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Administration Official: “Sebelius Misspoke.” — An administration official said tonight that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “misspoke” when she told CNN this morning that a government run health insurance option “is not an essential part” of reform.
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White House disables e-tip box — Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box — flag@whitehouse.gov — that was set up to receive information on “fishy” claims about President Barack Obama's health plan.

Sorry, Can't Pass Health Care Bill Without a Public Option — The headline in The Hill says it loud and clear: … Many people are rightly upset that the White House is sending stronger and stronger signals that they are willing to jettison a public option.
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QandO, Working In These Times, American Power, Dennis the Peasant, Newshoggers.com, TalkLeft, Townhall.com and Raw Story

Anthony Weiner: Not Including Public Plan Will Cost Reform “100 Votes” in the House — [Jane will be appearing on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports today at 1pm EDT. —Ed.] — When I wrote that 64 Democrats in the House had pledged to vote against a health care bill with no public plan …

Obama Misread His Mandate — After a rough week for health care reform, Democratic leaders appear to be pulling back on their demand for a public option. It remains to be seen whether liberal Democrats, especially in the House where they are more numerous, will go along with this.

Liberal Dems alarmed by public option move — Liberal Democrats are alarmed by President Barack Obama's weakening support for a “public option” to compete with private insurance companies as part of his healthcare initiative. — “Leaving private insurance companies the job of controlling …


What's Actually Going on With the Public Option?
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TalkLeft, TPMDC, Hullabaloo, Progress Illinois, Washington Post, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and The Moderate Voice

Health concession fuels blowback
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Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Crooks and Liars, The Hill, Capital Journal, Below The Beltway, Raw Story and Salon

White House public option ploy: A trial balloon, not a white flag
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How Many Votes Does the Public Option Have? How Many Does it Need?
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Left in the West, New York Times, DownWithTyranny!, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, AMERICAblog News, Think Progress and TPMDC

Latest Twists on the Public Option
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Think Progress, The Note, Eschaton, Guardian, Blogs and Stories and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Conservatives Now Outnumber Liberals in All 50 States, Says Gallup Poll — (CNSNews.com) - Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states of the union, according to the Gallup Poll. — At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year …
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Don Surber

Rationing and Rationality — Defined at a high level of abstraction, rationing is inevitable in medicine. Not everything that might be in a patient's best interest can be done in a world of finite resources, and some constraint has to limit his treatment. Thus the left-wing jibe that the market features “rationing by price.”
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The Swiss Menace — It was the blooper heard round the world. In an editorial denouncing Democratic health reform plans, Investor's Business Daily tried to frighten its readers by declaring that in Britain, where the government runs health care, the handicapped physicist Stephen Hawking …
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Weekly Standard, Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly, The Confluence, The Glittering Eye, DailyHowler.com and Paul Krugman

Telling Grandma ‘No’ — When Democratic congressmen dream these days, they're tongue-tied in town halls, fumbling with their microphones while they're shouted down by slavering, pitchfork-wielding Limbaugh listeners. — But Barack Obama is wiser than most Democratic congressmen, and his nightmares are savvier.
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JustOneMinute, Prairie Weather, The Mahablog, Sadly, No!, AmSpecBlog, Real Clear Politics, alicublog and Below The Beltway

Overhauling health-care system tops agenda at annual meeting of Canada's doctors — SASKATOON — The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country's health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it. — Dr. Anne Doig says patients …
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Gateway Pundit, The Strata-Sphere, Wake up America, BizzyBlog, theblogprof, Liberal Values, The Jawa Report, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber and The Foundry

Poll: 57% don't see stimulus working — WASHINGTON — Six months after President Obama launched a $787 billion plan to right the nation's economy, a majority of Americans think the avalanche of new federal aid has cost too much and done too little to end the recession. — POLL RESULTS: Six questions
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Matthew Yglesias, Glenn Thrush's Blog, Salon, The Moderate Voice, Gateway Pundit and Wake up America

Exclusive: New Poll Finds Majority Of Republicans Either Believes Or Isn't Sure About “Death Panel” Claim — Wow. A forthcoming poll by the nonpartisan Research 2000 for DailyKos finds that a majority of Republicans either believes, or isn't sure about, the claim that the Dem health care proposal …
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Weekly Standard


Israelis sour on Rahm — As the Obama administration presses Israel to cease settlement expansion as part of a renewed push for a Middle East peace deal—a course of action that many Israelis have interpreted as evidence of the president's favoritism towards Palestinians …
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Mike Huckabee bashes America on foreign soil
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The Atlantic Politics Channel, Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, LewRockwell.com Blog and Israpundit


Truth and not-quite-truth in the health reform debate — As chairman of the House Republican Health Care Solutions Group, Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Springfield, knows a thing or two about health care. But some of what he knows just isn't true. — “I'm 59,” Mr. Blunt said last week during a meeting with Post-Dispatch reporters and editors.

Obama: ‘Honored and humbled’ to speak before veterans in Phoenix — Police report no arrests or calls for medical assistance — President Barack Obama came to Phoenix this morning to address the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention. — But the real story, was on the streets outside …

Pentagon Worries Led to Command Change — McKiernan's Ouster Reflected New Realities in Afghanistan — and Washington — In mid-March, as a White House assessment of the war in Afghanistan was nearing completion, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen …
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FiveThirtyEight, BLACKFIVE, On Deadline, The Atlanticist, Neptunus Lex, Pajamas Media, The New Republic, msnbc.com and Outside The Beltway

Tom DeLay on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ — It's Hammer Time! — Tom DeLay, the former Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives, will be a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” when the popular ABC show premieres Sept. 21. And, before you laugh or think this is going to be a joke …

Time to Legalize Drugs — Undercover Baltimore police officer Dante Arthur was doing what he does well, arresting drug dealers, when he approached a group in January. What he didn't know was that one of suspects knew from a previous arrest that Arthur was police. Arthur was shot twice in the face.
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Reason

ORRIN HATCH, PAINFULLY CONFUSED.... It's frightening to think this guys was involved for months with the center-right negotiations in the Senate Finance Committee. — On ABC's “This Week” yesterday, Jake Tapper asked Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) of Utah a good question.

Democratic Elites Urge Progressive Block To Fold — There are a lot of actions that progressives can take to help progressive health care legislation become law. You can call members of Congress or the White House. You can attend town hall events. And, just as importantly …

Auto Dealers Paid for Just 2 Percent of ‘Clunkers’ Claims, Congressman Says — Rep. Joe Sestak says only 2 percent of claims have been paid and that four of every five applications have been “rejected for minor oversight.” — FOXNews.com — The federal government has only reimbursed auto dealers …
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Hot Air

Joe The Plumber Says He Would ‘Beat The Livin’ Tar' Out Of Pelosi — This past weekend, at the right wing's RightOnline blogger conference in Pittsburgh — sponsored by Americans for Prosperity — Alternet's Adele Stan reported that Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher attacked Nancy Pelosi for calling teabaggers “un-American.”


Court says Troy Davis can present evidence — Condemned killer on death row for murder of off-duty police officer — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave Troy Anthony Davis the chance to present evidence in court that the condemned man has said for years will clear him of the murder of a Savannah police officer.