memeorandum: Gulf Oil Spill: Louisiana Wetlands Blanketed With BP Crude (VIDEO) (Associated Press)

11:20 AM 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, Taegan Goddard's …, Alas, a blog, The Confluence, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Below The Beltway, The American Conservative, The Daily Dish 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, Althouse, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Talking Dog, Left Coast Rebel, The Mahablog, bastard.logic, Top of the Ticket, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

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, The Moderate Voice, 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: Gawker and RHRealityCheck.org

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

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

NPR to Rand Paul: Would you have voted for the Civil Rights Act? — I don't like to go back-to-back on the same subject but a hot rumor hit Twitter as the last post was being published that Paul told NPR he would have voted against the 1964 CRA. (Much like certain Democrats who are still serving in the Senate did.)

Discussion: The FOX Nation and The Hill

Taylor Marsh / The Huffington Post:

Rand Paul on Civil Rights: Private Restaurants Wouldn't Have To Serve Martin Luther King — Today on “Hardball,” Jack Conway charged that Ron Paul wanted to do away with the Civil Rights Act. In fact, Rand Paul's words to the Courier-Journal, in their editorial board interview …

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

Clifton B / Another Black Conservative:

Rand Paul and the Civil Rights Act question — Rand Paul needs to start doing some homework ASAP. Only one day after his landslide victory, Rand Paul is in a Catch 22. Today on NPR, Rand Paul was again presented with the Civil Rights question. As a libertarian, Paul is extremely cautious …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Outside The Beltway, Riehl World View, pandagon.net and alicublog

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.

David Weigel / Right Now:
Rand Paul, telling the truth

Discussion: Washington Wire, Outside The Beltway, The New Republic, Raw Story, Wonkette, Below The Beltway, Hit & Run and Newsweek Blogs

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

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org and Wonkette

The Huffington Post:
Rand Paul On ‘Maddow’ …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Rachel Maddow Show, MyDD, Newsweek Blogs, Advocate, AMERICAblog News and Barefoot and Progressive

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: The Washington Independent, Los Angeles Times 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: Hotline On Call, CNN, The Politico, The Swamp 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, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, TPMCafe, Swampland and Balloon Juice

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Feingold and Cantwell Explain Their Votes Against Cloture

Discussion: Rortybomb, Open Congress and Daily Kos

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, USA Today, Ezra Klein, Riehl World View and Balloon Juice

The Hill:
Bring it on: Nancy Pelosi predicts ‘for sure’ that Dems will win House

Discussion: TPMDC

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

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

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: Ballot Box, FiveThirtyEight and Real Clear Politics

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

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

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

Discussion: CNN, Outside The Beltway and PolitiCal

Matt Bai / New York Times:

Voter Insurrection Turns Mainstream, Creating New Rules — Americans have been cursing their incumbents — and periodically rising up to eject them from office — since angry Bostonians took a bucket of tar and some feathers to their customs commissioner in 1774.

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Post, The Caucus, Pajamas Media, The Atlantic Online, Prairie Weather and New York Post

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

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

New York Times:
White House Embraces Upstart Who Beat Specter

Discussion: JustOneMinute and The Politico

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: Ben Smith's Blog, The Plum Line, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh and Daily Ructions

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Times defends posting of clipped Blumenthal video

Discussion: The Politico, JONATHAN TURLEY, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Unfogged, CJR, The Atlantic Online, Media Matters for America, Associated Press, Room for Debate, Colin McEnroe, Daily Kos, Swing State Project, Hot Air and Balloon Juice

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, National Review, RedState, Real Clear Politics and FrumForum

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, AMERICAblog News and Prairie Weather

Wall Street Journal:

Landis Admits Doping, Accuses Others — Floyd Landis, the American cyclist whose 2006 Tour De France victory was nullified after a positive doping test, has sent a series of emails to cycling officials and sponsors admitting to, and detailing, his systematic use of performance enhancing drugs during his career.

Discussion: This Just In, Mediaite, Clusterstock and CBS3.com

Paul Kelso / Telegraph:

London 2012: Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville unveiled — After 18 months, 40 focus groups and a secret operation worthy of MI5, London 2012 on Wednesday finally revealed the mascots that will help define the capital's Olympic experience, and just as importantly help pay for it.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, Betsy's Page, National Review and Don Surber