memeorandum: GOP senator expected to release budget leaving Medicare alone (Julian Pecquet/Healthwatch)

1:45 PM ET, May 9, 2011

Top Items:

Colin Firth / CBS News:

President Obama on the mission to kill bin Laden — The president talks to “60 Minutes” in his first interview since the killing of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden — Whether we like it or not, Osama bin Laden changed America. With that September morning in 2001, he introduced fear …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Left Coast Rebel, Online NewsHour, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, The Hill, The Reality-Based Community and FrumForum

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

President Obama dashes ‘Jimmy Carter’ label — So much for campaigning against Jimmy Carter. — In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death, Republicans are adjusting to a new political reality: with the bin Laden trump card now in President Barack Obama's possession …

Discussion: Right Wing News, Pundit Press and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Brian Ross / ABCNEWS:
Osama Bin Laden Tapes Show ‘Pathetic’ Side of Al Qaeda Leader: Experts

Discussion: The Reaction, Wonkette and FrumForum

Munir Ahmed / Associated Press:
Pakistan premier defends country in bin Laden case

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ABCNEWS, CANNONFIRE, The Daily Beast and Politics

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
U.S. Raises Pressure on Pakistan in Raid's Wake

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, Runnin' Scared, The Caucus, Booman Tribune, New York Magazine, The Other McCain, Wonkette, Taylor Marsh, FrumForum, Hullabaloo and THE ASTUTE BLOGGER

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Romney's GOP Supporters Tilt Upscale; Palin's, Downscale — Huckabee's support leans to the right politically, to the South geographically — PRINCETON, NJ — Republican college degree holders are more likely than those without a degree to support Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, 21% vs. 13%.

Discussion: USA Today, GOP 12, CNN, Balloon Juice and National Review

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

2012 and the Republican rescue fantasy — Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork — COLUMBIA, S.C. - Talk to enough people around this key primary state and you'll learn two lessons, over and over again. One is that there is absolutely, positively no unity among Republicans …

Discussion: Red Dog Report and New York Times

The Note:
Waiting For Superman? GOP Searching For 2012's ‘Plan B’ Candidate (The Note)

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Politico, NationalJournal.com, msnbc.com and Political Punch

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
Gingrich will announce presidential campaign Wednesday

Discussion: Cubachi, The Politico, Ballot Box and Liberty Pundits Blog

Wall Street Journal:
Gingrich's Secret Weapon: Newt Inc.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Right Wing Watch, The Daily Caller and The Page

Associated Press:
APNewsBreak: Spokesman says Newt Gingrich to announce 2012 presidential bid Wed. on Facebook, Twitter

Discussion: FrumForum

Wall Street Journal:

Home Market Takes a Tumble — Turnaround More Distant After 3% Drop, Steepest Quarterly Decline Since 2008 — The U.S. housing market's 1Q 2011 decline was the steepest in three years. Additionally, a Zillow.com survey indicates nearly 30% of borrowers owe more than their homes are worth.

Discussion: Firedoglake, National Review, Free exchange, Shakesville, TalkLeft, The Big Picture, Mother Jones, The Lonely Conservative and Calculated Risk

John Gittelsohn / Bloomberg:
‘Underwater’ Homeowners Rise to 28 Percent, Zillow Says

Discussion: Pajamas Media

The Atlantic Online:

What If Bush Had Been President These Past Eight Days? — Ross Douthat: … These last eight days, as well as the last 10 years, suggest to me that there is only one American foreign policy; this default foreign policy is interventionist, moralistic, and militarily robust. Everything else is commentary.

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Whose Foreign Policy Is It? — For those with eyes to see, the daylight between the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama has been shrinking ever since the current president took the oath of office. But last week made it official: When the story of America's post-9/11 wars is written …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Ben Smith's Blog, Daily Kos, Lawfare and Truthdig

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Unwisdom of Elites — The past three years have been a disaster for most Western economies. The United States has mass long-term unemployment for the first time since the 1930s. Meanwhile, Europe's single currency is coming apart at the seams. How did it all go so wrong?

Discussion: Yglesias, Daniel W. Drezner, The Washington Note, Mother Jones, The Agonist, Prairie Weather and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Trump: ‘I Am The Least Racist Person There Is’ Because A Black Guy Won The Apprentice Six Years Ago — Potential presidential candidate Donald Trump has often found himself in hot water for making racially-tinged comments — saying in the span of a single press conference, for example …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos and Ben Smith's Blog

Michael O'Brien / Ballot Box:
Trump: ‘I am the least racist person there is’

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and FrumForum

Helen Kennedy / NY Daily News:

Osama Bin Laden wasn't on kidney dialysis, took herbal Viagra while living in compound — Osama Bin Laden wasn't on kidney dialysis - but he did need an herbal impotence drug. — “He believed in his own medication,” said his youngest widow, Amal al-Sadeh, who was shot in the leg …

Matt Schneider / Mediaite:
Rosie O'Donnell: Without Due Process For Bin Laden, We May Be ‘Monsters’

Discussion: Verum Serum

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:
Randi Rhodes: Bush Knew Bin Laden's Location, Protected Him There

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Gateway Pundit and Sister Toldjah

Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:

Falsehood? Or Mostly Accurate Prediction? — Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler isn't so enamored with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius after she made this claim last week: … Kessler gives Sebelius three “Pincocchios” (out of a possible four) and offers this explanation:

Discussion: Paul Krugman

Washington Post:
On Medicare, reverting to a well-worn strategy

Discussion: The New Republic, Yglesias and Wonk Room

Juan Williams / The Hill:

OPINION: Ron Paul driving Republicans' White House campaign — Here's a news bulletin — it is becoming increasingly clear that we are living in a time when Republican politics are being shaped by a 75-year-old, 12-term Texas congressman with a son in the Senate.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, JammieWearingFool and The Wire

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Democrats See Strategy to End Big Oil Tax Breaks — WASHINGTON — Linking two of the politically volatile issues of the moment, Senate Democrats say they will move forward this week with a plan that would eliminate tax breaks for big oil companies and divert the savings to offset the deficit.

Discussion: Hot Air, ThinkProgress, Prairie Weather, RedState, The Maddow Blog and Instapundit

The Politico:

Gay donors fuel Obama's 2012 campaign — President Barack Obama's reelection campaign is banking on gay donors to make up the cash it's losing from other groups of wealthy supporters who have been alienated and disappointed by elements of Obama's first term.

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, Balloon Juice, Taylor Marsh and Towleroad News #gay

Journalism.org:

WHERE PEOPLE GO, HOW THEY GET THERE AND WHAT LURES THEM AWAY — Whatever the future of journalism, much of it depends on understanding the ways that people navigate the digital news environment—the behavior of what might be called the new news consumer. — Despite the unprecedented level …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, MediaMemo, Online NewsHour and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Julian Pecquet / Healthwatch:

GOP senator expected to release budget leaving Medicare alone — Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is expected to unveil a budget blueprint Tuesday that leaves Medicare alone, the strongest signal yet that Senate Republicans have no intention of duplicating an ambitious — and controversial — overhaul put forward by the House GOP.

Discussion: CRFB.org and FrumForum

Keith Johnson / Wall Street Journal:

Solar Updates Marines' Arsenal — A company of U.S. Marines recently conducted a remarkable three-week patrol through southern Afghanistan, replacing hundreds of pounds of spare batteries in their packs with roll-up solar panels the size of placemats to power their battle gear.

Discussion: Wonk Room and Climate Progress

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Over 100 Michigan Law Students Walk Out Of Own Graduation To Protest Anti-Gay Speaker Rob Portman — Over 100 newly-minted lawyers walked out of their own graduation at the University of Michigan Law School on Saturday to protest the ceremony's commencement speaker, anti-gay Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH).

Discussion: Heritage, Coffee House Talks, Towleroad News #gay and Wonk Room

John / Power Line:

Announcing the Power Line Prize — Our nation faces an unprecedented financial crisis. Every knowledgeable citizen understands that the fiscal path we are on is unsustainable. Indefinite continuation of the status quo is not an option. There are only two possibilities: reform and collapse.

Discussion: TBogg and Pajamas Media

Jon Ward / The Huffington Post:

Primary Election 2012: Conservative Fears Of Permanent Welfare State May Create Wild Ride … COLUMBIA, S.C. — At this weekend's South Carolina GOP convention, Republican lawmakers warned that a second term for President Obama would kill America's independent spirit and guarantee a permanent big government welfare state.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Swampland