memeorandum: Rep. Payne safe after plane fired on in Somalia (CNN)

3:25 PM ET, April 13, 2009

Top Items:

Tea Parties Forever — This is a column about Republicans — and I'm not sure I should even be writing it. — Today's G.O.P. is, after all, very much a minority party. It retains some limited ability to obstruct the Democrats, but has no ability to make or even significantly shape policy.

Discussion: Buck Naked Politics, Fox News, DownWithTyranny!, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Matthew Yglesias, The Impolitic, EconLog and Cup O' Joe

Glenn H. Reynolds / New York Post:
TEA PARTIES: REAL GRASSROOTS

Discussion: Firedoglake, Power Line, TaxProf Blog and GayPatriot

Jon Henke / The Next Right:
The Tea Party protests

Discussion: Houston Tea Party, The Washington Independent, Matthew Yglesias and News Hounds

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake: Corporate Lobbyists Raising Money For Tea Parties

Donald Douglas / American Power:
The Grassroots Tea Party Revolt

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Rhetorican, protein wisdom and Wizbang

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:

An Early Military Victory for Obama — It was one of the earliest tests of the new American president — a small military operation off the coast of a Third World nation. But as President Bill Clinton found out in October 1993, even minor failures can have long-lasting consequences.

Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:

How SEALs Carried Out Their Mission — The operation to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips involved dozens of Navy SEALs, who parachuted from an aircraft into the scene near dark Saturday, landing in the ocean. The SEALs were part of a group of Special Operations forces involved in the effort, according to military officials.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CNN, Scholars and Rogues, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Times of London, The Strata-Sphere, Pajamas Media, The Foundry, Neptunus Lex and Betsy's Page

Johanna Neuman / Top of the Ticket:

Michelle Obama promotes physical activity at White House Easter Egg Roll — Yoga classes. Cooking demonstrations. Musician Fergie. And of course the proverbial egg roll, with President Obama acting as coach. — Welcoming 30,000 children and families to the White House …

Discussion: Political Machine

Felix Gillette / New York Observer:

MSNBC Developing a Weekend Politics Show for NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd — Get ready for more of the “Goateed Guru.” — According to multiple network sources, MSNBC is in the process of developing a weekend political show to be moderated by Chuck Todd …

Discussion: Liberal Values and Michael Calderone's Blog

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama, piracy and a pup: Winning week

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Post and USA Today

Mark Silva / The Swamp: Obama: Fighting ‘rise of privacy’ (piracy)

Natasha Korecki / Chicago Sun Times:

The Jackson $5 million? — The Sun-Times has learned that 2 members of Chicago's Indian community sent word to Blagojevich's camp that Jesse Jackson Jr. would raise $5 million in exchange for Obama's Senate seat — Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's camp was told last year that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. …

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Gateway Pundit, protein wisdom, CBS News and Founding Bloggers

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

A Reticent Justice Opens Up to a Group of Students — Justice Clarence Thomas has not asked a question from the Supreme Court bench since Feb. 22, 2006. He speaks only to announce his majority opinions, reading summaries in a gruff monotone. Glimpses of Justice Thomas in less formal settings are rare.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo and ACSBlog

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

White House Mum On Legislation That Would Nix Bush “State Secrets Privilege” — The White House is declining to say whether the Obama administration will support legislation introduced by Senate Democrats that would roll back the use of the “state secrets privilege,” one of Bush's most controversial legal tools.

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
An emerging progressive consensus on Obama's executive power and secrecy abuses

Discussion: The Washington Independent, TalkLeft, New York Times, ATTACKERMAN and Newshoggers.com

Ari Fleischer / Wall Street Journal:

Everyone Should Pay Income Taxes — It's bad for our democracy to exempt half the country. — If you thought Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme was bad, wait until you hear about the inverted pyramid scheme the federal government is working on. While Mr. Madoff preyed on people who trusted …

Discussion: Democratic Strategist, Hot Air, Maggie's Farm and Left in the West

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Americans Most Confident in Obama on Economy — Democratic leaders in Congress fare better than Republican leaders — USA - Congress - Government and Politics - Presidential Ratings - The Presidency - Americas - Northern America — PRINCETON, NJ — Over two-thirds of Americans …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Swamp and The Democratic Daily

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line: Poll: Over Two-Thirds Of Independents Trust Obama On Economy

The Hill:

Obama's Cuba Policy Risks an Opportunity — While Obama lifts some restrictions on travel by Cuban Americans to the island, the administration remains firm on the US embargo. — Press speculation and reports this morning indicate that the President will lift travel restrictions …

Discussion: The Swamp, Wall Street Journal and And So it Goes in Shreveport

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
Obama to Lift Some Restrictions on Cuba

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Salon and The Washington Independent

Jeff Bliss / Bloomberg:

U.S. Military Considers Attacks on Somali Pirates' Land Bases — The U.S. military is considering attacks on pirate bases on land and aid for the Somali people to help stem ship hijackings off Africa's east coast, defense officials said. — The military also is drawing up proposals to aid …

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, The Raw Story, Think Progress, Times of London, ABCNEWS and FP Passport

Washington Post:
Kill the Pirates — With the rescue of American Richard Phillips …

Discussion: New York Times, Telegraph, UN Dispatch, Bloomberg, Global Guerrillas, Outside The Beltway, The Hill, Hot Air, The Volokh Conspiracy, neo-neocon, Pajamas Media and RealClearWorld

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

What Would a “Bipartisan” Obama Look Like? (Hint: A Lot Like the One We're Seeing) — Over at RealClarPolitics, Jay Cost takes Obama to task for failing to live up to his promises of bipartisanship. Cost writes: … What Cost accuses Obama of is acting in bad faith — he promised “bipartisanship” and hasn't delivered.

Discussion: TalkLeft

Joe Klein / Swampland:

Obama and the Pirates — It's better to be lucky than good. It's even better to be lucky and good. One can easily imagine all the different ways the rescue of Captain Phillips might have been screwed up—and the political firestorm that would have resulted.

Discussion: UN Dispatch, Guardian, FP Passport, The Plum Line and NewsBusters.org

Hugh Hewit / www.washingtonexaminer.com:

Trillions for pork but nothing for the Raptors? — Has the world really changed that much since 1990? — When the Air Force first announced its planned procurement of the F-22 Raptors, the intended acquisition was for 750 of the fighters. The Soviet Union was the enemy then, and soon thereafter the Soviet Union fell apart.

Discussion: Hot Air and The Obama Legacy

Washington Post:
Moving Beyond the F-22

Discussion: Danger Room and abu muqawama

CNN:

Rep. Payne safe after plane fired on in Somalia — WASHINGTON (CNN) — A plane carrying U.S. Rep. Donald Payne was fired on Monday as it left the airport in Mogadishu, Somalia, but the aircraft departed safely and landed without incident in Nairobi, Kenya, his office said, citing U.S. State Department officials.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and UN Dispatch

Fox News:
Somali Insurgents Fire at U.S. Congressman Payne During Visit to Mogadishu

Discussion: Reuters, Wonk Room, Washington Monthly and Islam In Action

The Daily Beast:

A Gayer GOP — Blogs and Stories — Meghan McCain on why supporting gay marriage is fundamentally in line with Republican values, and what the GOP stands to gain by doing so. — This week, I will be speaking at the Log Cabin Republicans' national convention in support of the gay community …

Discussion: Riehl World View

Meghan McCain / Blogs and Stories:
Memo to the GOP: Go Gay

Discussion: Good As You and Political Machine

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

WILL THE MAINE GIRLS SWING? — Last Friday, an alert reader linked Steve Benen to this The Bangor Daily News writeup of Olympia Snowe's health care listening session. This quote, in particular, caught his eye: … Snowe's position is a bit of an odd one: She holds that we may require …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, The Plum Line and Left in the West

Andrew Cohen / CBS News:

A Pirate Looks at Trial — The bad news for the so-far unnamed teenager qua pirate-hijacker captured Sunday during a now-famous firefight is that he'll almost certainly be convicted in an American court if and when he is brought to justice here in the States.

Roger Cohen / New York Times:

Realpolitik for Iran — For Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, “a combination of ignorance and arrogance” under the Bush administration squandered countless diplomatic opportunities with Iran and so allowed it to forge ahead with its nuclear program.

Discussion: New Yorker, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Wall Street Journal, Taylor Marsh, Commentary, Patterico's Pontifications and White House Watch

Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:

The latest NY 20 tally: Murphy by 25 — According to the latest official count this morning in the special election, Democrat Scott Murphy holds a 25-vote lead over Republican Jim Tedisco in New York's 20th District. — The 10:30 a.m. tally shows Murphy with 77,907 votes and Tedisco with 77,882 votes.

Discussion: Real Clear Politics and Commentary

Luciana Chavez / Raleigh News & Observer:

Former WRAL reporter shines on Fox News — Bret Baier's ‘Special Report’ has viewers across the political spectrum — Bret Baier has been covering the White House and national politics for a decade. Yet even he still experiences surreal moments with the most powerful people in Washington.

Discussion: Michael Calderone's Blog