memeorandum: GOP unveils plan to eliminate Medicare, press neglects to ask about it (Jed Lewison/Daily Kos)

5:10 PM ET, April 5, 2011

Top Items:

David Brooks / New York Times:

Moment of Truth — It was a season of fiscal perestroika. Last fall, the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission released a bold report on how to avoid an economic catastrophe. For a few weeks, the think tanks and government offices were alive with proposals to reduce debt and reform entitlements …

Discussion: Ross Douthat, Firedoglake, ECHIDNE of the snakes, Wonk Room, Connecting.the.Dots, Ben Smith's Blog, The Hill, Economix, Washington Post, The Daily Dish, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, Hullabaloo, The Hill, The Reality-Based Community, Atlas Shrugs and NewsBusters.org blogs

Paul D. Ryan / Wall Street Journal:

The GOP Path to Prosperity — Our budget cuts $6.2 trillion in spending from the president's budget over the next 10 years and puts the nation on track to pay off our national debt. — Congress is currently embroiled in a funding fight over how much to spend on less than one-fifth of the federal budget for the next six months.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Foundry, Marginal Revolution, ThinkProgress, Hot Air, Democracy in America, Cubachi, Hit & Run, Cato @ Liberty, Washington Post, RedState, WyBlog, Yglesias, Weasel Zippers, The Politico, CBS News, The Moderate Voice, TPMDC, Free exchange, Another Black Conservative, LewRockwell.com Blog, Ricochet.com, neo-neocon, Swampland, YID With LID, American Spectator, PERRspectives, Outside the Beltway, Crooks and Liars, The Incidental Economist, Wonk Room, Shakesville, Washington Monthly, The Powers That Be, Questions and Observations, Blue Collar Philosophy, That Mr. G Guy's Blog, Liberty Pundits Blog, The Caucus, Liberal Values, No More Mister Nice Blog, GayPatriot, Speaker, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Note, Verum Serum, BizzyBlog, The Hill, National Review, Betsy's Page, MyDD, Scared Monkeys, AmSpecBlog, The Lonely Conservative, Right Wing News, sisu, Washington Wire, The Daily Caller, The Daily Dish, HotAirPundit, Fausta's Blog, The Gateway Pundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Pajamas Media

New York Times:

Budget Stances Harden as Deadline Nears for Shutdown — WASHINGTON — In dueling news conferences just moments apart, President Obama and the speaker of the House, John A. Boehner, dug in their heels on Tuesday over terms of a budget deal to stave off a partial shutdown of the federal government as early as Saturday.

Discussion: The Politico, ABCNEWS, The Note, The Huffington Post, Truthdig, The Caucus, Philly.com, Gothamist, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Althouse

Free exchange:

Best budget ever — PAUL RYAN has officially revealed the House Republicans' budget proposal, and we will have a detailed analysis of it up in short order. Reactions to the plan will vary (sharply, it's safe to say). But whatever your take on the policy proposals, it's worth approaching …

Discussion: Yglesias, Cubachi, A plain blog about politics, Big Government, The Daily Dish and AmSpecBlog

Tim Fernholz / NationalJournal.com:

The Ryan Budget: Big Cuts, Bigger Questions — House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's 2012 budget is estimated to cost $6.2 trillion less over 10 years than President Obama's plan, with an initial deficit of $950 billion next year that decreases, along with government debt, over time.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Online, Maggie's Notebook, Little Green Footballs, Eschaton, American Power and Hot Air

Myglesias / Yglesias:

Paul Ryan Slams Medicaid's Middle Class Beneficiaries As The New Welfare Queens — The essence of Paul Ryan's Ryan Ripoff budget is hiding the ball. Steep cuts in Medicare—but not for anyone who's old today! Giant tax cuts for the rich—but tax hikes for the middle class!

Discussion: Washington Post, The Politico, Washington Monthly, National Review, No More Mister Nice Blog and Daily Kos

M.S. / Democracy in America:

You put the load right on me — PAUL RYAN'S plan to replace Medicare with a system of vouchers for seniors to buy health care on the private market has only been vaguely described, as of this writing. But there is one thing about it that's fairly clear, regardless of what's in the details …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Paul Krugman, Economist's View, The Incidental Economist, Kaiser Health News and EconLog

Myglesias / Yglesias:
Paul Ryan's Plan Counts On Reducing Unemployment To Below “Full Employment” Level — By Magic!

Discussion: The Incidental Economist and TPMDC

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
QUOTE OF THE DAY.... House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan …

Discussion: Salon

The Note:
Sen. Lee: Ryan Budget ‘Bold First Step,’ but Need More Cuts

Discussion: Cubachi, Liberty Pundits Blog and Swampland

Robert Pear / New York Times:
G.O.P. Blueprint Would Remake Health Policy

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Pajamas Media, Reuters, Wonk Room, Daily Kos, Associated Press, CNN, The Minority Report, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and The Politico

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Palin offers praise for Ryan's budget

Discussion: Cubachi, Liberty Pundits Blog, Conservatives4Palin and Ben Smith's Blog

Sara Jerome / The Hill:

Ex-NPR chief: House Republicans have thrust NPR into ‘turmoil’ — The change of power in the House has thrust NPR into “turmoil,” according to the former chief executive of the organization. — Vivian Schiller said NPR has been through a “very difficult” time in the past several months.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Pajamas Media

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

GOP Leadership: White House Has Rejected Emergency One-Week Funding Measure … WASHINGTON — Congressional GOP leaders said on Tuesday that the Obama administration has informed them that it will oppose a last-ditch stopgap funding measure proposed by House Republicans to keep the government running for an additional week.

Discussion: Firedoglake, ABCNEWS, Washington Monthly, The Hill, Associated Press, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Swampland, The Moderate Voice and The Politico

David Rogers / The Politico:
New compromise target: $40B in cuts

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hot Air and Daily Kos

appropriations.house.gov:
Another Continuing Resolution Introduced to Prevent Government Shutdown, Cut $12 billion in Spending

Discussion: LifeNews.com, Fox News, Hot Air, National Review, The Hill, The Politico, Open Congress, Washington Post, Say Anything, Michelle Malkin, Firedoglake, The Lonely Conservative, Doug Ross and Pundit & Pundette

The Daily Caller:
‘Good’ not great: No deal as Boehner talks to Obama about shutdown

Discussion: The Politico, Pajamas Media, Hot Air and Say Anything

Carol E. Lee / Washington Wire:
Obama to GOP: 'We Don't Have Time for Games'

Discussion: The White House, White House.gov Blog and The Sundries Shack

George Zornick / ThinkProgress:
Behind Closed Doors, House Republicans Cheer A Possible Shutdown

Discussion: Washington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Caucus and The Daily Beast

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
Boehner's office says no deal was reached in White House talks

Discussion: Washington Post, Pat Dollard and JOSHUAPUNDIT

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

Cowardly, Stupid, and Tragically Wrong — The Obama administration's appalling decision to give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a military trial. — Today, by ordering a military trial at Guantanamo for 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants, Attorney General Eric Holder finally put …

Discussion: Salon, Hit & Run, The Atlantic Online, Ben Smith's Blog and The Daily Dish

New York Times:
Cowardice Blocks the 9/11 Trial

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, City Room, Cato @ Liberty, Questions and Observations, Gothamist, Booman Tribune, Blog of Rights, Wall Street Journal, Runnin' Scared, msnbc.com, Feministe, The Other McCain and Althouse

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
King: Holder should resign for criticizing Gitmo prisoner trial reversal

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Parody gets more views than real Obama launch — The National Republican Senatorial Committee's parody of Obama's 2012 campaign, released Friday, now has 665,000 views on YouTube. — Obama's real launch video, released yesterday: Just 168,000. — YouTube's metrics tend to lag a bit …

Discussion: The Right Sphere, Pajamas Media, JustOneMinute, techPresident and Saint Petersblog

Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:

Warning Signs Among the GOP — It's not inconceivable that Republicans might start seeing things go against them in the court of public opinion, starting with the current spending debate. — Until recently, Republicans were taking solace in a number of things as they looked forward to 2012.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Outside the Beltway, msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh and USA Today

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Romney leads in NH, Trump makes things interesting — Mitt Romney's still the clear early front runner to take the Republican primary in New Hampshire next year but for the first time in our polling of the race PPP finds someone within single digits of him...Donald Trump.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Wonkette, GOP 12, The Politico, Ballot Box and Taegan Goddard's …

The Center for Public Integrity:

Agents treated reporter like informant, raising question: Who else? — A once-classified FBI memo reveals that the bureau treated a senior ABC News journalist as a potential confidential informant in the 1990s, pumping the reporter to ascertain the source of a sensational but uncorroborated tip …

Discussion: The Wire, Mediaite and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

John Cook / Gawker:
CBS News Washington Bureau Chief Was an FBI Snitch

Discussion: Mediaite and Poynter

Abby Johnson / Politics:

Exposing the Planned Parenthood business model — Myths about Planned Parenthood are spreading like grassfire. Thanks to a perfect storm of events, the abortion provider is scrambling to cauterize the biggest PR hit it has ever sustained. November's election of an overwhelmingly pro-life Congress …

Discussion: Hot Air and The Minority Report

Paul Kengor / American Thinker:

Obama, The God That Failed — As someone who has studied, taught, and written about the Middle East for years, I'm the first to concede that President Obama has a tough task. What would I do about Libya if I were president? How about Egypt? — I'm not exactly sure.

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:

House Dem: Change title of EPA bill to ‘Koch Brothers Appreciation Act’ — Rep. Gerry Connollly (D-Va.) wants to change the title of a bill that would permanently block Environmental Protection Agency climate regulations to the “Koch Brothers Appreciation Act,” a reference to the billionaire brothers …

Discussion: The Politico, ThinkProgress, Detroit News and The Raw Story

Rasmussen Reports:

48% Say Their Views Closer to Tea Party Than Congress — In the ongoing budget-cutting debate in Washington, some congressional Democrats have accused their Republican opponents of being held captive by the Tea Party movement, but voters like the Tea Party more than Congress.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, Say Anything and HotAirPundit

zunguzungu:

Why Arianna Huffington is Bill Keller's Somali Pirate … Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis and Felix Salmon (and Felix Salmon) and all sorts of people have been following and commenting on the New York Times' rhetorical war against Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post. If you want a close look at it, you should read them.

Discussion: Making Light and Runnin' Scared, more at Mediagazer »

Anat Shenker-Osorio / Christian Science Monitor:

Do you think the poor are lazy? — Even if you said ‘No,’ the way we talk about wealth assigns moral superiority to the rich. Terms like ‘the wealth gap’ obscure basic truths about inequality, casting it as a natural economic function. Inequality is really a barrier made to keep others out.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:

How Michele Bachmann Could Win — Michelle Bachmann is starting to make a move in the GOP primary. She's drawing strong reviews for her public appearances. She out-raised Mitt Romney in the first quarter. She's hired Mike Huckabee's well-regarded political director.

Discussion: MyDD, GOP 12, A plain blog about politics, Yglesias, CBS News and Talking Points Memo