race in the United States is that every imputation of a racial dynamic immediately becomes a defensive spat …

Officer in Henry Gates flap tried to save Reggie Lewis — Denies he's a racist, won't apologize — The Cambridge cop prominent Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. claims is a racist gave a dying Reggie Lewis mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in a desperate bid to save the Celtics …

Cop who arrested black scholar is profiling expert … CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - The white police sergeant criticized by President Barack Obama for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his Massachusetts home is a police academy expert on racial profiling.


Obama Attacks Docs and Cops — President Obama spent most of his press conference tonight denying what President Kennedy famously affirmed — that to govern is to choose. Obama promised us health care this is at once better and cheaper, with both more regulation and more freedom to choose …

Obama Goes Off-Topic, Clearly
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Philly.com, Hullabaloo, Associated Press, NewsBusters.org, The Moderate Voice and Los Angeles Times

Public option “dead,” Scott predicts — Rick Scott, the former hospital exec who has been leading a conservative counterattack on health care reform is emailing supporters to predict that the Democrats' public option will die if no bill is passed before recess. — The blast [h/t Marty Kady]:
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Senate Won't Vote on Health Reform Before Recess — WASHINGTON — The Senate will not vote on health care legislation before leaving for its summer recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday as he acknowledged out loud the inescapable political reality that has been clear for several days.

HELP + Finance = Harry Reid's Recess
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HotMES

More delays in House on healthcare reform
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The Politico, Hot Air, Daily Kos, ABCNEWS, The Note, Bloomberg, D-Day, Salon, Below The Beltway and Open Congress


N.J. officials, N.Y. rabbis caught in federal money laundering, corruption sweep — NEWARK — A New Jersey assemblyman and the mayors of Hoboken and Secaucus were among public officials arrested this morning by FBI agents in an international money laundering and corruption probe that includes rabbis …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Law Blog, USA Today, NewsBusters.org, Above the Law, The Campaign Spot and Redhot
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Confidence in Obama Lifts U.S. Image Around the World — Most Muslim Publics Not So Easily Moved — Overview — View Slideshow (w/Andrew Kohut commentary) — The image of the United States has improved markedly in most parts of the world, reflecting global confidence in Barack Obama.
Discussion:
Israel Matzav, Salon, Hotline On Call, PERRspectives, Boston Globe and Daniel W. Drezner
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The Born Identity — Barack Obama is not only the United States' first black president — he's also the first not-American president.

Global Views of U.S. Helped by Obama, Survey Says
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Washington Monthly


Inside Bush and Cheney's Final Days — Hours before they were to leave office after eight troubled years, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney had one final and painful piece of business to conclude. For over a month Cheney had been pleading, cajoling, even pestering Bush to pardon …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Buck Naked Politics, Emptywheel, Mediaite, Raw Story, At-Largely, Think Progress, The Swamp, Salon, The Note, Zandar Versus The Stupid, PoliGazette, Hot Air and The Page


Conservative Activist Forwards Racist Pic Showing Obama As Witch Doctor — The election of our first black president has brought with it a strange proliferation of online racism among conservatives. — And we've got the latest example. — On Sunday night, Dr. David McKalip forwarded …

Thumbs down from pundits on presser — Pundits who are often wowed by President Barack Obama's oratorical skills are delivering a decidedly negative verdict on his performance at his health care-dominated press conference Wednesday night. — The major newspapers and cable networks dinged …
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At big moment, Obama goes small
Discussion:
Bookworm Room, Time, Indecision Forever, Flopping Aces, Commentary, The Huffington Post, ABCNEWS, PrairiePundit, Wall Street Journal, Don Surber and New York Times


Stanley's First Wife Swore Out A Restraining Order In 1994 — While Sen. Paul Stanley tries desperately to hang on to his current marriage amid reports of a TBI confirmed admission of an extramarital affair with an intern and subsequent blackmailing by her boyfriend, allow Post Politics to take you on a trip down memory lane.


Experts Dispute Some Points in Health Talk — WASHINGTON — President Obama showed great fluency in the intricate details of health policy at his news conference on Wednesday night, but experts said some of his points were debatable. — Mr. Obama said doctors, nurses, hospitals …
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The Foundry

This is not going to end well for CBS — Just a note about Dan Rather's lawsuit over his firing from CBS in connection with the so-called Memogate story and how it continues to haunt the network. As the New York Times reported, Rather and his lawyers just won a key victory and were given permission …

GOP seizes on Obama cops remark — The National Republican Congressional Committee thinks law-and-order voters won't much like President Obama's remark that Cambridge Mass. cops acted “stupidly” in arresting Harvard Professor Skip Gates in his own house this week.
Discussion:
democracyarsenal.org

GOP: Going Over the Precipice — Because of a quirk in California's Constitution, the minority Republicans have managed to push through a budget that makes the state sicker and dumber. Where is the Democrats' white knight? — The most basic principle of any democracy is that of majority rule …
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MoJo Blog Posts, Reason, Opinion L.A., Democratic Strategist, Ezra Klein and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Tired of the Stupid — The Village's desire, almost a demand really, that President Obama transcend his half-blackness is very offensive to me. Why does his outrage at the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. violate the protocols of Washington? Is it okay to arrest a man in his own house …
Discussion:
D-Day

Democrats Block GOP Health Care Mailing — Democrats are preventing Republican House Members from sending their constituents a mailing that is critical of the majority's health care reform plan, blocking the mailing by alleging that it is inaccurate. — House Republicans are crying foul …
Discussion:
RedState