Top Items:
Ezra Klein / Vox:
Notes on the garbage fire that is American politics — Every Republican who endorsed and normalized Trump bears part of the blame for this moment. — At 7:26 pm, barely 90 minutes before the second presidential debate, Donald Trump tweeted, “Join me on #FacebookLive as I conclude my final #debate preparations.”
Discussion:
Fortune, bet.com, Heat Street, The Daily Caller, The Week, mrctv.org/videos, twitchy.com, Mashable, bradford-delong.com, The Gateway Pundit and CBS New York
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Jordyn Phelps / ABC News:
Flashback: Donald Trump Called Bill Clinton's Accusers ‘Terrible’ and ‘Unattractive’ and Former President ‘Terrific’ — Over the weekend, Donald Trump has called former President Bill Clinton an abuser of women and Hillary Clinton a bully who intimidated his victims.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Washington Post, Politico, New York Magazine and Mediaite
Madeline Conway / Politico:
Trump hosts surprise panel with Bill Clinton's accusers — Donald Trump, reeling after two days of Republican disavowals and disaffections over a 2005 videotape of him bragging about his ability to get away with sexual assault, attempted to change the subject to his opponent's husband's alleged infidelities.
Discussion:
ABC News, Media Matters for America, Mediaite and The Week
Zack Stanton / Politico:
Trump is wrong: Hillary Clinton did not laugh about the rape of a 12-year-old — “Her client she represented got him off and she is seen laughing on two occasions laughing at the girl who was raped.” — Donald Trump — It is totally false to say that Hillary Clinton laughed about the rape of a 12-year-old.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, ABC News, Little Green Footballs, Vox, New York Magazine, Occupy Democrats and Daily Kos
Associated Press:
Trump Ally Paid Sexual Assault Victim Critical of Clinton — A sexual-assault victim who is critical of Hillary Clinton and who appeared alongside Donald Trump before Sunday night's debate was paid $2,500 by a political action committee founded by Trump ally Roger Stone.
Hadas Gold / Politico:
Who paid for Bill Clinton's accusers to travel to the debate? — ST. LOUIS — One of the women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault, Juanita Broaddrick, told reporters at the debate on Sunday that the website Breitbart paid for her trip to St. Louis.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, AOL and New York Times
Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
Donald Trump used to make light of Bill Clinton's sex scandals. Now they're his main weapon.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, Vox, NBC News, Occupy Democrats, Media Matters for America, RedState and Mashable
New York Times:
Presidential Debate: Here's What You Missed
Discussion:
The Nation, alan.com, The Daily Caller, Vox, NBC News, Talking Points Memo, twitchy.com, New York Magazine and The Week
David Weigel / Washington Post:
As Trump mulls attack on Clinton scandals, one source makes him a target
Discussion:
Infowars, The Daily Caller and Media Matters for America
Dylan Matthews / Vox:
The rape allegation against Bill Clinton, explained
Discussion:
Washington Post, Slate, Balloon Juice, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Mahablog, Politico, Mashable, The Gateway Pundit, Unfogged and Israpundit
Will Jordan / YouGov US Opinion Center News:
Post-debate poll: Clinton 47%, Trump 42% — YouGov interviewed 812 registered voters who watched the debate … Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton clashed for the second time at a town hall-style debate in St Louis, Missouri on Sunday Night.
Discussion:
CNN, The Week, Politicus USA and Daily Kos
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Ben Schreckinger / Politico:
The 7 nastiest insults of the debate — The insults are coming fast and furious in the second presidential debate in St. Louis, with threats of imprisonment and attacks on fitness to office. Below are the seven harshest insults of the night so far between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Discussion:
ABC News
Andrew Prokop / Vox:
Polls suggest Hillary Clinton won the 2nd presidential debate
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Politicus USA, Independent Journal Review and CBS New York
Julia Jacobo / ABC News:
Clinton on Trump Video: ‘This Is Who Donald Trump Is’
Discussion:
Politico and Associated Press
Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
We're Live Blogging Round Two of the Presidential Debates — Well. That was something, wasn't it? — Trump didn't crash and burn like he did in the first debate, so I suppose that has to be counted as a victory of sorts. But on substance he almost literally said nothing.
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Moderate Voice
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Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Everything that was said at the second Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton debate, highlighted
Discussion:
Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, Advocate, Vogue, Information Liberation, Occupy Democrats, Mashable, WCTX-TV, The Verge and BuzzFeed, more at Mediagazer »
David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:
A dark debate: Trump and Clinton spend 90 minutes on the attack
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Politico, ThinkProgress, The American Spectator, NPR, NBC News, ImmigrationProf Blog, Need To Know Network and MichelleMalkin.com
John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Trump Wins — Some of the rats might want to consider returning to the ship. Donald Trump came through pretty well tonight, mainly because the focus was on the issues. As long as issues are being discussed, Trump wins. — The moderators came out of the box with questions about Trump's 2005 video …
New York Times:
How NBC Finished Second on the Trump Video Story — Days after a blockbuster video emerged capturing Donald J. Trump, then a reality television host, making vulgar remarks about aggressively kissing and groping women, a question was still reverberating around media and political circles:
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Hadas Gold / Politico:
Billy Bush suspended from ‘Today’ show
Discussion:
Business Insider and Fox News Insider, more at Mediagazer »
Stephen Battaglio / Los Angeles Times:
Billy Bush, embroiled in Trump tape scandal, is asked to take a break from ‘Today’ show
Discussion:
Mediaite
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
In The Abuser's House — This was a very, very different kind of debate. Let me begin with a few general observations. — First, I think this was the debate the Breitbart crew - Bannon, Bossie and the rest - wanted from Trump. He hit Bill's history; he was aggressive and slashing …
Dan Balz / Washington Post:
The answer is no: We haven't seen anything quite like this — ST. LOUIS — The question has been asked so many times over the past 16 months of this presidential election that it has become a cliche: Has anyone ever seen anything quite like this? And yet, once again, Donald Trump took Campaign 2016 …
Discussion:
WCTX-TV, Washington Free Beacon and Bloomberg
Claude Brodesser-Akner / New Jersey Online:
Mike Pence cancels N.J. Trump fundraiser scheduled for Monday in Ocean County — TRENTON — Donald Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, has canceled his planned visit to New Jersey scheduled for Monday, several GOP sources tell NJ Advance Media. — Pence, the governor of Indiana …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Daily Kos and Fox 59
Foreign Policy:
Hillary Clinton for President of the United States — A Donald Trump presidency is among the greatest threats facing America, and the Republican standard-bearer is the worst major-party candidate for the job in U.S. history. — In the nearly half century history of Foreign Policy …
Discussion:
Politico and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »
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Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
In Which I Take a Second Look at Hillary Clinton's Paid Speeches — While we pass the time waiting for tonight's debate, I'm going to talk through something else. Yesterday I wrote about one of the emails in the Podesta hack, and basically dismissed it. It was a review of the most …
Indianapolis Star:
Pence is sticking with Trump — but closely watching debate — Mike Pence is sticking with Donald Trump in public, but in private he is holding his options open, according to sources close to him. — Pence was taking a wait-and-see approach to tonight's presidential debate …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller and Jezebel
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