memeorandum: Is Kagan Obama's Last Justice? (Jonathan Chait/The New Republic)

2:30 AM ET, August 7, 2010

Top Items:

Republican Senator: Jesus's ‘Golden Rule’ Inspired His Vote For Pro-Abortion Kagan — (CNSNews.com) - Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that Jesus's Golden Rule inspired him to vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court and suggested it would be a good thing …

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, The Blast, Breitbart.tv and The Other McCain

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:

Is Kagan Obama's Last Justice? — The margins for confirming Supreme Court Justices are getting tighter: … Kagan's meager tally is five fewer than Sonia Sotomayor last year, 15 fewer than John Roberts got in 2005 and pales in comparison to the 96-3 coronation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Mother Jones, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Outside the Beltway and The Hill

Daniel Foster / National Review:
Birth of a Strategy: Talking Immigration With Lindsey Graham

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Comments from Left Field and AmSpecBlog

Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin:
Who Inspired Lindsey Graham to Vote for Elena Kagan's Confirmation?

Discussion: Riehl World View

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The alleged political benefits of moderation

Discussion: ACS Blog, A plain blog about politics and Law Blog

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Elena Kagan vote warns of battles yet to come

Discussion: Jay Bookman, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Atlantic Online, USA Today, SCOTUSblog, Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor and Law Blog

Tanya Somanader / Think Progress:

Reminder to critics who think a mosque is offensive to the legacy of 9/11: There's already one at the Pentagon. — In opposing the planned Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City, conservative stalwarts have picked up on right-wing extremists' paranoid hysteria over the initiative.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Daily Kos

Danny Shea First / The Huffington Post:
Fareed Zakaria Returns Anti-Defamation League Award Over Ground Zero Mosque

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Washington Note and Media Decoder

Stephen Chernin / Newsweek: Build the Ground Zero Mosque

Cathy Young / Real Clear Politics:
The Mosque Controversy & Religious Freedom

Discussion: Jihad Watch and The Moderate Voice

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard: Three Senators Oppose Ground Zero Mosque

David Weigel / Washington Post:

Five myths about the ‘tea party’ — The grass-roots conservative activists who march under the “Don't tread on me” Gadsen flag and the “tea party” label have put a new twist on Gandhi's maxim: First they were ignored; then they were ridiculed; then they began to fight.

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Atlantic Online, Matthew Yglesias, FishbowlDC, sisu, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Don Surber

CNN: CNN Exclusive: Mark Williams rejoins Tea Party movement, has new effort

Carlos Lozano / L.A. NOW:

Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown urges judge to allow same-sex marriages to resume while opponents wait on appeal — California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown urged a federal judge Friday to permit same-sex marriages to resume in the state immediately. — Brown told U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker …

Discussion: LAist, Lez Get Real, Politics Daily and Towleroad News #gay

David Harsanyi / Denver Post:

Time for a divorce — In the 1500s, a pestering theologian instituted something called the Marriage Ordinance in Geneva, which made “state registration and church consecration” a dual requirement of matrimony. — We have yet to get over this mistake. But isn't it about time we freed marriage from the state?

Discussion: GayPatriot and protein wisdom

John Schwartz / New York Times:
Conservative Jurist, With Independent Streak

Discussion: Christianity Today, MyDD, Left in the West, Mediaite, Politics Daily, Washington Post, Associated Press, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Firedoglake, TalkLeft, Mercury News, Fox News, The Huffington Post and L.A. NOW

CNN:

Palin helping RNC raise money — Sarah Palin is helping the RNC raise funds. — Palin has attached her name to a letter and survey being mailed to RNC donors soliciting contributions for the committee's Victory 2010 program, a nationwide get-out-the-vote effort.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Politico, Liberty Pundits Blog and Conservatives4Palin.com

First Read / msnbc.com:
Steele: Pelosi ‘in the back of the bus’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and TPMDC

Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:
RNC Passes Calendar Reform

Discussion: St. Petersburg Times, The Caucus, Ben Smith's Blog, Politics Daily, The Page and Conservatives4Palin.com

Daily Mail:

Spanish police close public beach for Michelle Obama's £250,000 Spanish holiday — Michelle Obama today faced a fresh wave of attacks over her lavish break in Spain with 40 friends, which could easily cost U.S. taxpayers a staggering £50,000 a day.

Discussion: The Politico, Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media, Mediaite, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit and The Other McCain

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

What collapsing empire looks like — (updated below) — As we enter our ninth year of the War in Afghanistan with an escalated force, and continue to occupy Iraq indefinitely, and feed an endlessly growing Surveillance State, reports are emerging of the Deficit Commission hard at work planning …

Discussion: The Mahablog and The Atlantic Online

Michael Cooper / New York Times:
Governments Go to Extremes as the Downturn Wears On

Discussion: Clusterstock

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Sharron Angle: I would refuse money from company that supports gay rights — Sharron Angle has taken some extreme positions, but this one is remarkable even by her standards: She said on a candidate questionnaire that she would refuse political contributions from a private company …

Discussion: Think Progress, TPMDC, Washington Monthly, Las Vegas News …, AMERICAblog Gay and Las Vegas Sun Blogs

Andy Barr / The Politico:
Sharron Angle opposes gay adoption

Discussion: Wonkette and New York Magazine

Jon Ralston / Las Vegas Sun Blogs:
Group promoting Angle event: Medicare “evil” …

Discussion: TPMDC, Daily Kos and Little Green Footballs

The Huffington Post:

Dean: Individual Mandate Will Be Removed From Health Care Reform By 2014 — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean has never been a fan of the individual mandate for insurance coverage, both on policy and political grounds. And once Senate negotiators removed any hope …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Prime Buzz

Ian M. / Think Progress:
Howard Dean Launches Misguided Attack On Health Reform

Discussion: Center for American Progress, Raw Story and MyDD

Gabriel Beltrone / Ben Smith's Blog:

Palin vs. PolitiFact — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is duking it out with PolitiFact.com, the fact-checking arm of the St. Petersburg Times, over her claim that “Democrats are poised to allow [the] largest tax increase in U.S. history” by letting the Bush tax cuts to expire.

Discussion: Politifact.com Truth … and The Caucus

Steven Allen Adams / West Virginia Watchdog:

Manchin's Office Confirms Subpoenas — Gov. Joe Manchin's office confirmed today that state government officials have been contacted by the U.S. Attorney's Office this week regarding an ongoing investigation. The target may be Manchin himself, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous.

Discussion: The Politico, Hot Air, National Review, Weigel, Associated Press, Don Surber and The Eye

Wall Street Journal:

America Is at Risk of Boiling Over — And out-of-touch leaders don't see the need to cool things off. — It is, obviously, self-referential to quote yourself, but I do it to make a point. I wrote the following on New Year's day, 1994. America 16 years ago was a relatively content nation …

Discussion: ScottWinshipWeb, Mediaite, The Other McCain, Mother Jones, Balloon Juice and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Karoli / Crooks and Liars:

Dick Morris' Plan for Economic Recovery: Bankrupt States; Break Unions — It's silly season, and Republican consultants are leaving no stone unturned in their effort to confuse, conflate, attack and stir up anger and fear. But Dick Morris' latest may possibly be one of the most evil.

Discussion: Greg Jones' BLACKS 4 BARACK !, Hullabaloo and The Foundry

Ezra Klein:

The problem with Larry Summers — You're seeing some White House pushback on the idea that Christina Romer is leaving because she's tired of fighting with Larry Summers. And fair enough: People do tire of serving in the pressure cooker that is the White House, Romer and Summers were often …

Discussion: Capital Gains and Games blogs and The Atlantic Online

Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:

Media Matters Gives Glenn Beck's Co-Hosts The Shirley Sherrod Edited Audio Treatment (Update) — Let's end the week with some Shirley Sherrod-ing - editing a clip to make it sound like a person is saying something that is actually the complete opposite of what they're saying.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:

Appeals court limits use of GPS to track suspects — A federal appeals court ruled for the first time Friday that police cannot use a Global Positioning System device to track a person's movements for an extended time without a warrant, clearing the way for the Supreme Court to decide …

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Volokh Conspiracy and The BLT