memeorandum: Ann Romney's Survival Instinct (Shushannah Walshe/The Daily Beast)

5:25 PM ET, February 20, 2011

Top Items:

12K State Workers Could Be Fired Without Budget Deal, Wisconsin Governor Warns — Saturday: Protesters gather down State Street in Madison, Wis., after a rally outside the Wisconsin State Capitol. A few dozen police officers stood between supporters of GOP Gov. Scott Walker on the muddy east lawn …

Discussion: Don Surber, Cubachi, Booman Tribune, National Review, Pundit Press and JammieWearingFool

Pejman Yousefzadeh / A Chequer-Board of Nights …:

Everyone Should Have Seen This Coming — Consider the following from this profile of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (all emphasis mine): … As the excerpt, and the highlighted material makes clear, Walker has been an open book as a politician. He has never tried to disguise his stance …

Discussion: POWIP, The Other McCain, Crooks and Liars, Prairie Weather, The TrogloPundit, GayPatriot, Sky Dancing and Runnin' Scared

Robert Costa / National Review:

Walker: ‘We are willing to take this as long as it takes’ — Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin told Fox News Sunday this morning that he will consider “every option” as he attempts to bring Democratic state senators back to the capitol to vote on his budget plan. “We are willing to take this as long as it takes,” he said.

Discussion: Power Line

Meredith Shiner / Reuters: Protesters, impasse remain in Madison

Wall Street Journal:
Protests Fail to Sway Wisconsin Governor

Discussion: Truthdig and New York Times

BBC:

Libya unrest: Scores killed in Benghazi ‘massacre’ — Details have emerged of huge casualty figures in the Libyan city of Benghazi, where troops have launched a brutal crackdown on protesters. — More than 200 people are known to have died, doctors say, with 900 injured.

Discussion: The Reaction, Guardian, The Jawa Report, Outside the Beltway, Libya February 17th and Truthdig

Nick Meo / Telegraph:

Libya protests: 140 ‘massacred’ as Gaddafi sends in snipers to crush dissent — Women and children leapt from bridges to their deaths as they tried to escape a ruthless crackdown by Libyan forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. — Snipers shot protesters, artillery and helicopter gunships …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, JOSHUAPUNDIT and Little Green Footballs

Ian Black / Guardian:

Libya defiant as scores feared dead — • Witnesses describe ‘massacres’ as Libyan troops shoot unarmed demonstrators in Benghazi — • Tension eases in Bahrain but unrest continues in Iran, Yemen, Morocco, Oman, Kuwait and Algeria — Libya is defying growing international condemnation …

Discussion: The Hill and Pajamas Media

New York Times:
Protesters Die as Crackdown in Libya Intensifies

Discussion: Sky Dancing, CNN, EA WorldView and Don Surber

Reuters:
Libyan forces fight Benghazi protesters, 100 dead

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway and Arabist.net

Aljazeera:
Libya unrest death toll ‘tops 200’

Discussion: Chicago Boyz and DownWithTyranny!, more at Techmeme »

James Randerson / News: News blog:
Arab and Middle East protests - 20th February as it happened

Discussion: Associated Press, Guardian and Truthdig

The Independent:
Gaddafi: What now for Libya's dictator, and where does Britain stand?

Discussion: Firedoglake, Libya February 17th and BBC

Angella Johnson / Daily Mail:

I was a mob sex attack victim in Tahrir Square... just like Lara Logan — I was especially horrified to read of CBS journalist Lara Logan's sex ordeal as she reported on Egyptians celebrating the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak - because I too was a victim.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Stars and Sewers — Rarely have we seen such epic clashes between the forces of light and darkness. — We watch in awe as revolutions somersault through the Middle East. We see instantaneous digital communication as a weapon against oppression and, in the hands of tyrants who tap into its power, as a weapon for oppression.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Prairie Weather

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Lugar opposes House budget bill — A senior Senate Republican on Sunday rejected the spending bill approved by House Republicans on Saturday. — Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said the size of the $61 billion in cuts proposed by the House is “reasonable,” but he wouldn't support the bill as it stands.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Ryan: Any short-term funding bill will have to include spending cuts

Discussion: The Politico

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Schumer: GOP puts Congress on course for inevitable shutdown

Discussion: CNN

Irish_Grinder / New York Post:

Topics — Salsumba: so who from Columbia was going to walk into Bagdada and “just arrest” Sadaam? Maybe you? You sir/ma'am are an illiformed nitwit. — SSGT Maschek< you are outstanding! These Columbia BD's are so smart they are stupid.......

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Common Sense Political Thought, Moonbattery, JammieWearingFool, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, Weasel Zippers, Atlas Shrugs, Instapundit, Moe Lane and American Power

E.S. Browning / Wall Street Journal:

Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short — The 401(k) generation is beginning to retire, and it isn't a pretty sight. — The retirement savings plans that many baby boomers thought would see them through old age are falling short in many cases. — The median household headed …

Discussion: Vox Popoli and FrumForum

Myglesias / Yglesias:

Labor Unions and Me — Ezra Klein's weekend question: “Almost forgot! Have you or anyone close to you belonged to a union? How did that change your impressions of organized labor in general?” — I'm generally speaking an out-of-touch pointy headed elite, but as it happens throughout my life my father has been a union member.

Discussion: L'Hôte

Founding Blogger / Founding Bloggers:

BREAKING: Andrew Breitbart Contracts “Walker Pneumonia” In Madison, Wisconsin! — While on the streets of Madison, Wisconsin, Andrew Breitbart contracted a horrible case of Walker Pneumonia! He was diagnosed by a street “doctor” who was apparently handing out fraudulent Dr.'s excuses to union protesters.

Discussion: The Right Sphere and Big Journalism

Denise Dick / Vindicator:

Facebook remark wasn't racist, Hagan says — A Broadview Heights woman is accusing state Rep. Robert F. Hagan of using a term that some believe has a racist connotation on a social networking site. — Hagan, D-60th, of Youngstown, used the term “buckwheat” in a Facebook posting Saturday.

Discussion: Moe Lane

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

GOP's Idea of Fiscal Responsibility: Cutting The President's Teleprompter, Decorating Budget — Ugh. I am so tired of the media just lapping up the Republican lies regarding the priority of deficit reduction. Poll after poll have shown that most Americans just don't care about lowering …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog