memeorandum: Two shot dead at Frankfurt airport (Helen Pidd/Guardian)

4:00 PM ET, March 2, 2011

Top Items:

Fox News pulls Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum off the air because of their interest in running for president — Fox News suspends the contracts of political contributors Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum because both have demonstrated that they are seriously considering running for president.

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Fox News suspends Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum — Fox News has suspended contributors Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum effective immediately until they decide whether to run for president. — Anchor Bret Baier announced on air late Wednesday morning that the network “has suspended …

Discussion: CNN, Little Green Footballs, Ben Smith's Blog, Hot Air, Media Matters for America and FrumForum

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Fox News Suspends Contributors Potential Presidential Candidates Gingrich And Santorum — Fox News anchor Bret Baier announced that effective today, Fox News has suspended its contributor arrangements with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum , both of whom have signaled possible presidential runs for 2012.

Discussion: The Fix, PostPartisan, TPM LiveWire and The Raw Story

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Obama strong in Virginia — Virginia seems like a state Republicans almost have to win next year if they want to take back the White House but if the voting was today Barack Obama would take it again by a margin comparable to or greater than what he won in 2008. — Obama leads Mitt Romney by 6 points in the state at 48-42.

Discussion: GOP 12

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
Fox News Suspends Gingrich and Santorum

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Swampland, msnbc.com and New York Times

Helen Pidd / Guardian:

Two shot dead at Frankfurt airport — Suspect arrested after bus driver and passenger killed and two other US airmen injured in shooting at Frankfurt airport — Two US airmen have been shot dead and two wounded at Frankfurt airport. — The gunman, believed to be from Kosovo …

Discussion: The Raw Story, Gawker and Gates of Vienna

Spiegel Online:
US Soldier Believed Among Dead in Killings

Discussion: Jihad Watch

Phil / Dane101:

Wisconsin GOP Senator Glenn Grothman chased, trapped by hecklers, saved by Dem. Rep. Hulsey — Phil Ejercito is a 29 year old freelance photographer based in Madison, WI. His primary photographic services include (but are by no means limited to) live music, event coverage, politics and activism …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, UNCOVERAGE.net, No More Mister Nice Blog, UrbanGrounds, Da Techguy's Blog, The Lonely Conservative, Nice Deb, Pajamas Media, RedState, Whiskey Fire, Raw Replay and Moonbattery

Michelle Malkin:
Mob rule video: Unhinged crowd corners Wisconsin GOP senator shouting “F**k you,” …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Pundit & Pundette, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, Patterico's Pontifications and The American Mind

Dee J. Hall / host.madison.com:
Republican leader Fitzgerald met with Democrat Cullen on ways to end senator boycott

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, TPMDC, theblogprof, Nice Deb, Althouse, Fox Nation and The Lonely Conservative

host.madison.com:
Vital Signs: Crowd chases Sen. Grothman around Capitol

Discussion: Firedoglake, JSOnline, Sister Toldjah, Shows and AMERICAblog News

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Supreme Court rules First Amendment protects church's right to picket funerals — A nearly unanimous Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protects even hurtful speech about public issues and upheld the right of a fringe church to protest near military funerals.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, The Raw Story, New York Magazine and Booman Tribune

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Justices Rule for Protesters at Military Funerals — WASHINGTON — The First Amendment protects hateful protests at military funerals, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in an 8-1 decision. — “Speech is powerful,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority.

Discussion: ACS Blog, Wonkette, SCOTUSblog, Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway, Feministe, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Christianity Today

Ariane De Vogue / ABCNEWS:
Supreme Court OKs Protests at Military Funerals

Discussion: CNN, Runnin' Scared, The Political Carnival, AOL News and Gawker

Jonathan Strong / The Daily Caller:

Congressional bosses from Hell: Sheila Jackson Lee — A lot of politicians give nicknames to their aides. George W. Bush famously referred to his attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez, as “Fredo.” Mitch Daniels, then head of the Office of Management and Budget, was known as “The Blade.”

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, Wonkette, Moe Lane, Betsy's Page and The Other McCain

Mark Mellman / The Hill:

OPINION: Wisconsin governor is waging ‘jihad’ against unions — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) jihad against public employee unions is about 30 years late and likely to make Republicans even less popular with voters, who endorse collective bargaining rights for public employees — professionals for whom they have abiding respect.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, Da Techguy's Blog, The Jawa Report, Daily Kos, Pirate's Cove and Public Policy Polling

Josh Kraushaar / NationalJournal.com:
That Vision Thing — As bold as Gov. Walker has been in calling …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and protein wisdom

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
DeMint: Collective bargaining has no place in government

Discussion: The Note, Cubachi, ThinkProgress, Associated Press, Wonk Room, Weasel Zippers and Liberty Pundits Blog

Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:

Obama's 'Where's Waldo?' presidency — For a man who won office talking about change we can believe in, Barack Obama can be a strangely passive president. There are a startling number of occasions in which the president has been missing in action - unwilling, reluctant or late to weigh in on the issue of the moment.

Discussion: Reuters, Sky Dancing, Right Wing News, Betsy's Page, protein wisdom, PoliPundit.com, National Review and Cafe Hayek

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Conceding defeat this time, Senate Dems pledge to win next round — Senate Democrats conceded Tuesday that House Republicans won round one of the budget fight, but they are vowing a bigger battle later this month. — Anticipating that showdown, Senate Democratic leaders are scrambling …

Discussion: 2chambers, CNN, Right Turn, Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Online NewsHour, Daily Kos, Heritage Action for America, Wonkette and FrumForum

David Rogers / The Politico:
Dems support Biden's budget role

Discussion: FrumForum

Digby / Hullabaloo:

They Know Their Audience — ... isn't that bright. — What's wrong with this picture? — If you guessed the snowless ground and palm trees in Wisconsin you win a big prize. Your sanity. — h/t to @JoshuaHolland — .

Discussion: Washington Monthly, pandagon.net, ThinkProgress and Weigel

Aaron Marshall / Plain Dealer:

Fetuses to be presented as witnesses before Ohio House committee considering abortion restrictions — COLUMBUS, Ohio - Two fetuses will be presented as witnesses before an Ohio legislative committee that is hearing a bill to outlaw abortions after the first heartbeat can be detected inside a woman's womb.

Discussion: f2a.org, RHRealityCheck.org, Taylor Marsh, Shakesville, Pharyngula, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politics Extra, The Raw Story, Sister Toldjah, The Agonist and fox8.com

620WTMJ:

Capitol Chaos: Resolution Passed To Fine ‘Wisconsin 14’ — MADISON - The 14 Wisconsin state Senate Democrats who left the state two weeks ago will now face fines of $100 for each day they miss, if they miss two or more days. — Republicans remaining in the Senate approved the daily fine …

Discussion: Cubachi, Riehl World View, The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Jack Shafer / Slate:

Unless they're paying beaucoup bucks, his transfer to New York makes no sense to me. … Like This Story — Follow Slate's Press Box … - The U.S. Has Frozen $30 Billion of Qaddafi's Assets. Can We Spend It? - John Roberts Writes the Funniest Sentence in Supreme Court History …

Discussion: The Other McCain, Prairie Weather, Balloon Juice, Poynter, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite and New York Magazine

Greg Jaffe / Washington Post:

Lt. Gen. John Kelly, who lost son to war, says U.S. largely unaware of sacrifice — Before he addressed the crowd that had assembled in the St. Louis Hyatt Regency ballroom last November, Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly had one request. “Please don't mention my son,” he asked the Marine Corps officer introducing him.

Discussion: PostPartisan, democracyarsenal.org, Achenblog, The Enterprise Blog, National Review and Pajamas Media

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

“You are a person against all of us. The whole nation is looking at you." — says an old woman with a “Solidarity” sign who gets right up in Meade's face... ... when Meade asks her why he should “be ashamed” of himself. That's at the end of this uncut 7 1/2-minute video, shot outside the Capitol this afternoon.

Discussion: Moe Lane and American Power

Patrick O'Connor / Washington Wire:

WSJ/NBC Poll: Strong Support for Bargaining Rights — Americans strongly oppose efforts to strip unionized government workers of their rights to collectively bargain, even as they want public employees to contribute more money to their retirement and health-care benefits, the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Waste, Fraud, and Sen. Coburn — I'll get back to highlighting a few of the results from the GAO's report on streamlining government later today, but first I want to highlight this nugget from Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis: … Let's settle down a bit here.

Discussion: James Pethokoukis, Ezra Klein, A plain blog about politics and U.S. Government …

Glenn Kessler / Fact Checker:

Haley Barbour's Medicaid fantasy — “We have people pull up at the pharmacy window in a BMW and say they can't afford their co-payment.” — Haley Barbour's colorful remark, made to The Washington Post while attending a National Governors Association meeting in Washington this week …

Discussion: Kaiser Health News, American Prospect, Guardian, Washington Monthly and Eschaton

BBC:

Pakistan Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti shot dead — Watch: Shahbaz Bhatti predicted his death as he defended his faith four months ago — Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti has been shot dead by gunmen who ambushed his car in broad daylight in the capital, Islamabad.

Discussion: Cubachi, Guardian, AOL News, Liberty Pundits Blog, Harry's Place, The Page and FrumForum

Simmi Aujla / The Politico:

Ben Bernanke: GOP's plan will cut jobs — Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that House GOP's 2011 spending plan would likely cost “a couple hundred thousand jobs,” a number he called “not trivial.” — Bernanke's testimony Wednesday was more specific than what he offered Tuesday …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Rich Lowry / National Review:

‘I already know I could win’ — Dan already wrote a piece about it, but Chris Christie was in the office last week. I just wanted to quote him more extensively on 2012. I asked him whether he knew that, given the moment, there is a serious chance he could win the Republican nomination if he ran.