Obama returns to the campaign trail, Kavanaugh lies to the Judiciary Committee, and Democrats see their chances of taking back the Senate improve. Then musician Jason Isbell talks to Tommy about music, politics, and when artists become activists.

Show Notes:

Obama returns

• New York Times: Obama Lashes Trump in Debut 2018 Speech. President’s Response: ‘I Fell Asleep.’
• NBC News: Read Obama’s Full Speech from the University of Illinois
• Washington Post: ‘We’re going to fight’: Obama hits the campaign trail in California
• Los Angeles Times: Obama implores Californians to rise up against ‘anger and division’ of Trump and GOP
• The New Yorker: In Illinois, Obama Hits the Midterm Campaign Trail—and Trump
• The Atlantic: Barack Obama Makes the Case Against Trump
• The Atlantic: ‘This Is Not Normal’: Obama Takes His Hardest Stance Against Trump
• Politico: Obama vs. Trump: The clash everyone’s waited for arrives
• Washington Post: Obama just delivered his answer to Trump’s authoritarianism
• Politico: Trump on Obama’s scorching speech: ‘I fell asleep’
• New York Times: Trump Claims Credit for the Economy. Not So Fast, Says Obama.
• Washington Post: President Trump celebrates the body-slam of a reporter in Montana
• Huffington Post: Tweeters Stir Over Donald Trump’s Claim He ‘Fell Asleep’ To Barack Obama’s Speech
• Politico: GOP attacks Obama, but doesn’t defend Trump
• Vox: Ben Shapiro’s revealing explanation for Donald Trump’s rise: it’s all Obama’s fault
• New York Times: Trump Wants Attorney General to Investigate Source of Anonymous Times Op-Ed
• New York Times: Frustration and Finger-Pointing as G.O.P. Pulls Out of Deal Talks on Hacked Materials

Kavanaugh

• Washington Post: Kavanaugh hearings didn’t alter nominee’s Supreme Court trajectory
• The New Yorker: The Deceptive Contrast Between Trump and Kavanaugh
• New York Times: Brett Kavanaugh’s Expert Evasions, Learned From Past Masters
• Vox: Leaked email shows Brett Kavanaugh thinks Roe v. Wade could be overturned
• Vox: The Brett Kavanaugh perjury controversy, explained by 4 legal scholars
• Politico: Liberal groups urge Dems to seek perjury probe of Kavanaugh
• Slate: I Wrote Some of the Stolen Memos That Brett Kavanaugh Lied to the Senate About
• Portland Press-Herald: As Kavanaugh’s hearing concludes, Collins says she’s still undecided on Supreme Court nominee
• Portland Press-Herald: Progressive groups ratcheting up pressure on Collins ahead of Kavanaugh vote
• Associated Press: Sen. Collins mum on Kavanaugh vote as pressure grows
• New York Magazine: On Kavanaugh, It’s All About Collins and Murkowski, Not the Red-State Democrats
• Huffington Post: Lisa Murkowski’s Biggest Reason To Oppose Brett Kavanaugh May Not Be Abortion Rights
• Politico: Murkowski, Collins face new abortion pressure on Kavanaugh
• Associated Press: Kavanaugh confirmation fight rallies Democrats to resistance
• Washington Post: Democrats are grandstanding on Kavanaugh? Good. That’s what they should do.
• Bloomberg: Facing Long Odds on Kavanaugh, Democrats Make It All About Trump
• New York Times: The Kavanaugh Hearings Are Over. Now What? – Opinion

The Senate

• CNN: Democratic Senate hopes are alive, though precarious
• Washington Post: Forget the House. It’s the battle for the Senate that could provide the most drama on election night.
• CNN: CNN Key Race Alert: This is the narrow path to a Democratic Senate
• New York Times: Top Trump Adviser Says Ted Cruz Could Lose Texas Senate Race
• Politico: Inside the GOP’s rescue mission for Ted Cruz
• Texas Tribune: Cruz, O’Rourke rev up post-Labor Day campaigns in battleground Harris County
• Newsweek: TED CRUZ’S FORMER CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN THINKS BETO O’ROURKE COULD WIN IN TEXAS
• CNN: Cruz: Democrats want Texas to be ‘like California,’ have ‘tofu’ and ‘dyed hair’
• New York Times: Manchin Counts on Health Care to Stave Off Republican Tide in West Virginia
• Huffington Post: Sen. Joe Manchin Shoots GOP Obamacare Lawsuit In New Re-Election Ad

Candidate of the Day: Phil Bredesen – Tennessee

• New York Times: Abortion Opposition Once Defined Marsha Blackburn. But Not in Her Senate Race.
• New York Magazine: Phil Bredesen Might Win a Deep-Red Senate Seat for Democrats. But He Doesn’t Want to Talk About It.
• Tennessean: Phil Bredesen fires back at Koch attack with own ad, calls out Marsha Blackburn
• Politico: Bredesen fights against red wave in Tennessee
• Vice: Why Marsha Blackburn’s Rise Is Bad News for Net Neutrality and Science
• Washington Post:In Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn’s embrace of Trump tests her standing with female voters
• BBC News: Pope unlikely to sway top US critics on climate

Jason Isbell

• Rolling Stone: Jason Isbell on Modern Country: ‘Most of That Stuff Is Real Bad Music’
• Rolling Stone: Jason Isbell Jabs at Republicans’ ‘Unhinged’ Statement at Nashville Rally
• Taste of Country: Jason Isbell Slams Christian Trump Voters: ‘God Is Gone From Those People’
• Huffington Post: Jason Isbell Is One Nashville-Based Singer Unafraid To Talk Politics
• Variety: Republicans Slam Ben Folds, Jason Isbell in Effort to Tie Democrats to ‘Unhinged Left’
• Uproxx: A Long Conversation With Jason Isbell About Love, Politics, Jim Varney, And His Great New Album
• The Daily Beast: Senate GOP Bashes Ben Folds and Jason Isbell as Being Part of ‘Unhinged Left’
• Los Angeles Times: The new sounds of protest: Political music in the age of Trump
• Los Angeles Times: ‘I can’t stay completely silent’: Country music’s Jason Isbell looks inward in examining a ‘White Man’s World’