memeorandum: Suicide Car Bomber Hits U.S. Convoy in Afghanistan (Dexter Filkins/New York Times)

10:20 AM ET, May 18, 2010

Top Items:

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: msnbc.com, Matthew Yglesias, Talking Points Memo, The Note, Washington Monthly, Taegan Goddard's …, The Huffington Post, Associated Press, Wonkette, The Plum Line, The Corner on National …, MyDD, USA Today, Hotline On Call, PostPartisan, Right Now, BLACKFIVE, Mudville Gazette, Mediaite, The Politico, This Just In, Weasel Zippers, Washington Post, Sweetness & Light, Hot Air, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber, DaTechguy's Blog, The Powers That Be, No More Mister Nice Blog, Political Insider, Guardian, Commentary, Law Blog, TPMMuckraker, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, FiveThirtyEight, Another Black Conservative, Blogs of War, The Eye, JammieWearingFool, NPR Topics, Politics Daily, Gateway Pundit, YID With LID, Gawker, Outside The Beltway, Open Left, This ain't Hell …, Betsy's Page, The Moderate Voice, Clusterstock, Dan_McLaughlin's blog, Real Clear Politics, Balloon Juice, Swampland, Neptunus Lex, Moonbattery, Weekly Standard, TigerHawk, Swing State Project, The Nation, GayPatriot and First Draft

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:

Blumenthal Responds To Vietnam Allegations — Connecticut Attorney General Dick Blumenthal is denying a New York Times report that he routinely lied about his service in Vietnam. — “The New York Times story is an outrageous distortion of Dick Blumenthal's record of service,” …

Discussion: Ballot Box, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Prairie Weather and JammieWearingFool

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Bombshell: Democratic Senate candidate lied about serving in Vietnam; Update: Blumenthal responds, sort of — Not just any Democratic Senate candidate, either. It's Richard Blumenthal, current attorney general of Connecticut, whom Chris Dodd made way for by retiring earlier this year.

Discussion: National Review, The Strata-Sphere, Public Policy Polling and iOwnTheWorld.com

Paul Bass / New Haven Independent:

Simmons Stands To Gain Most From Blumenthal Expose — (First blush analysis; updated.) The words were all sober. No hint of gloating And yet there was no mistaking the glee in the press release Rob Simmons rushed out Monday night. — A New York Times expose had just hit the web.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Talking Points Memo

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: Ben Smith's Blog and American Power

Linda McMahon / Linda McMahon for Senate:

In Case You Missed It: McMahon Strikes Blumenthal In NYT Article — “The Blumenthal Bombshell Comes At The End Of More Than 2 Months Of Deep, Persistent Research By Republican Linda McMahon's Senate Campaign. It Gave The Explosive Norwalk Video Recording To The Times.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, This Just In and The Eye

Joshua Green / The Atlantic Online:

Richard Blumenthal's Bogus War Record — As a Connecticut native, let me emphasize what a shock it is that, per this bombshell New York Times story, longtime Attorney General Richard Blumenthal—the presumed Democratic Senate nominee and presumed successor to Chris Dodd …

Discussion: Marbury

J. Taylor Rushing / Ballot Box:
Lieberman undecided on whether to back Republican or Dem in Senate race

Discussion: CNN

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

Discussion: The Daily Caller, msnbc.com, The Huffington Post, Outside The Beltway, The Eye and The Moderate Voice

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Vietnam allegations threaten frontrunning Blumenthal in CT-Senate

Discussion: Liberty Pundits Blog

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.

Discussion: TPMMuckraker, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Politics Nation and Don Surber

The Politico:

Souder to resign over affair with aide — Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), a former congressional staffer who was elected to the House in the Republican revolution of 1994, has told colleagues he will resign Tuesday because of an affair with a female aide, a House GOP official told POLITICO.

Discussion: The Hill, Townhall.com, Hotline On Call and USA Today

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Mark Souder to resign

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Benjamin Joffe-Walt / Jerusalem Post:

Saudi woman beats up virtue cop — Incident follows a wave of challenges to religious authorities. — Talkbacks (16) — Make JPOST.COM your Home Page — Iranian Threat — Jewish World — Local Israel — Arts & Culture — Français — Classifieds — Israel — Middle East

Discussion: Jihad Watch, The Jawa Report, Stop The ACLU, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Another Black Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Betsy's Page, Israel Matzav and Gawker

Walter Alarkon / The Hill:

Democrats prepare to pass war funding bill without Republican support — House Democrats are preparing to pass an Afghanistan war-spending bill on a party-line vote as Republicans balk at extra provisions the White House wants in the measure. — Passing such a spending bill through …

Discussion: The Politico and Weasel Zippers

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Incumbent Armageddon?: What to watch for

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Washington Post and The Politico

The Politico:
What to watch in Tuesday's primaries

Discussion: Washington Post and The Caucus

The Politico:
Obama steers clear of shaky Specter

Discussion: The Swamp, The New Republic, Slate, Washington Wire, Newsweek Blogs, The New Ledger and CNN

Scott Gottlieb / Wall Street Journal:

No, You Can't Keep Your Health Plan — Insurers and doctors are already consolidating their businesses in the wake of ObamaCare's passage. — President Obama guaranteed Americans that after health reform became law they could keep their insurance plans and their doctors.

Discussion: Betsy's Page

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: Questions and Observations and Sweetness & Light

Dexter Filkins / New York Times:

Suicide Car Bomber Hits U.S. Convoy in Afghanistan — KABUL, Afghanistan — A man driving a Toyota minivan laden with explosives steered into an American convoy on Tuesday morning, killing 18 people, including 5 American troops, and 12 civilians caught in rush hour traffic in the Afghan capital.

Discussion: Laura Rozen's Blog, BBC and Jules Crittenden

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Bomb attack on NATO convoy kills 18 in Kabul

Discussion: FP Passport and The Washington Independent

Amir Shah / Associated Press:
Taliban suicide bomb hits NATO convoy, kills 18

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Post, The AfPak Channel and Wall Street Journal

Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:

Obama Won't Say Who Killed Daniel Pearl — At a signing ceremony for the Freedom of Press Act, it is ironic and shameful that Obama could not bring himself to identify the killers who beheaded the man who fearlessly reported on the jihadist terrorists. Obama had this to say:

Discussion: New York Times, The White House, Gateway Pundit, Top of the Ticket, Pundit & Pundette, Weekly Standard, White House.gov Blog Feed, The Corner on National … and RedState

Chip Reid / CBS News:
Press Freedom, Sure. But No Questions.

Discussion: The Foundry, Wizbang, Commentary, Left Coast Rebel, CNN, Pajamas Media and Another Black Conservative

J. Patrick Coolican / Las Vegas Sun:

Danny Tarkanian: Sue Lowden breaking campaign law by accepting donated RV — Sue Lowden, a leading contender to be the Republican nominee in the race to unseat Sen. Harry Reid, is being accused by a chief competitor of breaking campaign finance law for accepting a luxury campaign bus as a campaign contribution.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo: First They Came for the Chickens — It sounds like our pal Sue Lowden …

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: Questions and Observations

Damien Cave / New York Times:

A Generation Gap Over Immigration — MIAMI — Meaghan Patrick, a junior at New College of Florida, a tiny liberal arts college in Sarasota, says discussing immigration with her older relatives is like “hitting your head against a brick wall.” — Cathleen McCarthy, a senior at the University of Arizona …

Discussion: protein wisdom and pandagon.net

Ed Barnes / Fox News:

Muslims in NYC Planning to Build Second, Smaller Mosque Near Ground Zero — As controversy surrounds the construction of a 13-story mosque just two blocks from Ground Zero, FOX News has learned that an effort to place a second mosque close to the hallowed site in New York City is in its advanced stages.

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Creeping Sharia, Atlas Shrugs, Weasel Zippers and NewsReal Blog

BBC:

‘Terror ringleader’ to stay in UK — The alleged leader of an al-Qaeda plot to bomb targets in north-west England has won his appeal against deportation. — A special immigration court said Abid Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative - but could not be deported because he faced torture or death back home in Pakistan.

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Sweetness & Light

David Neiwert / Crooks and Liars:

Is it time to blow up the leaking Gulf oil well? BP doing its best to keep that option under wraps — Shepard Smith had a fascinating segment on the catastrophic Gulf oil spill today, featuring an interview with a former nuclear-sub captain who argued persuasively that it was time …

Discussion: AMERICAblog News

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:

Fans asked to remove pro-Arizona immigration law shirts during NBA game — Two fans at a Phoenix Suns basketball game were ejected from their first row seats and removed from the arena last week after refusing orders from security guards to take off their shirts in support of Arizona's recently passed law against illegal immigration.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel

Geoffrey Dickens / NewsBusters.org:

Matthews: Obama Needs to ‘Nationalize’ Oil Industry! — Last week an agitated Chris Matthews tried to hold Dick Cheney accountable for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and this week Matthews is demanding action from President Obama, as the Hardball host pushed the President to nationalize the oil industry to solve the problem.

Discussion: Townhall.com and Moonbattery