memeorandum: Analysis: Obama Struggles on Mideast Policy as Crises Mount (Reuters)

12:55 PM ET, March 25, 2011

Top Items:

‘Have You No Sense of Decency?’ The Wm. Cronon Story — BEIJING, China. I don't mean to keep butting in and have just a minute to type this out, but I think it's important to direct attention to a new abuse of power underway in Wisconsin. — William Cronon (right), whom I know very slightly …

Discussion: The Nation, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather and Latest Open Salon Blog

Kate Golden / WisconsinWatch.org:

Indiana prosecutor resigns over Walker email — Initially denied encouraging Wisconsin violence — Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism — This is an updated version. Read the Center's original version here. — An Indiana deputy prosecutor and Republican activist resigned Thursday …

Discussion: TPMDC, Guardian, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, Shakesville, Mother Jones, The Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Crooks and Liars, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Sky Dancing, Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, Politicususa and Balloon Juice

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

My Worlds Collide — This is a bizarre, ugly turn of events. And for me it's a little weird because of the people involved. I just found out about it from TPM Reader AS. — Bill Cronon — or William Cronon, as I think of him — is a Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Washington Post

Bill / Scholar as Citizen:
Abusing Open Records to Attack Academic Freedom

Discussion: TPMDC, Crooked Timber and Boing Boing

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THOSE COLORFUL GOP PROSECUTORS IN INDIANA.... About a month ago …

Discussion: TPMDC, Prairie Weather and Talking Points Memo

David Kocieniewski / New York Times:

G.E.'s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether — General Electric, the nation's largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010. — The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States. — Its American tax bill?

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Huckabee Has Slight Edge, Palin Down, in GOP '12 Preferences — Romney, Palin would tie if Huckabee does not run — PRINCETON, NJ — Mike Huckabee tops a large list of potential GOP presidential candidates in current support for the party's 2012 nomination, with 19% of Republicans saying they are most likely to back him.

Discussion: Yglesias, The Moderate Voice, CNN, USA Today, Ballot Box and HotAirPundit

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Mitt Romney's path: Victory by ‘slog’ — Mitt Romney is sketching a path to the GOP nomination that looks nothing like the one blazed by Republicans before him. — Romney's plan, by necessity, more closely resembles the outline of the epic 2008 Democratic presidential primary than the GOP's recent victory-by-early-knockout design.

Discussion: The Note, msnbc.com, Swampland and The Page

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

CBO: Taxing mileage a ‘practical option’ for revenue enhancement — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week released a report that said taxing people based on how many miles they drive is a possible option for raising new revenues and that these taxes could be used to offset the costs …

Discussion: Don Surber, Weasel Zippers, International Liberty, Questions and Observations, Hot Air, Grim's Hall, Scared Monkeys and Pajamas Media

New York Times:

Allies Are Split on Goal and Exit Strategy in Libya — WASHINGTON — Having largely succeeded in stopping a rout of Libya's rebels, the inchoate coalition attacking Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's forces remains divided over the ultimate goal — and exit strategy — of what officials acknowledged Thursday …

Discussion: Yglesias, The Cable, Taylor Marsh, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Connecting.the.Dots, BBC, The Foundry, Swampland, Steve Sailer's iSteve Blog, Prairie Weather and Hot Air

Adam C. Smith / St. Petersburg Times:

Connie Mack will NOT run for U.S. Senate — U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV won't run for U.S. Senate. — “I've got two small children and it's hard enough to get to spend a lot of good quality time now. I have a wife. They are all very important to me and at the end of the day family has to be number one …

Discussion: Ballot Box, CNN, Washington Post, Swing State Project, Crowley Political Report, Hotline On Call and TPMDC

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Lamestream Media: Reload or White Flag? — “Let's keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted with the vulgar personal shots. Call out lies and set the record straight, but always keep the ball moving. No one ever won a game only playing defense.”

Discussion: Mediaite, Wonkette, Big Journalism, The Gateway Pundit and The Hill

Shane D'Aprile / Ballot Box:
Sarah Palin hits back at ‘annoying little mosquito’ Bill Maher

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com and Weasel Zippers

Charles Krauthammer / Orange County Register:

The professor's war … President Obama is proud of how he put together the Libyan operation. A model of international cooperation. All the necessary paperwork. Arab League backing. A Security Council resolution. (Everything but a resolution from the Congress of the United States …

Discussion: protein wisdom and Betsy's Page

Steven Hayward / Power Line:
The Libya Farce Goes to 11

Discussion: Hot Air, Reuters, Pundit & Pundette and National Review

Alex Pareene / Salon:

The stupid saga of Andrew Breitbart and the Huffington Post — So! Arianna Huffington — recently put in charge of all the “content” at AOL following the dial-up ISP's acquisition of her former “liberal Drudge” Internet newspaper — gave a blog to her old friend Andrew Breitbart.

Discussion: Capital New York, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Big Journalism, STRANAHAN dot COM and Hit & Run

David Weigel / Weigel:
Huffington Post Wimps Out on Breitbart

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller, STRANAHAN dot COM, Big Journalism, Patterico's Pontifications, Nice Deb, The Gateway Pundit, FishbowlDC, Verum Serum, Da Techguy's Blog, AMERICAblog News and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Japan Quietly Evacuating a Wider Radius From Reactors — TOKYO — Japanese officials on Friday began quietly encouraging people to evacuate a larger swath of territory around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a sign that they hold little hope that the crippled facility will soon be brought under control.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Latest Open Salon Blog and The Page

Associated Press:
Dangerous breach suspected at Japanese nuke plant

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and News Desk, more at Mediagazer »

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Dick Armey says Mitch Daniels would have 2012 tea party cred — Mitch Daniels, an establishment GOP favorite, could also have real tea party appeal, former House Majorrity Leader Dick Armey says. — Armey, who heads the tea party promoting group FreedomWorks, met with Daniels in Indiana Thursday …

Discussion: CNN and Indianapolis Star

Mary Beth Schneider / Indianapolis Star:
Daniels: I'm still undecided about running for White House

Discussion: GOP 12

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Woops, Newt Did It Again: Trying To Defend Libya Flip-Flop, Gingrich Reverses Himself On Air Power — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich went on Fox News last night to “attempt[] to clarify [his] stance on Libya,” as Fox itself put it, but only ran into more trouble.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Daily Beast, Blogcritics, Daily Kos and Yglesias

The Note:
Gingrich Not Alone In No-fly Zone Contradiction

Discussion: CNN, Washington Monthly, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Political Punch

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

And While We're on the Subject of Reuters... This is from a just-released Reuters news analysis of President Obama's alleged travails: … This, of course, is wildly inaccurate and misleading. Say what you will about the second Iraq war, but George W. Bush made partnerships with many nations …

Discussion: RedState and PoliPundit.com

Reuters: Analysis: Obama Struggles on Mideast Policy as Crises Mount

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Austerity Delusion — Portugal's government has just fallen in a dispute over austerity proposals. Irish bond yields have topped 10 percent for the first time. And the British government has just marked its economic forecast down and its deficit forecast up. — What do these events have in common?

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Prairie Weather and Clusterstock

Charles Forelle / Wall Street Journal:

A Nation of Dropouts Shakes Europe — LISBON—Isabel Fernandes, a cheery 22-year-old with a constellation of stars tattooed around her right eye, isn't sure how many times she repeated fifth grade. Two, she says with a laugh. Or maybe three. She redid seventh grade as well.

Discussion: Economix

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Obama fails to grasp the gravity of going to war — Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork — “I see Obama's visiting the United States,” said Rush Limbaugh on Thursday, the president's first full day back in Washington after a spring break diplomatic tour of Latin America.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit and The Hill

Carol Grisanti / msnbc.com:

Kids act in suicide-bombing video, for fun — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — It's the game-playing that draws the attention: A group of young boys are acting out the last moments of a suicide bomber, for fun. — In a disturbing 84-second video, posted on YouTube, one boy, perhaps 12 years old …

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

Anti-Union Push Picks Up Steam On Capitol Hill — In the next several days, the state-level fight between Democrats and Republicans over unions will go federal. House Republicans want to re-establish old rules which say that when aviation or rail workers don't vote in unionization elections …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Wall Street Journal:

The Speech Obama Hasn't Given — What are we doing in Libya? Americans deserve an explanation. — It all seems rather mad, doesn't it? The decision to become involved militarily in the Libyan civil war couldn't take place within a less hospitable context.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Betsy's Page and Don Surber

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

Arizona Sheriff Arpaio and Steven Seagal send in the tanks to bust up chickens — America has gone crazy! Well, Arizona certainly leads the way to bizzaro land with the actions of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. And is there such a thing as Action Star Steven Seagal anymore?

Discussion: Mediaite