memeorandum: Obama Proposes Saving $17 Billion by Cutting Programs (Bloomberg)

7:40 PM ET, May 7, 2009

Top Items:

pa2010.com:

BREAKING NEWS: Ridge won't run for Senate — After much speculation, former Gov. Tom Ridge today announced that he would not seek the GOP nomination for Senate next year. — In a statement, Ridge said he had been heartened by the support and encouragement he received from within the party …

Discussion: Scorecard's Blog, PittsburghLIVE.com, TPMDC, Michelle Malkin, Open Left, MyDD, Newshoggers.com, GrassrootsPA and Talking Points Memo

Kos / Daily Kos:

PA-Sen: Baseline poll — Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 5/4-6. Likely voters. MoE 4%, 5% for primary oversamples. — First off, it's a good thing former Gov. Tom Ridge decided he had better things to do, because he was facing just as tough slow as a “moderate Republican” in a GOP primary as Specter would've.

Discussion: Scorecard's Blog, The Note, Open Left, PoliticalBase.com Blog, TPMDC and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Josh Kraushaar / The Politico:

GOP relies on Specter-like recruits — For many Republicans, including Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, the reaction to Sen. Arlen Specter's party switch was unequivocal: good riddance. — Yet even as his jilted former party slams the door behind him …

Discussion: Indecision Forever and The Moderate Voice

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
RIDGE NOT RUNNING — From NBC's Domenico Montanaro

Discussion: D-Day and The Washington Independent

Michael Grunwald / Time:

Republicans in Distress: Is the Party Over? — These days, Republicans have the desperate aura of an endangered species. They lost Congress, then the White House; more recently, they lost a slam-dunk House election in a conservative New York district, then Senator Arlen Specter.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, The Note, DownWithTyranny!, Politics Daily, Daily Kos, All Spin Zone, skippy the bush kangaroo and Think Progress

Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:

Joe The Plumber — Quitting The GOP? — Is Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher really quitting the Republican Party? That's what a new Time article on the current sad state of the GOP says. — “Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he's so outraged by GOP overspending …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Indecision Forever

Bloomberg:

Obama Proposes Saving $17 Billion by Cutting Programs — President Barack Obama urged Congress to cut almost $17 billion in programs, including tax breaks for oil and gas companies, while seeking an $81 billion increase for his domestic agenda. — In a 1,374-page document released today …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Swampland and D-Day

Washington Post:
Obama Releases Details of $3.4 Trillion Budget Plan

Discussion: theblogprof, Ace of Spades HQ, AmSpecBlog, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Corner, Don Surber, Hot Air, Brutally Honest, Michelle Malkin and Seeing the Forest

The White House:
Determining What Works, Line by Line

Discussion: Think Progress, Greg's Opinion, techPresident, Los Angeles Times, Political Punch, Political Fix and CBS News

Conor Clarke / The Atlantic Business Channel:
Why Peter Orszag Reminds Me of John McCain

Discussion: Salon and Democracy in America

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:
Obama Tells Journalists To Stress “Significant” Nature Of Budget Cuts

Discussion: New York Times and Washington Post

Washington Post:
Obama's Budget Knife Yields Modest Trims

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Commentary, USA Today, New York Times, Washington Times, Law Blog, The Foundry, White House Watch, PoliGazette and QandO

Lindsey Ellerson / The Note:

Intelligence Report: Pelosi Briefed on Use of Interrogation Tactics in Sept. '02 — ABC News' Rick Klein reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed on the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” on terrorist suspect Abu Zubaydah in September 2002, according to a report prepared …

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog, Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Weekly Standard, The Daily Dish and me

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Dem centrists press Pelosi to shelve climate bill

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Democrats.com and Taylor Marsh

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Presenting ... The GOP's New “Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act”! — A House GOP staffer sends over a summary of the “Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act,” which the GOP leadership plans to unveil later today at a press conference, in keeping with the stepped-up national security attacks on Obama I noted here yesterday.

Discussion: The Note, American Power, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Washington Monthly

Michael Goldfarb / Weekly Standard:
The Keep Terrorists Out of America Act

Discussion: The American Scene

The Plum Line:
Summary Of “The Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act”

Discussion: Liberty Street, D-Day and Stop The ACLU

Fox News:
Lawmakers Spar Over Closing Guantanamo Prison

Discussion: Associated Press, Politics Daily, Reuters, Los Angeles Times and RedState

Mark Joseph / Fox News:

Leahy Blocks Democrats' Deal to Give Specter Judiciary Subcommittee Chair — Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois has volunteered to give up his chairmanship of the crime subcommittee to GOP-turned-Dem Sen. Arlen Specter, but Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy says not so fast. — FOXNews.com

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Associated Press

Manu Raju / The Politico:
No seniority guarantees for Specter

Discussion: Commentary

Las Vegas Sun:
Judge takes step to air his views

Discussion: New York Times, Law Blog, MoJo Blog Posts and Think Progress

Shailagh Murray / Washington Post:
New Deal: Specter Gets a Subcommittee Chairmanship

Discussion: Hot Air, Roll Call, RedState and Congress Matters

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Thou Shall Not Mock Obama's Mustard — My post the other day, MSNBC Hides Obama's Dijon Mustard (aka Dijongate), has hit a nerve unlike anything else I have written. — The post concerned the lunch trip of Obama and Biden to a burger shop to get a “Hell Burger.”

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Jawa Report, The Huffington Post, Salon, Gawker, D-Day, Moe Lane, Fausta's Blog and alicublog

Walter Pincus / CJR:

Newspaper Narcissism — Our pursuit of glory led us away from readers — American journalism is in trouble, and the problem is not just financial. My profession is in distress because for more than a decade it has been chasing the false idols of fame and fortune.

Discussion: Neptunus Lex

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Is Anyone Reading the News?

Discussion: American Prospect and Outside The Beltway

Jeff Greenwald / Salon:

Obama is Spock: It's quite logical — “Star Trek” is a cultural comet. From its tiny, ancient core — a mere 79 episodes, airing before we set foot on the moon — a seemingly infinite tail has grown, its glow still bright after 43 years. The original series (featuring James T. Kirk …

Discussion: protein wisdom and TigerHawk

Marc Bain / Newsweek:
Enterprise Ethics — The original ‘Star Trek’ series dealt …

Discussion: protein wisdom and Moe Lane

Aaron Belkin / The Huffington Post:

Obama To Fire His First Gay Arabic Linguist — Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and officer in the Army National Guard who is fluent in Arabic and who returned recently from Iraq, received notice today that the military is about to fire him. Why? Because he came out of the closet as a gay man on national television.

Discussion: Think Progress, The Daily Dish and D-Day

George S. McGovern / Wall Street Journal:

The ‘Free Choice’ Act Is Anything But — George Meany and binding arbitration. — Printer — Friendly — The recent news that Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has become a member of the Democratic caucus has given new life to legislation that many thought had been put to rest for this Congress …

Discussion: ProfessorBainbridge.com, Wonk Room, Clusterstock, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and neo-neocon

Hillary Chabot / Boston Herald:

Free cars for poor fuel road rage — Gov. Deval Patrick's free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.

Discussion: The New Republic and Don Surber

Anne Schroeder Mullins / Anne Schroeder's Blog:

Franken schools heckler — Politicians and stand-up comedians both get plenty of hecklers. And it looks like Al Franken, as both a comedian and the still-disputed senator from Minnesota, is getting his fair share these days. — On Tuesday night, at Bobby Van's on 15th Street near the White House …

Discussion: Politics Daily

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2010: Texas Republican Primary — Texas Governor's Primary A Toss-Up — Texas Governor Rick Perry and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison find themselves essentially tied in an early look at their 2010 Primary battle. — The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey shows …

Discussion: Burnt Orange Report, Off the Kuff and TPMDC

Meghan McCain / Blogs and Stories:

The GOP Doesn't Understand Sex — Blogs and Stories — Bristol Palin's new abstinence campaign shines a light on the Republican Party's unhealthy attitude about sex and desire. — The first time I ever heard about oral sex was during the Lewinsky scandal.

Discussion: Politics Daily and Wonkette

Andy Barr / The Politico:

Hatch: Sotomayor has ‘a problem’ — Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Thursday that Judge Sonia Sotomayor's past statement that the “court of appeals is where policy is made” would be a problem for her if she were nominated for the Supreme Court. — “That's a problem,” Hatch said during …

Discussion: DISSENTING JUSTICE and The Anonymous Liberal

Jeffrey Rosen / The New Republic:

More Sotomayor — Rosen responds to his critics. — I've just returned from London to find that my piece on Sonia Sotomayor has provoked an energetic response in the blogosphere. — RELATED CONTENT — Just (5/7/09): The Upside Of Nominating A Lesbian To The Court

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, Salon, Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, Balloon Juice, TPMDC, The American Scene, Law Blog, Ta-Nehisi Coates, The XX Factor and The Daily Dish

Dan Nephin / Associated Press:

Government to condemn land for Flight 93 memorial — PITTSBURGH - One man inherited property that his grandfather bought during the Depression. A Lutheran pastor owns a cottage where he planned to retire with his wife. Two others own businesses. — But they and other property owners …

Discussion: Creeping Sharia, Hot Air and Atlas Shrugs

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:

National Security Adviser Jones Says He's ‘Outsider’ in Frenetic White House — President Obama's national security adviser, James L. Jones, looks for rare opportunities to ride his bike from his McLean home to work at the White House. On occasion, he has pedaled back across the Potomac River for lunch.

Discussion: New York Times, RedState, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, ATTACKERMAN, marbury and The New Republic

Abby Ellin / Blogs and Stories:

Threesome Marriages — Blogs and Stories — First came traditional marriage. Then, gay marriage. Now, there's a movement combining both—simultaneously. Abby Ellin visits the next frontier of nuptials: the “triad.” — Less than eighteen months ago, Sasha Lessin and Janet Kira Lessin held …

Discussion: Fausta's Blog