memeorandum: Voice of Reason — In 2001 Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold famously … (Jeremy Scahill/The Nation)

4:50 PM ET, July 24, 2009

Top Items:

911, police tapes key in Gates case — Officials mull release of recorded evidence — Mounting pressure to get to the bottom of the controversial arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. is centering on recorded police tapes that may offer a dose of reality amid all the media and political noise.

Discussion: Don Surber, The Hill's Pundits Blog, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Jules Crittenden, The Plum Line, Atlas Shrugs, sara in italy, Wizbang, Taylor Marsh, The Confluence, The Sundries Shack, Associated Press, Sister Toldjah, Gateway Pundit and Boston Globe

ABCNEWS:

Gates Arrest — Case Heats Up As Police Organizations Criticize Obama For Jumping into the Controversy — The police sergeant who arrested Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. last week in his own home may be considering a defamation lawsuit against Gates who has implied his arrest was racially motivated.

a Phantom Negro / Salon:

Skip Gates, please sit down — You are suffering from what I call the “Ivy League Effect” … Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Mass., in 2008. — The Ivy League is not real life. College in general is not real life, and the Ivy League is a more fantastic version of college.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Pam's House Blend, The Opinionator, Taylor Marsh and The Jawa Report

The Politico:

Obama walks back police criticism — President Obama made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room Friday in an attempt to tamp down the escalating controversy over his comments on the Monday arrest of Harvard Prof. Henry Louis Gates by the Cambridge, Mass., Police Department.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Political Byline, New York Magazine, Blue Crab Boulevard, Fox News, The Note, Political Punch and Flopping Aces

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Obama regrets ‘distraction’ of comment ‘obsession’ — President Obama regrets the distraction that his comments about a police incident in Cambridge, Mass., caused, according to a White House spokesman. — White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday that if the president knew …

Discussion: MyDD, D-Day and Riehl World View

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
A Presidential Mea Culpa To Sgt. Crowley

Discussion: Obsidian Wings

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Obama Expresses His Regrets On Gates Incident

Discussion: TalkLeft

Patrick Hynes / ConsiderThisNews:
FNC News Break: Prez Blames Media for Cops Remark Dustup

Discussion: Dr. Melissa Clouthier and Hot Air

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
What's missing from this NYT article about Henry Louis Gates?

Discussion: JustOneMinute, WEEI Online Audio …, Christian Science Monitor, Patterico's Pontifications and The Confluence

Fox News:
Obama Seeks to Clarify ‘Stupidly’ Comment, Praises White Policeman

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Washington Wire:
Obama Addresses Gates Controversy, Calls Arresting Officer

Discussion: The Plum Line and D-Day

New York Times:
Professor's Arrest Tests Beliefs on Racial Progress

Discussion: Boston Globe, NewsBusters.org, Gothamist and Los Angeles Times

Abby Goodnough / New York Times:
Sergeant Who Arrested Professor Defends Actions

Discussion: Clive Crook

The Hill:

Waxman may let health bill skip committee — Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) says there is “no alternative” but to have healthcare legislation bypass his Energy and Commerce Committee if Blue Dog Democrats don't accept a deal worked out Friday. — Waxman is hoping the inclusion of a study …

Discussion: The Note, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Open Congress, Ben Smith's Blog, Daily Kos, Hot Air, TPMDC, The Hill's Twitter Room, Angry Bear, Michelle Malkin and The Mahablog

The Hill:

House healthcare talks break down in anger — House healthcare negotiations dissolved in acrimony on Friday, with Blue Dog Democrats saying they were “lied” to by their Democratic leaders. — The seven Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee stormed out of a Friday meeting …

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Monthly, The Caucus, The Hill's Twitter Room, Taegan Goddard's …, The Strata-Sphere, Democrats.com and Pajamas Media

Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Health care talks fall apart

Discussion: BrianFaughnan's blog, Hot Air and The Page

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
House Democrats Contemplate Putting National Interest Ahead …

Discussion: The Hill, D-Day and TPMDC

Jane Hamsher / Campaign Silo: Waxman: Blue Dogs Trying To “Eviscerate” Health Care

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

McCain Campaign Investigated, Dismissed Obama Citizenship Rumors — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during his presidential campaign (WDCpix) — In the final months of the 2008 presidential race, Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) campaign learned of a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania that asked the state …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Taegan Goddard's …, The New Republic, Latest Open Salon Blog, PoliBlog and Indecision Forever

Chris / TVNewser:

Jon Klein on Birthers: “It Seems This Story is Dead” — TVNewser has learned CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein sent an email to a handful of “Lou Dobbs Tonight” staffers last night regarding the coverage of the so-called birthers and the validity of Pres. Obama's birth in the U.S.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Michael Calderone's Blog, Democracy in America, Ben Smith's Blog, Hot Air and BuzzFlash.org

Alex Koppelman / Salon:
No, Obama's grandmother didn't say he was born in Kenya

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, Think Progress, Raw Story, PrairiePundit, Right Pundits and The Washington Independent

Jonathan Klein / SPLCenter.org:
SPLC President Calls on CNN to Remove Lou Dobbs from Air …

Discussion: Media Matters for America, AMERICAblog News, D-Day and Gawker

Washington Post:

Palin's Favorability Rating Drops as She Prepares to Leave Office, Poll Finds — As Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin prepares for the next stage of her political career, a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of her, and there is broad public doubt about her leadership skills and understanding …

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Why Obamacare Is Sinking — What happened to Obamacare? Rhetoric met reality. As both candidate and president, the master rhetorician could conjure a world in which he bestows upon you health-care nirvana: more coverage, less cost. — But you can't fake it in legislation.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, The Note, The New Republic, Commentary, Wake up America, Time, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Betsy's Page and Political Punch

Laura Meckler / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's Health Expert Gets Political

Discussion: The New Republic, Ezra Klein, The Caucus, Vox Popoli and Pundit & Pundette

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Obamacare haunted by unkept promises of stimulus

Discussion: Media Blog

Dave Montgomery / Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Perry raises possibility of states' rights showdown with White House over healthcare — AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states' rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist …

Discussion: Balkinization, Think Progress, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Below The Beltway and LewRockwell.com Blog

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Secessionist Governor Rick Perry Considering Nullifcation of Health Care Reform

Discussion: TalkLeft

Manu Raju / The Politico:

Graham takes on conservatives — When Sen. Lindsey Graham announced his support for Sonia Sotomayor this week, right-wing radio talk show host Mark Levin said it was a sign that Graham is “unreliable ... as a thinker and a leader.” — Wendy Long, counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network …

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, DownWithTyranny!, Cold Fury, Jay Bookman and Glenn Thrush's Blog

US Senator Orrin Hatch:
HATCH WILL NOT SUPPORT SOTOMAYOR NOMINATION

Discussion: Politics Nation and Salon

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Costs and Compassion — The talking heads on cable TV panned President Obama's Wednesday press conference. You see, he didn't offer a lot of folksy anecdotes. — Shame on them. The health care system is in crisis. The fate of America's middle class hangs in the balance.

Discussion: Shakesville, The Moderate Voice, D-Day, DailyHowler.com, Stop The ACLU, TalkLeft, The Treatment, Washington Monthly and Cafe Hayek

Wall Street Journal:

Common Sense May Sink ObamaCare — It turns out the president misjudged the nation's mood. — Printer — Friendly — This is big, what's happening. President Obama appears to have misstepped on a major initiative and defining issue. He has misjudged the nation's mood …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog and NO QUARTER

Connie Hair / Human Events:

GOP Not Allowed to Say ‘Government-Run Healthcare’ — Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), the secretary of the House Republican Conference and a former District Court Judge, is having his messages to constituents censored by Democrats on the Franking Commission. Republicans are no longer allowed …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, QandO, Townhall.com and Right Wing News

Unfair Park:

How a Local Rally For Obama's Health Care Proposal Turned Into a Rally Against It — Local MoveOn.org members had penciled in on today's schedule a protest in front of Senator John Cornyn's Spring Valley Road office, during which they had hoped to pressure the senator to support President Barack Obama's public health care legislation.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Don Surber, PrairiePundit and Michelle Malkin

Bluegal / Crooks and Liars:

Elizabeth Edwards Shows How to Tell a Liar on Healthcare — In an interview with Rachel Maddow, Elizabeth Edwards dropped this enormously helpful key on when to tell if an opponent to healthcare reform is lying: … Our friends at Sadly, No! take a look at the actual outcomes between the US and Canada.

Discussion: Sadly, No!