memeorandum: Rapist, now quadriplegic, a threat, court rules (Bob Egelko/San Francisco Chronicle)

2:25 PM ET, April 7, 2010

Top Items:

McDonnell's Confederate History Month proclamation irks civil rights leaders — RICHMOND — Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, reviving a controversy that had been dormant for eight years, has declared that April will be Confederate History Month in Virginia, a move that angered civil rights leaders Tuesday …

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:

Proud Of Being Ignorant — A lot of you have e-mailed me to note that Virginia governor Bob McDonnell has decided to honor those who fought to preserve, and extend, white supremacy. I don't really have much to say. The GOP is, effectively, the party of willfully unlettered Utopians.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

McDonnell Says Slavery Wasn't a “Significant” Part of Confederate Virginia; Virginia Secessionists Disagree — Bob McDonnell explains why his proclamation about the glories of a short-lived herrenvolk republic founded on the principle of chattel slavery didn't mention the word “slavery.”

Discussion: FrumForum, Lean Left, Daily Kos and INSTAPUTZ

Paul / Power Line:

The wrong proclamation in Virginia — Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell has declared April to be Confederate History Month in Virginia. He will thus issue a proclamation honoring soldiers who fought for the South in the Civil War. — So far, so good. McDonnell's two Democratic predecessors refused …

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Amanda Terkel / Think Progress:
McDonnell: Slavery Wasn't ‘Significant’ …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, PERRspectives, NPR Topics, Newshoggers.com and Below The Beltway

Washington Post:
Gov. McDonnell's airbrushing of Virginia history

Discussion: American Prospect, Betsy's Page, Top of the Ticket, Foreign Policy, Political Byline, Daily Kos, Jack & Jill Politics, Right Now, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Plum Line

Mark Murray / msnbc.com:

FIRST THOUGHTS: THE GOP'S VOID — The GOP's leadership void... The hits keep on coming for Steele, though the RNC reported raising $11.4 million in March... But that is less than the $13 million-plus the DNC is reporting... Is Bart Stupak going to call it quits?... Obama heads to Prague this evening …

Discussion: YID With LID, Beltway Confidential, Baltimore Sun, Dallas Morning News, HazZzMat, Gawker, National Review Online, Right Now, Gateway Pundit, JammieWearingFool and The Political Carnival

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

On the edge: Clues to Steele's future — A week after revelations that the Republican National Committee reimbursed a fundraiser for expenses incurred at a sex-themed nightclub, the reverberations continue to shake the GOP. — The committee's chief of staff has been pushed …

Discussion: Washington Post, Ben Smith's Blog, CNN, Riehl World View, The Moderate Voice, Swampland, Guardian, Washington Monthly, The Daily Beast, The Page, The Note and Daily Kos

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:

Former RNC official: Steele struck a deal with Michigan GOP to increase fundraising numbers, possibly to circumvent federal funding limits — Into the RNC coffers, and back out again. — The Republican National Committee at the end of last year struck a deal with the Michigan Republican Party …

Discussion: TPMDC, New York Times, Ben Smith's Blog, Hot Air, Liberty Pundits dot net, The Note, TPM LiveWire and MyDD

Anne Schroeder Mullins / The Politico:
STORMY DANIELS SWITCHES TEAMS

Discussion: CNN, Left Coast Rebel, The Note, Another Black Conservative, Mediaite, Big Government, The Gun Toting Liberal, Below The Beltway, Hot Air and Hotline On Call

Byron York / Beltway Confidential:
Fear and loathing in the RNC

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

CNN:

Reporter's notebook: What really happens at Tea Party rallies — (CNN) — When it comes to the Tea Party movement, the stereotypes don't tell the whole story. — Here's what you often see in the coverage of Tea Party rallies: offensive posters blasting President Obama and Democratic leaders …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, iOwnTheWorld.com, Wake up America, JustOneMinute and JammieWearingFool

Valerie Bauman / Associated Press:

Black conservative tea party backers take heat — ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - They've been called Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms, and are used to having to defend their values. Now black conservatives are really taking heat for their involvement in the mostly white tea party movement …

Discussion: Hot Air, Big Journalism, NewsBusters.org, theblogprof, Shot in the Dark, Nice Deb, Questions and Observations, No More Mister Nice Blog, Pundit & Pundette, Liberty Pundits dot net, Another Black Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Instapundit, The Rhetorican, The American Pundit and The Lonely Conservative

Allison Sossaman / WJKT-TV:
Email Threat to Congressman Cohen

Discussion: The Hill and TPM LiveWire

David Weigel / Right Now:
CNN salutes the ‘colorful smiles’ of the tea parties

Discussion: Wake up America

Fox News:

Obama Bans Islam, Jihad From National Security Strategy Document — The change is a significant shift in the National Security Strategy, a document that previously outlined the Bush Doctrine of preventative war.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Corner on National …, Michelle Malkin, Cold Fury, Maggie's Notebook, The Jawa Report and Jihad Watch

Scott Shane / New York Times:

U.S. Approves Targeted Killing of American Cleric — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks …

Discussion: The Corner on National …, The Washington Independent, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, BBC, The Daily Dish, For The Record, Think Progress, American Prospect, Guardian, Opinio Juris, ATTACKERMAN, Emptywheel, Commentary, Reuters, Slate and ABCNEWS

Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
American Extremist Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki Targeted for Killing by U.S.

Discussion: The Washington Independent

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Confirmed: Obama authorizes assassination of U.S. citizen

Discussion: Reason, Cato @ Liberty, Gawker, Left in the West, Newshoggers.com, Hot Air, The New Republic, FrumForum, Hit & Run and AmSpecBlog

Margaret Talev / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Health care overhaul spawns mass confusion for public — WASHINGTON — Two weeks after President Barack Obama signed the big health care overhaul into law, Americans are struggling to understand how — and when — the sweeping measure will affect them. — Questions reflecting confusion …

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Taylor Marsh, Washington Post, The Mahablog, Beltway Confidential, The Lonely Conservative and JammieWearingFool

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Reid: 'If the election were held today, I'd win' — If the Nevada Senate election were held today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he'd win. — Reid, the top Senate Democrat, who's facing arguably the toughest reelection fight of his career, expressed confidence that he would pull out a victory this fall.

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Alexander Bolton / The Hill: Specter claims Reid deal for Judiciary chair

Geoff Dornan / Carson City Nevada:
Reid likes his chances for re-election

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Newsweek Blogs, TPM LiveWire and TPMDC

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

For the wealthy, less in taxes is not always more — You thought only conservatives got mad about taxes? — Tea partiers, eat your hearts out: A group of liberals got together Tuesday and proved that they, too, can have a tax rebellion. But theirs is a little bit different: They want to pay more taxes.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Lonely Conservative and Cato @ Liberty

Richard Wolf / USA Today:
Upper-income people would lose tax cuts in Obama plan

Discussion: WILLisms.com and Washington Post

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

Obama weighs new peace plan for the Middle East — Despite recent turbulence in U.S. relations with Israel, President Obama is “seriously considering” proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict, according to two top administration officials.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Commentary, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Majlis, Wonk Room, The Washington Independent and Yourish.com

Matthew Balan / NewsBusters.org:

Rosie O'Donnell: Catholic Church is Like Jonestown Suicide Cult — On her April 5 satellite radio show, Rosie O'Donnell took her anti-Catholicism to a new level by likening the Catholic Church to the Jonestown cult. As Brian Maloney of The Radio Equalizer put it, “in Rosie's twisted world …

Discussion: Babalú Blog, Weasel Zippers and Gateway Pundit

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
The Church's Judas Moment

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and The Corner on National …

Ali Akbar Dareini / Associated Press:

Iran ridicules Obama's “cowboy” nuclear strategy — TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line president on Wednesday ridiculed President Barack Obama's new nuclear strategy, which turns the U.S. focus away from the Cold War threats and instead aims to stop the spread of atomic weapons to rogue states or terrorists.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Liberty Pundits dot net, Commentary and The Lonely Conservative

New York Times:
Obama's Nuclear Strategy Intended as a Message

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, The Duck of Minerva, Washington Examiner and Mediaite

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Parties Even in Congressional Midterm Preferences — Rise in voter enthusiasm after passage of healthcare has since steadied — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Daily tracking for the week ending April 4 finds the two major parties tied at 46% in the congressional voting preferences of registered voters nationally.

Discussion: Hot Air, Left Coast Rebel, HotAirPundit and National Review Online

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

‘Riot Is the Voice of the Unheard’ — Tea-party foe Maxine Waters once made excuses for real political violence. — “The Tea Party emerges as not only outrageous, but they have turned up the volume in ways that even Code Pink have not been able to do,” Rep. Maxine Waters said the other day on MSNBC.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Weasel Zippers and Political Byline

David Boaz / Reason:

Up from Slavery — There's no such thing as a golden age of lost liberty — For many libertarians, “the road to serfdom” is not just the title of a great book but also the window through which they see the world. We're losing our freedom, year after year, they think.

Discussion: Below The Beltway, LewRockwell.com Blog, Cato @ Liberty, alicublog, Dean's World and Hit & Run

Nina Totenberg / NPR:

Supreme Court May Soon Lack Protestant Justices — text sizeAAA — With U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens talking openly about retirement, attention has focused on the “who” — as in who is on President Obama's short list of potential nominees.

Discussion: The Confluence, SCOTUSblog, Bench Memos …, Slate, msnbc.com, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, The Hill and Prairie Weather

Reuters:

Volcker: Taxes likely to rise eventually to tame deficit — (Reuters) - The United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax, White House adviser Paul Volcker said on Tuesday.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, Liberty Pundits dot net, James Pethokoukis, Ruby Slippers, Below The Beltway, Questions and Observations, The Foundry, Capital Gains and Games blogs, The Page, Sister Toldjah, protein wisdom, Sweetness & Light, JammieWearingFool and Weasel Zippers

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

Economic Scene: To Cut Health Costs, U.S. Needs to Learn to Say No — How can we learn to say no? — The federal government is now starting to build the institutions that will try to reduce the soaring growth of health care costs. There will be a group to compare the effectiveness …

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air, Washington Post, Questions and Observations, Beat the Press and Riehl World View