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

8:15 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, The Last Tradition, Althouse, Riehl World View, Weasel Zippers, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Freedom's Lighthouse, Outside the Beltway and FrumForum

The Politico:

Obama's comments take mosque story national — President Barack Obama on Saturday sought to defuse the controversy over his remarks on plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero, insisting that he wasn't endorsing the specific project but making a general plea for religious tolerance toward all.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Pat Dollard, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, Gateway Pundit, Say Anything, National Review, Pajamas Media, Creeping Sharia, Washington Post and Townhall.com

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

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

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, Macsmind, Connecting.the.Dots, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Washington Note and Salon

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

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 and Pajamas Media

Sean J. Miller / The Hill:

Obama expands on mosque comments, said he supports ‘the right’ to build — Obama said that his statement on Friday didn't express support for the “wisdom” of building a mosque blocks from the 9/11 site. — President Obama expanded on his remarks about the mosque planned near ground zero during his trip to Florida Saturday.

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

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

Discussion: Weekly Standard, 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, ABCNEWS, The Last Tradition, Mediaite and Raw Story

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

Discussion: Politics Daily, Bold Faith Type and FiveThirtyEight

New York Times:
Obama Says Mosque Remarks Were Not Endorsement

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!

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

Discussion: White House.gov Blog Feed and Weekly Standard

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

Discussion: The Mahablog, neo-neocon and Fox News

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

Discussion: CBS News, The Confluence, JustOneMinute, CNN, Outside the Beltway, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Hot Air and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Bush aide backs Obama on mosque

Discussion: The Impolitic, FrumForum, Washington Monthly, Gawker, DISSENTING JUSTICE and The Page

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

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

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, American Power, Lawyers, Guns & Money and TigerHawk

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 and Hot Air

Steve Bainbridge / ProfessorBainbridge.com:
20 Worst Americans — John Hawkins asked a bunch of right …

Discussion: The Last Tradition, Grasping Reality …, Left Coast Rebel, Right Klik, The Daily Dish, Marginal Revolution, The Volokh Conspiracy and Vox Popoli

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: Weasel Zippers, Macsmind 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

Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
American Socialists Release Names of 70 Congressional Democrats in Their Ranks

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, alicublog, The Political Carnival, Sweetness & Light, Wizbang, Freedom's Lighthouse and Nice Deb

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

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Burton: Not Obama's role to ‘pass judgment’ — White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton tells Mike Allen that Obama never meant more, or less, than an abstract defense of religious freedom against government intervention: — Just to be clear, the President is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night.

Discussion: Swampland

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, The Reaction, Unqualified Offerings and Bloomberg