memeorandum @ 12:40 PM ET, August 14, 2010

12:40 PM ET, August 14, 2010

Top Items:

At Ramadan Iftar dinner, Obama supports new mosque on private property near Ground Zero — Text of President Obama's remarks at the White House Iftar dinner on Ramadan — Good evening. Welcome to the White House. To you, to Muslim Americans across our country, and to more than one …

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Obama Strongly Backs Islam Center Near 9/11 Site — WASHINGTON — President Obama delivered a strong defense on Friday night of a proposed Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, using a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan to proclaim that “as a citizen …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ABCNEWS, FiveThirtyEight, Guardian, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, Ben Smith's Blog, Outside the Beltway, The New Republic, The Washington Note, Gawker and DISSENTING JUSTICE

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Obama defends “Ground Zero mosque” — (updated below) — This is one of the most impressive and commendable things Obama has done since being inaugurated: … What makes this particularly commendable is there is virtually no political gain to be had from doing it, and substantial political risk.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, News Hounds, The Plum Line, Unqualified Offerings, The Hill, Swampland and AMERICAblog News

Associated Press:

Obama Comes Out in Favor of Allowing Mosque Near Ground Zero — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully endorsed building a mosque near ground zero, saying the country's founding principles demanded no less. — “As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Last Tradition, HazZzMat, No Sheeples Here, Weasel Zippers, The Jawa Report, Sister Toldjah, The Right Scoop and Jihad Watch

The Politico:

Obama defends Ground Zero mosque — President Barack Obama on Friday endorsed a controversial plan to build a mosque and Islamic center just blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan, despite the strong objections of conservatives, the ADL and those who lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks.

Discussion: Don Surber, Washington Wire, Power Line and New York Magazine

Wall Street Journal:

Obama Defends Plan for Mosque Near Ground Zero — WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama defended the plan to build a mosque near the site of the 2001 terror attacks in New York, telling Muslim guests at a Ramadan dinner at the White House that the nation's commitment to freedom of religion “must be unshakable.”

Discussion: Washington Wire, Christian Science Monitor, Doug Ross, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Say Anything and Althouse

Washington Post:
At Ramadan dinner, Obama defends plans for Ground Zero mosque

Discussion: Creeping Sharia

Andy McCarthy / National Review: 9/11 Families Stunned by President's Support of Mosque at Ground Zero

Allahpundit / Hot Air: Obama on the Ground Zero mosque: Sounds like a plan

Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:
Obama Sides with Ground Zero Mosque Builders vs. Americans

Discussion: alicublog and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Ed Driscoll / Pajamas Media:
‘Obama Defends Ground Zero Mosque Plans’

Discussion: Maggie's Farm, Riehl World View, The Other McCain, YID With LID, Atlas Shrugs, Questions and Observations and NewsReal Blog

msnbc.com:
Obama defends plans for mosque near ground zero

Discussion: The Last Tradition, Atlas Shrugs, Red Dog Report, Big Peace, Gates of Vienna, Wizbang, Riehl World View, Mediaite and Pajamas Media

Washington Post:
Obama's remarks about Ground Zero mosque: The transcript

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Coalition to Honor Ground Zero, Power Line, Conservatives4Palin.com and Michelle Malkin

Los Angeles Times:
Obama supports plan for mosque near ground zero

Discussion: Freedom's Lighthouse, Rumproast, Right Pundits and NewsReal Blog

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Obama backs Manhattan mosque

Discussion: Think Progress

Lymari Morales / Gallup:

In U.S., Confidence in Newspapers, TV News Remains a Rarity — No more than 25% say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in either — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans continue to express near-record-low confidence in newspapers and television news — with no more than 25% …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Gateway Pundit, Right View from the Left Coast, The Other McCain, JammieWearingFool, Pajamas Media and American Power

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
U.S. Approval of Labor Unions Remains Near Record Low

Discussion: Publius Forum and The New Republic

Priya Ganapati / Gadget Lab:

Man Scrawls World's Biggest Message With GPS ‘Pen’ — One man drove 12,238 miles across 30 states to scrawl a message that can only be viewed using Google Earth. His big shoutout: “Read Ayn Rand.” — Nick Newcomen did a road trip over 30 days that covered stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.

Discussion: theblogprof, Lean Left, Hit & Run, Wonkette and The New Republic

Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:

American Socialists Release Names of 70 Congressional Democrats in Their Ranks — The Socialist Party of America announced in their October 2009 newsletter that 70 Congressional democrats currently belong to their caucus. — This admission was recently posted on Scribd.com:

Discussion: Wizbang, Nice Deb and Freedom's Lighthouse

John Hawkins / Right Wing News:

Conservative Bloggers Select The 25 Worst Figures In American History — Out of all the gangsters, serial killers, mass murderers, incompetent & crooked politicians, spies, traitors, and ultra left-wing kooks in all of American history — have you ever wondered who the worst of the worst was?

Discussion: Politics Daily, Right Wing Nut House, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Freeman Hunt, The TrogloPundit, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Liberal Values, The Political Carnival, Zandar Versus The Stupid, No Oil for Pacifists, The Virtuous Republic, iOwnTheWorld.com, TigerHawk, American Power, This ain't Hell … and Vox Popoli

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Some of My Fellow Righty Bloggers Need a Broader Definition of ‘Worst Figure’

Discussion: Hot Air, Riehl World View, ProfessorBainbridge.com, The Volokh Conspiracy and Moe Lane

Madeline Brooks / Pajamas Media:

Terror Ties: Ground Zero Imam Attended Hizb-ut Tahrir Conference — The Marxist-Leninist/Islamist terror group has been banned in Germany, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia. — In an earlier piece for Pajamas Media, I wrote about how the imam behind …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Riehl World View

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

WaPo Columnist Ruth Marcus Calls Left, Blogosphere ‘Deranged’ — During an appearance on Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie's Daily Rundown, Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus may have one-upped Robert Gibbs' “Professional Left” comments. Having already written a column agreeing with Gibbs …

Discussion: Red Dog Report, PostPartisan, NewsReal Blog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Washington Post:

In weekly address, Obama returns to campaign chestnut: Warning of threat to Social Security — Reviving a scare tactic that Democrats have used before, President Obama said in his radio address Saturday that “some Republican leaders in Congress” want to privatize Social Security.

Discussion: Firedoglake, New York Times, The Caucus, Associated Press, Pirate's Cove, Prairie Weather, Congress Blog and PERRspectives

Jeff Dunetz / YID With LID:

“WAR” Breaks Out at Civil Rights Commission Meeting Re: Black Panther Case Follow-up — The US Commission of Civil Rights investigation of a possible Justice Department cover-up relating to the New Black Panther voter intimidation case is heating up big time.

Discussion: FoxNews.com, Breitbart.tv, POWIP and Riehl World View

Ed Whelan / National Review:

The Most Egregious Performance Ever by a Federal District Judge — Consider the totality of Judge Walker's conduct in the anti-Prop 8 case: — Let's start with Walker's initial case-management conference when he determined, to the surprise even of plaintiffs' lawyer Ted Olson …

Discussion: American Power