memeorandum: Republican Voters Say GOP Reps in Congress Still Out of Touch (Rasmussen Reports)

10:15 PM ET, September 1, 2009

Top Items:

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

51 Vote Rules May Force a Public Option Too Liberal for Some Dems — As Senate leaders begin work on a Democrat-only health care bill, they're finding themselves confronted with an unexpected irony: Though the caucus has reached an uneasy consensus around a public option that's modeled …

Discussion: The TrogloPundit, Hullabaloo, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Crooks and Liars, Open Left, Talking Points Memo, Liberal Values, Left in the West, Open Congress, Swampland and Daily Kos

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP readies wave of objections to stall healthcare bill in Senate

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog, TPMDC, Congress Matters, Washington Monthly, MyDD and Sunlight Foundation

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias: Reconciliation May Push Health Reform to the Left

CNN:

CNN Poll: Independents disapprove of Obama — WASHINGTON (CNN) — A majority of independent voters disapprove of how Barack Obama's handling his job as president, according to a new national poll. — Fifty-three percent of independents questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation …

Discussion: Hot Air, The TrogloPundit, The Confluence, Taegan Goddard's …, Wake up America, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Page

CNN:
CNN Poll: Afghanistan War opposition at all-time high

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Politico, Hot Air, Macsmind and Shadow Government

David Brooks / New York Times:
The Obama Slide — Two tides swept over American politics last winter.

Tim Nudd / AdFreak:

WWF condemns 9/11 print ad by DDB Brazil — [NOTE: The WWF says it never approved this ad and is condemning it. See the updates below.] Just in time for the anniversary of 9/11 comes this tasteless, nightmarish print ad for the World Wildlife Fund, showing dozens of planes headed for lower Manhattan.

Discussion: WWF News Releases, City Room, Hot Air, Gothamist, The Corner on National …, Pajamas Media, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Gawker and Michelle Malkin

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:

WWF Exploits 9/11 — It's shameful. An ad by the World Wildlife Fund that tries to turn 9/11 into...something that has to do with animals — and not the animals who flew those planes into the World Trade Center. The text on the ad reads, “The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11.

Discussion: Marooned In Marin and American Power

Vincent Fernando / Clusterstock:

Hong Kong Broker Pulling A “Borat” On Sarah Palin — Hopefully Sarah Palin realizes she's been invited to Hong Kong as a practical joke. — CLSA, the Asia-focused broker who invited Mrs. Palin as keynote speaker for an Asian investment conference, is well known for their cheeky takes on investment research.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Mudflats, Hot Air, The Huffington Post and Conservatives4Palin.com

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Justice Dept. to Recharge Enforcement of Civil Rights — WASHINGTON — Seven months after taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is reshaping the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division by pushing it back into some of the most important areas of American political life …

Discussion: The Corner on National …, Democracy in America, Main Justice, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, Heritage Foundation and Associated Press

Joseph Weber / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Gonzales defends Holder's decision on CIA

Discussion: Front Row Washington, Philly.com, Hot Air and Main Justice

Adam Serwer / American Prospect: Republicans Disappointed In Holder's Decision To Enforce Civil Rights Laws.

Rory Cooper / The Foundry:

Obama's Team Crosses the Rhetorical Line — (Update: The website cited below has been suspended by barackobama.com. The screenshot to the right is the original page, but the embedded links will no longer work. Click on the picture to the right for a full-screen view.)

Discussion: And So it Goes in Shreveport, Conservative Dallas, Nice Deb, RedState and NewsBusters.org

Washington Post:

Thesis Thrusts Va. Gubernatorial Candidate's Past Views Into Spotlight — The Virginia governor's race ignited Monday over Republican Robert F. McDonnell's 20-year-old graduate thesis: Democrats assailed him in e-mail blasts and interviews for what he wrote about working women, homosexuals and …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Taegan Goddard's …, The New Republic, Virginia Politics, MoJo Blog Posts, The Huffington Post, Atlantic Correspondents, Salon, MoJo Blog Posts, The League of Ordinary …, Power Line, Below The Beltway and The Note

Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:
Is the Washington Post trying to ‘Macaca’ Bob McDonnell?

Discussion: Washington Post, NewsBusters.org, Politics Daily and AMERICAblog News

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Virginia Race Tightens Up

Discussion: Below The Beltway, Blue Virginia and Scorecard's Blog

Josh Kalven / Progress Illinois:

Schakowsky Town Hall: Booing Ted Kennedy? Really? — We attended Rep. Jan Schakowsky's health care town hall meeting in Niles last night where over 2,000 people showed up, packing a high school auditorium and spilling onto the sidewalk outside. There was a real variety of opinion expressed during …

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Think Progress

Rasmussen Reports:

Republican Voters Say GOP Reps in Congress Still Out of Touch — Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republican voters say their party's representatives in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters nationwide over the past several years. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Front Row Washington, Macsmind, Poll Tracker, Pundit & Pundette, Conservative Dallas and TPMDC

Maggie Haberman / New York Post:

YOU CAN'T KEEP A BAD MAN DOWN — SPITZER IS EYEING A COMEBACK — Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been privately talking with friends about a possible comeback, and is considering a run for statewide office next year, several sources told The Post.

Discussion: Truthdig, City Room, Wonkette, Hot Air, Moe Lane, Top of the Ticket, Christian Science Monitor, Open Left, The Atlantic Politics Channel, New York Daily News Blogs, On Deadline, Air America Media blogs, Gothamist, Ben Smith's Blog, Michelle Malkin and The Huffington Post

Nico Pitney / The Huffington Post:

Maria Bartiromo Presses 44-Year-Old Congressman: If Medicare Is So Good, Why Aren't You On It? (VIDEO) — Earlier today, MSNBC's Carlos Watson hosted Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo for a discussion on health care. — At one point, Bartiromo was critical …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Crooks and Liars, Think Progress and Ezra Klein

Aimai / No More Mister Nice Blog:

No, Seriously, Dude, Acolyte? — It is fun to wake up and find [edited to remove extra word] yourself accused of joining a cult—the cult of people who like incredibly detailed, footnoted, analytic, legal arguments about abstruse and painful political crimes? The cult of people who follow links?

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

Torture's Ugly Dialogue — Call him Ishmael. — Call him a terrorist or a suicide bomber or anything else you want, but understand that he is willing — no, anxious — to give his life for his cause. Call him also a captive, and know that he works with others as part of a team …

Discussion: Firedoglake, First Draft, The Huffington Post, Lawyers, Guns and Money, FP Passport and JustOneMinute

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish: What Richard Cohen Omits

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Beltway culture, checks on journalists and secrecy obligations — I'm ambivalent about whether even to acknowledge this obviously disturbed, Cheneyite rant from Joe Klein. On the one hand, I don't want to be dragged down into what is, for him, quite clearly a deeply emotional and personal matter …

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Jawa Report, The Reaction, Open Left, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, Balloon Juice, skippy the bush kangaroo, The TrogloPundit, The Huffington Post and American Power

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Please, Not In Front Of The Kids (Or The Sockpuppets... Or The Editors)

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money

The Huffington Post:

Cheney In 2012? Some Key GOPers Aren't Kidding — At first, it seemed like a joke. Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto opined on Monday that — if the 2012 election were to turn to national security — “it's hard to think of a better candidate... than Richard B. Cheney.”

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, American Power and Washington Monthly

Matt Corley / Think Progress:

Grassley: The ‘Only Way To Get A Bipartisan Agreement Is To Defeat A Democratic Proposal On The First Hand’ — Over the August recess, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), one of the three Republicans engaged in the “Gang of Six” health care negotiations, has repeatedly made public statements …

Discussion: The Plum Line, Associated Press, Washington Monthly, Radio Iowa, Wonk Room, Hot Air, About.com US Liberal Politics, The Washington Independent and Prescriptions

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:

Right-Wing Conspiracy Theory: Nancy Pelosi Is Banning Patriotic Hold Music On Congressional Phones — Today, the right-wing site The New Ledger has a report about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) “problem” with “patriotic music”: … The post was picked up by various right-wing blogs.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Liberal Values, Moonbattery and Maggie's Farm

Boston Globe:

Coakley makes the first move in race for Kennedy seat — Attorney General Martha Coakley this morning picked up nomination papers to run for the Senate seat of Edward M. Kennedy, becoming the first candidate to throw a hat in the ring for what promises to be a fierce five-month-long race.

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor, The Fix, Associated Press, The Caucus, The Confluence and Scorecard's Blog

Jeremy Jacobs / Politics Magazine:
Sources: Meehan Won't Run for Teddy's Seat

Discussion: Hotline On Call

pogo.org:

POGO Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding U.S. Embassy in Kabul — Dear Secretary Clinton: — As you know, last month eight rockets were fired into Kabul, two landing near the U.S. Embassy.1 Not long after, at least seven people were killed and 91 wounded, including children …

Discussion: Front Row Washington, MoJo Blog Posts, CBS News, Boing Boing and The Washington Independent

Megan McArdle:

Does High Speed Rail Have a Future? — Forgive me for talking about high speed rail even though Ryan Avent says I'm not allowed to. I just can't control myself, I'm afraid. — As libertarians go, I'm a big fan of high-speed rail. I think it would be very nice if we had some in the …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Green Sheet, The Glittering Eye and Conventional Folly

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:

Something New On Health Care: Deal-Breakers From The President — This time, the President is going to be specific. Next week, President Obama is going to give Democrats a health care plan they can begin to sell. — He plans to list specific goals that any health insurance reform plan …

Discussion: Villainous Company, Washington Post, QandO, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, YID With LID, TalkLeft, Daily Kos and AMERICAblog News

Michelle Malkin:

Obama's Sept. 8 speech to schoolchildren — President Obama told a student report last month that he would be making an address to schoolchildren on September 8: — The Daily Paul picked up the story last week and linked to teachers' manuals pegged to Obama's address, which have now been linked on Drudge.

Discussion: Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Hot Air, BizzyBlog, And So it Goes in Shreveport and Pundit & Pundette

David A. Harris / The Huffington Post:

Look Who's Coming To Dinner — Wait - Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, is coming to the Ramadan dinner hosted tonight by President Barack Obama? — After reading this in Talking Points Memo, I paused to make sure I read it right. — There's nothing surprising …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Ernest Luning / Colorado Independent:

Bachmann: ‘Slit our wrists, be blood brothers’ to beat health care reform — U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican, chats with a supporter at an Independence Institute fundraiser in Denver on Aug. 31. (Photo/Ernest Luning) — DENVER — In a fiery speech …