memeorandum: Justin Bieber for President (Charles M. Blow/New York Times)

1:55 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: ABCNEWS, Guardian, Washington Monthly, FiveThirtyEight, Ben Smith's Blog, The Impolitic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Washington Note, The New Republic, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Gawker and The Page

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: Politics Daily, News Hounds, Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly, 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, Scared Monkeys, HazZzMat, The Jawa Report, No Sheeples Here, Weasel Zippers, Sister Toldjah, The Right Scoop and Jihad Watch

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

No, Mr. President — Penetrating commentary on President Obama's remarks last night on Islam, 9/11, and Ground Zero is already available. — The lawyers at Powerline dissect Obama's high-flown rhetoric: “a classic of brain-dead multiculturalism,” “the ultimate destination of multiculturalism is platitudinous stupidity.”

Discussion: Coalition to Honor Ground Zero, Power Line and Wake up America

Mike Allen / The Politico:

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Obama strongly backs ‘Ground Zero’ mosque - Michael Gerson agrees - GOP aide: ‘will drive Middle America crazy’ - W.H. official: ‘inconvenient,’ but Obama wouldn't duck it — E-MAIL FROM AUTUMN: The beautiful and perfect Allie Ross Thomas was born at Sibley Hospital yesterday …

Discussion: The Plum Line and The Page

Andy McCarthy / National Review:

9/11 Families Stunned by President's Support of Mosque at Ground Zero — Here's the statement issued by Debra Burlingame, the co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America: — Barack Obama has abandoned America at the place where America's heart was broken nine years ago …

Fox News:

Obama's Support for Ground Zero Mosque Draws Fire — President Obama is under fire after jumping into the middle of a cultural clash Friday night in favor of building a mosque near ground zero, a stance that has elevated the contentious issue to the presidential level ahead of a difficult election season for Democrats.

Discussion: New York Times and Jihad Watch

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Fox Hosts Agree With Obama's Defense Of Mosque: 'He Has To Stand …

Discussion: Financial Times, Mediaite and Bloomberg

Abby Phillip / The Politico:
Obama defends Ground Zero mosque

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

Wall Street Journal:
Obama Defends Plan for Mosque Near Ground Zero

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

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

Dana Blanton / Fox News:
Fox News Poll: 64 Percent Think It's Wrong to Build Mosque Near Ground Zero

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Swampland

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

Discussion: alicublog and Zandar Versus The Stupid

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

Discussion: Creeping Sharia

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

Discussion: Think Progress, RedState, 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

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

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

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

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, Hullabaloo, 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: Sweetness & Light, Wizbang, Nice Deb and Freedom's Lighthouse

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, Don Surber, Right View from the Left Coast, The Other McCain, JammieWearingFool and American Power

Van Helsing / Moonbattery:

Attention Google Moonbats... ...you might want to fix your autocomplete: — On a tip from John Lohman. — If you scroll further, it will say, “Obama is anti-Christ”. — ROFLMAO! — I thought it was a photoshop. Nope. I went to Google and typed it in............... ROFLMAO!

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and Weasel Zippers

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

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

Jim Geraghty / National Review:

Some of My Fellow Righty Bloggers Need a Broader Definition of ‘Worst Figure’ — I can't believe conservative bloggers put a bunch of garden-variety Democratic politicians so high, when asked to compile a list of the Worst Figures in American History. — The list, compiled from the responses …

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