memeorandum: Rubicon: A river in Wisconsin (Charles Krauthammer/Washington Post)

12:40 PM ET, February 25, 2011

Top Items:

Question to Broun: Who's going to shoot President Obama? — At Rep. Paul Broun's town hall meeting on Tuesday, the Athens congressman asked who had driven the farthest to be there and let the winner ask the first question. — We couldn't hear the question in the back of the packed Oglethorpe …

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Broun is asked who'll ‘shoot Obama’ — A constituent at a town hall for Georgia Rep. Paul Broun drew laughter on Tuesday when asked, “Who is going to shoot Obama?” and the Republican didn't come anywhere near condemning the question in his response. — “The thing is, I know there's a lot …

Discussion: The Right Sphere, Outside the Beltway and Prairie Weather

Justin Elliott / Salon:

Town hall question: “Who's going to shoot Obama?” — Here's the latest evidence that nothing has changed in post-Tucson America: A person at a Tuesday town hall with Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., got up and asked, “Who is going to shoot President Obama?” — The exact wording of the question …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice and Althouse

Michelle Malkin:
Hate-a-rama: The vulgar, racist, sexist, homophobic rage of the Left

Discussion: UNCOVERAGE.net

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Secret Service interviews Georgia constituent who asked who will ‘shoot’ Obama; case is ‘closed matter’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and TPMMuckraker

Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:

WI Assembly GOP Passes Walker Budget In Surprise Vote — Dems Chant “Shame!” — MADISON, WI — The Wisconsin State Assembly has just passed Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, including its controversial provisions to eliminate almost all collective bargaining rights for public employee unions …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Taylor Marsh, MyDD, Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice and The Hill

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Rubicon: A river in Wisconsin — The magnificent turmoil now gripping statehouses in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and soon others marks an epic political moment. The nation faces a fiscal crisis of historic proportions and, remarkably, our muddled, gridlocked, allegedly broken politics have yielded singular clarity.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, PostPartisan, Pajamas Media and Washington Examiner

Ronald Brownstein / NationalJournal.com:

Pulling Apart — Congress was more polarized last year than in any other year since National Journal began compiling its vote ratings. Overlap between the parties is disappearing. — Republicans in lockstep: House Speaker John Boehner, flanked by GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy (left) …

Discussion: The Note, The Fix, WPRI.com Blogs, USA Today, Hotline On Call and TPMDC

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

LEFTIST GALLERY ERUPTS as Wisconsin GOP Assembly Passes Governor Walker's Budget Cut Bill (Video) — LEFTISTS ERUPT IN RAGE as the GOP majority passed Governor Walker's budget cut bill in the Wisconsin Assembly last night. — The far left politicians and supporters shouted “Shame!” and …

Discussion: PoliPundit.com, Fox Nation, The Daily Caller, The Future of Capitalism, POWIP and Althouse

JSOnline:
Groups officially begin recall process for seven lawmakers

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Lonely Conservative and Scared Monkeys

JSOnline:
Budget-repair bill approved in early-morning vote

Discussion: Weigel, Hot Air, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Wake up America, Mother Jones, GayPatriot and The Politico

Amy Merrick / Wall Street Journal:
Wisconsin Assembly Passes Bill on Union Rights

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Todd Richmond / host.madison.com:
Tempers explode as Assembly passes controversial budget repair bill

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Indecision Forever, Politics Daily and The Gateway Pundit

Wisconsin Reporter:
New poll: Wisconsinites split on Walker's budget proposal

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Maddow Blog, TPMDC, GayPatriot, TPMMuckraker, The Raw Story, Weigel, WisPolitics Budget Blog, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air and Fire Andrea Mitchell!

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Senate Democrats eye the lockbox for Social Security, in Al Gore revival — Senate Democrats want to put the Social Security trust fund in a lockbox and insulate it from a broader budget-cutting package designed to reduce the national deficit. — It's a revival of the concept …

Discussion: The Politico, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, CNN, SENATUS and Prairie Weather

Washington Post:
Senate Democrats draft spending cuts

Discussion: Ezra Klein, TalkLeft, Mother Jones, Right Turn, Betsy's Page, National Review and The Hill

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Senate Dems Ding Boehner For Golfing Amid Shutdown Negotiations

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

National Review:

Koch Executives Speak Out on Wisconsin — Madison, Wis. — Earlier this week, a blogger impersonating industrialist David Koch spoke with Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who is attempting to pass a budget-repair bill. The conversation between Walker and the poseur, which was recorded …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, protein wisdom, TPMMuckraker, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, JSOnline, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Ben Smith's Blog, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Teamster Nation and GayPatriot

John / Power Line:
No Retreat, No Surrender

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Samizdata.net

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Shock Doctrine, U.S.A. — Here's a thought: maybe Madison, Wis., isn't Cairo after all. Maybe it's Baghdad — specifically, Baghdad in 2003, when the Bush administration put Iraq under the rule of officials chosen for loyalty and political reliability rather than experience and competence.

Discussion: The New Republic, Media Research Center, NewsBusters.org, Prairie Weather, The Enterprise Blog, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

Annalyn Censky / CNNMoney.com:

GDP report: Economic growth revised sharply lower — NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Budget cuts by state and local governments hurt the economy more than originally thought, according to a government release Friday. — Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity …

Discussion: TalkLeft

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:
National Income and Product Accounts

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Economix, Calculated Risk and Free exchange

Molly Ball / The Politico:

Pelosi edits honorary resolution...on Pelosi — The Democratic National Committee wanted to honor Nancy Pelosi Thursday — but its praise wasn't good enough for the House minority leader. — When the DNC's Resolutions Committee brought up a resolution commemorating Pelosi's years as speaker of the House …

Discussion: PoliPundit.com, Weasel Zippers, Sweetness & Light, Wonkette and Right Wing News

New York Times:

U.S. Pulling Back in Afghan Valley It Called Vital to War — KABUL, Afghanistan — After years of fighting for control of a prominent valley in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the United States military has begun to pull back most of its forces from ground it once insisted …

Discussion: The Politico, The Moderate Voice, JustOneMinute, Registan.net, Parker Spitzer, Rethink Afghanistan War Blog, Connecting.the.Dots, White House Dossier and FrumForum

New Jersey Online:

N.J. labor unions expected to rally in Trenton in support of Wisconsin public workers — TRENTON — In a sea of red shirts at the Statehouse today, members of New Jersey labor unions are expected to rally in support of Wisconsin public employees. — Their objectives will be transparent.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and JammieWearingFool

tax.com:
Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who ‘Contributes’ to Public Workers' Pensions?

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Don Surber, Ezra Klein and Newshoggers.com

David Brooks / New York Times:

Run Mitch, Run — On Feb. 11, Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana met with a group of college students. According to The Yale Daily News, he told them that there is an “excellent chance” he will not run for president. Then he mounted the podium at the Conservative Political Action Conference …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Politics and Shakesville

Kate Loveys / Daily Mail:

Foiled by the winter: The £25,000 eco-classroom that can't be used because solar panels don't provide enough heat — Eco-campaigners who built a classroom powered by the sun believed they were paving the way for the future. — Instead they have been taught a valuable lesson …

Discussion: Moonbattery, Watts Up With That?, Right Wing News and The Gateway Pundit

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

The top political newcomers — Only two months have passed in 2011, but already a number of new faces have made names for themselves — sometimes for good and somtimes for bad — on the national political scene. — Some, like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) …

Discussion: WBNG-TV

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Geithner: Shutdown could slow recovery - Tanker lobbying $100 m+ — Trump claims to be planning serious run for president — Sean Spicer to RNC — Bob Schieffer, Jessica Yellin, Lauren Kapp b'day — BIG SIGN SARAH PALIN ISN'T RUNNING: Neither she, nor anyone on her behalf, is courting top donors …

Discussion: A plain blog about politics

aina.org:

Egyptian Armed Forces Fire At Christian Monasteries, 19 Injured — (AINA) — For the second time in as many days, Egyptian armed force stormed the 5th century old St. Bishoy monastery in Wadi el-Natroun, 110 kilometers from Cairo. Live ammunition was fired, wounding two monks and six Coptic monastery workers.

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Gates of Vienna, Weasel Zippers, UNCOVERAGE.net and Babalú Blog