memeorandum: “Kloppenburg = A Vote Against the Bill.” (Ann Althouse/Althouse)

11:25 PM ET, April 5, 2011

Top Items:

James C. Capretta / National Review:

What Real Leadership Looks Like — House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan has laid out a vision for 21st-century governance that will become the GOP program for 2011, 2012, and beyond. — It is unquestionably the boldest budget plan ever offered (including Reagan's first budget) …

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:

Ryan to 32M Americans: No Insurance for You — House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan has published his proposal for downsizing the federal government. In the hours and days to come, you're going to hear a lot of different numbers from his proposal. But let me draw your attention to a figure that's not in there: 32 million.

Discussion: TPMDC, Off the Charts Blog, American Prospect, Crooks and Liars, Balloon Juice, PERRspectives, A plain blog about politics and Washington Monthly

James Pethokoukis:

Paul Ryan's revolution would finish Reagan's — Is Rep. Paul Ryan's “Path to Prosperity” potentially the most important and necessary piece of economic legislation since President Ronald Reagan's tax cuts in 1981? Quite likely. The blueprint embraces free markets and individual choice …

Discussion: Ross Douthat, Left Coast Rebel, Hot Air, protein wisdom, That Mr. G Guy's Blog, Cubachi and New York Times

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: NationalJournal.com, The Moderate Voice, Left Coast Rebel, WyBlog, National Review, Crooks and Liars, A plain blog about politics, Off the Charts Blog, Hit & Run, The Daily Dish, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Firedoglake, Yglesias, ThinkProgress, The Powers That Be and LewRockwell.com Blog

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Ryan's Budget Plan Is Ridiculous, But It Could Shift the Debate

Discussion: Hullabaloo, TPMDC and The Foundry

Geoff / Ace of Spades HQ:
Ryan's Plan: Necessary But Not Sufficient (Bumped)

Discussion: Hit & Run, The TrogloPundit, The Daily Caller, Cato @ Liberty, Big Government, The Politico, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, The Sundries Shack, Say Anything, Doug Ross, RedState, That's What She Said, Cold Fury, Questions and Observations and Fausta's Blog

Paul Krugman:
The Threat Within — Josh Marshall, rightly, goes ballistic …

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, NewsBusters.org blogs, Liberal Values and Talking Points Memo

Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:
Yes, Entitlement Spending Must Be Cut

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Say Anything, Washington Post, Crooks and Liars and Babalú Blog

Tim Fernholz / NationalJournal.com:
The Ryan Budget: Big Cuts, Bigger Questions

Discussion: Hot Air, Yglesias, The Atlantic Online, Maggie's Notebook, Washington Monthly, Eschaton, TPMDC, neo-neocon, American Power, Little Green Footballs, The Moderate Voice and The Lonely Conservative

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
GOP Budget Ignores CBO To Claim Health Care Repeal Will Reduce The Deficit

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, The Hill and Mother Jones

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

Discussion: Salon and HotAirPundit

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, The Note, TalkLeft, ABCNEWS, Pajamas Media, Swampland, Truthdig, Connecting.the.Dots, Philly.com, Hot Air, The Caucus, Shakesville, Outside the Beltway, The Democratic Daily, Gothamist, Say Anything, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Althouse

The Politico:

Boehner: Dems ‘win’ in shutdown — Speaker John Boehner is warning his Republican colleagues that Democrats would “win” a government shutdown and the GOP would suffer a political catastrophe if the federal government runs out of money at the end of this week. — “The Democrats think they benefit from a government shutdown.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and The Note

David Rogers / The Politico:
Boehner ups ante: $40B in cuts

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, AMERICAblog News, Daily Kos and Hot Air

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

Lee Fang / ThinkProgress:

Bristol Palin's Nonprofit Paid Her Seven Times What It Spent On Actual Teen Pregnancy Prevention — In 2009, Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol joined a teen pregnancy prevention nonprofit called the Candie's Foundation. Today, the Associated Press reported that the Candie's Foundation released …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Political Carnival, Balloon Juice and Daily Kos

Rachel D'Oro / The Huffington Post:

Bristol Palin's Teen Pregnancy Work Earned Her $262K … Bristol Palin , GuideStar Bristol Palin , Bristol Palin GuideStar , Bristol Palin Teen Pregnancy , Bristol Palin Teen Pregnancy Earnings , Bristol Palin Teen Pregnancy Work , Guidestar , Palin Teen Pregnancy , Politics News

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Wasserman Schultz to lead DNC — President Barack Obama has settled on Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) as the new chair of the Democratic National Committee, top Democratic sources said Tuesday. — Wasserman Schultz, 44, was chosen for her strength as a fund-raiser and as a television messenger …

Discussion: The Hill, The Lonely Conservative, Liberal Values, Weasel Zippers, Firedoglake, Fox News, Taylor Marsh, The Raw Story, MyDD, Gawker, Shakesville and The Political Carnival

Byron Tau / Ben Smith's Blog:
Wasserman-Schultz hits Walker, ‘ultra-wealthy’ in first appearance

Discussion: Naked Politics

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
DWS to DNC — Mike Allen scoops: — Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz …

Discussion: Swampland, Outside the Beltway, Politics and msnbc.com

Myglesias / Yglesias:

Conservative Opposition To Human Happiness — Adam Serwer reports from Charles Murray's “State of White America” address. Long story short, though, folks have gotten kind of soft: … This put me in mind of Monica Potts' review of Kay Hymowitz: … Hymowitz's argument, essentially …

Discussion: American Prospect and pandagon.net

Adam Serwer / American Prospect:
The Seriousness Of Cutting Taxes On The Rich

Discussion: The Baseline Scenario, The Hill and ECHIDNE of the snakes

John Cook / Gawker:

CBS News Washington Bureau Chief Was an FBI Snitch — The Center for Public Integrity is reporting that an unnamed former ABC News journalist was an FBI informant during and after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, passing along tips and revealing a source. We know who it is. More »

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Mediaite and Poynter

The Center for Public Integrity:
Agents treated reporter like informant, raising question: Who else?

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

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

King: Holder should resign for criticizing Gitmo prisoner trial reversal — The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee suggested that Attorney General Eric Holder should resign after criticizing Congress for interfering with the trial venues for the detainees at Guantánamo.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

New York Times:
Cowardice Blocks the 9/11 Trial

Discussion: Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, NewsBusters.org blogs, Gothamist, Cato @ Liberty, msnbc.com, City Room, Booman Tribune, Pirate's Cove, The Moderate Voice, Questions and Observations, Wall Street Journal, Feministe, Althouse, Runnin' Scared, The Other McCain and News Desk

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
Cowardly, Stupid, and Tragically Wrong

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

Paul Krugman:

The 2022 Medicare Crisis — Matt Yglesias has a very good point: the supposed transition strategy under the Ryan plan, in which everyone currently under 55 gets Medicare as we know it, while everyone younger than that gets vouchers that won't be enough to buy adequate insurance, sets up an unstable political dynamic.

Discussion: National Review, Yglesias and Marginal Revolution

M.S. / Democracy in America:
You put the load right on me

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Free exchange, The Incidental Economist, The Atlantic Online, The New Republic, Yglesias, Kaiser Health News, National Review, The Mahablog, Economist's View, Mother Jones and EconLog

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: Weasel Zippers, The Right Sphere, Sister Toldjah, JustOneMinute, Pajamas Media, techPresident and Saint Petersblog

Romalley / Fox Nation:

Fired NPR CEO Rips Sting Artists, Admits Rest of Establishment is ‘Terrified’ — Fired NPR CEO Vivian Schiller spoke Tuesday at the Paley Center for Media in New York and lashed out at the videographers who exposed the bigotry in her organization, calling the undercover sting an “abomination.”

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

“Kloppenburg = A Vote Against the Bill.” — A pro-Kloppenburg yard sign that works as an anti-Kloppenburg yard sign (for 1 if not 2 reasons): — Meade and I voted at around 11. He was #399 and I was #401 at our polling place (the First Congregational Church).

Discussion: Hot Air and The Volokh Conspiracy

Henry Samuel / Telegraph:

French interior minister facing legal action over Muslim comments — Claude Gueant, France's interior minister is facing legal action after declaring that the “growing” number of Muslims in France posed “a problem”. — “It's true that the increase in the number of faithful in (Islam) …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch and iOwnTheWorld.com

CBS San Francisco:

Man With Anti-Obama Sign Attacked In San Francisco — SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/ BCN) — A man who set up a table with political literature and a sign opposing President Barack Obama was attacked in San Francisco's North Panhandle neighborhood, police and witnesses said Tuesday.

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: The Politico, Salon, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, Gothamist, Little Green Footballs, HotAirPundit, Wonkette, GOP 12, Ballot Box and Taegan Goddard's …

JSOnline:

Walker demotes son of campaign contributor — By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel — Madison — Gov. Scott Walker abruptly reversed course today and demoted the son of a large campaign contributor to his former job with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing.

Discussion: Liberty Street, The Political Carnival, Mediaite, AMERICAblog News and Outside the Beltway

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.