memeorandum: Rockefeller: U.S. needs to be out of three conflicts (Paul J. Nyden/Charleston Gazette)

12:40 PM ET, April 20, 2011

Top Items:

White House Deficit Talks Coming Apart At The Seams … WASHINGTON — The White House's proposed deficit talks with Congress appear to be unraveling before they've even begun. — House and Senate Republican leaders announced Tuesday that their sole appointees to the May 5th meeting …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Speaker, The Hill, The Politico, Balloon Juice, Washington Wire and AMERICAblog News

Myglesias / Yglesias:

The Right Bailing The Left Out On Spending — I wrote about this earlier in the specific context of Grover Norquist, but Elise Foley's account of the Obama administration's rapidly unraveling deficit reduction initiative is another illustration of the fact that at the moment the right is big government's best friend:

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Jan Brewer: White House snubbed me on immigration talks — Fresh off her veto of her state's “birther” bill, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says that the White House gave her a “snub” by leaving her off the guest list for a meeting about immigration reform. — “I wish I would have been invited …

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Los Angeles Times, Wonk Room, New York Times, Washington Post and Front page feed

Abby Phillip / The Politico:
The outburst heard 'round the world

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Gov. Brewer: White House snubbed me

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Foundry

David Weigel / Weigel:

Pay Attention to Sarah Palin! — In the two years and eight months that Sarah Palin has been a political celebrity, I've never heard a conservative complain about the media ignoring her. Not until last night. That was when Palin's web consigliere Rebecca Mansour loaded up Twitter …

Discussion: TVNewser, Comments from Left Field, Taylor Marsh, Datechguy's Blog, Rumproast, The Daily Dish, Riehl World View and Los Angeles Times

Andy Barr / The Politico:
Sarah Palin: Don't pick on Donald Trump

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CNN, Conservatives4Palin, Guardian, Wake up America, The Page, Wonkette, FrumForum, Weasel Zippers, alicublog and The Hill

Lauraklairmont / CNN:
Trump headed to another early voting state

Discussion: The Politico

Club for Growth:
Trump Abuses Eminent Domain

Discussion: Flopping Aces, msnbc.com, Talking Points Memo, LifeNews.com, Wonkette, No More Mister Nice Blog, TPMDC, Mediaite, National Review, The Lonely Conservative, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air and George's Bottom Line

Janny Scott / New York Times:

Obama's Young Mother Abroad — The photograph showed the son, but my eye gravitated toward the mother. That first glimpse was surprising — the stout, pale-skinned woman in sturdy sandals, standing squarely a half-step ahead of the lithe, darker-skinned figure to her left.

Discussion: The Political Carnival, The Daily What, Don Surber, The Awl, Swampland, Oliver Willis and The Page

Christian Heinze / Ballot Box:

Bachmann's bid: The what-if game — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has gained considerable momentum over the past few weeks. — She raised more money than any of her presidential rivals in 2011's first quarter, her presence at political events regularly swells crowds …

Discussion: Cubachi, Liberty Pundits Blog, ABCNEWS and GOP 12

Real Clear Politics:
Jon Huntsman: The Motocross Mormon

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Note, Eunomia, msnbc.com and New York Times

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
Bachmann: Obama's certification of live birth ‘should settle’ birther issue

Discussion: The Politico

George Stephanopoulos / George's Bottom Line:

Bachmann Says Obama's Certificate ‘Settles’ Birther Issue — For the first time, Rep. Michele Bachmann - who is actively considering a run for the White House in 2012 — has said that the birth certificate President Obama has released to the public puts an end to the “birther” issue.

Discussion: Mediaite, TPMDC, GOP 12, Outside the Beltway and Opinion L.A.

Charles Arthur / Guardian:

iPhone keeps record of everywhere you go — Privacy fears raised as researchers reveal file on iPhone that stores location coordinates and timestamps of owner's movements — Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go - and saves every detail …

Discussion: TPM LiveWire, National Review, Boing Boing and Guardian, more at Techmeme »

Alasdair Allan / O'Reilly Radar:
Got an iPhone or 3G iPad? Apple is recording your moves

Discussion: Washington Post and ReadWriteWeb, more at Techmeme »

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

New Jersey voters label Christie a ‘bully’? — (CNN) - He says he's not, but if Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey runs for the White House, he will face some stiff competition from President Barack Obama, according to a new poll of Garden State voters.

Discussion: Oliver Willis, Poll Watch Daily and The Political Carnival

Jordan Fabian / The Hill: Gov. Christie's approval rating slips

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Poll: Obama at 46 percent to Romney's 45 — President Obama would face a statistical tie against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) if the 2012 election were held today, a new poll found Wednesday. — A Marist/McClatchy News Poll released this morning suggested that the race between Obama …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and HotAirPundit

Steve Kornacki / Salon:
A reminder: Obama could easily lose next year

Discussion: The Politico, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic Online and Alas, a Blog

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:

Newt Gingrich struggles to raise hard money — Newt Gingrich raised a meager $53,000 into his political action committee in the first three months of the year, highlighting potential fundraising difficulties as the former House Speaker girds for a campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.

Discussion: Questions and Observations, The Mahablog, CNN, The Political Carnival, MyDD and The Page

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:

Obama administration officials tried to keep S&P rating at ‘stable’ — The Obama administration privately urged Standard & Poor's in recent weeks not to lower its outlook on the United States — a suggestion the ratings agency ignored Monday, two people familiar with the matter said.

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, JammieWearingFool, Instapundit and FrumForum

Deborah Arthurs / Daily Mail:

‘I wanted to be free’: Muslim model upsets family by posing nude for Playboy cover — Sila Sahin, a 25-year-old Turkish German living in Berlin, had until now been regarded as a glowing example of how a modern Muslim girl should behave in a multicultural society.

Discussion: UNCOVERAGE.net, Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool

Washington Post:

Poll shows Americans oppose entitlement cuts to deal with debt problem — Despite growing concerns about the country's long-term fiscal problems and an intensifying debate in Washington about how to deal with them, Americans strongly oppose some of the major remedies under consideration …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Raw Story, Poll Watch Daily, The New Republic, Daily Kos, National Review, FrumForum and McClatchy Washington Bureau

Robert Pear / New York Times:

Obama Panel to Curb Medicare Finds Foes in Both Parties — WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans are joining to oppose one of the most important features of President Obama's new deficit reduction plan, a powerful independent board that could make sweeping cuts in the growth of Medicare spending.

Discussion: Yglesias, Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, Paul Krugman, Hot Air, Modeled Behavior, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and National Review

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:

Does Paul Ryan's admiration for Ayn Rand make him pro-terrorist? Possibly, warns MSNBC guest — If a fictional character in a piece of literature from an author you admire commits some acts that would likely result in a felony conviction, does that mean you're a proponent of felonious acts?

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel, protein wisdom and The Gateway Pundit

Ben Domenech / Coffee & Markets:
Paul Ryan Doesn't Require Staffers to Read Ayn Rand

Discussion: alicublog, Left Coast Rebel, protein wisdom and AmSpecBlog

Army Court-Martial Defense Specialist / The Law Office …:

Why Was PFC Manning Moved to Fort Leavenworth? — Like many others, the defense first learned of PFC Manning's move to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas by reading that a government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, leaked the information to the Associated Press.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Emptywheel and Runnin' Scared

Associated Press:
Bradley Manning, suspect in WikiLeaks breach, to be moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Prairie Weather and FrumForum

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Pawlenty to release budget plan — Likely GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty said Tuesday he plans to unveil his own budget proposal — one that would tackle Social Security reform. — The former Minnesota governor echoed his previous praise of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) …

Discussion: FrumForum and AmSpecBlog

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Trump Most Visible Among Possible GOP Contenders — Most View News about Deficit as Unchanging — SUMMARY OF FINDINGS — Donald Trump has drawn a lot of attention in a slow-starting race for the GOP nomination. Roughly a quarter of all Americans (26%) name Trump as the possible …

Discussion: Poll Watch Daily, Taegan Goddard's … and Indecision Forever

New York Times:

A Rational Budget for the Pentagon — In their budget-cutting zeal, Republicans are demanding harsh sacrifices from the country's most vulnerable citizens. At the same, they are determined to leave one of the biggest areas of wasteful government spending untouched: the Pentagon budget.

Discussion: BLACKFIVE, Pirate's Cove and The Hill

Kerry Picket / Washington Times:

(video) Left wing DC activist to TWT: ‘Drop dead’ — During a press conference last Thursday held by D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray regarding his opposition to Congress's re-authorization of DC's school voucher program, an anti-school voucher activist became angry with me over questions I asked Mr. Gray.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, JammieWearingFool, The Right Scoop, The Blast, Hot Air and Verum Serum