memeorandum: The Mirthless Senate — Senator Al Franken at the hearing … (Timothy Egan/Opinionator)

1:25 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.

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Riehl World View, The Mahablog, Gawker, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Wake up America and JammieWearingFool

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.

Discussion: The Caucus, Think Progress, Liberty Pundits Blog, msnbc.com, Washington Wire, Commentary, Hot Air, Another Black Conservative, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, The Washington Independent, Pundit & Pundette, Politics Daily, FrumForum, Gallup, Pollster.com All Content and The Page

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: The Politico, NRSC, Weasel Zippers and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

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: The Daily Dish, Daily Kos, The Eye, Hot Air and CNN

CNN:
Decision on stay expected in California same-sex marriages case

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Page

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
CNN Poll is First To Show Majority Support for Gay Marriage

Discussion: New York Magazine, Raw Story and Wonk Room

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:

Congressman Rangel's Party a Display of Defiance — It was a dramatic but fitting start to an evening that brimmed with political defiance. About 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, as guests began strolling into the Plaza Hotel to celebrate Representative Charles B. Rangel's 80th birthday …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, WNYC News, The Politico, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, City Room, Gothamist, Weasel Zippers, Gawker, Salon, The Page and FrumForum

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Rangel attacks press over ethics woes, pledges silence on case

Discussion: Ballot Box and NY Daily News

Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
Waters set to launch defense against ethics charges in sit-down with reporters

Discussion: CNN

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 …

Matt Bai / New York Times:
Waiting in the Wings to Be Chief G.O.P. Dealmaker

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Paul Krugman, Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice, American Spectator, TPMDC and New York Times

Paul Krugman:

In The Matter Of Robert L. Gibbs — There he goes again. What gets me is how unprofessional the whole thing is. — Look, if you're a public figure of any kind, you're going to face a lot of criticism. Much of it will seem unfair to you; some of the unfair criticism will come from people …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Confluence, Sister Toldjah, The Hill, MyDD, The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post, Suburban Guerrilla, Prairie Weather, Open Left, Democratic Strategist, Outside the Beltway, The Politico and Grasping Reality …

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Robert Gibbs keeps jabbing the left

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Firedoglake

Roger Simon / The Politico:
The press doesn't get Robert Gibbs

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Salon, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, Wake up America, Washington Wire, Washington Post, Riehl World View, Taylor Marsh and Shakesville

ABCNEWS:

Civil Unrest: The Death of Decorum in Washington? — Has Civility Reached an Historic Low in Congress? — There was an extraordinary moment during the final senate debate on Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation. While Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) delivered remarks, Senator Al Franken …

Discussion: Stop The ACLU

Timothy Egan / Opinionator:
The Mirthless Senate — Senator Al Franken at the hearing …

Discussion: Althouse

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 Huffington Post, The Plum Line, Daily Kos, New York Magazine, ParaPundit, American Prospect, The New Republic, Washington Monthly and Christian Science Monitor

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

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Commentary and Power Line

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: Ezra Klein and Hullabaloo

Washington Post:
Stocks plunge as U.S. trade deficit is wider than expected

Discussion: New York Times, The Page and The Other McCain

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: The Radio Equalizer, Gateway Pundit and Wonkette

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

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, Michelle Malkin, AMERICAN DIGEST, Political Byline, Power Line, Wizbang and Shakesville

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: Scared Monkeys, Wizbang, Wall Street Journal, Liberty Pundits Blog and Conservatives4Palin.com

The Huffington Post:

Huckabee Opposes Changing 14th Amendment, Setting Himself Apart From GOP Again — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Distinguishing himself once more from his GOP rivals when it comes to immigration policy, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on Wednesday that he didn't back efforts to rethink …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, TPMDC and FrumForum

CNN:
Huckabee against changing 14th Amendment

Discussion: The Politico, WBUR and NPR and Think Progress

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: Ezra Klein, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, Guardian, AMERICAblog News and Beat the Press

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, National Review, Federal Eye and New York Times

Christopher S. Rugaber / Associated Press:

New claims for unemployment aid reach 484K — New applications for jobless benefits rise to highest since February as layoffs continue — Companies: — Related Quotes — SymbolPriceChange — CFN — 22.70 — WASHINGTON (AP) — The employment picture is looking bleaker …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Hit & Run, Another Black Conservative, Weasel Zippers and Scared Monkeys

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: Commentary, Soccer Dad and Israel Matzav

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, New York Times, Washington Wire, msnbc.com and Ballot Box

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Senate approves $600M border security bill — The Senate passed a $600 million border security bill during a rare recess session Thursday, sending it to President Obama for his signature. — Because Republicans and Democrats agreed to pass the legislation by unanimous consent …

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

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

Jonathan Schwarz / A Tiny Revolution:

Jeffrey Goldberg Still America's Preeminent Propagandist — I'M GOING TO KEEP YELLING AT EVERYONE COMING HERE UNTIL $2000 HAS BEEN DONATED BY YOU ALL TO CONSORTIUM NEWS, THE WEBSITE OF AMERICA'S GREATEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, ROBERT PARRY. MANY THANKS TO THOSE WHO'VE GIVEN ALREADY—ABOUT $1,400 HAS BEEN DONATED SO FAR.

Discussion: Salon, Democratic Strategist, Pajamas Media and Real Clear Politics