memeorandum: Poll: Economy Brings Down Obama's Job Approval Rating (Stephanie Condon/CBS News)

10:50 AM ET, February 12, 2010

Top Items:

Patrick Kennedy to retire — Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the son of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, will announce on Friday that he is retiring, according to Democratic insiders. — Kennedy, 42, was first elected to the House in 1994. His departure will leave Congress without …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Wake up America, Ben Smith's Blog, CNN, Gateway Pundit, No Sheeples Here, Another Black Conservative, The Moderate Voice, Gawker, The Democratic Daily and Confederate Yankee

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Patrick Kennedy won't run for re-election — Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy will retire after eight terms in office, bringing an end to his House career just months after his father, legendary Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, passed away. — “My father instilled in me a deep commitment …

Discussion: The Note, Pam's House Blend and Top of the Ticket

Washington Post:
3 House retirements spur debate on whether Republicans are losing momentum

Discussion: MiamiHerald.com

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
A Kennedy Departs Congress, Ending an Era

Discussion: Fausta's Blog, The Speakers Lobby, Hotline On Call and The Page

Dan / Riehl World View:
Video - Patrick Kennedy Not Seeking Re-election

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Ruby Slippers and POWIP

Chris Johnson / DC Agenda:
Pro-LGBT lawmaker Patrick Kennedy to retire from Congress

Discussion: Advocate

Politics Daily:
Patrick Kennedy, Son of Ted Kennedy, to Retire From Congress

Discussion: Power Line

Andrew Miga / Associated Press:
AP source: Kennedy won't run for re-election in RI

Discussion: Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, MyDD, The Other McCain, DaTechguy's Blog and Left Coast Rebel

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Obama in nominee showdown — The Senate confirmed a huge group of administration nominees on Thursday, following a tense exchange between President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). — At a White House meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders on Tuesday …

Discussion: CNN, Osborne Ink, Commentary, The Daily Caller, TPMDC and Think Progress

New York Times:
Senate Confirms 2 Dozen Obama Nominees

Discussion: Politics Daily and Washington Monthly

The White House:
Statement by the President on Senate Confirmations

Discussion: Emptywheel, Coop's Corner and MyDD

Kate Phillips / The Caucus:
Senate Confirms 27 Obama Nominees

Discussion: New York Magazine

Ed O'Keefe / Federal Eye:
Senate confirms 27 nominees after Obama threatens recess appointments

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, DownWithTyranny! and The Reality-Based Community

J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
Dem senators seek to kill filibuster

Discussion: The Politico and TPMDC

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

So Much For That! Bipartisan Jobs Agreement Falls Apart Almost Instantly — Bipartisan agreement on jobs lasted all of a few hours. This afternoon, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus announced he'd reached accord with ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

Discussion: Washington Post, Guardian, The Confluence, Firedoglake and Dennis the Peasant

The Politico:

Reid's about-face stuns Dems, W.H. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid led colleagues and the White House to believe he supported a bipartisan jobs bill — only to scuttle the plan as soon as it was released Thursday over concerns it could be used to batter Democratic incumbents, according to Senate sources.

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Post, New York Times, CNN, Prairie Weather, Open Congress and The Corner on National …

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Sen. Reid kills Baucus bill, narrows focus of jobs legislation after complaints — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is rewriting a jobs bill after Democrats complained of too many concessions to Republicans. — Reid announced Thursday that he would cut drastically …

New York Times:
Deal on Jobs Shows Limits of Push for Bipartisanship

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Washington Post, Washington Wire, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Prairie Weather and The Note

Jennifer Haberkorn / Washington Times:
Reid puts his bill before bipartisanship

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Washington Post and Moonbattery

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Reid dismisses Harkin's bid to change filibuster rules

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Raw Story, Betsy's Page, Firedoglake, The Politico, StarkReports.com and Think Progress

New York Times:

Poll Finds Edge for Obama Over G.O.P. Among the Public — WASHINGTON — At a time of deepening political disaffection and intensified distress about the economy, President Obama enjoys an edge over Republicans in the battle for public support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Nation, BuzzFlash.org, The Monkey Cage, American Power, The Swamp, The Page, Truthdig, New York Magazine and The Caucus

Stephanie Condon / CBS News:

Poll: Economy Brings Down Obama's Job Approval Rating — As the lagging economy continues to weigh on people's minds, the American public is more disapproving than ever of President Obama's job performance, the latest CBS News/New York Times poll finds. — Mr. Obama's job approval rating stands …

Discussion: The Corner on National …, Hot Air and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

CBS News:

Support for Gays in the Military Depends on the Question — Posted by Kevin Hechtkopf A new CBS News/ New York Times poll finds that the wording of the question is key when it comes to determining whether Americans support allowing gays to serve in the military.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, The Caucus, Indecision Forever, DISSENTING JUSTICE, TPMDC, Mediaite, The Hill, Pollster.com All Content, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Swampland, Politics Daily and Taegan Goddard's …

Washington Post:

Obama will help select location of Khalid Sheik Mohammed terrorism trial — President Obama is planning to insert himself into the debate about where to try the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, three administration officials said Thursday, signaling a recognition …

Discussion: The Swamp, Josh Gerstein's Blog, The Washington Independent, The Page, The Corner on National …, The Caucus, Commentary, The Hill, Main Justice, And So it Goes in Shreveport and The Plum Line

The Politico:
Family feud: Pelosi at odds with Obama

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Christian Science Monitor and AMERICAblog News

Ezra Klein:
Blame Rahm? — It's a bit weird to see so much blame accruing …

Discussion: The Faster Times, DISSENTING JUSTICE and Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

The Politico:

Why the MSM loves Palin — Fox News has been making a serious charge about mainstream political reporters: They hate Sarah Palin. — This is not just wrong, it's absurd. The reality is exactly the opposite: We love Palin. — And if Palin does not exactly love us …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Mediaite, GOP 12, The Hill and msnbc.com

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill: House GOP document: We won showdown with President Obama

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Republicans and Medicare — “Don't cut Medicare. The reform bills passed by the House and Senate cut Medicare by approximately $500 billion. This is wrong.” So declared Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, in a recent op-ed article written with John Goodman, the president of the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Discussion: NOW! Blog and Prairie Weather

Emily Friedman / ABCNEWS:

Former President Bill Clinton Rushed to N.Y. Hospital — Clinton Had Quadruple Heart Bypass Surgery in 2004 — Former President Bill Clinton was rushed to a Manhattan hospital late this afternoon, sources tell ABC News. — Clinton, 63, was transported to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital …

CBS News:
Bill Clinton Headed Home From Hospital

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times and NPR Blogs

Des Moines Register:

Appeals court: Nude dancing still considered art — Hamburg, Ia. — Nude dancing is still an art form in Iowa, at least at a strip club in the tiny town of Hamburg. — The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday dismissed the state's request for a review of the issue.

Discussion: Caffeinated Thoughts and NewsReal Blog

Shane Vander Hart / Caffeinated Thoughts:
One Judge Says Minors Can Strip Since It's “Art”

Discussion: The Other McCain

Michael B. Mukasey / Washington Post:

Where the U.S. went wrong on the Christmas Day bomber — It seems to me unlikely that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab will be known to future generations of lawyers for generating any groundbreaking legal principle or issue. But when it comes to illuminating our public discourse about the …

Discussion: Power Line, National Journal Online, The Strata-Sphere, The Corner on National … and Commentary

Thomas Joscelyn / Weekly Standard:
Obama Officials Wrong on Padilla

Discussion: Washington Monthly, TPMDC, YID With LID and Power Line

David Kirkpatrick / The Caucus:

Health Reform in Limbo, Top Drug Lobbyist Quits — Billy Tauzin, the former Louisiana congressman, is resigning as president of the drug industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America amid internal disputes over its pact with the White House to trade political support …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, TalkLeft, The Politico, Prairie Weather, Dennis the Peasant, RHRealityCheck.org and New York Times

Sam Dillon / New York Times:

Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall — VAIL, Ariz. — Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).

Discussion: The Huffington Post and News Cut

Ronin / The Jawa Report:

Why It Is Cool To Murder Muslims - From The Brave Mujahideen — This Jawa Report exclusive was provided by the brave online Jihadis at the forums. And remember, all your forums are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time. Ha Ha Ha. — So here is the slow-down.

Debra Medina / Debra Medina for Texas Governor:

Medina Campaign Responds to Glenn Beck Interview — I was asked a question on the Glenn Beck show today regarding my thoughts on the so-called 9/11 truth movement. I have never been involved with the 9/11 truth movement, and there is no doubt in my mind that Muslim terrorists flew planes into those buildings on 9/11.