memeorandum: South Carolina presidential debate still on, with or without candidates (Matea Gold/Los Angeles Times)

5:35 PM ET, May 3, 2011

Top Items:

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:

White House modifies Osama bin Laden account — The White House backed away Monday evening from key details in its narrative about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, including claims by senior U.S. officials that the Al Qaeda leader had a weapon and may have fired it during a gun battle with U.S. forces.

Sara Reardon / ScienceInsider:

Geographers Had Predicted Osama's Possible Whereabouts — Could Osama bin Laden have been found faster if the CIA had followed the advice of ecosystem geographers from the University of California, Los Angeles? Probably not, but the predictions of UCLA geographer Thomas Gillespie, who …

Discussion: Yglesias, Outside the Beltway, GOOD and L.A. NOW

Drudge Report:

WHITE HOUSE TO RELEASE BIN LADEN DEATH PHOTO — President Obama decided Tuesday morning to release at least one photo showing Osama Bin Laden's death, a top source claims. — The images, being described as ‘graphic’, are bound to stir emotions in the east and the west …

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Guardian, TPMDC, MyFox Orlando, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, Pajamas Media and Right Wing Watch

Washington Post:

Osama bin Laden killing gives Obama quick but limited ratings boost — In the immediate aftermath of the targeted killing of Osama bin Laden, President Obama's approval rating has jumped higher, with big increases in the number of Americans giving him high marks on dealing with terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Public Opinion Strategies, Liberal Values, Salon, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, TPMDC, Outside the Beltway, Prairie Weather, National Review and Gawker

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Students Predicted Bin Laden's Location Two Years Ago — A UCLA geography class predicted in 2009 that there was an 88.9% chance that Osama bin Laden was hiding out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he was killed on Sunday, Science Insider reports. — “Based on information from satellites …

Massimo Calabresi / Swampland:

CIA Chief Breaks Silence: Pakistan Would Have Jeopardized bin Laden Raid, ‘Impressive’ Intel Captured — In his first interview since commanding the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, CIA chief Leon Panetta tells TIME that U.S. officials feared that Pakistan could have undermined the operation by leaking word to its targets.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, Agence France Presse, Outside the Beltway, The Caucus, Washington Post, TPMDC, The Hill, ABCNEWS, Mediaite, The Page, Politics, Time and Mother Jones

Telegraph:

WikiLeaks: Bin Laden's courier ‘trained 9/11 hijack team’ — The courier who led American special forces to Osama bin Laden's hideout was an al-Qaeda computer expert who helped train the 9/11 hijack team, according to leaked US government files. — A section on the file …

Discussion: minx.cc, Emptywheel, Big Peace, The Jawa Report, ProPublica, Pajamas Media, The Politico, The Gateway Pundit, POWIP, RedState, American Power and TalkLeft

New York Times:

Behind the Hunt for Bin Laden — President Obama and members of his national security team receiving an update on Sunday. A classified document in front of Hillary Rodham Clinton was blurred before this photo was released. More Photos » — WASHINGTON — For years …

Martha Raddatz / ABCNEWS:

Osama Bin Laden's Death Picture Readied for Release — President Obama and national security officials are considering releasing a photo of Osama bin Laden's corpse today, a source told ABC News. — Obama will head to Ground Zero Thursday to meet with 9/11 families.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, CNN, UNCOVERAGE.net, Poynter, UrbanGrounds, Politics, The Big Picture and The 1600 Report

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

CNN Poll: Bin Laden killing gives Obama boost on terrorism & Afghanistan approval — Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama is seeing a boost in his poll numbers on how he's handling terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan, thanks to his Sunday announcement that Osama bin Laden has been killed, according to a new national survey.

Discussion: The Hill, The Politico, USA Today, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Don Surber and AmSpecBlog

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Public “Relieved” By bin Laden's Death, Obama's Job Approval Rises — OVERVIEW — The public is reacting to the killing of Osama bin Laden with relief, happiness and pride. And Americans overwhelmingly credit the U.S. military and the CIA for the success of the operation.

Discussion: TPMDC, Politics, Hotline On Call, Daily Kos and The Raw Story

Kathie Obradovich / Des Moines Register:
Pawlenty: Don't cut core defense budget, even as wars ramp down

Discussion: The Hill and TPMDC

CBS News:
Bin Laden skull blown apart, official says

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Nation, LewRockwell.com Blog, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, Left Coast Rebel, CANNONFIRE, UrbanGrounds, Pirate's Cove and CBS News

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Senate Intel Chair: Torture Did Not Lead To Bin Laden In Any Way

Discussion: CNN, Indecision Forever, JustOneMinute, Associated Press and The Reality-Based Community

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
White House Corrects Bin Laden Narrative

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Poynter and Guardian

Colin Firth / CBS News:
President Obama to appear on “60 Minutes” Sunday

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Mediaite and The Page

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:
Source: White House Discussing Release of OBL Photograph Today

Discussion: News Desk, The Note, Guardian, Weasel Zippers, Nice Deb, Proof Positive, Left Coast Rebel, Runnin' Scared and National Review

Howard Fineman / The Huffington Post:
Obama Gets Osama: Goodbye Vietnam

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Pajamas Media and NewsBusters.org

Asif Ali Zardari / Washington Post:
Pakistan did its part — Pakistan, perhaps the world's greatest victim …

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
GOP's Tortured Logic: How We Got Osama Bin Laden

Discussion: Facebook, Emptywheel, ThinkProgress, Guardian, tpmmuckraker …, NewsMax.com, Weigel, Mediaite, Swampland, Pajamas Media, Sky Dancing, The Daily Dish, Big Peace, The Humble Libertarian, Shakesville, Talking Points Memo and Washington Monthly

David Morgan / Reuters:
U.S. believes it can now destroy al Qaeda

Discussion: Simply Left BehindThe … and The Page

Lee Fang / ThinkProgress:
Tea Party Billionaire David Koch Disses Donald Trump As Motivated By Publicity, ‘Not Qualified’

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs:
Skulking Towards bin Laden: Obama Overridden by Military and Intel Officials in Takeout of OBL?

Discussion: protein wisdom

Mj Lee / The Politico:
Was killing bin Laden legal?

Discussion: Oliver Willis and Salon

Mona Eltahawy / Guardian:
No dignity at Ground Zero | Mona Eltahawy

Discussion: Salon, Maggie's Notebook and The Other McCain

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:
Holder unsure if enhanced interrogation techniques led to bin Laden's death

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

David Jackson / USA Today:
Obama aide: Bin Laden not armed when killed

Discussion: Washington Post and FrumForum

Ariel Zirulnick / Christian Science Monitor:
Osama bin Laden's burial at sea: critics range from 9/11 families to militants.

Discussion: New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Gothamist, Simply Left BehindThe …, National Review, Sky Dancing and Mother Jones

CNN:
Bin Laden unarmed when killed, White House says

Discussion: Washington Post, The Politico and Global Public Square

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Obama's poll numbers get bounce following bin Laden's killing

Discussion: CNN, The Politico and Ballot Box, more at Techmeme »

Little Green Footballs: Pamela Geller: A Military Coup Forced Obama to Act

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Jon Huntsman takes step toward 2012 bid — Former China Ambassador Jon Huntsman took his first step toward a presidential run Tuesday, creating a federal political action committee that will allow him to travel and raise money in the weeks before he's expected to formally announce a bid.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, FrumForum and The Daily Caller

Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:

South Carolina presidential debate still on, with or without candidates — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, pictured in Iowa, may be the only top-tier Republican on stage during an upcoming debate in South Carolina. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall / May 3, 2011)

Discussion: Hit & Run and Indecision Forever

Lauraklairmont / CNN:
Lineup set for first GOP debate; big names take a pass

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Michael O'Brien / Ballot Box: Romney enjoys healthy lead over GOP field in Florida

Mike Riggs / The Daily Caller:

White House asked California paper to take out unflattering remark about first lady — A small weekly paper in California claims that a White House official asked it to remove a sentence from a “benign” feature about Marine One because it reflected poorly on first lady Michelle Obama.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and Weasel Zippers

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:
BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — Obama White House doesn't show …

Discussion: The Other McCain

Tony Romm / The Politico:
Private White House tweets, emails, Facebook posts targeted

Discussion: The Note

The Atlantic Online:

Out of Osama's Death, a Fake Quotation Is Born — Shortly after I posted my piece on feeling curiously un-thrilled about Bin Laden's death, the following quote came across my twitter feed: … I admire the sentiment. But something about it just strikes me as off, like that great Marx quote …

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, Salon, The Daily Caller, Moe Lane, NewsReal Blog, USNI Blog, The Blaze and Gawker, more at Techmeme »

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Palin splits with neocon advisers — Sarah Palin has parted ways with the neoconservative foreign policy advisers who had been writing speeches and advising her on policy since she joined the McCain campaign. — An aide to Palin, Tim Crawford, confirmed that Orion Strategies' Randy Scheunemann …

Discussion: The Politico, Eunomia, Israpundit, Taylor Marsh, Gawker, The Washington Note, Conservatives4Palin, The Note, TBogg and GOP 12

Steven Nelson / The Daily Caller:

Kucinich may seek re-election from Washington State, not Ohio — Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich may be considering a move. The eight-term Cleveland congressman is rumored to be interested in moving out of Ohio altogether to seek re-election to Congress from Washington State's 10th district.

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Post and msnbc.com

Jim Brunner / Seattle Times:
Could Dennis Kucinich run for Congress in Washington? He's not exactly denying it

Discussion: TPMDC and Ballot Box

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

GOP could allow ‘clean’ vote on raising $14.3T national debt ceiling — A clean bill would not include corresponding spending cuts, and it could be risky for members to vote for it. — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) suggested Tuesday that Republicans may allow a clean vote …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Capital Gains and Games blogs, The Politico, Commentary Magazine and Daily Kos

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

RICE'S LIMITED VIEW OF HISTORY.... I'm going to hope she just misspoke and didn't actually mean this. … Really, she said that. It's on video. — Fox News' Brian Kilmeade argued that it would be “nice” for President Obama to invite George W. Bush to join him at Ground Zero on Thursday.

Discussion: Political Correction RSS