memeorandum: A Response To Allen and VandeHei (Marc Ambinder)

3:15 PM ET, March 24, 2008

Top Items:

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

Clinton Backer Points to Electoral College Votes as New Measure — Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, who backs Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, proposed another metric Sunday by which superdelegates might judge whether to support Mrs. Clinton or Senator Barack Obama.

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM — I don't know where it was. It think it may have been a reader blog at TPMCafe. Wherever it was it was a post that ran down something like ten different ways of counting the popular vote, all to the end of showing that Barack's popular vote lead wasn't nearly so great and may not exist at all.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Eschaton and Outside The Beltway

Marc Ambinder:

A Response To Allen and VandeHei … Politico Executive editor Jim VandeHei and chief political writer Mike Allen present an unremarkable thesis about the Democratic presidential nomination - Obama's probably gonna get it — and support it with a provocative explanation: the media …

Discussion: The New Republic, The Corner and Democratic Strategist

Fester / The Newshoggers:
Clinton, odds and 2012 — My good buddy Kyle at Comments …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Corey Williams / Associated Press:

Detroit mayor charged with perjury — DETROIT - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star and Detroit's youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after sexually explicit text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with a top aide.

Discussion: Reuters, Don Surber, A Blog For All, Hot Air, Detroit News Online, Left in the West, Sweetness & Light, Political Byline, Gateway Pundit and JammieWearingFool

Hindrocket / Power Line:
GUESS THAT PARTY! — The Mayor of Detroit has been charged with perjury.

Discussion: Reason Magazine and Macsmind

Detroit Free Press:
Kilpatrick, Beatty face felony charges

Discussion: Debbie Schlussel, On Deadline, NewsBusters.org and Real Clear Politics

Satyam / Think Progress:

O'Hanlon Gripes About His Waning Influence: I Now Get ‘Less Than One’ Interview Request Per Day — Earlier this month, the National Security Network reported on Brookings analyst Michael O'Hanlon's disproportionate representation in major papers' op-ed pages.

Brandon Friedman / VetVoice:
25 Killed in Two Weeks; More Significant Number than 4,000

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, HorsesAss.Org, Washington Post, Guardian, The Democratic Daily, Think Progress, Firedoglake, The Washington Independent, democracyarsenal.org, The Carpetbagger Report, Open Left, Los Angeles Times, Greatscat!, Agence France Presse, Big Brass Blog, Group News Blog and New York Times

Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
The War Endures, but Where's the Media?

Discussion: cab drollery, American Spectator and Tim Blair

Matthew Yglesias:

The Obama Doctrine — Everybody knows that Barack Obama was against invading Iraq in 2002-2003 whereas Hillary Clinton was for it. But what does that mean today and what does it mean for the future? Obama says “I don't want to just end the war, but I want to end the mind-set that got us …

Discussion: Whiskey Fire

Spencer Ackerman / American Prospect:
The Obama Doctrine

Discussion: toohotfortnr and democracyarsenal.org

Jennifer Parker / Political Punch:

Key Obama Iowa Adviser Invokes 'Monica's Blue Dress' When Assailing Bill Clinton's ‘Patriotism’ Comments — Gordon Fischer, the former director of the Iowa Democratic Party and a senior adviser for Sen. Barack Obama's efforts in the Hawkeye State, is still very much involved …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Ben Smith's Blogs, Tennessee Guerilla Women, The Page, Commentary, MSNBC, Salon, Real Clear Politics and Philly.com

Chris Kelly / The Huffington Post:

O'Reilly Attends Easter Services At Church Lead by Ex-Nazi — The Huffington Post has learned that Bill O'Reilly — who claims to love America — spent Sunday at a “church” run by a former Hitler Youth named Joseph Alois Ratzinger. Ratzinger has gone to elaborate ends to hide this connection …

Discussion: protein wisdom and Forum: News/Activism

M Peretz / The New Republic:

Thoughts on Wright — I've just read Dayo Olopade's fascinating piece, “Far Wright,” on Barack Obama's far-left preacher, Jeremiah Wright. It's an insightful piece, and it evoked memories of the two black churches I sometimes attended when I lived in Georgetown. But I'm no expert and Dayo is.

Jane Macartney / Times of London:

Death reports as Chinese police open fire on monks and nuns — Hundreds of monks, nuns and local Tibetans who tried to march on a local government office in western China to demand the return of the Dalai Lama have been turned back by paramilitary police who opened fire to disperse the crowd.

Discussion: Vox Popoli

Washington Post:

Both Obama And Clinton Embellish Their Roles — After weeks of arduous negotiations, on April 6, 2006, a bipartisan group of senators burst out of the “President's Room,” just off the Senate chamber, with a deal on new immigration policy. — As the half-dozen senators — including John McCain …

Discussion: Washington Times, Real Clear Politics, Forum: News/Activism, Booman Tribune, The Campaign Spot, Sister Toldjah, American Street, Betsy's Page and TPM Election Central

William Kristol / New York Times:

Let's Not, and Say We Did — I shuddered only once while watching Barack Obama's speech last Tuesday. — It wasn't when he posed the rhetorical questions: “Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church?”

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Pam's House Blend, Ben Smith's Blogs, Wake up America, Prometheus 6, Cold Fury and TBogg

Bruce Bartlett / New York Times:

Stop Those Checks — WITH unusual speed and cooperation last month, George W. Bush and Democrats in Congress agreed to a tax rebate set to be paid out beginning in May. Families will get checks for $300 to $1200 or more, and it is assumed that they will all rush out to spend this money immediately …

Discussion: bustardblog, Economist's View, Angry Bear, Donklephant and Balloon Juice

Eric Alterman / New Yorker:

OUT OF PRINT — The death and life of the American newspaper. … The American newspaper has been around for approximately three hundred years. Benjamin Harris's spirited Publick Occurrences, Both Forreign and Domestick managed just one issue, in 1690, before the Massachusetts authorities closed it down.

Discussion: Romenesko