memeorandum: Approval ratings decline for key elected officials (Thomas Beaumont/Des Moines Register)

5:10 PM ET, April 5, 2009

Top Items:

57% Want Military Response to North Korea Missile Launch — Fifty-seven percent (57%) of U.S. voters nationwide favor a military response to eliminate North Korea's missile launching capability. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 15% of voters oppose a military response while 28% are not sure.

Discussion: PoliGazette, Pundit & Pundette, The Corner, Don Surber and The Politico

New York Times:

Defying World, North Koreans Launch Rocket — SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea defied the United States, China and a series of United Nations resolutions by launching a rocket on Sunday that the country said was designed to propel a satellite into space, but that much of the world viewed …

Discussion: Think Progress, ABCNEWS, BBC, Associated Press, Time, Commentary, Political Byline, Gawker, Outside The Beltway, UPI, Washington Monthly and TalkLeft

Washington Post:

Obama Calls for World Without Nuclear Weapons — In a speech grimly punctuated by current events, President Obama Sunday called for a world without nuclear weapons shortly after North Korea defied global warnings to fire a long-range rocket. — Speaking in front of the Prague Castle …

Discussion: Hot Air, Pam's House Blend and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

New York Times:
Obama Calls on U.N. to Punish North Korea Over Rocket

Discussion: Associated Press, D-Day and Democrats.com

Associated Press:
NKorea rocket fizzles, US says; Obama urges action

Discussion: The Raw Story, CNN and MyDD

Associated Press:
NKorea launches rocket, defying world pressure

Discussion: BBC, Right Wing News, Power Line and Paco Enterprises

Jennifer Loven / Associated Press:
Obama In Prague: Launches Effort To Rid World Of Nuclear Weapons

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Washington Monthly

Blaine Harden / Washington Post:
North Korea Defies Warnings, Launches Powerful Rocket

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

New York Times:
North Koreans Launch Rocket Over the Pacific

Discussion: The Atlanticist, The Moderate Voice, Liberty Street, Pajamas Media, Taylor Marsh, Cup O' Joe, The Mahablog, PoliGazette, JammieWearingFool, Wall Street Journal and D-Day

New York Times:
Obama's Statement on North Korea Rocket Launching

Discussion: The Note, Reuters, Townhall.com, The Politico, No Sheeples Here!, The Swamp, Israel Matzav, Chicago Breaking News and Michelle Malkin

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Axelrod hits back at Cheney: Not behaving like a ‘statesman’ — (CNN) — Top Obama adviser David Axelrod sharply criticized Dick Cheney's recent contention that the president's national security policies have made the country less safe, suggesting the former vice president is not behaving like a “statesman.”

Discussion: The Politico

Satyam Khanna / Think Progress:

Axelrod hits back at Cheney: He has not been acting like a ‘statesman.’ — Vice President Cheney has used his public appearances in recent months to launch fearmongering attacks against the Obama administration, in contrast to President Bush, who said Obama “deserves my silence.”

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Moderate Voice, MoJo Blog Posts, The Huffington Post, PoliGazette and Washington Monthly

Dennis B. Roddy / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Suspect in officers' shooting was into conspiracy theories — Richard Andrew Poplawski was a young man convinced the nation was secretly controlled by a cabal that would eradicate freedom of speech, take away his guns and use the military to enslave the citizenry.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Raw Story, Little Green Footballs, Pam's House Blend, PERRspectives, TBogg, The Impolitic and Crooks and Liars

KDKA-TV:

Gunmen Kills Three Pittsburgh Police Officers — PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) ― A man opened fire on officers during a domestic disturbance call Saturday morning, killing three of them, a police official said. — Friends said 23 year-old Richard Poplawski feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Donklephant, The Daily Dish, TPMCafe, Clayton Cramer's BLOG and Taylor Marsh

James Doran / Guardian:

US watchdog calls for bank executives to be sacked — Elizabeth Warren, chief watchdog of America's $700bn (£472bn) bank bailout plan, will this week call for the removal of top executives from Citigroup, AIG and other institutions that have received government funds in a damning report …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Newshoggers.com, DownWithTyranny!, Firedoglake and Emptywheel

Scott Glover / Los Angeles Times:

FBI database links long-haul truckers, serial killings — The growing database includes more than 500 female victims, most of whom were killed and their bodies dumped at truck stops, motels and other spots along popular trucking routes crisscrossing the U.S.

Discussion: Daily Pundit

Thomas Beaumont / Des Moines Register:

Approval ratings decline for key elected officials — Iowans' approval of key public officials has ebbed in the weeks since the federal government passed huge spending measures and as state officials have battled over budget, labor and tax issues at the Statehouse.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Carla Marinucci / San Francisco Chronicle:

California Dems target 8 GOP districts — California GOP voter registration is “dropping like a rock,” a new study shows, declining so fast that Democratic Party officials see an unprecedented opportunity to gain voters and House seats in the 2010 election.

Discussion: Washington Post, D-Day, DownWithTyranny! and Daily Kos

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Flashback: NYT scolded Clinton for almost bowing to royalty — So far, the media has remained entirely silent on Barack Obama's deep-waist bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. They used to defend American protocol a lot more closely, as The Anchoress discovered in doing research on the subject.

Discussion: five feet of fury, Power Line, The Moderate Voice, Scared Monkeys and Whiskey Fire