memeorandum: The great false choice, stimulus or austerity (Financial Times)

5:20 PM ET, August 12, 2010

Top Items:

Dem group launches ‘F*ck Tea’ campaign — Last summer, Democrats argued that the Tea Party movement was the astroturf creation of corporate groups. Now that the grassroots conservative resurgence has emerged as a clear force on the right, the left is making a different case: That tea parties are simply the enemy.

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Public favors Tea Party over top Dems — The American public has a more positive view of the Tea Party movement than both leaders of the majority party in Congress, according to a poll released Wednesday. — An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed that 30 percent view the grassroots conservative groups …

Discussion: CNN, Left Coast Rebel, Outside the Beltway, NRSC, The Politico, Weasel Zippers and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Wall Street Journal:

Grim Voter Mood Turns Grimmer — Pessimism Rises on Economy and War; Bad Reviews for Both Democrats and GOP — Americans are growing more pessimistic about the economy and the war in Afghanistan, and are losing faith that Democrats have better solutions than Republicans, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

Carlos Lozano / L.A. NOW:

Judge who overturned Prop. 8 extends temporary hold on gay marriage [Updated] — A federal judge Thursday refused to permanently stay his ruling overturning Proposition 8's ban of gay marriage but extended a temporary hold to give supporters time to appeal the historic ruling.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Law Blog, The Page, The Washington Independent and Wonkette

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Opinion on Same-Sex Marriage Appears to Shift at Accelerated Pace — In April, 2009, when we last took a survey of gay marriage polls, we found that support for it had converged somewhere into the area of 41 or 42 percent of the country. Now, it appears to have risen by several points …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, The Daily Dish, The Eye, Raw Story, Joe. My. God., Open Left, New York Magazine and CNN

Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times:

Judge keeps California gay marriage ruling on hold — The federal judge who last week overturned the state's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, agreed to a continued hold on his ruling while foes appeal. — Reporting from San Francisco — A federal judge Thursday refused to permanently stay …

Discussion: The Rachel Maddow Show and FrumForum

Jesse McKinley / New York Times:
Judge Allows, but Delays, Gay Marriage in California

Discussion: New York Magazine

The Huffington Post:
Glenn Beck: Gay Marriage NOT Threat To America (VIDEO)

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Joe. My. God., Advocate and AMERICAblog Gay

David Lat / Above the Law:
Breaking: Judge Walker Won't Stay Prop 8 Ruling Pending Appeal!

Discussion: L.A. NOW, Daily Kos and The Awl

msnbc.com:
Judge: Calif. gay marriages can resume Aug. 18

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Emptywheel, The Moderate Voice and Associated Press

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:

GOP plan to extend tax cuts for rich adds $36 billion to deficit, panel finds — A Republican plan to extend tax cuts for the rich would add more than $36 billion to the federal deficit next year — and transfer the bulk of that cash into the pockets of the nation's millionaires …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Guardian, The Atlantic Online, Wonk Room, theblogprof, Newshoggers.com, Washington Monthly, AMERICAblog News, TalkLeft, Beat the Press, Wall Street Journal, Gateway Pundit and New York Times

Ezra Klein:

The Bush tax plan vs. the Obama tax plan in one chart — Source. — United States - Tax - Democratic Party - Accounting - President

Discussion: Donklephant

KPIX-TV:

CBS 5 Poll: Fiorina Widens Lead Over Boxer — Dead Heats In Governor, Lt. Governor Races; Marijuana Prop. 16 Passing — SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― California Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina has increased her lead over Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Hot Air, Freedom's Lighthouse and GayPatriot

Ezra Klein:

Portrait of a frustrated electorate — Want sure-footed polling analysis? Ask Nate Silver. Want a sort of bemused confusion? Well, then you're in the right place. — I was on “Morning Joe” today talking about the new NBC/WSJ poll (pdf), and I don't think we had time to really dig into how weird the results are.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Huffington Post, A plain blog about politics and Donkeylicious

CNN:
CNN Poll shows big similarities between 2010, 1994

Discussion: The Hill and Ballot Box

Michelle Malkin:

The vulgarity of liberal female “comedians” — Left-wing female comedians are proving that they can be as crude and stupid as their male counterparts. Who knew that striving for gender equality meant pursuing the dream that one day, someday, liberal women would be able to mock …

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, The Radio Equalizer, Gateway Pundit and Wonkette

Megan Carpentier / TPMMuckraker:

‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Imam Was A Bush-Era Partner For Mideast Peace — Tuesday, Reps. Peter King (R-NY) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) called Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf — best known for his work with multicultural Cordoba Initiative to build a mosque and community center in Lower Manhattan …

Discussion: The Plum Line, Little Green Footballs, ParaPundit, Daily Kos, New York Magazine, The New Republic, American Prospect, Washington Monthly and Christian Science Monitor

Clifford D. May / National Review:
The Taboo of the Intellectuals

Discussion: Townhall.com, Power Line, Commentary and Weekly Standard

City Room:

Dinkins Offers the Finger, and Everybody's Talking — It was not so much the gesture — the raised middle finger is a familiar salute on the streets of New York — but the person who made it and the setting that has set off all the buzz. — The finger belonged to former Mayor David N. Dinkins …

Discussion: TPMMuckraker

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Congressman Rangel's Party a Display of Defiance

Tim Fernholz / American Prospect:

But It's Awesome Broccoli for the Rich! — Matt Bai writes about the Paul Ryan's budget plan ... without writing about Paul Ryan's budget plan: … Unless, of course, you're wealthy, because the plan cuts upper-income tax brackets by 10 percent, so that “households with incomes …

Discussion: New York Times, Paul Krugman, Hullabaloo, Weekly Standard and TPMDC

KMSB-TV:

Border troops to be delayed further — In an exclusive interview with Fox 11 News on the south lawn of the White House, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says it will still be weeks before National Guard troops are on the U.S.-Mexico border— troops the White House said would be there ten days ago.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and Weasel Zippers

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Senate approves $600M border security bill

Discussion: The Politico, The Note, Gawker, The Swamp, The Page, Facing South and FrumForum

Stan Collender / NiemanWatchdog.org:

Six essential questions about the deficit, Wall Street and Washington — Fiscal expert Stan Collender points out that the bond market is not demanding deficit reduction — in fact, quite the opposite. So where is the Washington establishment's obsession with the deficit coming from?

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Ezra Klein

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

“Not An Ounce Of Contrition” — There is some bizarre notion among the punditocracy that the Obama administration cannot and should not blame Bush and the GOP for the awful recession, looming tax rises and entitlement cuts, endless wars, tainted moral standing, crumbling infrastructure and massive debt that Obama inherited.

Discussion: Guardian

William Poole / New York Times:

Say Goodbye to Fannie and Freddie — THE Federal National Mortgage Association — known as Fannie Mae — and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation — Freddie Mac — were poorly structured from the time, 40 years ago, when they were set up as so-called government-sponsored enterprises.

Discussion: The Big Picture and The Washington Independent

John Carney / New York Times:
Too Big Not to Fail — THE Obama administration is set …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Atlantic Online

Peter Baker / New York Times:

The First Wave of Weary Aides Heads for the Exits — WASHINGTON — Linda Douglass slept nearly 12 hours the day after she left her job as a communications aide at the White House. And the day after that and the day after that. It took two weeks until she finally felt rested.

Discussion: Daniel W. Drezner, Outside the Beltway, Federal Eye, National Review and New York Times

Nile Gardiner / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:

The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown — The last few weeks have been a nightmare for President Obama, in a summer of discontent in the United States which has deeply unsettled the ruling liberal elites, so much so that even the Left has begun to turn against the White House.

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, The Confluence, Stop The ACLU, Nice Deb, Wizbang, Scared Monkeys, Liberty Pundits Blog, Conservatives4Palin.com, NY Daily News, Macsmind and Wall Street Journal

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Housing crisis reaches full boil in East Point; 62 injured — Thirty thousand people turned out in East Point on Wednesday seeking applications for government-subsidized housing, and their confusion and frustration, combined with the summer heat, led to a chaotic mob scene that left 62 people injured.

Discussion: Clusterstock, theblogprof and Salon

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

George W. Bush makes surprise visit to U.S. troops — Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, made a surprise visit to U.S. troops this afternoon. — They showed up at the USO in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. There they mingled with the returning soldiers, thanked them …

Discussion: The Swamp, Commentary, Political Byline, Michelle Malkin, AMERICAN DIGEST, Power Line, Wizbang and Shakesville

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Netanyahu, the anti-Obama — Two photographs adorn the office of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Together they illuminate a portentous fact: No two leaders of democracies are less alike — in life experiences, temperaments and political philosophies — than Netanyahu …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Wonk Room, Commentary, Soccer Dad, Israel Matzav and Solomonia

Christina Hoff Sommers / AMERICAN.COM:

Take Back the Sports Page? — The political wing of the women's sports movement is in trouble. These activists are accustomed to challenging timid bureaucrats and university administrators. But in taking on TV sports coverage, they are challenging the market itself.

Discussion: protein wisdom

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Borrowers Refuse to Pay Billions in Home Equity Loans — PHOENIX — During the great housing boom, homeowners nationwide borrowed a trillion dollars from banks, using the soaring value of their houses as security. Now the money has been spent and struggling borrowers are unable or unwilling to pay it back.

Discussion: Gawker, Felix Salmon, The Atlantic Online, Clusterstock and naked capitalism

Brett Michael Dykes / Yahoo! News:

Cringe-inducing typo outside N.C. school — Well, here's something to make your old English teacher gasp in horror: A road contractor hired to paint the word “school” on a freshly paved stretch of road near Southern Guilford High School in North Carolina rendered the traffic area in question a “shcool” zone.

Discussion: theblogprof, Outside the Beltway, The TrogloPundit and Pajamas Media

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Will its offbeat candidates hurt GOP? — A former professional wrestling executive, a libertarian ophthalmologist and a man who thinks bicycle use could empower the United Nations filed to run in elections. That's not the start of a joke: that's a sampling of the deeply unusual pool of candidates running …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Don Surber, Washington Wire, msnbc.com and New York Times

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:

Dueling attack ads in Nevada Senate race — Republican Sharron Angle released a new TV ad Thursday hitting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Social Security. — In the 30-second spot, Angle pledges “to stop Harry Reid from raiding the Social Security trust fund,” …

Discussion: CNN