memeorandum: Chuck Schumer Caught on Tape Instructing Fellow Dems on How to Spin Media, Networks Ignore (Scott Whitlock/NewsBusters.org blogs)

10:20 PM ET, March 30, 2011

Top Items:

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret support for Libya rebels — (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

New York Times:

C.I.A. Agents in Libya Aid Airstrikes and Meet Rebels — WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and contact rebels battling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's forces, according to American officials.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, NO QUARTER, LewRockwell.com Blog, Balloon Juice and Pajamas Media

New York Times:

Retreat for Rebels; Libyan Foreign Minister Quits — BREGA, Libya — Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi advanced rapidly on Wednesday, seizing towns they ceded just days ago after intense allied airstrikes and hounding rebel fighters into a chaotic retreat.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and JustOneMinute

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Looking for Luck in Libya — There is an old saying in the Middle East that a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee. That thought came to my mind as I listened to President Obama trying to explain the intervention of America and its allies in Libya — and I don't say that as criticism.

Discussion: msnbc.com, The only adult in the room, Pajamas Media, Eschaton, First Draft and JustOneMinute

New York Times:
Washington in Fierce Debate on Arming Libyan Rebels

ABCNEWS:
President Obama Authorizes Covert Help for Libyan Rebels

Discussion: American Power, Political Punch and HotAirPundit

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The wisdom and legality of arming Libyan rebels

Discussion: Guardian, Danger Room and Firedoglake

Emptywheel:
Where Will Obama Try Himself for Material Support for Terrorism?

Discussion: Hit & Run, Pajamas Media and The Raw Story

Washington Post:

House Republican leaders turn to moderate Democrats for budget deal — Having difficulty finding consensus within their own ranks, House Republican leaders have begun courting moderate Democrats on several key fiscal issues, including a deal to avoid a government shutdown at the end of next week.

Felicia Sonmez / Washington Post:
House Republicans plan symbolic bill to pressure Senate on shutdown

Discussion: The Huffington Post, A plain blog about politics, TPMDC, The Political Carnival, Zandar Versus The Stupid and Prairie Weather

George Stephanopoulos / George's Bottom Line:
Budget Negotiators Reach Tentative Deal To Avert Government Shutdown

Discussion: Daily Kos, Hot Air and National Review

Fox News:
Republicans Pitch Unusual Backup Plan as Fragile Budget Talks Resume

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Fox Nation

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Chuck Schumer Caught on Tape Instructing Fellow Dems on How to Spin Media, Networks Ignore

Discussion: Flopping Aces and HotAirPundit

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:

GOPers Demand Sean Duffy Salary Tape Be Pulled From The Internet (VIDEO) — First the Republican Party in Polk County, Wisconsin, pulled the tape of Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) fretting about making ends meet on his $174,000 a year salary from its own website. Now they want it gone from the whole Internet.

Discussion: UrbanGrounds, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo, Examiner, JSOnline and First Draft

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
GOP Rep: I'm ‘Struggling’ On My $174K Salary (VIDEO)

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Jack & Jill Politics, Crooks and Liars, ThinkProgress, First Draft, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Examiner

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Setting the Record Straight on State's Film Production Tax Credit — Goodness, cleaning up the sloppiness of reporters could be a full time job. In response to The Daily Caller's online inquiry, I gave them a statement that the writer buried on his story's second page …

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Cubachi, Mediaite, National Review, Liberty Pundits Blog and GOP 12

Benjy Sarlin / TPMDC:
Sarah Palin Rips Into Daily Caller For Not Featuring Her Quote High Enough

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Conservatives4Palin

Chris Moody / The Daily Caller:
Conservatives take on Palin for government-subsidized reality show, Palin calls criticism ‘ludicrous’

Discussion: Salon, Riehl World View, Conservatives4Palin, National Review, Tax Foundation, Big Hollywood, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and Hit & Run

Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:

VIDEO: Indiana GOP Rep Says Women Will Pretend To Be Raped To Get Free Abortions — Yesterday morning, the Indiana House considered an anti-abortion bill that “would put some of the tightest abortion restrictions in the nation into Indiana law.” Introduced by state Rep. Eric Turner (R) …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Indianapolis Star:
House GOP tames Dems' efforts on abortion bill

Discussion: Shakesville

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

GOP report: AARP stands to make $1 billion from ObamaCare, IRS should investigate — Good stuff. AARP is the Death Star of American entitlements, so if the GOP wants to reform Social Security and Medicare, they're going to have to fire some photon torpedoes.

Discussion: Associated Press

Republican Ways and Means:
Congressional Report Details AARP's Financial Gain From Health Care Law

Discussion: RedState and American Glob

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:

Supreme Court rejects damages for innocent man who spent 14 years on death row — In a 5-4 ruling, justices overturn a jury verdict awarding $14 million to John Thompson, who had sued then-New Orleans Dist. Atty. Harry Connick Sr. because prosecutors hid a blood test that would have proved his innocence in a murder case.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Wonkette, Mother Jones, iOwnTheWorld.com, Outside the Beltway, Gawker, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Shakesville and This Just In

Quinnipiac University:

Obama Gets Lowest Approval, Reelect Score Ever, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; More Voters Oppose U.S. Involvement In Libya — American voters disapprove 48 - 42 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing and say 50 - 41 percent he does not deserve to be re-elected in 2012 …

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Poll: Obama's approval hits new low

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, protein wisdom, Indecision Forever and HotAirPundit

Live Action Blog:

Planned Parenthood CEO's False Mammogram Claim Exposed — Contact: Amy Kim, 323.454.3304, media@liveaction.org — WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30-A series of new undercover phone calls reveals that contrary to the claims of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards and other supporters …

Discussion: The Brody File, Washington Post, Big Journalism, Left Coast Rebel, Erick's blog and NewsBusters.org blogs

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Obama's jaw-dropping hypocrisy on energy — The Post reports: … It's nice that he's discovered the importance of domestic energy development, but his rhetoric overlooks his own policies over the past two years. Yesterday on the Senate floor Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Foundry, The Lonely Conservative, Marathon Pundit, The Right Sphere, JustOneMinute, Pirate's Cove and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Democracy in America:
Reheated proposals — FOR 40-odd years now, Barack Obama …

Discussion: Dot Earth, Grist, Washington Post, The Daily Dish, Free exchange and Mother Jones

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Poll: Americans cooling on tea party — The tea party might be running out of steam. — The approval rating for the 2-year-old movement fell to 32 percent in a CNN/Opinion Research corporation poll released Wednesday, the lowest it's been since CNN first polled on the tea party in January 2010.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, neo-neocon, Daily Kos, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Washington Examiner

Josiah Ryan / The Hill:
Reid: Country doesn't care about Tea Party

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, KECI, Michelle Malkin, USA Today and HotAirPundit

CNN:

Only 14, Bangladeshi girl charged with adultery was lashed to death — Shariatpur, Bangladesh (CNN) — Hena Akhter's last words to her mother proclaimed her innocence. But it was too late to save the 14-year-old girl. — Her fellow villagers in Bangladesh's Shariatpur district had already passed harsh judgment on her.

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, Patterico's Pontifications, Feministing and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Cantor and the budget — My colleague David Rogers, an institutional figure on Capitol Hill with some of the deepest sourcing imaginable, had a remarkable exchange with Eric Cantor yesterday during a pen-and-pad on the Hill, sent on by a non-POLITICO source.

Discussion: The Politico, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Taegan Goddard's … and The Political Carnival

Russell Berman / The Hill:
White House, GOP edge closer to a deal on 2011 budget

Discussion: The Other McCain, The Politico and Hot Air

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

With New ‘Monkey Bill,’ Tennessee Takes Evolution Education Back To Scopes — Eighty six years after the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial opened Tennessee classrooms to the teaching of evolution, the state House is trying to slam the door shut again. Tennessee's House Education Committee approved …

Discussion: Knoxville News-Sentinel

Washington Post:

On NBC, the missing story about parent company General Electric — Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press - The story that General Electric did not pay federal taxes last year was widely reported everywhere but NBC. — It's the kind of accountability journalism that makes readers raise an eyebrow …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mediaite, Company Town, The Political Carnival, The Lonely Conservative, Poynter and Snark And Boobs, more at Mediagazer »

National Review:

Bench Brawl in Wisconsin — The Left long ago stopped pretending that court proceedings were anything other than exercises in raw-power politics, and so they've taken their fight against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to the state supreme court — not in the form of a lawsuit …

Discussion: The Blast, RedState and Nice Deb

Benjamin Svetkey / PopWatch:

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as ‘The Governator’ — EXCLUSIVE — He's been a famous body builder. He's been a killer cyborg from the future. He's been Governor of California. And now, in this week's exclusive cover scoop, Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals his plans for the next phase …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Capitol Alert

Stan Pillman / CBS Chicago:

Threats Claim Nuclear Bombs Hidden All Over U.S. — CHICAGO (CBS 2) - The threats came in the mail and to date, there have been 25 letters that warn of nuclear bombs destroying America. — People who got them called the FBI and CBS 2′s Kristyn Hartman learned, the Bureau's Chicago office is leading the investigation.

Discussion: Maggie's Notebook and The Jawa Report