memeorandum: Dems put faith in religious right to help boost party agenda (Alexander Bolton/The Hill)

5:55 PM ET, May 18, 2010

Top Items:

Justin Elliott / TPMMuckraker:

Rep. Souder And Mistress Recorded Video Praising Abstinence (WATCH) — Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) had an affair with a part-time staffer named Tracy Jackson, Fox is reporting. Jackson played the role of interviewer for a Souder Web video show on the issues of the day — including one on the value of abstinence.

Discussion: The Speakers Lobby, The Atlantic Online, Beltway Confidential, Raw Story, Matthew Yglesias, Liberty Pundits Blog, Mediaite, First Draft, Hullabaloo and Clusterstock

Fox News:

Exclusive: Indiana Rep. Mark Souder to Resign Amid Allegations of Affair With Staffer — Eight-term Rep. Mark Souder will announce his resignation Tuesday after it came to light that he was conducting an affair with a female staffer who worked in his district office, Fox News has learned.

The Politico:

Souder: ‘I am so shamed’ — Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) is resigning from Congress after telling colleagues he had an affair with a female aide. — “I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff,” Souder said in a statement Tuesday.

Discussion: The New Republic, CNN, The Swamp, The Note, Swing State Project, Hotline On Call, Swampland, The Hill, Below The Beltway, The Huffington Post, ABCNEWS and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Michelle Malkin:

The GOP Crapweasel Club — Yep, it's time again for my upside-down elephant again. Just when CT Democrat Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's Vietnam fables should be front and center political news, here's a creepy Republican to steal the ignominious spotlight: … Ick.

Justin Elliott / TPMMuckraker:

Family Values GOP Rep To Resign Over Affair (VIDEO) — Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), a champion of abstinence education and traditional family values, will resign effective Friday after an affair with a female staffer in his district office, he announced today. — He said in a statement that he …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Journal Gazette, Joe. My. God., BuzzFlash.org and Mother Jones

Washington Post:
Rep. Mark Souder's resignation comes after anonymous tips about affair

Discussion: Right Now, Beltway Confidential and TPMMuckraker

David Weigel / Right Now:
What does Mark Souder's resignation mean for abstinence education?

Discussion: D.C. Now, Liveshots, The Atlantic Online, Top of the Ticket and The Eye

Chad Pergram / The Speakers Lobby:
Rep. Souder Had Affair with Staffer Tracy Jackson

Discussion: Associated Press, Gawker, Crooks and Liars, Wonkette, Right Pundits and Truthdig

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Mark Souder to resign after affair

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Metro Weekly, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Mediaite, Feministing, National Review, Newsweek Blogs and Indecision Forever

Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:

Blumenthal's Words Differ From His History — At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life. — Multimedia — Enlarge This Image

Discussion: The Hill, The Plum Line, TPMDC, The Swamp, The Atlantic Online, The Fix, The Politico, Ballot Box, FiveThirtyEight, New Haven Independent, Washington Monthly, Politics Daily, PostPartisan, Democratic Strategist, Associated Press, Commentary, Hot Air, Wonkette, Newsweek Blogs, AmSpecBlog, Weasel Zippers, msnbc.com, Michelle Malkin, Taegan Goddard's …, This ain't Hell …, Mediaite, MyDD, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Power Line, TPMMuckraker, Dan_McLaughlin's blog, Hotline On Call, Big Journalism, Washington Wire, Mother Jones, The Corner on National …, The Huffington Post, Real Clear Politics, Guardian, NewsBusters.org, BLACKFIVE, News Desk, Breitbart.tv, The Daily Caller, Beltway Confidential, Stop The ACLU, Right Now, Mudville Gazette, NPR Topics, The Awl, Top of the Ticket, Cassy Fiano, This Just In, JustOneMinute, Daily Kos, Little Green Footballs, The Note, National Review, Washington Post, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Talking Points Memo and LewRockwell.com Blog

The Politico:

GOP takes credit for N.Y. Times hit — Pulling back the curtain on journalistic sausage-making usually hidden from voters, a Republican Senate candidate is taking credit for the front-page New York Times story accusing Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of “plainly untrue” remarks about Vietnam service.

Discussion: Linda McMahon for Senate, Swing State Project, Hot Air, TPMMuckraker and American Power

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Richard Blumenthal will survive

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Politico, The Hill, The Corner on National … and The Daily Caller

New York Times:
Blumenthal Calls Military Claim ‘Misplaced Words’

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
Blumenthal Responds to Vietnam Allegations

Discussion: Ballot Box, Hot Air, Newsweek Blogs and Hotline On Call

Kevin / Daily Ructions:
McMahon Strikes. Turns Blumenthal into Bruce Caputo.

Discussion: The Politico, CNN, Ben Smith's Blog, Washington Wire, The Plum Line, The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, The Corner on National …, Wonkette, The Hill, AmSpecBlog, Newsweek Blogs, Taylor Marsh and TPMMuckraker

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Blumenthal Story — For quite a long time now people …

Discussion: Boston Globe, The Politico and New York Times

Marie Leech / The Birmingham:

Jefferson County geometry teacher uses wrong example to teach angles — assassination of President Barack Obama — and Carol Robinson — The Birmingham News — A Jefferson County teacher picked the wrong example when he used assassinating President Barack Obama as a way to teach angles to his geometry students.

Discussion: CBS News, Think Progress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Politics Daily, Pam's House Blend, Outside The Beltway, TPM LiveWire, Raw Story and Indecision Forever

Jerry Markon / Washington Post:

Memo from 2002 could complicate challenge of Arizona immigration law — In the legal battle over Arizona's new immigration law, an ironic subtext has emerged: whether a Bush-era legal opinion complicates a potential Obama administration lawsuit against Arizona.

Discussion: Wonk Room, Above the Law, Law Blog, TPMMuckraker, protein wisdom, The Foundry, Think Progress, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, JammieWearingFool and Main Justice

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama administration's official position agrees with AZ immigration-enforcement law

Discussion: Moe Lane

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Major Powers Have a Deal on Sanctions for Iran, U.S. Says — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced Tuesday morning that it has struck a deal with other major powers, including Russia and China, to impose new sanctions on Iran, a sharp repudiation of the deal Tehran offered …

Discussion: Reuters, Laura Rozen's Blog, The Atlantic Online, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Politics Daily, Guardian, Commentary, Outside The Beltway, Newsweek Blogs, The Daily Beast and The Politico

Washington Post:

South Korea: North responsible for torpedo attack on warship — South Korea will formally blame North Korea on Thursday for launching a torpedo at one of its warships in March, causing an explosion that killed 46 sailors and heightened tensions in one of the world's most perilous regions, U.S. and East Asian officials said.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway

Sam Youngman / The Hill:
U.S. reaches deal on Iran sanctions

Discussion: The Politico

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:

EpicFail: Blanche Lincoln Turned Away From Home Polling Place This Morning — Sen. Blanche Lincoln suffered what might be one of the all-time greatest campaign staff fails this morning. According to her campaign staff, Lincoln was initially turned away when she tried to vote at her home …

Discussion: The Swamp, Wonkette, Swing State Project, Taylor Marsh and Talking Points Memo

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Gingrich forecasts Obama loss — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gives President Barack Obama only a 20 percent chance of being reelected — and says he might be the one to give Obama the boot. — Gingrich, who this week published a book called “To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Daily Kos and Outside The Beltway

Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Gingrich Says Religious Leaders Who Supported Health Care Reform Are Socialists

Discussion: The Corner on National …

Lee Fang / Think Progress:
Gingrich Publishes Book Arguing Obama Poses Hitler-Like Threat

Discussion: The Politico and Fox News

Todd Ackerman / Houston Chronicle:

Texas doctors fleeing Medicare in droves — Texas doctors are opting out of Medicare at alarming rates, frustrated by reimbursement cuts they say make participation in government-funded care of seniors unaffordable. — Two years after a survey found nearly half of Texas doctors weren't taking …

Discussion: Hot Air, Liberty Pundits Blog, Beltway Confidential, Questions and Observations and Moonbattery

Scott Gottlieb / Wall Street Journal:
No, You Can't Keep Your Health Plan

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, White House.gov Blog Feed and Boston Globe

Fox News:

Rev. Wright: ‘Obama Threw Me Under the Bus’ — NEW YORK — The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that he is “toxic” to the Obama administration and that the president “threw me under the bus.”

Discussion: Hot Air and Weasel Zippers

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:
Weiner targets Beck and gold retailer

Discussion: Media Matters for America, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Ben Smith's Blog, Wonkette, Swampland and JammieWearingFool

The Politico:

What to watch in Tuesday's primaries — Just four states go to the polls Tuesday, but together they cast a long shadow. — It's the biggest single-day primary so far in 2010, and the outcomes in a handful of key races will provide the clearest indication yet of the depth and intensity …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Fix, JustOneMinute, The Caucus, Capitol Ideas …, The Moderate Voice, Guardian and American Power

Philly.com:
Primary election: More than rain has dampened mood

Discussion: The Plum Line

Jeff Masters / Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog:

Oil enters the Loop Current and is headed to the Florida Keys — Satellite imagery today from NASA's MODIS instrument confirms that a substantial tongue of oil has moved southeast from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and entered the Gulf of Mexico's Loop Current.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Wonk Room, NO QUARTER, The Great Beyond, Climate Progress, SkyTruth, The Impolitic and Scholars and Rogues

Palm Beach Post:
Tar balls wash up at Key West beaches; surveys continue today

Discussion: Washington Monthly

New York Times:

Grim Milestone: 1,000 Americans Dead — He was an irreverent teenager with a pregnant girlfriend when the idea first crossed his mind: Join the Army, raise a family. She had an abortion, but the idea remained. Patrick S. Fitzgibbon, Saint Paddy to his friends, became Private Fitzgibbon.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, News Desk and Newshoggers.com

Dexter Filkins / New York Times:
U.S. Convoy Is Bombed in Afghanistan

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Associated Press, BBC, Jules Crittenden, The Atlantic Online, FP Passport, Newshoggers.com and The AfPak Channel

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Grayson's Supporters — The likely Rand Paul victory in the Kentucky Republican primary today should give Democrats a very good chance of winning in the fall because supporters of Trey Grayson, Paul's main opponent, really don't like him. — Some primaries play out in such a way that party …

Discussion: Below The Beltway and Barefoot and Progressive

Janet Patton / Lexington Herald-Leader:
Turnout expected to vary widely across Kentucky on Tuesday

Discussion: The Fix, Associated Press, Little Green Footballs, The Politico and The BRAD BLOG

Ed Koch / The Huffington Post:

Questioning Sexual Orientation Is Out of Bounds — Solicitor General Elena Kagan's sexual orientation is the subject of much discussion in blogs and mainstream newspapers. The White House response denied Ms. Kagan is a lesbian. Instead, shouldn't the White House have denounced the speculation …

Discussion: Gothamist, Advocate and Towleroad News #gay