memeorandum: AP Poll: Obama at new low for handling economy (Liz Sidoti/Associated Press)

12:10 PM ET, August 18, 2010

Top Items:

AUDIO - Rep. Pelosi calls for investigation of WTC mosque opposition — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, called for an investigation of those who are protesting the building of the Ground Zero Mosque on Tuesday. She told San Francisco's KCBS radio:

Andy Barr / The Politico:

Pelosi: Probe mosque opposition — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday said she supports an investigation into groups opposing the building of a mosque near ground zero in New York. — Pelosi told San Francisco's KCBS radio that “there is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some.”

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Commentary, Hot Air, TPMDC and Riehl World View

Julieparise / CBS New York:

Ground Zero Mosque On The Move? — NEW YORK (CBS 2/WCBS 880/1010 WINS) - There was a possible resolution in the works in the debate surrounding the proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center near ground zero. — CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer has learned it looks as if the developers …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Huffington Post, The Mahablog, New York Magazine, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, This Just In, Big Peace, Say Anything, Washington Post, Whiskey Fire and Weekly Standard

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Pelosi supports probe of mosque opponents

Discussion: Commentary

Larry O'Connor / Breitbart.tv:
Pelosi Calls for Investigation of Ground Zero Mosque Opposition

Discussion: Big Peace and Knowledge is Power

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Our Mosque Madness — Maybe, for Barack Obama, it depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is. — When the president skittered back from his grandiose declaration at an iftar celebration at the White House Friday that Muslims enjoy freedom of religion in America and have the right …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, NewsBusters.org, Commentary, Mediaite, Prairie Weather and Patterico's Pontifications

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Mosque supporters beg George W. Bush to come to Obama's rescue — There's a new argument emerging among supporters of the Ground Zero mosque. Distressed by President Obama's waffling on the issue, they're calling on former President George W. Bush to announce his support for the project …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Sister Toldjah, Gateway Pundit, Think Progress, Moe Lane, TPMCafe and The Daily Beast

Noemie Emery / Washington Examiner:

Let's just appreciate the great Obama presidency — Just how badly does President Obama want the Democrats to lose the 2010 midterm elections? Just how much did first lady Michelle Obama relish her Spanish vacation? — Just how thrilled and grateful were the Gulf State residents to discover …

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Kathleen Parker / Washington Post:
The Ground Zero mosque must be built

Discussion: Open Left, TPMDC, The Huffington Post, The Marion County Line, Talking Points Memo, Tablet Magazine and National Review

Romesh Ratnesar / Time:
‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Park51 Not a Triumph of Radical Islam

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Verum Serum, Weasel Zippers, The Huffington Post and NewsBusters.org

Anahad O'Connor / Media Decoder:

Dr. Laura Schlessinger to End Radio Show — Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the conservative talk radio commentator under fire for repeatedly using a racial epithet, announced on Tuesday that she was ending her long-running radio show. — Dr. Schlessinger made the announcement on Tuesday night on …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Z on TV, Washington Monthly, The Radio Equalizer, The Bilerico Project, House of Eratosthenes, Althouse, Outside the Beltway, Left Coast Rebel, No More Mister Nice Blog, Celebritology 2.0, Politics Daily, Balloon Juice, Michelle Malkin, five feet of fury., Advocate and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Gertz / Media Matters for America:
Dr. Laura announces she will end her radio show due to criticism of her N-word rant

Discussion: pandagon.net, Mediaite, First Draft and AMERICAblog News

CNN:
Dr. Laura to end her radio show

Discussion: This Just In, Mediaite, theblogprof, THEROOT.COM, Media Matters for America and New York Magazine

Sydelle Moore / The Politico:

Rossi to face Murray in November — Twice-defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi will face Democratic Sen. Patty Murray in a November contest that could prove critical to GOP chances of winning a Senate majority. — Murray finished first in Washington state's unique top-two primary …

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air and ABCNEWS

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Dino Demonstrates Bedrock of Support in Washington Primary

Discussion: Weekly Standard and GOP 12

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:
As Goes Washington, So Goes the Nation

Discussion: Democratic Strategist

WorldNetDaily:

WND dumps Ann Coulter from Miami due to Homoconflict — Farah cites her speech to ‘gay’ event as reason — WASHINGTON - Conservative superstar Ann Coulter today was dropped as a keynote speaker for WND's “Taking America Back National Conference” next month because of her plan to address an event titled …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Ben Smith's Blog, YID With LID, The Daily Caller, Weigel, Little Green Footballs, Joe. My. God. and Shakesville

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

The cash question: Murdoch, Fox and the GOP — Rupert Murdoch, who has never been shy about making his political views known, has voted with his sizable checkbook. — Murdoch's News Corp. has made a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association, triggering swift criticism …

Discussion: Politics Daily, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Politico, Mediaite and Donklephant, more at Mediagazer »

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:

AP Poll: Obama at new low for handling economy — WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama earned his lowest marks ever on his handling of the economy in a new Associated Press-GfK poll, which also found that an overwhelming majority of Americans now describe the nation's financial outlook as poor.

Discussion: Red Dog Report, Hot Air, Sweetness & Light and JammieWearingFool

Kenneth R. Gosselin / Hartford Courant:

Dodd: Is Warren ‘Confirmable?’ — Senator Says He'll Support Her As Financial Protection Chief If Obama Names Her — As the campaign supporting the appointment of Elizabeth Warren to head the country's new consumer financial protection agency kicks into high gear, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd …

Discussion: The Hill and TPMDC

Brady Dennis / Washington Post:
Warren sits down with big bank lobbyists

Discussion: Think Progress and The New Republic

Quinnipiac University:

‘Insiders’ Back On Top In Florida Primaries, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Mccollum, Meek Lead, But Races Are Volatile — Two so-called “insiders” in Florida, Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum and Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, have come from behind to overtake so-called …

Discussion: The Fix, Ballot Box, CNN, The Eye and The Page

Mitt Romney / Boston Globe:

Grow jobs and shrink government — IT'S NOT happening the way President Obama had planned. Unemployment blew past his 8 percent ceiling and hasn't looked back. Private sector investment in new jobs and capital has languished. Even the head of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer, has resigned.

Discussion: The Hill and GOP 12

Spencer Ackerman / Danger Room:

Petraeus: Here's My Afghan Redeployment Strategy — KABUL, Afghanistan - General David Petraeus isn't planning to wake up one morning after July 2011 and order his troops out of Afghanistan's provinces all at once. Instead, his idea is to slowly and deliberately remove small units …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Chicago Boyz

Financial Times:

US matches Indian call centre costs — By James Lamont in New Delhi and Joe Leahy in Mumbai — Call centre workers are becoming as cheap to hire in the US as they are in India, according to the head of the country's largest business process outsourcing company.

Discussion: The Washington Independent, naked capitalism and FP Passport

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Tea Party Choice Scrambles in Taking On Reid in Nevada — NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Sharron Angle leaned across a table in her campaign office here, defending her suddenly embattled campaign to defeat Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, under the gaze of a half-dozen advisers …

Discussion: Ballot Box and The Page

Chicago Breaking News:

Guilty on just 1 count, Blago taunts U.S. attorney — Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse after the verdict in his corruption trial today. (Michael Tercha / Tribune) — After a federal jury convicted him of just one count — lying to the FBI …

Discussion: The Blago Blog, New York Times, Eye of Polyphemus, Chicago Sun Times, Hot Air, TVNewser, Wall Street Journal, Clout St, The Politico, Associated Press, Law Blog, The Confluence, New York Magazine, Emptywheel, The Glittering Eye and Outside the Beltway

Chicago Breaking News:
Some Blago jurors cite ‘lack of smoking gun’

Discussion: TalkLeft, Hot Air and Michelle Malkin

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Reid Birthright Video Found — Looks like Republican opposition researchers finally are getting their act together in countering the Reid campaign machine, as they unearthed video of Harry Reid forcefully arguing against birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens in 1993.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Lazio gets graphic over WTC-area mosque — This is the new web video from GOP gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio's campaign, and it goes to a place that few politicians in New York have visited over the last nine years - it uses images of firefighters surrounded by debris and dust as a prelude to interviews …

Discussion: The Plum Line and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:

Your fears confirmed: “up to” broadband speeds are bogus — Broadband providers in the US have long hawked their wares in “up to” terms. You know—"up to" 10Mbps, where “up to” sits like a tiny pebble beside the huge font size of the raw number. — In reality, no one gets these speeds.

Discussion: Digital Society, The Agonist and Balloon Juice, more at Techmeme »

Sahil Kapur / Raw Story:

Exclusive: Mary Cheney gave $500 to anti-gay-marriage Senate hopeful — Mary Cheney, the openly gay first daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, gave hundreds of dollars in campaign contributions to a Senate candidate who opposes same-sex marriage, records show.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Advocate and Joe. My. God.

Motoko Rich / New York Times:

Given Stimulus Funds to Rehire, Schools Wait and See — As schools handed out pink slips to teachers this spring, states made a beeline to Washington to plead for money for their ravaged education budgets. But now that the federal government has come through with $10 billion …