memeorandum: Tea Party Script Written In Washington (VIDEO) (The Huffington Post)

3:40 PM ET, September 25, 2010

Top Items:

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Dakota Dreaming — The presidential hopes of John Thune. — John Thune leaned forward, peered out of the small window in the 9-seat King Air 200, extended his index finger, and smiled. — “That's the Murdo airport right there.” — We'd been flying over the plains of the senator's home state …

Discussion: Eunomia, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway, Ben Smith's Blog, GOP 12 and Riehl World View

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Thune plans to run in 2012 — Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the “Daschle slayer” who beat the Senate Democratic leader in 2004, is ramping up plans for a presidential run in 2012, associates say. — Thune, 49, spoke candidly about his plans for a cover story in The Weekly Standard - priceless exposure for an ambitious conservative.

The White House:

Weekly Address: President Obama: GOP Leadership Standing up for Outsourcing and Special Interests, Instead of American Workers — WASHINGTON - In this week's address, President Barack Obama broke with Republicans in Congress who are putting special interests ahead of the American people …

Discussion: CBS News, Washington Monthly, Gateway Pundit and The Blaze

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Obama slams GOP ‘Pledge’ as giveaway to millionaires, Wall Street — With five weeks remaining before November's midterms, President Obama is slamming the Republicans' legislative agenda as a gift to the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. — The GOP's “Pledge to America,” …

Discussion: The Politico and Prairie Weather

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
From ‘party of no’ to ‘party of stop’?

Discussion: Firedoglake

Jon Ward / The Daily Caller: Conservatives Denounce GOP ‘Pledge’ As Sellout, Inside Job

A.G. Sulzberger / New York Times:

Voters Moving to Oust Judges Over Decisions — DES MOINES — After the State Supreme Court here stunned the nation by making this the first state in the heartland to allow same-sex marriage, Iowa braced for its sleepy judicial elections to turn into referendums on gay marriage.

Discussion: American Power, AMERICAblog News and National Review

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:

Obama invokes ‘state secrets’ claim to dismiss suit against targeting of U.S. citizen al-Aulaqi — The Obama administration urged a federal judge early Saturday to dismiss a lawsuit over its targeting of a U.S. citizen for killing overseas, saying that the case would reveal state secrets.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, New York Times, Reuters, Raw Story and The League of Ordinary …

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:

Andrew Breitbart Nails Bill Maher: You're Not a Libertarian, You're a Socialist — Andrew Breitbart on Friday exposed Bill Maher for not being the Libertarian he claims to be, but a socialist instead. — When push came to shove, a seemingly embarrassed Maher didn't protest.

Discussion: Hot Air and Pajamas Media

Hillary Chabot / Boston Herald:

John Kerry: Democrats' woes stem from uninformed voters — It's the electorate, stupid! — A testy U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday blamed clueless voters with short attention spans for the uphill battle beleaguered Democrats are facing against Republicans across the nation.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Questions and Observations, Wake up America, Weasel Zippers, Olliander and JammieWearingFool

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Bill Maher's New Clip Of O'Donnell: 'Why Aren't Monkeys Still Evolving Into Humans?' — For the second week in a row, HBO's Real Time host Bill Maher revealed a previously-unaired clip of Christine O'Donnell on Politically Incorrect. Recall, last week Maher showed a clip of O'Donnell professing …

Discussion: TPMDC, Big Hollywood, The Reaction, Pharyngula, Climate Progress, Gawker, Washington Monthly, Informed Comment, Outside the Beltway, Towleroad News #gay, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Huffington Post

Bob Herbert / New York Times:

We Haven't Hit Bottom Yet — Marcus Vogt is 20 years old and homeless. Or, as he puts it, “I'm going through a couch-surfing phase.” — Mr. Vogt is a Wal-Mart employee but he was injured in a car accident and was unable to work for a couple of months. With no income and no health insurance …

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:

Dick Morris returns in new role — Dick Morris, the former Bill Clinton consultant-and-confidant-turned- conservative-commentator, is trying on a new hat: Republican campaign surrogate. — Over the long arc of a career that has twice landed him on the cover of Time magazine …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway