memeorandum: Fantasy Island — Are Republicans losing their grip on reality? (Jacob Weisberg/Slate Magazine)

2:20 PM ET, May 22, 2011

Top Items:

Obama elaborates on '67 lines — President Obama is telling AIPAC at the moment that he expected the controversy over his comments Thursday on the 1967 lines, and elaborates: … The tension here is that while Obama advanced the new framework out of “urgency” — and while perhaps …

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Obama reiterates call for 1967 borders as ‘foundation’ for talks — Facing criticism about his Middle East peace proposal, President Obama on Sunday reiterated his recent call to base negotiations for a Palestinian state on Israel's 1967 borders. — The president was quick …

Discussion: Washington Post, Taylor Marsh and FrumForum

Faiz Shakir / ThinkProgress:

GOP Contender Herman Cain Demonstrates Clueslessness On Middle East Policy, Confused By ‘Right Of Return’ — Former pizza executive Herman Cain announced on Saturday in Atlanta that he is “running for the president of the United States, and I'm not running for second.”

Discussion: San Francisco Chronicle, Outside the Beltway and NEWS.com.au

The Note:

Sarah Palin Slams Obama on Israel, Wants ‘Redneck Woman’ to Be Her Ringtone — ABC News' Sheila Marikar reports: In a Fox News appearance Saturday night, Sarah Palin slammed President Barack Obama's Middle East speech and revealed that she'd like to change her cell phone ringtone to Gretchen Wilson's “Redneck Woman.”

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and The Gateway Pundit

Imtiyaz Delawala / ABCNEWS:

King Abdullah and George Mitchell: Tough Road Ahead for Mideast Peace — King Abdullah II of Jordan, a key American ally and advocate of the Middle East peace process, says he does not have much hope for progress on negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in the coming months.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Associated Press

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill: Mitchell: Obama's stance on 1967 border does not threaten Israel

Eric Johnson / Reuters:
Top Jewish Americans ponder support for Obama

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Los Angeles Times, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and Israel Matzav

Guardian:
Obama wants Cameron to back Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and HotAirPundit

Rummelj / CNN:
State of the Union Early Bird for May 22, 2011

Discussion: BBC and Reuters

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Bibi-Barack Chess Game

Discussion: Salon, The only adult in the room and Taylor Marsh

Dore Gold / Wall Street Journal:
Israel's 1967 Borders Aren't Defensible

Discussion: Israel Matzav and New York Times

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Mitch Daniels won't run in 2012 — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told supporters in a midnight email early Sunday that he is opting against a 2012 presidential run, a decision that he said ultimately came down to family concerns. — The decision by the former political operative and favorite …

Discussion: Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, Scared Monkeys, Gawker, The Other McCain, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taylor Marsh, Betsy's Page and FrumForum

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

Mitch Daniels won't run for president in 2012 — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels won't run for president in 2012. (AP Photo/South Bend Tribune, Greg Swiercz)Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels won't seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, a decision that could well throw the field open to other late entrants.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Power Line, Booman Tribune, Outside the Beltway and Althouse

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

With Mitch Daniels out, GOP looking for new 2012 option — Mitch Daniels's overnight decision against a presidential bid will immediately raise the volume on the low-hum grumbling among Republican insiders that they're gearing up to face President Obama with the weakest primary field in recent memory.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, The Page and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:

Daniels Decides Against Republican Presidential Bid — Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana has decided not to seek the Republican presidential nomination, telling supporters in an e-mail message early Sunday that he decided against entering the race because of family considerations.

Discussion: Yglesias, A plain blog about politics, Hit & Run, RedState, Connecting.the.Dots and Freedom's Lighthouse

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly: Daniels bows out, will skip 2012 race

Associated Press: Indiana's Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels rules out run for the White House

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:
Horton's ghost haunts GOP field

Discussion: Right Wing News, The Caucus and Booman Tribune

The Note:
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels Chooses NOT to Run

Discussion: Indianapolis Star, Democracy in America and Ben Smith's Blog

Jacob Weisberg / Slate Magazine:

Fantasy Island — Are Republicans losing their grip on reality? — At a press conference last week, someone asked Chris Christie for his views on evolution vs. creationism. “That's none of your business,” the New Jersey governor barked in response. — This minor incident …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Crooked Timber, Verum Serum, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Mahablog, Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality …, The Reality-Based Community and Yglesias

Matthew Yglesias / Yglesias:

Harassment Incentives — Penelope Trunk: … On the other hand, Steven Greenhouse reports that various kinds of harassment and assault of hotel maids are extremely common. Is it true, after all, that a maid has “nothing to lose”? Perhaps that would be true if the economy operated at a permanent full-employment state.

Discussion: Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality … and New York Times

Penelope Trunk:
Sexual harassment is going high-end

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Frank R. Lindh / New York Times:

Bin Laden's Gone. Can My Son Come Home? — ON the evening of May 1, we learned that Osama bin Laden had been killed. The following dawn, I left my house in the Bay Area to catch a bus to Oakland International Airport. I flew to Indianapolis for a scheduled visit with my son …

Discussion: Daily Kos