memeorandum: A Bad Day for the Obama Agenda (Karl Rove/Wall Street Journal)

12:00 PM ET, May 20, 2010

Top Items:

Rand Paul won't answer Civil Rights Act question — Moving from the Republican Primary to the general election means, for Rand Paul, addressing a broader set of issues than the anti-tax, anti-spending focus of his campaign. — And while he's answered this question before …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, Sister Toldjah, Taegan Goddard's …, Alas, a blog, The Confluence, Below The Beltway, The American Conservative, DISSENTING JUSTICE and MyDD

Ian M. / Think Progress:

Rand Paul: ‘The Hard Part Of Believing In Freedom’ Is Opposing Ban On Whites-Only Lunch Counters — The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is one of the greatest accomplishments of the 20th century, banning whites-only lunch counters and similar discrimination in hiring, promotions, hotels and restaurants.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Mediaite, Shakesville, Confederate Yankee, Althouse, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Talking Dog, The Mahablog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Left Coast Rebel, bastard.logic, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

David Weigel / Right Now:

Rand Paul, telling the truth — If we use “gaffe” in its proper, Kinsleyan form, that's what U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul issued to NPR yesterday, and that's what he defended on Rachel Maddow's show last night. He told the truth about his stance on the Civil Rights Act.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Washington Wire, The New Republic, Newsweek Blogs, Outside The Beltway, Raw Story, National Review, Wonkette, FrumForum, Hit & Run, Below The Beltway and Barefoot and Progressive

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Freedom as White Supremacy — It seems that yesterday US Senate candidate Rand Paul let the cat out of the bag and admitted that under his brand of libertarian conservatism he can't support the 1964 Civil Rights Act or other non-discrimination legislation as applied to private businesses.

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Rand Paul's America — The attack on Rand Paul's principled libertarianism — which appears to hold that private businesses should be allowed to discriminate on race — writes itself, and it's hard to see how he makes it to the Senate if he can't give a better explanation than he gave Rachel Maddow last night:

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice and The Politico

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:

The Proud Ignorance of Rand Paul — Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy — I saw this over at Gawker, and thought that Rand Paul might come off better if I saw the whole video. I think the whole video made it worse.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Moderate Voice and Gawker

Joan Walsh / Salon:

Rachel Maddow demolishes Rand Paul — The Tea Party favorite says he'd have marched with Martin Luther King Jr., but he opposes the law that forced businesses to serve him — Kentucky GOP Senate nominee Rand Paul is squirming under the bright lights of national media attention since …

Discussion: Guardian, Moonbattery, Pam's House Blend and Barefoot and Progressive

Taylor Marsh / The Huffington Post:
Rand Paul on Civil Rights: Private Restaurants Wouldn't Have To …

Discussion: United States of Jamerica, Crooks and Liars, Outside The Beltway, Firedoglake, The Rachel Maddow Show, The Other McCain, The Reality-Based Community, DownWithTyranny! and Talking Points Memo

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
NPR to Rand Paul: Would you have voted for the Civil Rights Act?

Discussion: The FOX Nation and The Hill

Clifton B / Another Black Conservative:
Rand Paul and the Civil Rights Act question

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Riehl World View, pandagon.net and alicublog

The Huffington Post:
Rand Paul On ‘Maddow’ …

Discussion: Cato @ Liberty, Newsweek Blogs, MyDD, The Rachel Maddow Show, Commentary, RHRealityCheck.org, Advocate and AMERICAblog News

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
RAND PAUL, THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, AND ‘THE HARD PART’ OF ‘FREEDOM’. …

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org, The Impolitic and Wonkette

The Hill:

Bring it on: Nancy Pelosi predicts ‘for sure’ that Dems will win House — Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a message for Republicans this fall: Bring it on. — A buoyant Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday basked in the Democrats' special-election triumph while bashing Republicans and expressing confidence …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, TPMDC and The Corner on National …

David S. Broder / Washington Post:

A big hit against big government — As we approached the Tuesday night with the year's most significant senatorial primaries so far, I turned for guidance to a man who had already been through the fires that define the incendiary politics of 2010. — Ten days after he was barred from the ballot …

Discussion: PostPartisan, Daily Kos, United States of Jamerica, Firedoglake, Ezra Klein, Riehl World View and Balloon Juice

Washington Post:
Primary elections help define President Obama's role in midterm elections

Discussion: Commentary, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and Daily Kos

Neil Vigdor / Stamford Advocate:

Critics weigh Blumenthal's words — “I wore the uniform in Vietnam and many came back & to all kinds of disrespect. Whatever we think of war, we owe the men and women of the armed forces our unconditional support.” — The occasion was the Stamford Veterans Days parade: Nov. 9, 2008.

Discussion: The Plum Line, Weekly Standard, Colin McEnroe, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Daily Ructions, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Kos and Media Matters for America

The Day newspaper:
Blumenthal's Vietnam comments distressing, perplexing

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Taegan Goddard's …

Ezra Klein:

Senate should keep debating financial regulation — As Senate majority leader, Harry Reid has to juggle a lot of bills, and he has to carefully, jealously, guard the Senate's limited floor time. Republicans use the filibuster process to stretch the votes on non-controversial legislation …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Washington Independent and Crooks and Liars

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Brown Says He'll Likely Vote For Wall Street Reform

Discussion: Firedoglake and Wonk Room

The Note:
Sen. Harry Reid Suggests Sen. Scott Brown Lied

Discussion: The Politico, Hotline On Call, CNN, The Swamp, ABCNEWS and The Hill

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:
Vote Keeps Financial Reform Bill in Debate

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Note, Bloomberg, Wonk Room, Daily Kos, Ezra Klein, Washington Times, Open Congress, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, TPMCafe, Swampland and Balloon Juice

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

A Bad Day for the Obama Agenda — The primary election results show rising intensity among Republican voters. — The temptation for politicians and political analysts is to draw broad, sweeping conclusions from election results. But most election outcomes defy being reduced to a single cause.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Politics Daily, USA Today, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, McClatchy Washington Bureau, New York Times and Commentary

Matt Bai / New York Times:
Voter Insurrection Turns Mainstream, Creating New Rules

Discussion: Washington Post, A plain blog about politics, The Politico, The Caucus, Pajamas Media, The Atlantic Online, Prairie Weather and New York Post

New York Times:
White House Embraces Upstart Who Beat Specter

Discussion: JustOneMinute and The Politico

PPIC:

Stunning Drop in Whitman's Support Transforms GOP Race for Governor — Fiorina, Campbell in Dead Heat While DeVore's Support Doubles — Support for Meg Whitman has plummeted 23 points since March, and she is now in a far closer race with Steve Poizner to become the Republican nominee for governor.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Ballot Box, Democratic Strategist and Real Clear Politics

Cathleen Decker / Los Angeles Times:
Whitman's lead drops to single digits

Discussion: Politics Daily, San Francisco Chronicle, Mercury News, The Moderate Voice and PolitiCal

Sean J. Miller / The Hill:
GOP gov. primary could top $100M

Discussion: CNN, Outside The Beltway and PolitiCal

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2010: South Carolina Republican Primary for Governor — South Carolina GOP Primary for Governor: Haley Jumps Ahead — With South Carolina's Republican Primary for Governor less than three weeks away, State Representative Nikki Haley, coming off a fresh endorsement by Sarah Palin, now leads the GOP pack.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Weekly Standard, Conservatives4Palin.com, Taegan Goddard's …, National Review, RedState, Real Clear Politics and FrumForum

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

Salahis Stopped by Secret Service Near White House Last Night — The Salahis were stopped by the U.S. Secret Service last night at around 8 p.m. ET during the State Dinner for Mexican President Felipe Calderon as their stretch limousine ran a red light and seemed to be trying to turn …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Swampland, Gothamist, AMERICAblog News and New York Times

Michelle Malkin:

Dhimmitude and Draw Mohammed Day — 13th Century Persian depiction of Mohammed, artist unknown, via Mohammed Image Archive — I noted the other day that Internet jihadists were leaving death threat comments on the Facebook page of the “Draw Mohammed Day” organizer.

Discussion: The Corner on National …

Justin Gillis / New York Times:

Scientists Fault Lack of Studies Over Gulf Oil Spill — Tensions between the Obama administration and the scientific community over the gulf oil spill are escalating, with prominent oceanographers accusing the government of failing to conduct an adequate scientific analysis of the damage …

Discussion: Politics Daily, naked capitalism, Mediaite, Left Coast Rebel, FP Passport, Corrente, Dot Earth, Prairie Weather and AMERICAblog News

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

EPA demands less toxic dispersant — The Environmental Protection Agency informed BP officials late Wednesday that the company has 24 hours to choose a less toxic form of chemical dispersants to break up its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to government sources familiar with the decision …

Discussion: Climate Progress, New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Washington Independent and The Agonist