Top Items:
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Sotomayor Confirmed by Senate, 68-31 — WASHINGTON — Voting largely along party lines, the Senate on Thursday confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th justice of the Supreme Court. She will be the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the court.
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Hispanic Votes Not Swaying GOP on Sotomayor — According to the website DemConWatch, which has been compiling public statements on the Supreme Court nomination pending before the Senate, nine Republican senators will vote to confirm Sonia Sotomayor, with the rest planning to vote against her.
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid
The Huffington Post:
Unions To Take On Conservative Groups Health Care Town Halls — The nation's largest federation of labor organizations has promised to directly engage with boisterous conservative protesters at Democratic town halls during the August recess. — In a memo sent out on Thursday …
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Moe Lane / Moe_Lane's blog:
Behold those scary, scary swastika-bearing astroturfers. — (Brief summary for those lacking video: Dallas AARP meeting went wrong for organizers when participants refused to sit down, shut up, and applaud Democratic talking points. Organizers then left; meeting continued.)
Discussion:
American Nihilist, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Atlas Shrugs, American Power and Cato @ Liberty
Steve / Sweetness & Light:
Was Pelosi So Wrong About Swastikas? — As you may have heard by now, the United States Speaker of the House, the number two most powerful elected federal official, Nancy Pelosi, has accused the protesters at Democrat healthcare town halls of carrying swastikas:
Washington Post:Senate Committee's Bipartisan Health-Care Reform Talks Move Toward Center
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Treatment, Ezra Klein, Wonk Room, msnbc.com, The Page, Boston Globe and Indecision Forever
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:Say, isn't this Astroturfing? — The White House and its allies …
Discussion:
Now! Hampshire, American Power, thedanashow.wordpress.com, RedState and The Sundries Shack
David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
‘Punkin’ the Birthers: Priceless' — It's looking more and more like the forged “Kenyan birth certificate” released by Orly Taitz on Sunday was a prank by a supporter of President Obama. Politijab points to an anonymous blogger at FearlessBlogging, who has uploaded four photos of the original forgery and a mocking declaration:
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Little Green Footballs:
Punkin' the Nirthers — That “Kenyan birth certificate” promoted by World Net Daily, Orly Taitz, Free Republic, and quite a few bloggers turns out to have been a deliberate prank on the Nirthers. They were well and truly punk'd. — The first words I wrote immediately after seeing the latest incarnation of the Nirth Certifikit:
Discussion:
The Jawa Report
The Huffington Post:
Anti-Obama Protester Compares President To Nazi In Swastika Sign — In championing the protests being staged at Democratic town halls, the Republican Party faces the obvious danger of becoming defined by the crazier elements of the crowd. So it's hard to imagine GOP higher-ups feeling …
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Adam Smith / St. Petersburg Times:
Protesters drown out Tampa health care summit — TAMPA - Bitter divisions over reforming America's health care system exploded Thursday night in Tampa amid cat calls, jeering and shoving at a town hall meeting. — “Tyranny! Tyranny! Tyranny!” dozens of people shouted as U.S …
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Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
Reid: GOP ‘run by a talk show host’ — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid launched his harshest attack on the Republican Party in months, claiming the GOP is “being run by a talk show host.” — Reid, armed with a patch of Astroturf, slammed Republicans for sponsoring town hall attacks …
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Washington Times:
White House: ‘War on terrorism’ is over — ‘Jihadists’ and ‘global war’ no longer acceptable terms — It's official. The U.S. is no longer engaged in a “war on terrorism.” Neither is it fighting “jihadists” or in a “global war.” — President Obama's top homeland security …
Discussion:
RealClearWorld, CNN, Jules Crittenden, Atlas Shrugs, The Jawa Report, Pajamas Media, Jihad Watch and Shot in the Dark
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Philip Kennicott / Washington Post:
Obama as The Joker: Racial Fear's Ugly Face — ‘Political’ Poster Turns On Violent Symbolism — Between Jack Nicholson's 1989 portrayal of the Joker in “Batman” and Heath Ledger's 2008 characterization in “The Dark Knight,” something sinister happened to the villain's iconic makeup.
Rachel Slajda / Talking Points Memo:
CNN Anchor Rips Into Health Care CEO Who's Funding Anti-Reform Effort — A CNN anchor today tore down Rick Scott, the founder of an organization that's been funding anti-health care reform protests and the former CEO of a hospital company that, as Sanchez pointed out, paid $1.7 billion …
ABCNEWS:
U.S. Official: ‘Strong Indications’ Pakistani Taliban Leader Baitullah Mehsud is Dead — U.S., Pakistani Officials Awaiting DNA Tests for “100 Percent” Confirmation — “There is strong indication” that Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a CIA drone strike that targeted …
Discussion:
The Long War Journal, The Lede, Don Surber, FP Passport, Hot Air, The Washington Independent, ATTACKERMAN and PrairiePundit
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Health Care Generation Gap — It's certainly interesting that older Americans are disproportionately likely to be hostile to Barack Obama's plans for health care reform and also the case that most older Americans already benefit from a Canadian-style program of universal Medicare.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
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Michelle Malkin:
Revolt against AARP in Dallas: “Do you work for us or do we work for you?” — Watch the senior citizen “hooligans” and “civic vigilantes” in Dallas question a condescending AARP representative about Obamacare. Dues-paying members are speaking up about the organization's sellout of its members — and the AARP brass is not happy.
Business Week:
The Health Insurers Have Already Won — How UnitedHealth and rival carriers, maneuvering behind the scenes in Washington, shaped health-care reform for their own benefit — As the health reform fight shifts this month from a vacationing Washington to congressional districts and local airwaves around …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Tom Bevan / Real Clear Politics:
After 6 Months, More View Obama's Presidency as a ‘Failure’ Than Bush's — A rather surprising finding from the newly released CNN poll. Question three on the national survey of 1,136 adults (which includes an oversample of African-Americans) asks, “Do you consider the first six months …
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Obama's dissident database could be secret — and permanent — The White House request that members of the public report anyone who is spreading “disinformation” about the proposed national health care makeover could lead to a White House database of political opponents that will be both secret …
Discussion:
Power Line, Fausta's Blog, Raw Story, Neptunus Lex, Babalú Blog, Right Wing News, Hot Air and St. Louis Tea Party
RELATED:
Pew Research Center:
Many Fault Media Coverage of Health Care Debate — Partisan Divide Over Coverage of “Birther” Allegations — As the fight in Washington over health care reform continues to dominate public attention and media coverage, most Americans are critical of the way news organizations are explaining key elements of the debate.
John Lyon / Arkansas News:
Lincoln retracts description of health care protests as ‘un-American’ — LITTLE ROCK — Efforts to disrupt town hall meetings on health care reform are un-American, U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said today, though she later issued a statement retracting the remark.
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