memeorandum: Michael Jackson Dies (TMZ.com)

7:35 PM ET, June 25, 2009

Top Items:

Michael Jackson Dies — We've just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50. — Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

Discussion: Wonkette, USA Today, The Washington Note, distributedrepublic …, Jules Crittenden, Piece of Work In Progress, Six Meat Buffet, TechCrunch, Silicon Alley Insider, The Volokh Conspiracy, Gawker, Macsmind, Pajamas Media, Runnin' Scared and Outside The Beltway

Shelby Grad / L.A. Now:

Michael Jackson is dead [Updated] — [Updated at 3:15 p.m.: Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources told The Times.] — [Updated at 2:46 p.m.: Jackson is in a coma and his family …

Discussion: Swampland, Truthdig, The Democratic Daily, TalkLeft, TMZ.com and La Figa

msnbc.com:

Singer Michael Jackson dead at 50 — Newspaper reports pop star wasn't breathing when ambulance arrived — Michael Jackson had been planning to start a series of comeback concerts in London and had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months.

Discussion: Roger Ailes and Mashable!

New York Times:

Michael Jackson, 50, Is Dead — This post is written by Brooks Barnes in Los Angeles and Ben Sisario and Brian Stelter in New York. — Quincy Jones Reacts | 7:06 p.m. “I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news,” the music producer Quincy Jones said in a statement read by MSNBC.

Discussion: Reason and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

CNN: Reports: Michael Jackson has died

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Obama's Michael Dukakis moment — Barack Obama got ABC to move their news division into the White House in order to make the big pitch for his egalitarian, everyone-gets-treated-equally ObamaCare push. Instead, Obama fumbled into a Michael Dukakis moment that exposed him as a hypocrite.

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, RealClearPolitics Video Log, ABCNEWS, Crooks and Liars, Wizbang, The Foundry, The Moderate Voice, Ezra Klein, The Strata-Sphere, Wake up America, Firedoglake, Moe Lane, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Chicago Boyz, Political Punch, Pundit & Pundette and SCSUScholars

Hollywoodreporter / The Live Feed:

ABC's White House special struggled for viewers — President Obama's town hall meeting on health care delivered a sickly rating Wednesday evening. — The one-hour ABC News special “Primetime: Questions for the President: Prescription for America” (4.7 million viewers …

Discussion: Say Anything, Ben Smith's Blog, Riehl World View, Connecting.the.Dots, Commentary, Michelle Malkin, Don Surber, Townhall.com, GayPatriot, Politics Nation and NewsBusters.org

Peter Nicholas / Los Angeles Times:

Obama discusses deathbed measures — At a healthcare town hall, he says stopping futile procedures for the terminally ill can lower costs. — Reporting from Washington — President Obama suggested at a town hall event Wednesday night that one way to shave medical costs is to stop expensive …

Discussion: Right Wing News, Say Anything, The Corner, The Swamp, White House Watch, The Mahablog, AmSpecBlog and Pundit & Pundette

Jeff Poor / The Business & Media Institute:
ABC ObamaCare Special Turns Into Presidential Filibuster

Discussion: NewsBusters.org and Flopping Aces

ABCNEWS:
TRANSCRIPT: ‘Questions for the President: Prescription for America’

Discussion: Washington Post, Don Surber and Stop The ACLU

ABCNEWS:
Fact Check: The Truth Behind Obama's Health Care Plan

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, Chicago Boyz and The Note

Gina Smith / The State:

Hunch leads to airport and tired, troubled Sanford — It was about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday as I stood in the waiting area at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, squinting my eyes to see whether Gov. Mark Sanford was part of a crowd exiting the plane from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Discussion: The Politico, New York Times, The New Republic, Michael Calderone's Blog, Wonkette and The Sleuth

Fox News:

Sanford's Mistress Identified as Professional, Passionate and Beautiful Brunette — Details are emerging about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's mistress, whom he visited in Argentina last week after his wife told him to leave. — FOXNews.com — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's mistress …

Discussion: WIS-TV, Gallup, The Huffington Post, Slate, The State, theblogprof, Weekly Standard and The Other McCain

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Exclusive: Sanford booked 10-day getaway — On or around the day his wife asked him to move out, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford booked a ten-day trip to Buenos Aires, a person familiar with the governor's travel plans told POLITICO. — Sanford booked the trip on Delta Air Lines on June 10 …

Discussion: News Desk, Leon_H_Wolf's blog, Emptywheel, Taegan Goddard's …, Daily Kos and PoliPundit.com

TMZ.com:

Governor Hit the Bar with the Mistress — We've been on the hunt in Buenos Aires, Argentina and found the bar where Governor Mark Sanford brought his mistress — so how do you say PDA in Spanish? — Carlos Soto, the owner of Guido's Bar, says he's seen Sanford and Maria Belen Chapur …

Discussion: FITSNews, The News Bizarre, Gawker, The Impolitic and TPMMuckraker

Zachary Roth / TPMMuckraker:
Media Recap: Credulous Press Ate Up Spin From Sanford's Office

Discussion: The New Republic, Grasping Reality … and Eschaton

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Sanford Adviser: Resignation Not An Option

Discussion: The Post and Courier, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post, Salon and Daily Kos

Chris Orr / The New Republic:

Limbaugh to GOP: ‘Screw it’ — Defying parody once again, Rush Limbaugh lays the Sanford affair at President Obama's feet: … I guess this means we can look forward to a lot more GOP sex scandals... (via TPM; full audio here) —Christopher Orr

Discussion: Ideas Special Report and Democratic Strategist

Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Limbaugh On The Sanford Affair: It's Obama's Fault!

Discussion: Democracy in America, Paul Krugman, Democratic Strategist and Pam's House Blend

Michael Falcone / The Politico:
Poll: Half say Sanford should resign

Discussion: CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Salon, Hot Air, TPMDC, Real Clear Politics and Washington Monthly

S.A. Miller / Washington Times:
Social conservatives fall from moral high ground

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Newsweek, Indecision Forever, The New Ledger and The Note

John Dickerson / Slate:
The disturbing glee at Mark Sanford's downfall.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, The Campaign Spot, No More Mister Nice Blog, MoJo Blog Posts, GayPatriot, Teh Resistance Blog, Ideas Special Report, The Daily Dish, Achenblog, Balloon Juice, The Moderate Voice and Gawker

David Stout / New York Times:

Supreme Court Says Child's Rights Violated by Strip Search — WASHINGTON — In a ruling of interest to educators, parents and students across the country, the Supreme Court ruled, 8 to 1, on Thursday that the strip search of a 13-year-old Arizona girl by school officials who were looking …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Volokh Conspiracy, USA Today, Daily Kos, pandagon.net, ACS Blog, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Moderate Voice, Joanne Jacobs, The Impolitic, RHRealityCheck.org, Balloon Juice and Liberal Values

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Analysis: Law need not bow to chemistry

Discussion: Reason

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Supreme Court Rules School's Strip Search of Girl Was Illegal

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, Los Angeles Times, Hotline On Call, Althouse, Reason, Law Librarian Blog, PoliGazette and JustOneMinute

Michelle Malkin:

Bad taste award — I don't find anything funny about the Sanford affair. It's the mom in me thinking about four handsome boys on Father's Day weekend abandoned by their stupid, selfish father, who was busy tanning with his mistress in Argentina. Heart-breaking. Yes. Nauseating. Yes.

Discussion: alicublog

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Perino: Sanford affair proves we need to ‘elect more women.’

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Pam's House Blend, MoJo Blog Posts and Democracy in America

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:
Conservatives Write Off Sanford as a National Leader

Discussion: Erick's blog, The Bilerico Project, Top Stories from CQ and Ben Smith's Blog

Gary Schmitt / The Enterprise Blog:

The Not-so-beautiful Game — Yesterday, in what might be one of most stunning upsets ever, the U.S. men's soccer team beat Spain 2-0. In doing so, the U.S. team beat the top-ranked national team in the world, ended Spain's record-setting unbeaten streak of 35 games, and put the Americans …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Spectator:
The Never-Ending Neoconservative War On Soccer

Discussion: EPL Talk and Reuters

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Neocons Bemoan USA Soccer Victory

Discussion: New York Times

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Palin hits back at ‘malicious’ photo — (CNN) - A week after a high-profile uproar with comedian David Letterman over the late-night host's joke about her daughter, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is again sharply responding to the appearance of her children in the public sphere.

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin.com, Wonkette, Riehl World View and Liberal Values

Patrick Gavin / The Politico:

Emanuel: Sanford needed a cigarette — Perhaps no one knows how to butter up reporters better than White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. — The longtime Washington insider is known for personally reaching out to reporters and always being cognizant of the media landscape.

Discussion: The Swamp, The Note and Ben Smith's Blog

Peter Baker / New York Times: How a Blogger's News Conference Query Came About

Wall Street Journal:

The Cap and Tax Fiction — Democrats off-loading economics to pass climate change bill. — Printer — Friendly — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday.

Discussion: The Politico, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, And So it Goes in Shreveport, The Other McCain, Gateway Pundit, The Foundry, A Blog For All, Left in the West, Hot Air, FiveThirtyEight, Roll Call, Maggie's Farm, The Rhetorican, Commentary and Riehl World View

Ali Frick / Think Progress:

Bachmann's Latest Irrational Fear About The Census: It Was Used To Intern The Japanese — Last week, Rep. Michele “I'm not a kook” Bachmann (R-MN) boasted about breaking the law in refusing to complete the 2010 Census. The Census is the perfect boogeyman for Bachmann in that it unites …

Discussion: TPMDC, Washington Monthly, Wonkette, Balloon Juice and MoJo Blog Posts

The Huffington Post:

Kerry Pushes For Public Option Trigger In Closed-Door Meeting — In a closed-door meeting of Senate Finance Committee Democratic members and their staff Wednesday evening, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) suggested that if the committee bill didn't have enough votes for a public option it include …

Discussion: Democracy in America and Campaign Silo

BBC:

Final moments — Neda was standing a metre away from me... I saw blood gushing out of her chest" — The doctor who tried to save an Iranian protester as she bled to death on a street in Tehran has told the BBC of her final moments. — Dr Arash Hejazi, who is studying at a university …

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Akiva Eldar / Haaretz:

Europeans: Gilad Shalit transfer to Egypt imminent — European diplomatic sources said Thursday that kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit will be transferred to Egypt in the coming hours or coming days. — This information has yet to be confirmed by Israeli officials.

Discussion: Weekly Standard

People.com:

Farrah Fawcett Dies of Cancer at 62 — Farrah Fawcett, who skyrocketed to fame as one of a trio of impossibly glamorous private eyes on TV's Charlie's Angels, has died after a long battle with cancer. She was 62. — Fawcett died at 9:28 a.m. PST on Thursday at St. John's Heath Center in Santa Monica …