memeorandum: House rejects Gov. Kaine's unemployment benefits amendments (Bob Lewis/Associated Press)

12:40 PM ET, April 9, 2009

Top Items:

Just 53% Say Capitalism Better Than Socialism — Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. — The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, PoliBlog, pandagon.net, The Mahablog, Wonkette, Political Machine, Sister Toldjah, Gateway Pundit, AmSpecBlog, Don Surber, Dr. Helen and Shakesville

Julia Preston / New York Times:

Obama to Push Immigration Bill Despite the Risks — While acknowledging that the recession makes the political battle more difficult, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country's immigration system this year, including looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal …

Greg Hitt / Wall Street Journal:

Obama Risks Liberal Backlash on War Funding — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to request new funding from Congress for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he risks a backlash from antiwar lawmakers. — Mr. Obama is expected to seek congressional approval of $75.5 billion for the wars, perhaps as soon as Thursday.

Discussion: TalkLeft, CBS News, The Note, Chicago Tribune, RebelReports, Political Punch and The Campaign Spot

Michelle Malkin:
Obama's shamnesty distraction

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Fox News, TIME.com and AmSpecBlog

Bill Sammon / Fox News:

Bush Aides Challenge Biden's Boasts of Oval Office Slapdowns — Aides to former President George W. Bush are challenging the veracity of Vice President Joe Biden's claim this week of having privately castigated Bush. — FOXNews.com — Aides to former President George W. Bush are challenging …

Discussion: Moe Lane and Gateway Pundit

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

The President Has Become a Divisive Figure — Compare his start with George W. Bush's. — The Pew Research Center reported last week that President Barack Obama “has the most polarized early job approval of any president” since surveys began tracking this 40 years ago.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Democracy in America and The Plum Line

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Nancy Pelosi's Balancing Act

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Sideshow and The Plum Line

R.G. Ratcliffe / Houston Chronicle:

Lawmaker defends comment on Asians — Call for voters to simplify their names not racially motivated, Terrell Republican says — AUSTIN — A North Texas legislator during House testimony on voter identification legislation said Asian-descent voters should adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with.”

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, Matthew Yglesias, The Raw Story, Top of the Ticket, The Reaction, Greg's Opinion, Shakesville and PoliticalBase.com Blog

Directorblue / Doug Ross:

The curious case of 200 nearly identical MSM headlines — The following headlines have appeared in newspapers within the last 24 hours. This is not an inclusive list. — • Third of Illinoisans went without health insurance in last 2 years: Sun-Times

Discussion: Bob McCarty Writes, protein wisdom and Gateway Pundit

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Eugene Robinson: George Will “Crossed the Line” — The pushback on George Will continues as Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson slams Washington Post columnist George Will. Robinson also becomes the first Postie to note the role played by Will's editors in helping him attempt to deceive the Post's readers.

Discussion: Think Progress, TPMMuckraker and Eschaton

Eric Dash / New York Times:

Banks Holding Up in Tests, but May Still Need Aid — For the last eight weeks, nearly 200 federal examiners have labored inside some of the nation's biggest banks to determine how those institutions would hold up if the recession deepened. — What they are discovering may come as a relief …

Discussion: Wonk Room, Connecting.the.Dots, The Big Picture, Clusterstock, naked capitalism, Ian Welsh and TIME.com

Bloomberg:
Obama to Meet With Economic Team Tomorrow on Bank Stress Tests

Discussion: TIME.com and MSNBC

Bob Lewis / Associated Press:

House rejects Gov. Kaine's unemployment benefits amendments — RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia's Republican-run House of Delegates rejected a proposed expansion of unemployment benefits Wednesday, along with $125 million in federal stimulus cash to pay for it.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, DownWithTyranny!, Think Progress, Taylor Marsh, Not Larry Sabato and Don Surber

Anita Kumar / Washington Post: Assembly Rejects $125 Million for Expanded Jobless Benefits

The Huffington Post:

Men's Underwear Sales, Greenspan's Economic Metric, Reveal Crisis — As chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan was known for using quirky, proletariat metrics to judge the temperature of the economy. The most famous of these, as recounted by NPR's Robert Krulwich in January 2008, were the sales of men's underwear.

Discussion: Fausta's Blog and Hullabaloo

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway: Greenspan's Underpants

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

Chicago ‘Tea Party’ Rejects Michael Steele — While the organizers of the Washington, D.C. anti-spending “Tea Party” have given a speaking slot to Alan Keyes, that other failed African-American Republican Senate candidate from Maryland, Michael Steele, has been dissed by the crew behind the Chicago Tea Party.

Discussion: DontGo Movement, Washington Monthly, Riehl World View, Instapundit, TBogg and Founding Bloggers

Arthur Delaney / The Huffington Post:
Anti-Tax Tea Party Protests Nationwide: What You Need To Know

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog

Matt Lewis / Political Machine:

Top 3 Conservatives Who Deserve a Biopic — One of the most controversial Hollywood films last year was “Milk”. It was praised by liberals and gay-rights supporters — and simultaneously labeled leftist propaganda by many conservatives. — Personally, I am opposed to the brand …

Discussion: JustOneMinute and alicublog

Helene Cooper / New York Times:

With ‘Annapolis,’ a Warning to Israel — WASHINGTON—Watchers of Middle East politics were quick to take note of a line in President Obama's address before the Turkish Parliament on Monday in Ankara, in which he mentioned “Annapolis.” — By bringing up the word, Mr. Obama was sending …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Neil Irwin / Washington Post:

How Bernanke Staged a Revolution — This chairman set out to lead as a civil servant rather than a celebrity economist. Facing a thundering financial collapse, he has reinvented the Federal Reserve. — Every six weeks or so, around a giant mahogany table in an ornate room overlooking the National Mall …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Clusterstock, Felix Salmon and Wonk Room

Brian Blackstone / Wall Street Journal:
Fed Officials Split on Best Path

Discussion: Newsweek Blogs

The New Republic:

Arne Duncan and a New Pornographer — Spotted: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan introducing flame-haired indie goddess Neko Case at the 9:30 Club last night. But ... why? Is the Cabinet member a devoted Neko fan, or is she a big supporter of education reform?

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

Monica Davey / New York Times:

Sole Minnesota Senator Has Problems Built for 2 — As the fight over a United States Senate seat from Minnesota seems certain to drag into a sixth month, forgotten in all the fussing is the senator left behind. — Amy Klobuchar, the “other” senator from Minnesota, the one whose election was not contested …

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, The Marathon Blog, Minnesota Independent and Wonkette

Eamon Javers / The Politico:

Pentagon preps for economic warfare — The Pentagon sponsored a first-of-its-kind war game last month focused not on bullets and bombs — but on how hostile nations might seek to cripple the U.S. economy, a scenario made all the more real by the global financial crisis.

Discussion: FP Passport, Global Guerrillas and TIME.com

Roger Cohen / New York Times:

Israel Cries Wolf — ISTANBUL — “Iran is the center of terrorism, fundamentalism and subversion and is in my view more dangerous than Nazism, because Hitler did not possess a nuclear bomb, whereas the Iranians are trying to perfect a nuclear option.” — Benjamin Netanyahu 2009? Try again.

Discussion: rubber hose and The Agonist

New York Times:

Navy Tracking Pirates and Their U.S. Hostage — WASHINGTON — A U.S. Navy destroyer kept close watch Thursday on a lifeboat holding four Somali pirates and their hostage — an American ship captain — one day after the pirates briefly seized a United States-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Africa.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, BBC, Los Angeles Times, UN Dispatch, FP Passport and The Atlanticist

Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:

A.P. Exec Doesn't Know It Has A YouTube Channel: Threatens Affiliate For Embedding Videos — Here is another great moment in A.P. history. In its quest to become the RIAA of the newspaper industry, the A.P.'s executives and lawyers are beginning to match their counterparts in the music industry for cluelessness.