memeorandum: Justice Breyer Clarifies Earlier Remarks, Suggests Koran-Burning … (Eugene Volokh/The Volokh Conspiracy)

1:50 PM ET, September 17, 2010

Top Items:

David Catanese / The Politico:

Ex-aides unload on Christine O'Donnell — By pulling off arguably the biggest upset of the primary election season Tuesday, Christine O'Donnell shocked the Republican establishment and political pundits who didn't think her campaign for the Delaware GOP Senate nomination had a chance.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, TPMMuckraker, Little Green Footballs, Politics Daily, Hit & Run, Delaware Liberal, Wonkette and Salon

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

The Buckley rule — Tuesday in Delaware was a bad day not only for Republicans but also for conservatives. Tea Partyer Christine O'Donnell scored a stunning victory over establishment Republican Mike Castle. Stunning but pyrrhic. The very people who have most alerted the country …

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Power Line, Commentary, Conservatives4Palin.com, Hot Air and NRSC

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:

O'Donnell, Coons face off in first debate before packed house — WILMINGTON, Del. — Just two days after her upset of Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) in the state's Republican Senate primary, Tea Party-backed Christine O'Donnell shared a stage with New Castle County Executive Chris Coons (D) …

Discussion: Wake up America, Pundit & Pundette and Prairie Weather

Michelle Goldberg / The Daily Beast:

My Ex-Gay Life With the Tea Party Queen — trending topics - COLLEGE RANKINGS - GET AMERICA BACK TO WORK - NY FASHION WEEK - MIDTERMS - CHRISTINE O'DONNELL - TEA PARTY — Wade Richards helped Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell rail against gay rights—until he came out.

Discussion: TPMDC, Guardian, News Hounds, Gawker, Political Correction RSS, MoJo Articles, Wonk Room, CNN, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Delaware Liberal, Advocate and The Daily Dish

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:
Howard Dean: ‘I actually approve’ of tea party

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:
Four Things to Know About Delaware

Discussion: Top of the Ticket and The Atlantic Online

Pat G. / Wonk Room:

Bayh Says Poverty Increase Means Congress Should Ignore ‘Fairness’ And Cut Taxes For The Rich — Yesterday, the Census Bureau released a report showing that one in seven Americans is currently living in poverty, and that the median income decreased by nearly five percent during the last decade.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Suburban Guerrilla, TPMCafe, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Hill

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Tax-Cut Racket — “Nice middle class you got here,” said Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. “It would be a shame if something happened to it.” — O.K., he didn't actually say that. But he might as well have, because that's what the current confrontation over taxes amounts to.

Discussion: TPMDC, TalkLeft, The Plum Line, National Review, RedState, Daily Kos and Gallup

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online: Krugman: Republicans Are Fiscally Irresponsible for Pushing Smaller …

Nouriel Roubini / Washington Post:
What America needs is a payroll tax cut

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Eschaton

Daniel Gross / Slate:
Five points to keep in mind as Congress debates the Bush tax cuts.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Hit & Run, The Big Picture and Crooks and Liars

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Backlash Myth — Many of my liberal friends are convinced that the Republican Party has a death wish. It is sprinting to the right-most fever swamps of American life. It will end up alienating the moderate voters it needs to win elections. — There's only one problem with this theory.

Discussion: Washington Post, Commentary, NewsBusters.org, The Future of Capitalism, The Fix and CBS News

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
The ‘tea party’ gears up for 2012

Discussion: TPMDC and New York Times

A.B. Stoddard / The Hill:
Tea Party's already won

Discussion: Commentary and Wake up America

Wall Street Journal:
Why It's Time for the Tea Party

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Conservatives4Palin.com, Hot Air and Boston Herald

Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
DeMint blasts Murkowski in speech to Values Voters Summit

Discussion: CNN

Arifa Akbar / The Independent:

Mao's Great Leap Forward ‘killed 45 million in four years’ — Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China, qualifies as the greatest mass murderer in world history, an expert who had unprecedented access to official Communist Party archives said yesterday.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, RealClearWorld, National Review, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Gateway Pundit, AMERICAblog News and JammieWearingFool

Elizabeth Warren / White House.gov Blog Feed:

Fighting to Protect Consumers — Over the past several weeks, the President and I have had extensive conversations about the vital importance of consumer financial protection. — The President asked me, and I enthusiastically agreed, to serve as an Assistant to the President and Special Advisor …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Huffington Post, Emptywheel, The Caucus, New York Times, New Deal 2.0 and TPMDC

Ezra Klein:
Elizabeth Warren and the government's talent crisis

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Taegan Goddard's … and The Caucus

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:

Nancy Pelosi keeps losing Democrats on tax cuts — If the House works its will, the top income tax brackets will enjoy at least one more year of the Bush tax cuts — a development that would be a sharp rebuke of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and President Barack Obama.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Wall Street Journal:
Why Democrats Can't Win on Taxes

Discussion: American Power, Commentary, Betsy's Page and The Hill

Jeremy P. Jacobs / Hotline On Call:

Iowans Courting DeMint For A Visit — Here's a sign how how quickly Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-SC) stock is rising in the right wing of the GOP: Bob Vander Plaats, the chairman of Mike Huckabee's '08 Iowa campaign, approached DeMint's staff on Friday about visiting Iowa.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico, Des Moines Register and GOP 12

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Advice for Palin: How to Win Over Iowa

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
DeMint: 'No, I'm not going to run' for president

Discussion: GOP 12

IB Times / International Business Times:

Stimulus funds failed to create enough jobs: LA City Controller — The Los Angeles City Controller said on Thursday the city's use of its share of the $800 billion federal stimulus find has been disappointing. — The city received $111 million in stimulus under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Liberty Pundits Blog, The Washington Independent, Weasel Zippers and Cato @ Liberty

David Zahniser / Los Angeles Times:
Two L.A. agencies get $111 million in stimulus funds but have created only 55 jobs

Discussion: Pajamas Media and The Foundry

Jon Walker / Firedoglake:

Where Have All the Deficit Hawks Gone? — I noticed that earlier this year we were overwhelmed by a wave of anti-deficit grandstanding throughout the Democratic Party while the Catfood Commission was sending up trial balloons about cutting Social Security benefits, raising the retirement age …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and TPMDC

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Comedians Stewart and Colbert plan Oct. 30 rally on the Mall — Comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert plan a pair of rallies on the National Mall shortly before Election Day. — Stewart said he was organizing a “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington on Oct. 30, billed as a …

Discussion: Firedoglake and JammieWearingFool

Bill Carter / Media Decoder:
Jon Stewart Plans to Rally Against Extremism

Discussion: Mediaite, Crooks and Liars, Rumproast and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Duncan Gardham / Telegraph:

Pope visit: Five suspected Islamist terrorists arrested over assassination plot — Police have arrested five suspected Islamist terrorists, working as street cleaners in London, over an alleged plan assassinate the Pope. — The men were arrested during raids at 5.45am at a rubbish depot …

Discussion: BBC, Weasel Zippers, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch

Ryan Chittum / CJR:

Dinesh D'Souza Digs Himself in Deeper — Some more criticism of Forbes's disastrous Obama cover story — Dinesh D'Souza has responded to my, uh, criticism of his smear piece that, shamefully, made the cover of Forbes with its claims that Obama is directed by a “Kenyan, anticolonial” …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Open Left, Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard and Washington Post

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Taxing Commuters Without a Commuter Tax — Lydia DePillis reports on the release of a hot new book on the sexy sexy subject of Finance and Governance of Capital Cities in Federal Systems, detailing the unique burdens such cities face: … It always strikes me that DC government ought …

Discussion: Housing Complex and Eschaton

Michael Cieply / New York Times:

Documentary? Better Call It Performance Art — CASEY AFFLECK wants to come clean. — His new movie, “I'm Still Here,” was performance. Almost every bit of it. Including Joaquin Phoenix's disturbing appearance on David Letterman's late-night show in 2009, Mr. Affleck said in a candid interview …

Discussion: Company Town, ArtsBeat, Shakesville, The Awl, PopEater, Deadline.com, Need to Know | PBS and PopWatch

Mike Allen / The Politico:

2012 hopefuls to slam Barack Obama — The tough rhetoric of the 2012 Republican presidential primary season will get a tryout Friday when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) slam President Barack Obama at the Family Research Council's “Values Voters Summit.”

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and CNN

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Harvard/Peretz Controversy Illustrates Folly of Charitable Donations to Wealthy U.S. Universities — Canaday Common Room entrance, former home of The Harvard Independent (my photo, available under cc license) — I realized dimly that New Republic editor in chief Martin Peretz had apologized …

Discussion: Boston Globe, TalkLeft, Mondoweiss and The Daily Beast

Political Correction RSS:

Huckabee Supports Denying Coverage For Those With Preexisting Conditions — 1 hour and 42 minutes ago — Chris Harris — Today marks the start of the religious right's Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC. After a rousing multi-verse rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee took the stage.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and TPMDC