memeorandum: Matthews: 'Maybe It's God's Will Obama Not Have a Reasonable GOP Opponent' (Noel Sheppard/NewsBusters.org blogs)

2:05 PM ET, April 5, 2011

Top Items:

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

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: Ben Smith's Blog, The Hill, Economix, Salon, Ross Douthat, The Hill, Reuters, Hullabaloo, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, Washington Post, The Reality-Based Community, The Minority Report, Atlas Shrugs and NewsBusters.org blogs

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: American Power, Eschaton and The Hill

Myglesias / Yglesias:

Paul Ryan's Plan Counts On Reducing Unemployment To Below “Full Employment” Level — By Magic! — Tim Fernholz reports: “An analysis performed by the conservative Heritage Foundation at Ryan's request found the unemployment rate would be reduced to 4 percent in 2015 by Ryan's budget …

Discussion: The Incidental Economist and TPMDC

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: Paul Krugman, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, AmSpecBlog and Daily Kos

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

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin and Ben Smith's Blog

Tyler Cowen / Marginal Revolution:
Choice-based Medicare cost controls

Discussion: Yglesias, National Review, Washington Post, The Incidental Economist and The Atlantic Online

Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
Paul Ryan is Not Jesus, But His Path To Prosperity Gospel is Really Good

Discussion: The Politico, Cubachi, RedState, Yglesias, Hot Air and Big Government

appropriations.house.gov:

Another Continuing Resolution Introduced to Prevent Government Shutdown, Cut $12 billion in Spending — WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers today introduced another temporary funding measure - known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) - to prevent a government shutdown …

Discussion: The Politico, Hot Air, Fox News, Michelle Malkin, The Hill, Open Congress, LifeNews.com, Say Anything, Washington Post and National Review

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: Fox Nation and Weasel Zippers

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: Washington Monthly, The Hill and Swampland

Jake Sherman / The Politico:
John Boehner: No deal at White House meeting

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Hot Air and Say Anything

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:
House GOP to distribute shutdown plan

Discussion: CNN, Little Green Footballs, Capital Gains and Games blogs, Firedoglake, Associated Press, Outside the Beltway, The New Republic, The Sundries Shack, Left Coast Rebel, National Review, Politics, Daily Kos, The Lonely Conservative, Fox Nation, The Hill, The Hill and Hot Air

New York Times:
Shutdown Looms as Talks on Stopgap Budget Fail

Discussion: Philly.com, Swampland and Althouse

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

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

The Huffington Post:
Budget Deal Would Give Pentagon Extra Funds In Exchange For Social Program Cuts

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos and AMERICAblog News

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:
Countdown to Shutdown: Federal Agencies Make Preparations

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

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: Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, msnbc.com, Hullabaloo, USA Today and Daily Kos

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, GOP 12, Wonkette, Taegan Goddard's … and Ballot Box

Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:

Maine Mural Controversy: U.S. Labor Department Says Put It Back Up Or Repay The Money … Department Of Labor , Department Of Labor Maine , Labor Mural , Labor Protests , Maine Mural , Paul Lepage , Paul Lepage Maine , Paul Lepage Maine Governor , Paul Lepage Mural , Politics News

Discussion: The Reaction, Daily Kos and Portland Press-Herald

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Department Of Labor steps into battle over Maine mural

Discussion: Kennebec Journal and Weasel Zippers

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: techPresident and The Daily Caller

Ynetnews:

ElBaradei: We'll fight back if Israel attacks Gaza — In interview with Arab newspaper, former IAEA chief says if elected as Egypt's next president he will open Rafah crossing in case of an Israeli attack — Former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei …

Discussion: RedState, Right Wing News, Israpundit, The Gateway Pundit, YID With LID, Pajamas Media, Israel Matzav and Weasel Zippers

New York Times:

Cowardice Blocks the 9/11 Trial — Last year, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. described a federal court trial for the self-professed mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, as “the defining event of my time as attorney general.” On Monday, Mr. Holder's dream for demonstrating …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Slate, Booman Tribune, City Room, Gothamist, Blog of Rights, The Atlantic Online, The Reaction, Questions and Observations, Wall Street Journal, Runnin' Scared, msnbc.com, Feministe and The Other McCain

Telegraph:

Toby Harnden — Toby Harnden is the Daily Telegraph's US Editor, based in Washington DC. Click here for Toby's website. His email is toby.harnden@telegraph-usa.com. Follow him on Twitter here @tobyharnden and on Facebook here. His second book, Dead Men Risen, is available through Telegraph Books.

Discussion: Firedoglake and LewRockwell.com Blog

Tom Bowman / NPR:
Gen. Petraeus Being ‘Seriously Considered’ For CIA Director, NPR Reports

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hot Air, The AfPak Channel, The Raw Story and CBS News

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.

Wall Street Journal:

Coburn vs. Norquist — The Senator is right on ethanol and, in this case, on tax subsidies. — Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has a fighting chance to begin reforming Washington's bonehead ethanol policy. That is unless one prominent conservative organization manages to sabotage his effort.

Discussion: The Foundry and Pajamas Media

Hannah Hess / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Racial slur led to fight with Illinois trooper, student says — CARLINVILLE • The politically connected head of Gov. Pat Quinn's Southern Illinois security detail used a racial slur against a black college student in a Carlinville bar, starting a fight that preceded the officer's resignation, the student says.

Discussion: Big Government, Moe Lane and That Mr. G Guy's Blog

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Tim Kaine launches Virginia Senate bid — Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine launched Tuesday his campaign for Senate. — Kaine, in a video recounting his previous work in Virginia, principally as governor, said what had long been suspected: that he'd run to succeed retiring Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.).

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Matthews: 'Maybe It's God's Will Obama Not Have a Reasonable GOP Opponent' — As NewsBusters reported, MSNBC's Chris Matthews went on quite a Republican-hating rant Monday linking murder and violence in Afghanistan to GOP “zealots at home.” — Such conservative bashing continued till the end of …

Discussion: Don Surber and Weasel Zippers

TMZ.com:

Scott Pelley To Replace Katie Couric At CBS — CBS network sources tell TMZ ... Katie Couric's replacement for the “CBS Evening News” will be Scott Pelley. — We're told Pelley, a veteran journalist and “60 Minutes” correspondent, is the choice of CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager.

Discussion: New York Post, Hot Air, JammieWearingFool, The Wire and ReelzChannel Movie News

CNN:

Radiation in water rushing into sea tests millions of times over limit — Tokyo (CNN) — Japanese utility and government authorities suffered fresh setbacks Tuesday with the detection of radiation in a fish and news that water gushing from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the Pacific …

Discussion: Runnin' Scared and The Jawa Report

Robert Greenwald / The Huffington Post:

How Much Are You Paying in Taxes for War This Year? — While millions of Americans are out of work or struggling to pay their bills, our government is spending billions of dollars a week on a war we don't support in Afghanistan. At no time is this more apparent than on Tax Day, which is coming up on April 18.

Discussion: The Political Carnival