memeorandum: Self-Described Gypsy Challenges Montgomery County's Ban on Fortunetelling (Rick Rojas/Washington Post)

6:50 AM ET, August 17, 2009

Top Items:

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:

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.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Open Left, Raw Story, FiveThirtyEight, The Reaction, YID With LID, Gateway Pundit, Dennis the Peasant, Obsidian Wings and MyDD

Ian Swanson / The Hill:

Obama picks fight with left on health reform — In backing away from its support for a public option in healthcare reform, the Obama administration is picking a fight with the liberal wing of the Democratic party. — Liberal Democrats have insisted a public insurance option is necessary to ensure competition for private insurers.

Discussion: campaignsilo.firedoglake.com, The Nation, Townhall.com and Raw Story

Martina Stewart / CNN:

TX Dem: Bill without public option ‘would be very, very difficult’ — WASHINGTON (CNN) -On the same day that a Cabinet member signaled the administration's willingness to forego inclusion of a public health insurance option in the final version of health care reform legislation …

Discussion: Shot in the Dark and Don Surber

Susie Madrak / Crooks and Liars:

Say What? Sebelius Touts Public Option on ‘This Week’, Throws It Under the Bus on CNN. — Oh, the Republicans have been having a field day with this mantra - that employers would shunt their employees into the public plan. But they're really upset for the same reason Sebelius mentioned as a positive: Job lock.

Discussion: The Confluence and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

‘Public Option’ in Health Plan May Be Dropped — PHOENIX — The White House, facing increasing skepticism over President Obama's call for a public insurance plan to compete with the private sector, signaled Sunday that it was willing to compromise and would consider a proposal …

Discussion: Agence France Presse, FiveThirtyEight, CNN, Crooks and Liars, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Watergate Summer, PoliGazette, Connecting.the.Dots, Prescriptions, Economist's View, Prairie Weather, Truthdig, Blue Mass. Group and Los Angeles Times

CNN:
Democratic senator: Public health insurance option dead

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
W.H. backs away from public option

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Sundries Shack, Stop The ACLU, Politico Live's Blog, Scared Monkeys, Wake up America, Kausfiles, The Confluence, New York Times, American Power and Hot Air

Martina Stewart / CNN:
Conservative Democrat gets The Last Word

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Philip Elliott / Associated Press:
White House appears ready to drop ‘public option’

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Reclusive Leftist

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Sen. Conrad: Public option a ‘wasted effort’

Discussion: DownWithTyranny! and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Martina Stewart / CNN:
Sebelius: There will be competition with private insurers

Discussion: Fox News, Politicker NY, PERRspectives, The Political Carnival, American Power and Dennis the Peasant

Fox News:

White House Passes Blame on Unsolicited Health Care E-Mails — The White House suggests third-party groups are to blame for unsolicited health care e-mails — The White House for the first time Sunday seemed to acknowledge that people across the country received unsolicited e-mails …

Discussion: YID With LID, Gateway Pundit and The Jawa Report

Mike Allen / The Politico:

White House will change e-mail rules — The White House said Sunday night that it will change its e-mail sign-up procedures after some recipients of a health-care e-mail complained that they had not asked to receive updates. — “We are implementing measures to make subscribing to e-mails clearer …

Discussion: Row 2, Seat 4, Josh Gerstein's Blog and Don Surber

Jennifer Graham / Canadian Press:

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 …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Don Surber and GayPatriot

Sarah Rainsford / BBC:

Row over Afghan wife-starving law — An Afghan bill allowing a husband to starve his wife if she refuses to have sex has been published in the official gazette and become law. — The original bill caused outrage earlier this year, forcing Afghan President Hamid Karzai to withdraw it.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, Weasel Zippers, Biased BBC and Jihad Watch

Rachel Weiner / The Huffington Post:

Maddow Battles Dick Armey In “Meet The Press” Debut (VIDEO) — Rachel Maddow appeared on “Meet the Press” for the first time on Sunday, August 16th. On a panel with former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), and Sen. Tom Coburn …

Discussion: American Power

msnbc.com:
Aug. 16: Dick Armey, Tom Coburn, Tom Daschle, Rachel Maddow

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, Brilliant at Breakfast and theblogprof

Sam Dillon / New York Times:

Obama Pushes States to Shift on Education — Holding out billions of dollars as a potential windfall, the Obama administration is persuading state after state to rewrite education laws to open the door to more charter schools and expand the use of student test scores for judging teachers.

Discussion: Greg's Opinion and The Page

Rick Rojas / Washington Post:

Self-Described Gypsy Challenges Montgomery County's Ban on Fortunetelling — Self-Described Gypsy Who Wants To Open Shop Says Law Is Biased — Nick Nefedro didn't need to have his palm read or look to Tarot cards to know that his plan to work as a fortuneteller in Bethesda would fail.

Andrew Breitbart / Washington Times:

George W. Bush-by-proxy syndrome — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — There is an extensive body of writing from both sides of the political aisle that has analyzed the extraordinary depths of hatred leveled at former President George W. Bush. — His birth into a wealthy and politically connected family is where a lot of the animus starts.

Discussion: Big Hollywood and Moe Lane

Radley Balko / Reason:

Why “Reading the Bill” Won't Matter — USA Today notes that even forcing legislators to read the health care legislation in the House probably wouldn't do much good. The bill is so bogged down with bureaucrat-eze, few of them are likely to understand it.

Discussion: Instapundit and PoliBlog