memeorandum: Insiders: If Bristol Palin Wins, ‘Dancing’ Is Ruined (Rob Shuter/PopEater)

11:00 AM ET, November 20, 2010

Top Items:

Mona Charen / Townhall.com:

Why Sarah Palin Shouldn't Run — By telling Barbara Walters that she thinks she can defeat President Obama, Sarah Palin has dimmed hopes cherished by sensible Republicans that she might decide against a run for the White House in 2012. Here are just some of the reasons she should not run.

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Moderate Voice

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
The 800-Pound Mama Grizzly Problem

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Conservatives4Palin.com and Hot Air

Geoffrey Dunn / The Huffington Post:
Sarah Palin Slams Michelle Obama in Racially Charged Passage From New Book

Discussion: Althouse, Telegraph, The Daily Beast, NY Daily News, palingates, The Note, The Caucus, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Weasel Zippers and Jack & Jill Politics

Molly Stark Dean / mediabistro.com:

Fox News' Megyn Kelly in GQ: 'You may have heard that we're number one' — TVNewser learns that “America Live” anchor Megyn Kelly is in the 2010 GQ Men of the Year issue, which hit newsstands this week. Kelly is the only tvnewser to be selected for the 2010 media personality.

Discussion: Whiskey Fire

Chris Rovzar / New York Magazine:

This Is Not Your Grandmother's Megyn Kelly — Nearly three years ago, we predicted that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly would be a rising star through the election and beyond. And we've been proven right: She's gone from co-anchoring America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer to hosting her own two-hour show in the middle of the afternoon.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Other McCain and Hot Air

Cathy Bossi / WBTV-TV:

Cancer surviving flight attendant forced to remove prosthetic breast during pat-down … Most Viewed Stories — RSS Feeds — Get sports stories via RSS. — Add headlines to your RSS news reader. More>>

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Scared Monkeys, Gizmodo, Raw Story, Shakesville and Jezebel

Suzanne Choney / msnbc.com:
TSA forces cancer survivor to show prosthetic breast

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

KMOV-TV:
Woman says her Lambert security screening was sexual assault

Discussion: The Jawa Report, theblogprof, Don Surber and LewRockwell.com Blog

Wall Street Journal:

U.S. in Vast Insider Trading Probe — Federal authorities, capping a three-year investigation, are preparing insider-trading charges that could ensnare consultants, investment bankers, hedge-fund and mutual-fund traders and analysts across the nation, according to people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: msnbc.com and naked capitalism

Kevin Bogardus / The Hill:

Citing Reagan, Obama pushes to move stalled arms treaty — President Obama cited a Republican hero Saturday as he called on senators to approve a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia. — In his weekly radio address, the president said having the Senate ratify the START Treaty before the end …

Discussion: The Politico

Spencer Ackerman / Danger Room:
Religious Group: Pass Nuke Treaty or We All Burn

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Hot Air and McClatchy Washington Bureau

Myglesias / Yglesias:

Social Security Trust Fund — I really hate this kind of rhetoric from Maya MacGuineas: … I think this is incredibly misleading. If your rich uncle wanted to set up a trust fund for you and chose to stipulate that the fund should be invested 100 percent in treasuries …

NPR:
Are The Social Security Trust Funds A Mirage?

Discussion: Crooked Timber

BBC:

Spain ‘orgasm’ video criticised by politicians — An excerpt from the video shows the woman getting ‘excited’ about voting — Spanish politicians have criticised a video by the Young Socialists in Catalonia in which a woman simulates an orgasm while casting her vote.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, American Power, The Reaction and iOwnTheWorld.com

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

Pigs Fly. Also, I Agree with Charles Krauthammer — 1) The TSA excesses are creating strange bedfellows. Charles Krauthammer writes today about the “idiocy” of the TSA's approach to airline security, including the nuttiness of body-searching the same pilots who will soon have the flight controls in their hands.

Discussion: Obsidian Wings, Eschaton, Examiner, The Plum Line and Hit & Run

William Yardley / New York Times:

Naming of Alaska Winner Delayed — A federal judge in Alaska on Friday placed a conditional hold on the certification of the results of the contentious Senate race between Joe Miller and Senator Lisa Murkowski, telling the Miller campaign to take its legal challenges to state court.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Raw Story and Associated Press

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

Huh? President Obama Tells Volunteers That In Midterms “You Guys Turned ‘Yes We Can’ Into ‘Yes We Did’ — Members of Organizing for America - the president's former campaign committee - received a text message today asking them to call 888-206-1431 “to hear a special message from President Obama.”

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and HotAirPundit

Rob Shuter / PopEater:

Insiders: If Bristol Palin Wins, ‘Dancing’ Is Ruined — At first, having Bristol Palin participate in ‘Dancing With The Stars’ seemed like a brilliant idea. Just like Kate Gosselin before her, casting an admittedly bad dancer who was shrouded in controversy has raked in big ratings and tons of press.

Discussion: sisu, Cubachi and Hot Air

Sify.com:

Top Al Qaeda leader killed in US drone attack — Islamabad, Nov 19 (IANS) A senior Al Qaeda leader, Mufti Ali Muhammad, has reportedly been killed along with two of his accomplices in a US drone strike Friday in Pakistan's North Waziristan district along the Afghan border.

Discussion: DAWN.COM, Newshoggers.com and 1 The Long War Journal

Keach Hagey / The Politico:

Washington Times editor out — Sam Dealey will be stepping down as editor of the Washington Times, following the sale of the paper to a group led by members of the paper's old guard who were ousted a year ago, sources close to the paper tell POLITICO. — Dealey was informed this afternoon.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Romenesko and FishbowlDC

The Note:

Fmr Sen. Alan Simpson Predicts Govt. Shutdown — ABC's Z. Byron Wolf reports: — Former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, the top Republican on the President's bipartisan debt commission, painted a vivid picture of what Washington will look like when the national debt limit must …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Crooked Timber, The Politico, FORA.tv and No More Mister Nice Blog

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Alan Simpson: Deficit Plan Can Pass After Debt Limit ‘Blood Bath’

Discussion: The Confluence and Daily Kos

Sharon Theimer / Associated Press:

FEC won't punish Ensign for cash to mistress — WASHINGTON — The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint against Sen. John Ensign over a $96,000 payment his parents made to his former mistress and her family. — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington …

Discussion: TPMMuckraker, Balloon Juice, Politics Daily and The Plum Line