memeorandum: Liberal blogger directly confronts David Axelrod, accuses White House … (Greg Sargent/The Plum Line)

1:10 AM ET, September 24, 2010

Top Items:

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Liberal blogger directly confronts David Axelrod, accuses White House of “hippie punching” — Top Obama adviser David Axelrod got an earful of the liberal blogosphere's anger at the White House moments ago, when a blogger on a conference call directly called out Axelrod over White House criticism …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Other McCain, Weasel Zippers, The Confluence, TPMDC, Moe Lane, Althouse, Outside the Beltway, Mock, Paper, Scissors, No More Mister Nice Blog, AMERICAblog News, skippy the bush kangaroo, Grasping Reality …, Shakesville and FrumForum

David Dayen / Firedoglake:

Blogger Susie Madrak Asks David Axelrod: “Do You Know What Hippie Punching Means?” — No respect. (photo: Neubie on Flickr) — Some fireworks at the end of an otherwise uneventful conference call with White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod, when blogger Susie Madrak took the White House …

Discussion: Pam's House Blend and White House.gov Blog Feed

Susie / Suburban Guerrilla:

Life is funny — I just got off a White House conference call in which I asked David Axelrod if he ever heard of the term “hippie punching”. — Silence. — “Are you there?” — “Yeah, I heard you. Go on.” — Basically, after Axelrod told us how wonderful we were and how much they needed us …

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
Oh, My: Liberal Bloggers Getting Tired of Putting Out (Propaganda) for Obama?

Discussion: New York Times, Left Coast Rebel, Suburban Guerrilla and Hot Air

Peter Nicholas / Los Angeles Times:
Axelrod to exit White House in 2011 to work on Obama reelection

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and FrumForum

Josh Margolin / New Jersey Online:

Gov. Christie confronts heckler at California GOP candidate's political rally — LOS ANGELES — True to his tough-guy persona, Gov. Chris Christie mixed it up today with a political naysayer, who heckled California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman at a political rally.

Discussion: HillBuzz, Hot Air, 24Ahead, Left Coast Rebel, TigerHawk, Weasel Zippers, Sister Toldjah, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Ace of Spades HQ, Power Line, National Review and Gawker

CNN:

TRENDING: Christie faces off against heckler — (CNN) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got tough with a heckler Wednesday during a Los Angeles town hall meeting with California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. — Whitman, a Republican and the former CEO of eBay, was finishing her remarks …

Discussion: The Note, Liberty Pundits Blog and Gateway Pundit

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

House Dems Also Punt On Upper-Income Bush Tax Cuts — The Senate's decision not to address the Bush tax cuts until after the election is the strongest indication yet that the game is over. After a House Democratic caucus meeting this morning — but before the news broke on the Senate side …

Discussion: The Hill, National Review, Taylor Marsh, Speakeasy, Hullabaloo, Daily Kos, Viking Pundit, Mock, Paper, Scissors, The New Republic, First Draft, Philly.com and FrumForum

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:

Democrats Decide On Political Suicide — So it looks like the Democrats are going with the Curl Up In A Fetal Position Plan on taxes, apparently deciding not to hold any vote at all. Greg Sargent thinks the party lacks balls, and draws a comparison to the health care debate. But it's not a god comparison.

Discussion: The Plum Line, The Reality-Based Community, Wonkette, New York Magazine and TPMDC

TPMDC:
Senate Dems Ready To Shelve Tax Cut Vote

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, The New Republic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Guardian, FrumForum, The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly and National Review

Mike McIntire / New York Times:

Hidden Under Tax-Exempt Cloak, Political Dollars Flow — Alaskans grew suspicious two years ago when a national organization called Americans for Job Security showed up and spent $1.6 million pushing a referendum to restrict development of a gold and copper mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

David Axelrod / Washington Post:
The election campaigners we can't see

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Ben Smith's Blog, culturekitchen, MyDD, The Huffington Post, Sunlight Foundation, Commentary, The Page, Politerati and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

MyFOX Detroit:

Chrysler Auto Workers Busted — Jefferson North Plant in Detroit — myFOXDetroit.com Staff - We're all rooting for the auto industry to come back stronger than ever. It affects every one of us here in metro Detroit and across the country because it's so important to our economy.

Discussion: Hot Air, Doug Ross, theblogprof, Mediaite, Jalopnik and All American Blogger

The Hill:

House approves small-business bill; Obama laments ‘needless’ stall — On a 237-187 vote, the House on Thursday approved a $42 billion bill to provide aid to small businesses. — The Senate approved the legislation last week, and President Obama plans to sign the legislation on Monday.

Discussion: The Politico, The Note, msnbc.com and FrumForum

Byron York / Beltway Confidential:
Dems attack GOP ‘Pledge.’ So what's their agenda?

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Club for Growth:
The Milquetoast GOP “Pledge”

Discussion: National Review, RedState, Think Progress, AmSpecBlog, The Atlantic Online, About.com Conservative …, The Glittering Eye, Eunomia, Ross Douthat, IMAO, Pajamas Media, Liberty Pundits Blog, msnbc.com and Weekly Standard

Advocate:

DOJ to Judge: Keep Enforcing DADT — The Department of Justice issued a request Thursday to a U.S. district court judge asking to keep enforcing the military's ban on gay and lesbian service members, challenging a request to stop its enforcement. — In a 14-page brief …

Discussion: Politics Daily, AMERICAblog Gay, Wonk Room, Raw Story, Pam's House Blend, Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

U.S. delegates walk out of Ahmadinejad's U.N. speech — The U.S. delegation to the U.N. walked out of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech before the general assembly Thursday after the controversial leader said some believe Americans were behind the 9/11 terror attacks.

Discussion: The Note and American Power

Robert Mugabe / msnbc.com: 9/11 words by Iran leader lead to U.S. walkout at U.N.

Christina Bellantoni / TPMDC:

Sarah Palin Drops The H-Bomb: ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ (VIDEO) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made headlines for suggesting in a TV interview she'd run for president in 2012 “if nobody else were to step up,” but little noticed in that segment was the one-time vice presidential nominee dropping President Obama's middle name.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Barefoot and Progressive

Andy Barr / The Politico:
Sarah Palin: I'll run if nobody else steps up

Discussion: Wonkette, PostPartisan, Outside the Beltway and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Shira Toeplitz / The Politico:

DeMint chides GOP senators for protecting Murkowski — South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint is publicly criticizing his Senate GOP colleagues for allowing Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski to keep her ranking membership on a key committee less than a week after she announced a write-in campaign to try to retain her seat.

Discussion: Hot Air and The Page

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box: DeMint hits ‘good ol’ boys Senate club' for protecting Murkowski

David Catanese / The Politico:

Castle will test waters with poll — Rep. Mike Castle is planning on polling a potential three-way Senate race to test his chances as a write-in candidate, a Delaware Republican tells POLITICO. — Castle, who lost his GOP primary by a 6-point margin to tea party upstart Christine O'Donnell nine days ago …

Discussion: Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin.com and National Review

People-Press.org:

Independents Oppose Party in Power ... Again — More Conservative, More Critical of National Conditions — For the third national election in a row, independent voters may be poised to vote out the party in power. The Republican Party holds a significant edge in preferences …

Discussion: American Power, The New Republic, MyDD, Politics Daily, The Note, Ballot Box, The Atlantic Online and Taegan Goddard's …

Ian M. / Think Progress:

Joe Miller: Social Security Is Something The Federal Government 'Shouldn't Have Gotten Into' — Earlier today, Alaska GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller was a guest on KWHL's Bob and Mark show. ThinkProgress called in to ask him to clarify his previous suggestions that Social Security is unconstitutional.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos, Wonk Room and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

The Note:

Gates and Mullen Don't See Big Changes to Afghan Strategy in December — ABC News' Luis Martinez reports: — Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both said today that they do not anticipate big changes in December when the White House reviews the Afghan war strategy.

Discussion: CNN and Political Punch

Fhardingj / CNN:
Another Obama admin departure, this one with date uncertain

Discussion: The Hill

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Lies, Damned Lies - Obamacare 6 Months Later; It's Time to Take Back the 20! — It's now six months since President Obama took control of one-sixth of the private sector economy with his health care “reform,” and the first changes to our health care system come into effect today.

Discussion: Cubachi, Nice Deb, Big Government, Conservatives4Palin.com, Liberty Pundits Blog, The Other McCain, CNN, The Cloakroom, National Review and Hot Air

Anjeanette Damon / Las Vegas Sun Blogs:

Angle slams mandated coverage for autism treatment in new video from Democrats' tracker — As key provisions of new federal health care legislation come into effect tomorrow, Democrats are emphasizing Republican senate candidate Sharron Angle's opposition to mandating insurance coverage for basic illnesses.

Discussion: Salon, The Huffington Post, AMERICAblog News, The Political Carnival, Daily Kos and Washington Monthly

Zaid Jilani / Think Progress:

Newly Declassified Documents Show Bush Administration Looked For Excuse To Start War In Iraq In Nov. 2001 — The Bush administration has long maintained they had not decided to invade Iraq until the days before it actually began and that they did “everything” they could to “avoid war in Iraq.”

Discussion: The Reaction, Flopping Aces, Daily Kos and The Political Carnival

Craig / CNSNews:

U.S. Education Secretary Vows to Make American Children ‘Good Environmental Citizens’ — “Today, I promise you that under my leadership, the Department of Education will be a committed partner in the national effort to build a more environmentally literate and responsible society,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Gateway Pundit

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

With Warning, Obama Presses China on Currency — UNITED NATIONS — President Obama increased pressure on China to immediately revalue its currency on Thursday, devoting most of a two-hour meeting with China's prime minister to the issue and sending the message, according to one of his top aides …

Discussion: Gothamist and FrumForum

Alexander C. Hart / The New Republic:

Lying With Graphs, Republican Style — The Republican “Pledge to America” is out, and I'll give them some credit: there are more concrete policies in there than I've seen Republicans suggest in a long while. Sure, they ideas are largely terrible, overly simplistic, or some combination of the two.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, The Monkey Cage, Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars and A plain blog about politics

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:

Muslims Say They Face More Work Discrimination — At a time of growing tensions involving Muslims in the United States, a record number of Muslim workers are complaining of employment discrimination, from co-workers calling them “terrorist” or “Osama” to employers barring them from wearing head scarves or taking prayer breaks.

Discussion: The New Republic and New York Magazine

The Hill:

Landrieu to block OMB nominee unless oil drilling ban lifted — A Gulf Coast Democrat is vowing to block Senate confirmation of President Obama's budget director until the administration agrees to lift or ease a federal freeze on deepwater oil-and-gas drilling.

Discussion: The Politico, Weasel Zippers, The Atlantic Online and The Note

Chicago Breaking News:

Ayers denied emeritus status after plea from Chris Kennedy — In a very unusual move, University of Illinois trustees today denied giving emeritus status to controversial retired professor William Ayers. — The vote, at a U. of I. board meeting in Urbana, was unanimous and came …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Founding Bloggers and Weasel Zippers

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Getting Radical on Spending Cuts — I'm pretty sure nobody at CAP favors the 100 percent cuts scenario outlined in our “A Thousand Cuts” report detailing possible approaches to achieving primary balance of the budget by 2015. But the econ team tried to be rigorous about what would be a good way to do that …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, National Review and Climate Progress

Telegraph:

Six arrested in Gateshead over ‘Koran burning’ — Six people have been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after videos emerged on the internet apparently showing copies of the Koran being burned. — Officers detained two men on September 15 and four more yesterday and all six …

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs and National Review

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Hey Cable Guys! Cord Cutting is Real, and It's a Problem, Says Verizon CEO — The party line from cable executives is that the “cord-cutting” phenomenon-consumers swapping cable subscriptions for Internet video-is a myth. Or, at best, greatly exaggerated. Not so, says Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg.

Discussion: Media Maverick and Engadget, more at Mediagazer »