memeorandum: Tax Day and Tea Parties: The writing on the wall (Ed Morrissey/Hot Air)

4:30 PM ET, April 15, 2009

Top Items:

Anti-Obama Taxpayer Tea Parties steeped in insanity — What, exactly, are the protesters protesting? The marginal tax rate rising 3% for millionaires? — The Web is buzzing with information about how to throw an anti-Obama Taxpayer Tea Party, something organizers hope will be held today from Santa Monica to South Carolina.

Discussion: American Spectator, ABCNEWS, Patterico's Pontifications, The Anonymous Liberal, Neptunus Lex, The Rhetorican, AmSpecBlog, Babalú Blog, DownWithTyranny!, neo-neocon, Moonbattery, The Mahablog and Buck Naked Politics

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Left Behind? — Glenn Reynolds today pens an op-ed hailing the “tea-party” “movement” as a post-partisan, spontaneous uprising of ordinary folks against the establishment of both parties. He makes no mention of Pajamas Media's heavy investment in the events, nor Fox News' endless touting …

Michelle Malkin:

A Tax Day Tea Party cheat sheet: How it all started — It's here! — For the Johnny-Come-Latelys in the MSM who will be dispatched by their editors to file obligatory stories about the hundreds of Tax Day Tea Party protests across the country today, here is a cheat sheet to get you up to speed.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Pajamas Media, The Corner, Big Hollywood, The Foundry, Peoples Press Collective, Grist, The Next Right, Wake up America, Power Line and The Moderate Voice

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / Wall Street Journal:

Tax Day Becomes Protest Day — How the tea parties could change American politics. — Today American taxpayers in more than 300 locations in all 50 states will hold rallies — dubbed “tea parties” — to protest higher taxes and out-of-control government spending.

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

The Second Rule of Tea Parties Is You Don't Talk About Tea Parties — Here's an interesting choice of analogy from Matt Mackowiak's op-ed in The Austin American-Statesman, promoting the Tea Parties. … Project Mayhem, of course, was the militarization of the Fight Clubs into terrorist cells that blow up banks.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Matthew Yglesias

Jeff Poor / The Business & Media Institute:

CNBC Asks Santelli to React to Tea Parties: 'I'm Pretty Proud of This' — Chicago Mercantile Exchange floor reporter and taxpayer tea party revolt inspiration calls movement ‘about as American as it gets.’ — Business & Media Institute — While Fox News has celebrated the Taxpayer Tea Party rallies …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

‘TEA PARTIES’: THE NEXT GRASS-ROOTS MOVEMENT? — Yes: We conservatives have decided to take our grievances to the streets — Who is the leader of the conservative movement? Is it Michael Steele at the Republican National Committee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, or even Rush Limbaugh?

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Time, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Dallas Morning News, Democracy in America and Hot Air

Michael E. Ruane / Washington Post:

Protesters' Plan to Dump Tea Is Prohibited — There will be no tea-dumping in the Potomac River — that's illegal — but organizers of today's national tea party tax protest found out this morning that so is their plan to dump a million tea bags in Lafayette Square to demonstrate displeasure at government spending and tax policies.

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Think Progress, Gawker, Crooks and Liars and Wonkette

Liz Robbins / New York Times:
Tax Day Is Met With Tea Parties

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Matt Corley / Think Progress:
As Fox Host Denies Tea Parties Are 'A Right-Wing Conspiracy …

Discussion: Christy Hardin Smith

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
In Defense Of The Tax-Day Tea Parties

Discussion: Hot Air and Townhall.com

MSNBC:
Anti-tax ‘tea parties’ held across U.S.

Discussion: Pam's House Blend and pandagon.net

Jonathan Martin / Ben Smith's Blog:
Tea Parties and the GOP establishment

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel and Democratic Strategist

Matt Mackowiak / Austin American-Statesman:
Don't waste Americans' hard-earned tax dollars

Discussion: Hot Air and Gawker

Jane Hamsher / The Huffington Post:
A Teabagger Timeline: Koch, Coors, Newt, Dick Armey There From The Start

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House and Save the Rich

Jose Antonio Vargas / Washington Post:
Tea Parties a Test of Conservative Online Organizing

Discussion: CNN, Pajamas Media, CBS News, Washington Wire, The Hill, Top of the Ticket and Political Machine

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: TEA TIME — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro

Discussion: The Rude Pundit, Firedoglake, Power Line and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Tax Day and Tea Parties: The writing on the wall

Discussion: The Hill, Fausta's Blog, Commentary, The Daily Dish and Top of the Ticket

Jesse James DeConto / Raleigh News & Observer:

Protest stops Tancredo's UNC speech — CHAPEL HILL — UNC-CH police released pepper spray and threatened to use a Taser on student protesters Tuesday evening when a crowd disrupted a speech by former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo opposing in-state tuition benefits to unauthorized immigrants.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Pam's House Blend, Hot Air and Moonbattery

Tim Nelson / WTVD-TV:

UNC protest gets rowdy — CHAPEL HILL (WTVD) — There are two questions following a rowdy student protest at UNC Chapel Hill Tuesday night. — Did the protest get out of line and did campus police go too far? — Dozens of protesters turned out to oppose a speech given by a former Colorado congressman …

Discussion: FOX Forum, The Two Malcontents and Atlas Shrugs

Dexter Filkins / New York Times:

Afghan Women Protest New Restrictive Law — KABUL — The young women stepped off the bus and moved toward the protest march just beginning on the other side of the street when they were spotted by a mob of men. — “Get out of here, you whores!” the men shouted. “Get out!”

Discussion: Associated Press, Guardian, Buck Naked Politics, Commentary, ATTACKERMAN and Taylor Marsh

Washington Whispers:

Is the GOP Waving Bye-Bye to Sarah Palin? — Worse than Dan Quayle before her, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's bright star has fast faded in the eyes of Washington Republican officials and analysts, calling into question her efforts to become a national party figure ready to run for the White House.

Discussion: CNN, PoliGazette, American Power, Liberal Values, Hot Air and Salon

Department of Homeland Security:

Statement by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on the Threat of Right-Wing Extremism — The primary mission of this department is to prevent terrorist attacks on our nation. The document on right-wing extremism sent last week by this department's Office …

Discussion: The Swamp, Little Green Footballs and The Liberty Papers

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Obtained: Federal Agency's Memo Warning Of “Left Wing Extremists”

Discussion: Media Matters for America, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Think Progress, Washington Monthly, Political Punch, D-Day and TPMDC

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

In Minnesota, a Battle Without End for a Senate Seat — ST. PAUL — Norm Coleman spends his days in the quiet living room of his small house here, thumbing through stacks of legal papers. His United States Senate staff and offices vanished at the start of the year, as did his salary …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Gawker, CBS News and The Caucus

Reid Wilson / The Hill:
As Coleman's hope dims, pursuit of seat questioned

Discussion: USA Today and TPMDC

Erika Lovley / The Politico:

Ron Paul's plan to fend off pirates — A little-known congressional power could help the federal government keep the Somali pirates in check — and possibly do it for a discount price. — Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and a growing number of national security experts are calling on Congress …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Political Machine, TalkLeft, PoliGazette, Sister Toldjah and Gawker

Media Matters / Media Matters for America:

CNN's Roesgen grills tea party protestor who calls Obama a “fascist,” says protest “highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network Fox” — This whole FARCE is custom made for cable news, not the MSM of network TV. The MSM cant cover something 24/7 like CNN or FOX can.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Obama's Moment Of Truth On Torture — The question before the president today is not whether to prosecute his predecessors for war crimes; it is simply whether to release the memos that the Bush administration drew up describing in gruesome detail the torture techniques they authorized - or to cover them up.

Wall Street Journal:
Obama Tilts to CIA on Memos

Discussion: American Prospect, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Huffington Post, AlterNet, Newshoggers.com, AfterDowningStreet.org, White House Watch, Taylor Marsh, ATTACKERMAN and Bench Memos

Chicago Tribune:

IRS workers see double standard on tax errors — The Treasury secretary, who oversees the IRS, didn't pay all his taxes. Neither did five other top nominees for the Obama administration, or their spouses. — Now, as Wednesday's tax deadline looms, some Americans are wondering …

Discussion: The Atlantic Business Channel, Law Blog and Hot Air

The Week Magazine:

The Panic of 1825 — If you're not satisfied with Paul Krugman or Nouriel Roubini as your guide to the current turmoil, you can always rely on E.M. Forster. It was Forster who grasped the essential drawback of the Internet long before anyone else, depicting, in his 1909 story “The Machine Stops” …

Discussion: TalkLeft

Paul Begala / CNN:

Begala: April 15 is patriots' day — Editor's note: Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor, was a political consultant for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992 and was counselor to Clinton in the White House. For another view on taxes, read here

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House and LewRockwell.com Blog