memeorandum: Why a U.S. government shutdown is worth it (James Pethokoukis)

2:35 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 …

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Secret Service interviews Georgia constituent who asked who will ‘shoot’ Obama; case is ‘closed matter’ — UPDATE, 11:50 a.m.: In a new statement Rep Paul Broun appears to admit he should have condemned his constituent: … ORIGINAL POST: — By now you may have heard that GOP Rep. Paul Broun …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, TPMMuckraker and Salon

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: Outside the Beltway and Prairie Weather

Michelle Malkin:

Hate-a-rama: The vulgar, racist, sexist, homophobic rage of the Left — Projection. — My new syndicated column today does the reporting the Tea Party-bashing national media won't do on the rabid outbreak of progressive incivility and violence at Big Labor protests across the country.

Discussion: UNCOVERAGE.net

Ryan J. Reilly / TPMMuckraker:
Witnesses: Republican Laughed When Asked 'Who's Gonna Shoot Obama?'

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Dish, Jay Bookman, The Right Sphere and msnbc.com

Justin Elliott / Salon:
Town hall question: “Who's going to shoot Obama?”

Discussion: Althouse, Washington Monthly and The Moderate Voice

Tom Diemer / Politics Daily: Talk about lack of civility. Georgia Rep. Paul Broun …

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: Politics Daily, Washington Wire, The Note, WPRI.com Blogs, Hotline On Call, USA Today, The Fix and TPMDC

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, Mother Jones, Taylor Marsh, MyDD, Talking Points Memo, Firedoglake, 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

Brad Reed / Crooks and Liars:
Teabags and Sympathy — So the New York Times posted …

Discussion: Winds of Change.NET

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
LEFTIST GALLERY ERUPTS as Wisconsin GOP Assembly Passes Governor Walker's Budget Cut Bill (Video)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Cantor: House GOP shares Gov. Walker's motivation on spending

Discussion: The Politico

Jonathan Capehart / PostPartisan:

Jeremy Bernard: A historic choice for White House social secretary — The White House is set to make news and history this afternoon when it announces the new social secretary. Jeremy Bernard, currently the chief of staff to the U.S. ambassador to France, will become the third person to hold the job in the Obama administration.

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Caucus, AMERICAblog Gay, Weasel Zippers, Towleroad News #gay and New York Magazine

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:
The White House Gets Its First Male Social Secretary

Discussion: National Review

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: CNN, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Ezra Klein, The Politico, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, SENATUS and Prairie Weather

James Pethokoukis:
Why a U.S. government shutdown is worth it

Discussion: protein wisdom

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, TPMMuckraker, protein wisdom, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Outside the Beltway, JSOnline, Ben Smith's Blog, Teamster Nation, Hot Air 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, Washington Examiner, Media Research Center, Prairie Weather, NewsBusters.org, Daily Kos, The Enterprise Blog and Hullabaloo

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: Washington Monthly, The Daily Dish, Ben Smith's Blog, Politics, Paul Krugman and Shakesville

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The DOJ's creeping war on whistleblowers — Last April, the DOJ served a subpoena on New York Times reporter James Risen, demanding to know his source for a story he published in his 2006 book regarding a “reckless” and horribly botched CIA effort to infiltrate Iran's nuclear program.

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Feds spy on reporter in leak probe

Discussion: The Raw Story and Poynter

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

Benjamin Weiser / New York Times:

Jury Nullification Advocate Is Indicted — Julian P. Heicklen sat silent and unresponsive as his bail hearing began last week in federal court in Manhattan; his eyes were closed, his head slumped forward. — “Mr. Heicklen?” the magistrate judge, Ronald L. Ellis, asked. “Mr. Heicklen?

Discussion: Balkinization and The Volokh Conspiracy

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: Free exchange, Ezra Klein, Economix, Economist's View and Calculated Risk

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, Registan.net, JustOneMinute, Parker Spitzer, Rethink Afghanistan War Blog, Connecting.the.Dots, FrumForum and White House Dossier

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

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Mississippi Rates as the Most Conservative U.S. State — Vermont, Rhode Island, District of Columbia have highest percentages of liberals — PRINCETON, NJ — Mississippi is home to the largest percentage of conservatives among U.S. states, with a slim majority identifying their political views as conservative.

Discussion: CNN, USA Today and Taegan Goddard's …