memeorandum: Louisiana coast's battle against drifting oil expected to last months, if not years (Bob Marshall/New Orleans Times-Picayune)

2:00 PM ET, May 23, 2010

Top Items:

The ‘Randslide’ and Its Discontents — IF there is one certain outcome to recent American elections, it's this: The results will invariably prove most of the Beltway's settled political narratives wrong. — Tuesday's pre-midterms were no exception. We were told that all incumbents …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Prairie Weather, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Wire, NewsBusters.org, New York Times, Daily Kos and Big Brass Blog

Political Punch:

Steele not comfortable with Rand Paul's views on civil rights — In a “This Week” interview Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he was not comfortable with Rand Paul's views on civil rights. Steele's comments came in a debate with DNC Chairman Tim Kaine.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ben Smith's Blog and Gawker

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

QUOTE OF THE DAY.... Following up on an earlier item, RNC Chairman Michael Steele conceded he's not “comfortable” with Rand Paul's opposition to the Civil Rights Act. " It only took him the whole week to say so. — But on ABC's “This Week” earlier, host Jake Tapper asked a related question …

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Balloon Juice

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Steele and Kaine stand by Paul, Blumenthal despite controversies — The heads of the Democratic and Republican parties on Sunday criticized controversial comments made by two Senate hopefuls in their own parties, but each stood behind their candidacies. — Tea Party-backed Kentucky Senate …

Discussion: CNN

B.J. Reyes / Star Bulletin:

Djou wins special election for Congress — Hanabusa leads Case with nearly all the votes counted — Republican Charles Djou emerged victorious tonight in the special election to fill Hawaii's vacancy in Congress, giving Hawaii it's first GOP member of Congress in 20 years.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers, No Sheeples Here, The Other McCain, Another Black Conservative, Wake up America, The Impolitic and Scared Monkeys

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Charles Djou, Republicans capture Hawaii House seat

Discussion: Politics Daily, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, Weekly Standard, American Power, Big Government and Freedom's Lighthouse

Associated Press:
Republicans Capture House Seat in Obama's Hometown

Discussion: Associated Press, Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit

B.J. Reyes / Star Bulletin:
Special race draws 50% of voters

Discussion: Daily Kos and Gateway Pundit

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

If you're going to criticize the new social studies curriculum adopted by the Texas Board of Education, you'd better quote it. — Or at least link to the text. And if you choose to paraphrase and not even link, and I have to look up the text myself, and your paraphrase is not accurate …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Wake up America, NewsBusters.org, The Answer Sheet and The Reality-Based Community

Michael Birnbaum / Washington Post:
Texas board approves social studies standards that perceived liberal bias

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Jawa Report, The Answer Sheet, Joanne Jacobs, Gawker, NewsBusters.org, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Liberal Values, DCist and Washington Monthly

Arthur C. Brooks / Washington Post:

America's new culture war: Free enterprise vs. government control — America faces a new culture war. — This is not the culture war of the 1990s. It is not a fight over guns, gays or abortion. Those old battles have been eclipsed by a new struggle between two competing visions of the country's future.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Dennis the Peasant

BREITBART.COM:

Saudi ‘emo’ girls busted by religious cops: report — Saudi Arabia's religious police have arrested 10 “emo” women for allegedly causing a disturbance in a coffee shop, Al-Yaum newspaper reported on Saturday. — The coffee shop owner in the eastern city of Dammam called the Commission …

Discussion: Jihad Watch and NewsReal Blog

Chris Ingalls / KING-TV:

Investigators: Edmonds rape suspect deported nine times — EDMONDS, Wash. - The KING 5 Investigators have learned that an illegal immigrant accused of raping a woman in Edmonds Sunday has been deported nine times. That's much more than previously reported.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

Maamoun Youssef / Associated Press:

Yemeni cleric advocates killing US civilians — CAIRO - An American-Yemeni cleric whose Internet sermons are believed to have helped inspire attacks on the U.S. has advocated the killing of American civilians in an al-Qaida video released Sunday. — Anwar al-Awlaki has been singled …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Associated Press, Weekly Standard, American Power, Liberty Pundits Blog and Weasel Zippers

Pat G. / Think Progress:

Sen. Lamar Alexander Advocates A Government Takeover Of BP — The oil spill that resulted from a British Petroleum rig exploding in the Gulf of Mexico is still continuing unabated, and many scientists are now saying that BP and the Obama administration are downplaying the amount of oil that is gushing into the water.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Bob Marshall / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Louisiana coast's battle against drifting oil expected to last months, if not years … For those saddened by the scenes of thick oil washing into Louisiana's coastal wetlands a month after the BP oil disaster began, experts on oil spills and the coastal ecosystem have some advice: Get used to it.

Discussion: Washington Monthly