memeorandum: Today's Must Read (Paul Kiel/TPMMuckraker)

12:50 PM ET, April 30, 2008

Top Items:

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Dumb as We Wanna Be — It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away. Hillary Clinton has decided to line up with John McCain …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Carpetbagger Report, The New Republic, The Mahablog, Daimnation!, Balloon Juice and DownWithTyranny!

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

WHAT THE GAS HOLIDAY COULD BE. — . They know how to imply that Barack Obama has had bad friends, and Hillary Clinton tells lies, and John McCain — well, they know how to doodle his initials inside a sparkly heart. What they don't know how to do, however, is say that one candidate's health plan …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Scarecrow / Firedoglake:
Tom Friedman Returns, and He's Right About Gas-Tax Holiday

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post

MSNBC:

April 27: Howard Dean, political roundtable — MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: — SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY): I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anybody else. — SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): If we've won the most delegates from the voters …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Caucus, FactCheck.org, The Carpetbagger Report, Redstate, QandO, Flopping Aces, Brendan Nyhan and Political Punch

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

GOP gives Clinton the silent treatment — Hillary Clinton's decisive Pennsylvania primary win last week may have reinvigorated her campaign, but you wouldn't know it from listening to the Republican party. — The National Republican Congressional Committee has purchased $500,000 in anti-Barack …

Discussion: NY Daily News, Donklephant and Real Clear Politics

PennLive.com:
Hillary Clinton picks up a Pa. superdelegate

Discussion: Marc Ambinder

Richard L. Hasen / Slate:
Gaming Indiana — THE QUIRKY STATE VOTING LAW THAT COULD AFFECT TUESDAY'S PRIMARY.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and Election Law

Jed / The Jed Report:
Superdelegates to blame for enabling destructive campaign

Discussion: AMERICAblog

Michelle Malkin:

All aboard the Jive Talk Express — My syndicated column today deconstructs Barack Obama's pitiful performance yesterday. Try as he might, he simply cannot disown the un-disownable preacher of hate. That press conference yesterday renders the Philadelphia speech from March null and void.

Discussion: Althouse and Dr. Melissa Clouthier

Digby / Hullabaloo:

Betrayal — I have frankly been a little bit confused by the reaction to Reverend Wright's recent comments around the sphere and even here on this blog. I thought most people in the Netroots were big Obama supporters and yet they defend Reverend Wright, which I find rather surprising considering what he did.

Discussion: Salon, TalkLeft, Corrente and Crooks and Liars

New York Times:
Mr. Obama and Rev. Wright

Discussion: Hot Air, goodCRIMETHINK and AMERICAblog

The Politico:

Obama may win Hill superdelegate fight — Capitol Hill insiders say the battle for congressional superdelegates is over, and one Senate supporter of Barack Obama is hinting strongly that he has prevailed over Hillary Rodham Clinton. — While more than 80 Democrats in the House and Senate …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Page, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, Booman Tribune, The Caucus, The Washington Independent, Spin Cycle and Donklephant

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

Why'd Obama Join Trinity in the First Place? — The question is worth revisiting now that his ex-pastor is threatening his entire campaign. — I've heard two basic theories since the Wright tapes first surfaced in March. The first is cynical: Obama was a black politician in Chicago …

Discussion: TalkLeft, protein wisdom, The Garlic, QandO, Slog and Top of the Ticket

Byron York / The Corner:
Why the Wright Problem Won't Go Away

Discussion: National Review and The Washington Independent

New York Times:
Taking Sharp Tone, Obama Breaks With Ex-Pastor

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Washington Post, The Swamp, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, The Confluence, Scared Monkeys, MSNBC, Connecting.the.Dots, Brilliant at Breakfast, Reason Magazine, The Page, The Washington Independent, TalkLeft and JustOneMinute

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

Getting to Know John McCain — It came to me while I was having dinner with Doris Day. No, not that Doris Day. The Doris Day who is married to Col. Bud Day, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, fighter pilot, Vietnam POW and roommate of John McCain at the Hanoi Hilton.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Don Surber, Betsy's Page and The Page

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Brian Williams' “response” to the military analyst story — It has now been more than ten days since the New York Times exposed the Pentagon's domestic propaganda program involving retired generals and, still, not a single major news network has even mentioned the story to their viewers …

Discussion: UT Documents, MSNBC and The Smirking Chimp

Fredric U. Dicker / New York Post:

REV-ENGE IS SWEET FOR ‘BETRAYED’ PASTOR — ALBANY - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright would be happy to see Barack Obama's presidential campaign derailed because the pastor is fuming that his former congregant has “betrayed” their 20-year relationship, — The Post has learned.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, Wake up America and Spin Cycle

CBS News:

“Hostile” Iran Sparks U.S. Attack Plan — Pentagon Wary Of Tehran's Expanding Nuclear Program And Support Of Iraqi Insurgents — (CBS) A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran.

Discussion: VetVoice, Associated Press, Blue Girl, Red State and Los Angeles Times

Faiz / Think Progress:
U.S. Prepares ‘New Options’ To Attack Iran, Deploys Second Carrier To Persian Gulf

Discussion: Agence France Presse and Aljazeera

Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press:

Economy grows by only 0.6 percent in first quarter — Economy limps ahead at a 0.6 percent pace in first quarter, better pace than expected — WASHINGTON (AP) — The bruised economy limped through the first quarter, growing at just a 0.6 percent pace as housing and credit problems forced people and businesses alike to hunker down.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Donklephant, Political Machine, small dead animals, Don Surber and JammieWearingFool

Floyd Abrams / Wall Street Journal:

Foreign Law and the First Amendment — Late in 1941, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion which, for the first time in our history, starkly distinguished American protection of speech from that of England. — Two union members had been convicted of assaulting nonunion truck drivers.

Discussion: The Corner, Atlas Shrugs, Outside The Beltway and The Volokh Conspiracy

Benjamin J. Romano / Seattle Times:

Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime — Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes. — The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor …

Discussion: Digg and Engadget