memeorandum: Phil Gramm, Hero of Deregulation (Matthew Yglesias)

5:45 PM ET, March 29, 2008

Top Items:

Disloyalty That Merits An Insult — Last Friday the New York Times asked me to comment on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president. For 15 years, Richardson served with no small measure of distinction as the representative of New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Commentary, DownWithTyranny!, MyDD, Booman Tribune, Balloon Juice, The Agitator and Comments from Left Field

Jonathan Alter / Newsweek:

Hillary's Consolation Prize? — Some Dems float the New York Statehouse as an option. — Some Democrats terrified that their bloody primary campaign will doom them in November are floating a consolation prize for Hillary Clinton: governor of New York. — The travails of New York …

Discussion: Associated Press, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Other McCain, Liberty Street, Spin Cycle, Shakesville, Don Surber and PoliGazette

John Heilemann / New York Magazine:

Who'll Stop the Pain? — Gore and Edwards may have the most party clout. But there's only one person Hillary will finally listen to. Her name isn't Bill. — In the days after John Edwards's withdrawal from the Democratic race, the political world expected his endorsement of Barack Obama would be forthcoming tout de suite.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Swampland, The Page and The Current

Mike Lux / Open Left:
The Fear Factor — No, I'm not talking about the daily Bush …

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, MSNBC, Booman Tribune and TalkLeft

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
Some Democrats Want New York Governorship As Hillary Clinton “Consolation Prize”

Discussion: Hot Air, Democracy in America and skippy the bush kangaroo

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Endorsement of Obama Points Up Clinton Obstacles — The surprise endorsement of Senator Barack Obama by a popular senator in a battleground state on Friday underlined the ferment in the Democratic nominating race and the serious obstacles facing Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as she tries to rescue her candidacy.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Guardian Unlimited, The Caucus, American Street, Washington Post, The Sleuth, Political Radar, marbury, The Page and Prairie Weather

Isaac Chotiner / The New Republic: Sexism, Real and Perceived

Charles Babington / Associated Press:
Party fears tight Obama-Clinton finish

Discussion: Donklephant

Associated Press: Clinton rules out leaving race early

Michael James / Political Punch:
Howard Dean 2004: The Medals Matter

Discussion: Wake up America, BLOGS FOR JOHN McCAIN, Hot Air, Outside The Beltway, QandO, Jules Crittenden, PoliGazette, Political Radar and Tammy Bruce

ABCNEWS:

Philly Mayor: Obama Pastor Talk Beyond Pale — Mayor Michael Nutter Tells ABC News He Would Have Quit Church if His Pastor Made Such Remarks — Sen. Hillary Clinton's most prominent African-American supporter in Pennsylvania says that had he been a member of Sen. Barack Obama's church …

Discussion: Hot Air

Victor Davis Hanson / The Corner:

The Chickens of Identity Politics Come Home to Roost? — Watching the parade of apologists for Rev. Wright's hatred—"garlic noses"; “KKK of A;” “God Damn America;” “Condamnesia;” the U.S. deserved 9/11; America is no different from al-Qaeda; we caused the AIDs virus; Israel is a “dirty word” …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, American Power and Fausta's blog

Diann Burns / WBBM-TV:

Rev. Jeremiah Wright Makes Surprise Appearance — Sen. Obama's Controversial Former Pastor Spoke In Public For First Time Since Scandal Broke — CHICAGO (CBS) ― The Rev. Jeremiah Wright made a surprise appearance in Chicago Friday night. — Wright, Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor appeared …

Discussion: Sweetness & Light and The Page

Nikki Finke / Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily:

‘21’ Holds Winning Hand At Box Office; ‘Superhero’ Is Superflop; ‘Stop-Loss’ DOA — SATURDAY AM: Friday's domestic gross showed that Hollywood can't boost the slumping box office this spring break even though 30% of students are out of school. No. 1 is Sony Pictures's based-on-a-true-story 21 …

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, Patterico's Pontifications, American Power, Right Wing Nut House, The Jawa Report, Hot Air and Forum: News/Activism

Dennis Overbye / New York Times:

Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More — More fighting in Iraq. Somalia in chaos. People in this country can't afford their mortgages and in some places now they can't even afford rice. — None of this nor the rest of the grimness on the front page today will matter a bit …

Discussion: Big Brass Blog, The Sundries Shack, Truthdig, Gawker, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Instapundit.com, Althouse and The Debate Link

Will / Attytood:

Liberal bloggers declare war in Philly over media, McCain — The primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama seems far from over (no matter what the numbers say), the war in Iraq just marked its grim 5th anniversary with renewed bloodshed, and a host of issues from domestic spying …

Discussion: Cliff Schecter.com

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
McCain seeks his share of the spotlight

Discussion: New York Times, Los Angeles Times and BLOGS FOR JOHN McCAIN

Matthew Yglesias:

Phil Gramm, Hero of Deregulation — A nice piece by Lisa Lerer in Politico makes the point that Phil Gramm, on whom John McCain says he'll be relying for economic policy advice, was one of the key architects of a piece of deregulation that's been a big contributor to the current crisis in the financial markets.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money

Lisa Lerer / The Politico:
McCain guru linked to subprime crisis

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Macsmind and Angry Bear

Wall Street Journal:

At the Barricades In the Gender Wars — Clinton's women supporters fear her bid has unleashed a sexist backlash — Valerie Benjamin, a human-resources manager for a consulting firm here, was driving to work recently in her red minivan with a Hillary bumper sticker when a man pulled up alongside and rolled down his window.

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog and Gawker

Michelle Malkin:

Rev. Michael Pfleger and Rev. Jeremiah Wright together again: “Hallelujah!” Update: Rock star reception, video link added — Well, isn't this special? … Here's the video of the rock star reception Wright received at Pfleger's church (hat tip - William Amos). And a warm-and-fuzzy screenshot from the event:

Discussion: Macsmind and Hot Air

Associated Press: Wright drops in on Chicago church

James Poniewozik / Time:

Fox on the Run — On super Tuesday, Bush's former brain, Karl Rove, debuted on Fox News Channel as a political analyst. Genteel, wry and armed with terabytes of political minutiae, he won critical raves. ("One of the best things in television news right now," said the New York Times …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and WTF Is It Now?!?

Mario M. Cuomo / Boston Globe:

How to avoid a Democratic disaster — A DEMOCRATIC disaster in the November election looms, but it can be avoided by a demonstration of true leadership by the two candidates. — By the end of the primary process, no matter how robust the turnout appears, less than half of all Democratic voters will have expressed their preference.

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES