memeorandum: Internal memo accuses Sheriff Arpaio's department of wrongdoing (Nicholas Riccardi/Los Angeles Times)

4:55 AM ET, September 19, 2010

Top Items:

Bill Maher's witch hunt — and the missing context for O'Donnell's remarks — Narcissism. Blackmail. Distortion. All wrapped in his trademark smirk of pallor. Yes, it's tired old liberal “comedian” Bill Maher trying to get Senate GOP primary candidate Christine O'Donnell to come …

Discussion: Ruby Slippers

John / Power Line:

Christine O'Donnell's Career, RIP — Christine O'Donnell's campaign went off the rails today when Bill Maher announced that he has previously-unseen clips of O'Donnell from the late 1990s when she appeared several times on his show. In one clip, she says that she once “dabbled into witchcraft.”

Discussion: New York Times, HillBuzz, Paul Mulshine, Riehl World View, NewsReal Blog, The Other McCain, Right Wing News, Political Byline, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Pajamas Media

Jeff G. / protein wisdom:

Wow. — No, really, wow. — Christine O'Donnell's candidacy is evidently dead because of something she said on “Politically Incorrect” (quick, take note of the show's freakin' name) in the 1990s — but only because Tea Partiers are evidently small-minded religious bigots who will be so OUTRAGED …

Discussion: The Other McCain, Bookworm Room, Riehl World View and Doug Ross

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Following Revelation Of ‘Witchcraft’ Comment, O'Donnell Cancels Sunday Show Appearances — As ThinkProgress reported, last night on his HBO show, Bill Maher aired a clip from an Oct. 29, 1999 show of Politically Incorrect, in which Republican senate candidate Christine O'Donnell revealed that she “dabbled into witchcraft.”

Discussion: New York Magazine and Joe. My. God.

Nafeesa Syeed / Associated Press:

Senate hopeful O'Donnell cancels national TV spots — WASHINGTON - Tea party favorite Christine O'Donnell, whose Republican primary upset in Delaware's Senate race shocked the GOP, canceled appearances Sunday on two national news shows. — O'Donnell had been set to appear on “Face the Nation” on CBS and “Fox News Sunday.”

Discussion: The Hill, Ballot Box, Washington Monthly and TPMDC

Patterico's Pontifications:

Christine O'Donnell in 1999: I Dabbled in Witchcraft — Oh, come on. She was young: — You think any of this might show up in a campaign commercial? … I also like the bit about how she wouldn't lie to the Nazis at the front door to save Anne Frank.

Discussion: Doug Ross and The Reality-Based Community

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
O'Donnell cancels “Face the Nation” appearance

Discussion: Mediaite, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Outside the Beltway

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Christine O'Donnell In Oct. 1999: ‘I Dabbled Into Witchcraft’

Matt DeLong / Washington Post:
Christine O'Donnell in 1999: ‘I dabbled into witchcraft’

Discussion: The Impolitic, The Page and CNN

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:
O'Donnell Said She Practiced Witchcraft

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:
Bill Maher: Obama Would Be A Better President ‘If He Was Fully Black’

Discussion: The Other McCain, Political Byline and Gateway Pundit

Brad DeLong / Grasping Reality with Both Hands:

In Which Mr. Deling Responds to Someone Who Might Be Professor Todd Henderson — I had published a link and a long excerpt from Michael O'Hare's rant after reading University of Chicago Law Professor Todd Henderson. — And now somebody purporting to be University of Chicago Professor Todd Henderson writes:

Discussion: Obsidian Wings

Michael O'Hare / The Reality-Based Community:

The whining of the rich — Through Glenn Reynolds, whither I wandered because of Mark's post about something else entirely, I came upon this truly amazing pasticcio of mendacity, ignorance, and small-minded cupidity. It's worth a close look because the author is a law professor …

Discussion: Economist's View and Hullabaloo

Michael A. Memoli / Los Angeles Times:

Pence edges out Huckabee, Romney in conservatives' straw poll for president — Indiana Rep. Mike Pence is the top choice in a field of more well-known GOP figures, including Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, with 24% of the vote at this weekend's Values Voter Summit.

Discussion: Joe. My. God. and LewRockwell.com Blog

Kasie Hunt / The Politico:
Newt Gingrich: Force Kathleen Sebelius out

Discussion: TPMDC, Think Progress, Raw Story and Firedoglake

CNN:
Pence wins Values Voter straw poll

Discussion: The Politico and Hot Air

CNN:
Gingrich blasts Democratic establishment at annual summit

Discussion: Politics Daily

Roxana Tiron / Ballot Box: Gingrich to activists: ‘Establishment is in such a state of shock’

Des Moines Register:

Reaction to Sarah Palin speech by Iowa Republican activists — Should former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin decide to make a presidential bid, Iowa Republicans voting in the leadoff caucuses would have the opportunity to give her candidacy a major boost or a setback. Here are reactions from key activists after her speech Friday night.

TEApublican / The Iowa Republican: Sarah Palin Shines in Iowa Foreshadowing of 2012 Return

Jay Heflin / Ballot Box:

Hayworth to be Tea Party spokesman — The Tea Party is expected to announce that former Rep. JD Hayworth (R-Ariz.) will become a national spokesperson for the movement, a source close to the matter told The Hill. — Despite Hayworth's unwavering support of tax cuts enacted by President George W. Bush …

Bridget Johnson / Ballot Box: DeMint rips Murkowski as ‘big-tent hypocrite’

Nicholas Riccardi / Los Angeles Times:

Internal memo accuses Sheriff Arpaio's department of wrongdoing — The Arizona lawman's No. 2 man and other top officials are accused of using the anti-corruption unit to conduct politically motivated investigations and to surveil campaign rivals. — Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio received a 63-page memo from a deputy chief.

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, Arizona Republic, Raw Story, skippy the bush kangaroo, Truthdig and Feathered Bastard

Jeff Shesol / New York Times:

Evolving Circumstances, Enduring Values — “If my fellow citizens want to go to hell,” Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, “I will help them. It's my job.” This, for much of the last century, has stood as the purest (or at least the most pungent) distillation of “judicial restraint” …

Tyler Cowen / New York Times:

Can the Fed Offer a Reason to Cheer? — REMEMBER the song “Put On a Happy Face”? Just smile, it says, and you'll “spread sunshine all over the place,” even if you don't start out feeling very happy yourself. — In many ways, this is fine advice. But if you've ever tried to act on it …