memeorandum: Whiteboard Archives — PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. … (The Politico)

9:55 PM ET, August 14, 2010

Top Items:

Obama narrows mosque defense — Speaking to reporters today, President Obama drew a sharp line under his comments last night, insisting that his defense of the right to build a mosque does not mean he supports the project. — “I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Political Punch, The Plum Line, Don Surber, The Last Tradition, Althouse, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Freedom's Lighthouse, Riehl World View, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and New York Times

The Politico:

Mosque controversy swirls around Obama — The White House on Saturday struggled to tamp down the controversy over President Barack Obama's statements about a mosque near Ground Zero — insisting Obama wasn't backing off remarks Friday night where he offered support for a project that has infuriated …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, ABCNEWS, Pat Dollard, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, Gateway Pundit and Pajamas Media

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, Bad Rachel, Sister Toldjah, protein wisdom, Israel Matzav, Taylor Marsh, Don Surber, Wake up America, Power Line, Right Wing News, Conservatives4Palin.com and Michelle Malkin

CNN:

Crist backs Obama on controversial Islamic center — Florida Gov. Charlie Crist backed President Obama Saturday, saying the President's statement on a plan to build a controversial Islamic center and mosque near ground zero was correct. — Panama City, Florida (CNN) - In a boost …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Politics Daily, Ben Smith's Blog, Macsmind, Connecting.the.Dots, The Impolitic and No More Mister Nice Blog

Edward Wyatt / New York Times:

3 Republicans Criticize Obama's Endorsement of Mosque — WASHINGTON — Three leading Republicans reacted negatively to President Obama's statements in favor of a mosque and Muslim community center whose construction has been proposed for a building near the site formerly occupied by the World Trade Center.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Atlas Shrugs and HotAirPundit

The Politico:

Whiteboard Archives — PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - With criticism mounting of his support for the construction of an Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan, President Barack Obama on Saturday defended his decision to wade into the controversy the night before, but backed off from his previous stance.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Townhall.com, Say Anything, Creeping Sharia and Washington Post

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Hear Washington Speak — We now have official Washington's response and take on the President's speech last night stating that Muslim-Americans have every right to build an Islamic center on private property near Ground Zero. It comes in the form of Politico's ubiquitous and closely followed “Playbook” email.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Rumproast and Balloon Juice

John / Power Line:

Obama's Finest Moment? — Greg Sargent is a left-winger who worked for Editor & Publisher magazine. When that publication went broke, he caught on as a blogger at the Washington Post. Today he hailed President Obama's endorsement of Cordoba House as “One of the finest moments of Obama's presidency.”

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Right Wing News, Doug Ross, Pajamas Media and National Review

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Political Memo: Obama Says Mosque Remarks Were Not Endorsement

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!

Mike Allen / The Politico:
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? …

Discussion: USA Today, The Plum Line and The Page

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

Discussion: CNN, Financial Times, Mediaite, The Last Tradition, New York Times and Raw Story

Sean J. Miller / The Hill:
Obama expands on mosque comments, said he supports ‘the right’ to build

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Zandar Versus The Stupid

John / Power Line:
An Awful President, A Worse Theologian

Discussion: White House.gov Blog Feed and Weekly Standard

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Obama Strongly Supports Construction of Islamic Center Near Ground Zero

Discussion: Politics Daily, Bold Faith Type and FiveThirtyEight

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

Discussion: neo-neocon, The Mahablog and Fox News

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Obama Says Mosque Upholds Principle of Equal Treatment

Discussion: CBS News, The Confluence, JustOneMinute, CNN, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Outside the Beltway, Unqualified Offerings and The Reality-Based Community

Fox News:
Obama's Support for Ground Zero Mosque Draws Fire

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, The New Ledger, Beltway Confidential and Jihad Watch

Frank Gaffney / Big Peace:
Obama's Ground Zero Mosque

Discussion: Gates of Vienna, Wintery Knight, Townhall.com and National Review

Rick Moran / Right Wing Nut House:

THE TOP 43 DUMBEST CONSERVATIVE BLOGGERS — Well, perhaps not all 43 of this list of conservative bloggers that John Hawkins polled to get “The Top 25 Worst Americans.” After all, we don't know who voted Barack Obama on to that list over, say, Jeffrey Dahmer.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Hot Air, mean ol' meany, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Dodgeblogium, TigerHawk, American Power and Lawyers, Guns & Money

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

Matt Lewis / Politics Daily:
Bloggers Matthew Yglesias and John Hawkins Prove Politics Is Broken

Discussion: NewsReal Blog, Riehl World View, Hot Air, Vox Popoli and This ain't Hell …

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: Macsmind, Weasel Zippers and Proof Positive

Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin:
Helpful Tip for Obamaniacs: Turn Off Google's ‘Auto Complete’ …

Discussion: Doug Ross and Say Anything

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Collapse — The left is unpopular, undisciplined, and ill-tempered. — The left has collapsed. — Its political support has collapsed. Public opinion polls point to a historic repudiation of the president and the Democratic party this fall—something on the order of a 60-seat Republican gain in the House.

Discussion: Pajamas Media and Big Journalism

John Myers / Capital Notes:

$13 Million More In Meg Money — There's a powerful scene in the Oscar winning Forrest Gump that came to mind when the report surfaced tonight showing Meg Whitman has written her campaign a new check for $13 million, bringing her personal investment in the governor's race to a mind numbing $104 million.

Discussion: Ballot Box and Capitol Alert

Brian Joseph / Orange County Register:
The mystery of Jerry Brown's pension

Discussion: Don Surber, theblogprof, Pajamas Media and Capitol Alert

Steven Shepard / Hotline On Call:

Greene Collapse, Meek Surge Hurt Crist — Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL) has turned around his primary campaign against developer Jeff Greene, and that's bad news for Gov. Charlie Crist's (I) chances in the general election, according to a new poll released late today.

Discussion: Weekly Standard and The Buzz

New York Times:

Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents — WASHINGTON — At first, the news from Yemen on May 25 sounded like a modest victory in the campaign against terrorists: an airstrike had hit a group suspected of being operatives for Al Qaeda in the remote desert of Marib Province, birthplace of the legendary queen of Sheba.

Matt Duss / Think Progress:

CNN Contributor Erickson Compares Building of Mosque To ‘Human Sacrifice’ — Reacting angrily to President Obama's statement yesterday in support of the Cordoba House community center in lower Manhattan on the basis of religious freedom, blogger and CNN contributor Erick Erickson compared supporting …

Discussion: Guardian and The Reaction