memeorandum: Morning Fix: An Abbreviated Fix (Chris Cillizza/The Fix)

10:10 AM ET, October 12, 2009

Top Items:

BREAKING FROM NBC: White House official calls gays part of “Internet left fringe” — UPDATE FROM PAM: … And let me just add that if we're all insignificant children who don't understand politics, and who the White House doesn't worry about, then why did a White House official feel the need …

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Fox's Volley With Obama Intensifying — Attacking the news media is a time-honored White House tactic but to an unusual degree, the Obama administration has narrowed its sights to one specific organization, the Fox News Channel, calling it, in essence, part of the political opposition.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, NewsBusters.org, neo-neocon, The Nation, Clusterstock and Taylor Marsh

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:

White House Thinks Demonstrators “Internet Left Fringe” Who Need to “Take Off The Pajamas” — Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy — Those anonymous White House aides are talking tough again, this time about what the New York Times calls …

Discussion: Salon, The Confluence, DISSENTING JUSTICE and Open Left

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Gay Rights Marchers Press Cause in Washington — WASHINGTON - Impatient and discouraged by what they see as a certain detachment by President Obama on their issues, gay rights supporters took to the streets of the capital on Sunday in the largest demonstration for gay rights here in nearly a decade.

Discussion: The Stranger … and Firedoglake

Dan Zak / Washington Post:
For Gay Activists, The Lady Is a Champ

Discussion: Time

CNN:
Gay activists march, put Obama on notice

Discussion: Indecision Forever and The Huffington Post

Washington Post:
At March, Gay Rights Activists Push for Nationwide Equality

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Monthly, GayPatriot, PostPartisan and msnbc.com

John Cloud / Time:
Obama's Gay Outreach: All Talk, No Action

Discussion: Top of the Ticket

Ceci Connolly / Washington Post:

Insurance Group Says Health Bill Will Mean Higher Premiums — Report Issued Before Key Committee Vote — After months of collaboration on President Obama's attempt to overhaul the nation's health-care system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday …

Discussion: The Hill, Politics Daily, USA Today, The Politico, NO QUARTER, TPM LiveWire, The Caucus, Ruby Slippers, Taegan Goddard's …, Scared Monkeys, The Page, Angry Bear, Prescriptions and TPMDC

Robert Pear / New York Times:

Insurance Industry Assails Health Care Legislation — WASHINGTON — In a blistering new attack, the health insurance industry said Sunday that health care legislation drafted by Senate Democrats would drive up premiums, rather than making coverage more affordable, as the White House contends.

Discussion: Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight, The Hill, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Prairie Weather and The Reality-Based Community

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

Is the Insurance Industry Declaring War? — Over the weekend, America's Health Insurance Plans circulated a study it commissioned from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. In a memo to AHIP members, reproduced here, president Karen Ignani explained its significance: — The report makes clear …

Discussion: The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, msnbc.com and Talking Points Memo

Political Punch:
At Dole's Request, White House Tells DNC to Pull Health Care Reform Ad

Discussion: Washington Wire, TPM LiveWire and Weasel Zippers

Nancy Lofholm / Denver Post:
Parents of “chunky” infant weigh in on health insurance reform

Discussion: MyDD, Raw Story, Brilliant at Breakfast and skippy the bush kangaroo

Fox News:
Insurers Mount Attack Against Health Reform

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Katharine Q. Seelye / Prescriptions:
Democrats Heed Dole's Objection and Kill TV Ad

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard, Washington Monthly, The Politico, The Hill, KansasCity.com Prime Buzz and The Caucus

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Heckuva Job, Barack — This was Barack Obama's chance. — Here was an opportunity to cut himself free, in a stroke, from the baggage that's weighed his presidency down — the implausible expectations, the utopian dreams, the messianic hoo-ha. — Here was a place to draw …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Reaction, PoliBlog, No More Mister Nice Blog and Balloon Juice

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
The Peace (Keepers) Prize

Discussion: Sadly, No!, The Moderate Voice, Maggie's Farm, Comments from Left Field, neo-neocon and BLACKFIVE

David Von Drehle / Time:
Why the Nobel Peace Prize Should Go to Nuclear Weapons

Discussion: Power Line and Balloon Juice

Naftali Bendavid / Wall Street Journal:

Pelosi Key to GOP 2010 Playbook — Republicans Hope Linking House Speaker to Democrats Can Turn Centrist Districts — WASHINGTON — Republicans are stepping up attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, deciding that a major part of their 2010 electoral strategy will be linking Democratic candidates to her.

Discussion: CBS News, The Note, The Politico, Commentary and msnbc.com

John Harwood / New York Times:
Democrats Must Attack to Win in 2010, Strategists Say

Discussion: New York Times, Democratic Strategist and New Jersey Online

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
2 State Races May Put Lens on Obama

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Page and Politics Daily

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:

Tea partiers turn on GOP leadership — While the energy of the anti-tax and anti-Big Government tea party movement may yet haunt Democrats in 2010, the first order of business appears to be remaking the Republican Party. — Whether it's the loose confederation of Washington-oriented groups …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Stranger …, Little Green Footballs, Prairie Weather, The Political Carnival and Hullabaloo

Reid Wilson / The Hill:

Gov. Crist and Freedom's Watch funder plan to fundraise together — Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will head to Las Vegas at the end of the month for a well-backed, high-priced fundraiser with perhaps the Republican Party's wealthiest donor. — Crist will benefit from a fundraiser …

Nick Timiraos / Wall Street Journal:

Foreclosures Grow in Housing Market's Top Tiers — New data suggest that foreclosures are rising in more expensive housing markets. — About 30% of foreclosures in June involved homes in the top third of local housing values, up from 16% when the foreclosure crisis began three years ago …

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:

Why Email No Longer Rules... And what that means for the way we communicate — Services like Twitter, Facebook and Google Wave create a constant stream of interaction among users—for better or worse. — Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, The Huffington Post and TechCrunch

Michael Scherer / Swampland:

Cable News Irony Alert: CNN, Fox and The Disappearing General Audience — White House Communications Director Anita Dunn appeared Sunday morning on Howard Kurtz's CNN show Reliable Sources to discuss her comments in my TIME magazine story this week. She continued her criticism of Fox News: