memeorandum: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do — The press finally falls out of love with Obama. (Howard Fineman/Newsweek)

7:45 PM ET, March 14, 2010

Top Items:

Kathleen Hennessey / Los Angeles Times:

Justice's wife launches ‘tea party’ group — The nonprofit run by Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is likely to test notions of political impartiality for the court. — Reporting from Washington — As Virginia Thomas tells it in her soft-spoken …

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, The Political Carnival, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite, Gawker, Another Black Conservative, Maggie's Notebook, The Corner on National …, The Impolitic and No More Mister Nice Blog

Andy McCarthy / The Corner on National Review Online:

The Legacy Media's War on Conservatives — By: Andy McCarthy — So let me make sure I have this straight. If you're a “progressive” lawyer who volunteers to represent America's enemies for free in offensive lawsuits brought against the American people during wartime, and then you are placed …

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Pajamas Media, AMERICAblog News and Rising Hegemon

Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Obama chooses 1st young appeals court nominee

Discussion: TalkLeft

Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:

Rove Falsely Claims Bush Administration Never Said Iraqi Oil Revenue Would Help Pay For War — In his new book and in recent media appearances promoting it, former top Bush aide Karl Rove has been revising the history of the Iraq war, particularly regarding the issue of Saddam Hussien's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Hill and Raw Story

Howard Fineman / Newsweek:

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do — The press finally falls out of love with Obama. — From the magazine issue dated Mar 22, 2010 — Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, was 50 minutes late for his briefing, apparently a record for tardiness, but few reporters in the White House press room bothered …

Discussion: Big Journalism, NewsBusters.org, American Power and Don Surber

Peter Baker / New York Times:

As Health Vote Awaits, Future of a Presidency Waits, Too — SENATOR Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, had a little political advice last week for President Obama and the Democrats: Don't pass the president's health care legislation because you would risk losing in the midterm elections.

Discussion: Hot Air, JammieWearingFool, Gateway Pundit, Another Black Conservative, Doug Ross and American Power

Frank Rich / New York Times:
The New Rove-Cheney Assault on Reality

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Walter Alarkon / The Hill:

Gibbs: By next Sunday, healthcare reform will be the ‘law of the land’ — White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the healthcare bill will pass by next weekend. — “We'll have the votes when the House votes, I think, within the next week,” Gibbs said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Discussion: Another Black Conservative, Michelle Malkin, The Plum Line, The Lonely Conservative, JammieWearingFool, Washington Monthly and Riehl World View

Bruce Drake / Politics Daily:
Democrats Still Short of Votes But Predict Health Bill Will Pass

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

David Riedel / CBS News:
Gibbs: By Next Week Health Bill Will Pass

Discussion: The Page and Associated Press

Mark Perry / Foreign Policy:

The Petraeus briefing: Biden's embarrassment is not the whole story — On January 16, two days after a killer earthquake hit Haiti, a team of senior military officers from the U.S. Central Command (responsible for overseeing American security interests in the Middle East) …

Discussion: Laura Rozen's Blog, New York Times, ATTACKERMAN and Israel Matzav

Janine Zacharia / Washington Post:
Israeli prime minister calls settlement dispute with U.S. regrettable, hurtful

Discussion: Haaretz, Laura Rozen's Blog and Commentary

Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:

Graham: ‘No Way In The World’ Is Massachusetts' Health Care Plan Similar To The Democratic Proposal — Giving this week's GOP address, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) bashed Democratic efforts to reform health care as a “bitter, destructive, and endless drive to completely transform America's healthcare system.”

Discussion: Paul Krugman, The Hill and The Hill

Susie Madrak / Crooks and Liars:
David Axelrod: When You Go Into The Details, People Support The Healthcare Bill

Discussion: Riehl World View and American Power

George Bennett / Palm Beach Post:

‘Coffee party’ debuts in West Palm Beach as ‘anti-tea party’ — WEST PALM BEACH — Venting about the conservative tea party movement and talking — at times heatedly — about the need for civility in public discourse marked the debut meeting of a local “coffee party” group today.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Left Coast Rebel, Instapundit, Don Surber, American Power, Dean's World, CNN, QandO, The Other McCain, The Daily Caller, The Impolitic, Ruby Slippers, AmSpecBlog, The Huffington Post, Riehl World View and The Lonely Conservative

Bob Shallit / Sacramento Bee:

IRS visits Sacramento carwash in pursuit of 4 cents — It was every businessperson's nightmare. — Arriving at Harv's Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. “They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending,” says Harv's owner, Aaron Zeff.

Discussion: The Corner on National … and JammieWearingFool

Fox News:

American Linked to Terror Plot Brainwashed 6-Year-Old Son, Family Says — He was being turned into a baby bomber. — The 6-year-old son of a Colorado nursing student who ran off to Europe to join a terrorist murder cell was brainwashed into a hate-filled Islamic fundamentalist zombie …

Discussion: ThreatsWatch and Weasel Zippers

Charles Johnson / The Lizard Annex:

Why I Left the Right, Exhibit R for Dan Riehl — Dim bulb wingnut blogger Dan Riehl is increasingly specializing in some of the most vile, ugly commentary on the right; it's a crowded field, but with posts like this one he manages to stand out: Riehl World View: Isn't It Time To Euthanize Reid's Wife?

Discussion: Riehl World View and The Moderate Voice