memeorandum: The big disconnect: D.C. elites think Obama will be re-elected, the public doubts it (Mark Penn/The Politico)

11:15 AM ET, November 16, 2010

Top Items:

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

Lisa Murkowski: Sarah Palin Lacks “Intellectual Curiosity” to be President — Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowki told CBS News' Katie Couric today that she would not support Sarah Palin for president because Palin lacks the “leadership qualities” and “intellectual curiosity” to craft great policy.

Sean Cockerham / Anchorage Daily News:

Murkowski passes Miller in vote count — The Division of Elections has counted 1,000 more votes for Lisa Murkowski than Joe Miller, and the absentees Miller was banking on didn't go his way. — The current count stands at 92,164 votes for Murkowski and 90,448 for Miller.

Discussion: Ballot Box, Wonkette, TPMDC, Weigel and Outside the Beltway

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Murkowski receives warm welcome from fellow senators as lame-duck begins

Discussion: CNN, The Politico, The Note, The Other McCain and TPMDC

Alex Weprin / mediabistro.com:
'Sarah Palin's Alaska' Premiere Draws 5 Million, Breaks TLC Ratings Record

Discussion: The Politico, PoliPundit.com and New York Magazine

Shira Toeplitz / The Politico:
Lisa Murkowski: Sarah Palin is no leader

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CNN, Newshoggers.com and Outside the Beltway

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
The rest of the 2012 polls... PPP's final six state level 2012 …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Cubachi, Hot Air and Conservatives4Palin.com

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:

GOP frosh: Where's my health care? — A conservative Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan from the government takes a month to kick in.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, The Mahablog, The Maddow Blog, Parker Spitzer, Daily Kos, Gawker and The Awl

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

HOUSE REPUBLICAN WANTS HIS GOVERNMENT-SUBSIDIZED HEALTH CARE NOW.... It perfectly reasonable for Andy Harris, like all Americans, to want health care coverage. He's a husband and father of five, and I'm sure he worries about his family losing their health insurance, just like everyone else.

Josh Marshall / TPMDC:
Freshman GOPer: Hey, Where's My Health Care?

Discussion: First Draft and Balloon Juice

Robert J. Hawkins / SignOnSanDiego.com:

TSA to investigate body scan resister — Oceanside man took a stand against security, went viral — The Transportation Security Administration has opened an investigation targeting John Tyner, the Oceanside man who left Lindbergh Field under duress on Saturday morning after refusing to undertake a full body scan.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Althouse, Associated Press, CrunchGear, Sweetness & Light, The Gateway Pundit, The Agonist and Don Surber

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

The Full-Body Backlash — As full-body scanners come into more widespread use in American airports (they will be phased in soon at the three major airports in the New York City metro region), they are also coming under more frequent criticism. — The objections are coming from many different quarters:

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Hill, ComPost, The Confluence, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Prairie Weather, The Atlantic Online and AMERICAblog News

Art Carden / The Economic Imagination:
Full Frontal Nudity Doesn't Make Us Safer: Abolish the TSA

Discussion: Hot Air, The Peking Duck, Boing Boing, Big Government, Outside the Beltway, EconLog, AmSpecBlog, Hit & Run, American Power and Left Coast Rebel

Mark Penn / The Politico:

The big disconnect: D.C. elites think Obama will be re-elected, the public doubts it — The midterms not only dealt a big shock to the Democrats, but also sent a message to President Obama. According to the new POLITICO “Power and the People” poll, only 26 percent of the public believes he will now be re-elected as President in 2012.

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Don Surber

Ben Smith / The Politico:

2 Dems claim Arianna Huffington stole website idea — Two Democratic consultants are accusing Arianna Huffington and her business partner of stealing their idea for the powerhouse liberal website Huffington Post. — Peter Daou and James Boyce charge that Huffington and partner Ken Lerer designed …

Discussion: Althouse, Hot Air, Mediaite, BlogPost, Right Wing News, The Wire, Outside the Beltway, Gawker, Romenesko, Barcepundit, New York Magazine, INSTAPUTZ and Confederate Yankee

Ethan Smith / Wall Street Journal:

Apple Finally Snares Beatles — Steve Jobs is nearing the end of his long and winding pursuit of the Beatles catalog. — Apple Inc. is preparing to disclose that its iTunes Store will soon start carrying music by the Beatles, according to people familiar with the situation …

Discussion: News Desk, ReadWriteWeb, Gizmodo, PopEater, Gadget Lab, American Power, MyFox Philadelphia, Plunderbund, TechCrunch, Gawker, Pajamas Media, CrunchGear, msnbc.com and The Wire, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:
Working It Out, iTunes to Sell Beatles Titles

Discussion: The Big Picture, TechCrunch and Gizmodo

Igor Volsky / Wonk Room:

Powell: Advocates Should Not Pressure Congress To Repeal DADT Before It Is Ready, Study Completed — This evening, during an interview on CNN's Larry King Live, Gen. Colin Powell reiterated his belief that repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell must “take into account the views of our military leaders …

Discussion: The Politico, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Pam's House Blend, Shakesville and Towleroad News #gay

CNN:
Colin Powell: Obama lost focus

Discussion: Politics Daily and The Gateway Pundit

CNN:

Congressional Black Caucus Witholds Support For Pelosi — Washington (CNN) - The Congressional Black Caucus has decided to withhold its approval for the House Democratic leadership team, denying Speaker Nancy Pelosi full support of the 42-member organization as she campaigns to remain leader.

Discussion: CBS News, The Politico, Hot Air, The Hill and HotAirPundit

Russell Berman / The Hill:
Black caucus not ready to endorse Pelosi's deal

Discussion: The Note

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Gingrich: Obama should take off most of the rest of the year — President Obama should take off most of the rest of the year to concentrate on the lessons of the 2010 election, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Tuesday. — Gingrich urged the president to take some time away …

Discussion: TPMDC

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:

Dejected House Dems wipe away tears as GOP celebrates victory — Dejected Democrats wiped away tears on the House floor Monday night while Republicans congratulated themselves on winning back control of the lower chamber. — House members returned to the nation's capital …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Another Black Conservative and Weasel Zippers

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

Wow! HUNDREDS OF RIDERS WITH US FLAGS Escort Cody Alicea to School Today (Video) — Hundreds of American Legion Riders and fellow patriots escorted Cody Alicea to Denair Middle School this morning. They all had American Flags on their bikes. — A veteran brings Cody to tears when he gives …

Discussion: Another Black Conservative, Moonbattery, The New Editor, Values Voter News, The Jawa Report and BLACKFIVE

Adam Serwer / American Prospect:

How Partisanship Works. — Andrew Sullivan notes Ezra Klein's endless crusade to remind everyone that the Affordable Care Act was based on Republican proposals: … Sullivan says this contributes to the “Big Lie” of Obama's alleged “extremism,” but this is how partisanship works. and why the left …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Washington Monthly and The Daily Dish

Tom Scocca / Slate:

Two Full-Time Obama Opponents Say Obama Should Pledge Not to Run Again — What would really help President Barack Obama through the current tough political spell? If he just gave up his foolish desire to be president and announced he would not seek reelection.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Pajamas Media, AmSpecBlog and The Other McCain

David Weigel / Slate:
How to sell horrible counterintuitive column ideas and look smart doing it.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Daniel W. Drezner, Weigel, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Ben Smith's Blog

Jillian Rayfield / TPM LiveWire:

Don't Tread On Meat: Tea Partying Singer Pat Boone Launches Mail-Order Steak Business — If you like steak but wish it were more conservative, then Tea Partier and 50s crooner Pat Boone has a new line of mail order meats that you should probably take a look at.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Plunderbund

Glenn Hubbard / New York Times:

Left, Right and Wrong on Taxes — GIVEN the furor from both the left and the right, one would be tempted to think that the initial proposal from the co-chairmen of President Obama's fiscal commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, must offer an excellent starting point for a discussion of deficit reduction.

Discussion: Washington Post and Daily Kos

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Angry left to Obama: Stop caving on agenda — Liberals furious with a White House they view as constantly telegraphing compromise with Republicans are pressuring President Obama to get tougher, arguing that is the only way he will win both progressives and independents in 2012.

Discussion: AMERICAblog News and JammieWearingFool

June E. O'Neill / Wall Street Journal:

Washington's Equal Pay Obsession — There's no epidemic of gender discrimination. So why is Congress proposing another law? — Women in the workplace don't face rampant pay discrimination, and yet the Senate may soon pass a bill—already passed in the House—premised on the erroneous charge that they do.

Discussion: Betsy's Page and National Review

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Congressional freshmen vow not to party like it's 1994 — The sprawling new class of House Republicans — 84 at last count — arrived in Washington only Sunday, but they're already discussing how they can avoid being seduced by the capital. — They only have to look back 16 years for a primer on what not to do.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, New York Magazine and Weigel

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard / Telegraph:

Contagion hits Portugal as Ireland dithers on rescue — The EU authorities have begun to vent their fury against Ireland over its refusal to accept a financial rescue, fearing that the crisis will engulf Portugal and Spain unless confidence is restored immediately to eurozone bond markets.

Discussion: Vox Popoli and AmSpecBlog