memeorandum: House Dem urges NFL not to let Limbaugh buy the St. Louis Rams (Bob Cusack/The Hill)

3:45 PM ET, October 14, 2009

Top Items:

Mark Steyn / The Corner on National Review Online:

Okay, Prove You Didn't Say It! — By: Mark Steyn — For some reason, Rush Limbaugh's mooted purchase of a sports franchise has prompted CNN and others to distribute far and wide what appear to be entirely fabricated racist quotes by Rush. As Tim Blair points out: … Just so. What's the theory here?

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Pajamas Media, JammieWearingFool, NewsReal Blog, QandO, Confederate Yankee, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Tim Blair, GayPatriot, Riehl World View, Ace of Spades HQ, AmSpecBlog, Erick's blog, The Jawa Report, NewsBusters.org, INSTAPUTZ and The Mahablog

Bob Cusack / The Hill:

House Dem urges NFL not to let Limbaugh buy the St. Louis Rams — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) on Tuesday urged the National Football League (NFL) not to let conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh buy the St. Louis Rams. — Limbaugh, a former employee of Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals …

Discussion: Big Government, NewsBusters.org, Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media, Conservative Dallas, Breitbart.tv, Moonbattery and Left Coast Rebel

RushLimbaugh.com:

State-Run Media Scum Smear Rush Using Fabricated Quotes — BEGIN TRANSCRIPT — RUSH: Folks, also, I don't know what to do today. I really don't know what to do. The audio sound bite roster is, again, 95% about me. The reason for my indecision here is that — well, I've talked to you about this before.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media, Scared Monkeys, 24Ahead, The Radio Equalizer and theblogprof

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:

Charles Johnson Now So Anti-Racist He's Denouncing Fake Racist Quotes — Charles Johnson was against fake but accurate before he was for it. — No link for the idiot. I'll just quote him. From a thread: … That link I've left in provides a flurry of extremely dubious Limbaugh “quotes” — and not a single link or citation.

Discussion: American Thinker, Hot Air, Gates of Vienna, Wake up America, IMAO, Scholars and Rogues, The Other McCain, Moonbattery and Daimnation!

Bob Cusack / The Hill:
Limbaugh fires back at ‘fool’ Jackson Lee for NFL floor speech

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Robert Schmidt / Bloomberg:

Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds — Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms …

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Huffington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Swamp, DailyFinance, The Confluence, Michelle Malkin, LewRockwell.com Blog, Clusterstock, msnbc.com and Docudharma

Louis Uchitelle / New York Times:

Still on the Job, but at Half the Pay — MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — The dark blue captain's hat, with its golden oak-leaf clusters, sits atop a bookcase in Bryan Lawlor's home, out of reach of the children. The uniform their father wears still displays the four stripes of a commercial airline captain, but the hat stays home.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, naked capitalism, Outside The Beltway, ParaPundit and RADAMISTO

Wall Street Journal:
Wall Street On Track To Award Record Pay

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, American Street, DailyFinance, The Note, Wonk Room, Think Progress, New York Magazine, FT Alphaville, Clusterstock, MyDD and Balloon Juice

Sean Higgins / Investor's Business Daily:

Americans, In Reversal, Now Back Afghan Troop Surge — As President Obama mulls the military's request for a big troop build-up in Afghanistan, Americans have swung in favor of such a move, according to a new IBD/TIPP Poll. — The survey of 927 adults found that a plurality of 48% favors sending …

Discussion: Washington Times, The Jawa Report, The Politico, Hot Air, Jules Crittenden, AmSpecBlog, Gateway Pundit, Conservatives4Palin.com, Guardian, BLACKFIVE and Wake up America

Dexter Filkins / New York Times:
Stanley McChrystal's Long War

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Danger Room and ATTACKERMAN

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
There's a way to solve the Afghanistan mess without sending a lot …

Discussion: Guardian, Taylor Marsh and Villainous Company

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
Not Good Enough — If President Obama can find a way to balance …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, MoJo Blog Posts, Matthew Yglesias, The League of Ordinary …, Hullabaloo and Newshoggers.com

Ceci Connolly / Washington Post:

Health Insurers Emerge as Obama's Top Foe in Reform Effort — Now they have an enemy. — For months, President Obama and his administration waged their fight for a health-care overhaul without a clear opponent, even courting the industry executives and interest groups that helped kill reform efforts 15 years ago.

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Morning Fix: Health Care Winners and Losers

Discussion: msnbc.com, Quinnipiac University, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Capitol Briefing and Ben Smith's Blog

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
The Top Ten Things Worth Fighting For

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Ezra Klein, American Spectator, Wonk Room, Ben Smith's Blog and Washington Post

Michael A. Cohen / The Politico:

Now who loves America more? — Twenty-five years ago, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick famously lambasted Democrats as “blame America firsters” and a party plagued by “self-criticism and self-denigration” of America. It was a speech at pace with an emerging political stereotype …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Sister Toldjah and Right Wing Nut House

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Daisy Chain of Cheneys

Discussion: Washington Post, Gawker and Prairie Weather

Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:
Liz Derangement Syndrome

Discussion: Eunomia and Bookworm Room

Ben Frumin / TPM LiveWire:

Schumer To Reid: The Fate Of The Public Option May Be In Your Hands — Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) threw down the gauntlet on the public option for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) last night. Appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show, Schumer essentially put the fate of the public option …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, TPMDC, The Note, The Hill and TalkLeft

Eric Zimmermann / The Hill:
Snowe: Public option could be dealbreaker

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, rubber hose, EconoSpeak and Erick's blog

The Note:
Public Option with Opt-Out Clause Not a Silver Bullet for Snowe

Discussion: AMERICAblog News and George's Bottom Line

New York Times:

Saudis Seek Payments for Any Drop in Oil Revenues — Saudi Arabia is trying to enlist other oil-producing countries to support a provocative idea: if wealthy countries reduce their oil consumption to combat global warming, they should pay compensation to oil producers.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Climate Progress, The Daily Dish, The Reality-Based Community, QandO, Raw Story, Matthew Yglesias, MoJo Blog Posts and Free exchange

Daniel W. Drezner:
So it turns out that Arab sheikhs understand the meaning of “chutzpah”

Discussion: Megan McArdle

Brad Wilmouth / NewsBusters.org:

Olbermann: Without ‘Fascistic Hatred,’ Malkin Is Just a ‘Mashed-Up Bag of Meat with Lipstick’ — On Tuesday's Countdown show, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann spewed bile at conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, accusing her of possessing “fascistic hatred,” and comparing her to a “mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it.”

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Political Byline, Jenn Q. Public, Pundit & Pundette, Sister Toldjah, Breitbart.tv, Wake up America, AmSpecBlog, Weasel Zippers and TVNewser

Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard: The Washington Post Has a Tenuous Grasp on Idea of ‘Incivility’

PittsburghLIVE.com:

Poll shows Specter staring at ‘near fatal’ 31 percent re-election figure — TRIBUNE-REVIEW — HARRISBURG — Only 31 percent of Pennsylvania voters believe Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter should be re-elected, and 59 percent believe it's time to give someone else a chance, a state poll released today shows.

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Commentary, Politics Daily, The Plum Line, Taegan Goddard's …, TPMDC, neo-neocon and Politics Nation

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Biden No Longer a Lone Voice on Afghanistan — WASHINGTON — A few hours after getting off a plane from America's war zones, Joseph R. Biden Jr. slipped into a chair, shook off his jet lag and reflected on what he had seen. The situation in Iraq, he said, was much improved.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Associated Press, Laura Rozen's Blog, The AfPak Channel, Commentary and The Page

Washington Wire:

Palin Plans New Political Group — Michael M. Phillips reports on the doings of conservative favorite Sarah Palin. — Sarah Palin fans can expect to see a new Palin political organization surface as her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” hits the shelves next month.

Discussion: New York Post and Tammy Bruce

KATU-TV:

Apartment residents told to take down U.S. flags — Residents of the Oaks Apartments in Albany have reportedly been told to take down their flags. Even this one, on the back of a motorcycle, is part of the reported ban. — ALBANY, Ore. - At the Oaks Apartments in Albany …

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Townhall.com and Moonbattery

Wall Street Journal:

An Apartment Complex Teeters — High-Profile Tishman/BlackRock Property in New York in Danger of Default — The giant Stuyvesant Town apartment complex on Manhattan's East Side, shown Tuesday, was developed by MetLife for World War II veterans. — One of the biggest …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Clusterstock and Calculated Risk

PewResearch.org:

Daily Number: 15% - America's Health Care is ... Fairly Average — Only 15% of Americans believe that the U.S. has the best health care in the world. Read more — THE TOP STORY INDEX — New Media Index — Celebrity Jeopardy: Polanski on Blogs — 8 Oct 09 The Roman Polanski saga …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, The Swamp, Taegan Goddard's …, The Plum Line, Ezra Klein, Hullabaloo and The Political Carnival

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:

The Curious Resignation Of Robert Wexler — Today, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), a well-regarded young congressman with a good job and enough seniority to ensure that he is comfortable, will announce his resignation from the House of Representatives. The reason: he intends to perform other work in a “public policy” capacity.

Discussion: JTA, Broward Politics and Real Clear Politics

updates.pressherald.mainetoday.com:

Poll: 51.8% plan to vote no on question 1 — in - Central Maine Newspapers - Portland Press Herald — According to new poll data, 51.8 percent of people who plan to vote in November say they will vote no or are leaning in that direction on question 1, the people's veto of Maine's same-sex marriage law.

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, D-Day, #gay and Joe. My. God.

Jordy Yager / The Hill:

House Republicans accuse Muslim group of trying to plant spies — Four House Republicans are accusing a Muslim advocacy group of trying to plant spies on Capitol Hill. — Republican members of the Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus said the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) …

Discussion: The Politico, Atlas Shrugs and Weasel Zippers

Douglas Holtz-Eakin / Wall Street Journal:

The Baucus Bill Is a Tax Bill — Middle-class families would get hit with a double-digit increase in their marginal tax rate. — Printer — Friendly — Remember when health-care reform was supposed to make life better for the middle class? That dream began to unravel this past summer …

Discussion: New York Post, The Huffington Post, Hot Air, The Natural Truth and TaxProf Blog

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:

Steele: I'm The ‘Cow On The Tracks’ Trying To Block The Health Care Train — Today on Fox News, RNC Chairman Michael Steele railed against Democratic efforts to reform health care and said how proud he was that Republicans have stalled action. “They told us in June that there would be a health care bill …

Discussion: Associated Press, Wonkette, Talking Points Memo and TPM LiveWire

San Francisco Chronicle:

Obama to avoid the rabble on S.F. visit — The White House's fear of protests from Code Pink and other left-wingers has put the brakes on President Obama making any public appearances during his visit to San Francisco this week. — Obama is scheduled to parachute into Liberalville …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Bookworm Room, Don Surber and Weasel Zippers

Jake Sherman / The Politico:

Boehner downplays Dow 10,000 — Dow 10,000 just isn't that big a deal, House Republican leader John Boehner said Wednesday morning. — And anyone who places significance on the stock market hitting this symbolic number is “certainly not talking to the American people.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly

O. Kay Henderson / Radio Iowa:

Christie Vilsack: “I'm well-qualified” to run for US Senate — Christie Vilsack, Tom Vilsack (file photo) — Christie Vilsack, the wife of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, sounds as if she may be the “mystery candidate” the chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party said was poised to run for the U.S. Senate.

Discussion: O.KayHenderson.com, Taegan Goddard's … and The Political Carnival