memeorandum: Why I don't back Ryan Medicare plan (Sen. Scott Brown/The Politico)

2:00 PM ET, May 23, 2011

Top Items:

Sen. Scott Brown / The Politico:

Why I don't back Ryan Medicare plan — As part of the 2012 budget discussions, Congress is dealing with Medicare reform. This debate is long overdue, since its increasing cost must be addressed if we are serious about the nation's growing $14 trillion debt and $1.6 trillion annual deficit.

Discussion: CNN, Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative, Washington Times, Blue Mass Group, The Caucus, TPMDC, USA Today, The Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, Confederate Yankee, Daily Kos, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, National Review and AmSpecBlog

The Politico:

Republicans ignored warnings on Paul Ryan plan — It might be a political time bomb — that's what GOP pollsters warned as House Republicans prepared for the April 15 vote on Rep. Paul Ryan's proposed budget, with its plan to dramatically remake Medicare. — No matter how favorably pollsters …

Discussion: msnbc.com and The Raw Story

Digby / Hullabaloo:

“The Tea Party itch has not been scratched”: How the Ryan plan went down — “The Tea Party Itch Has Not Been Scratched” — Any political observer with even a modicum of sense could see that the Ryan Plan was going to be a complete disaster. And most of us have been wondering ever since what the hell made them go for it.

Discussion: The Politico, Daily Kos, The New Republic, pandagon.net, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Eschaton

John Cole / Balloon Juice:
Things Done Changed

Discussion: The Politico, Outside the Beltway and Eschaton

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Scott Brown a ‘no’ on Ryan budget

Discussion: Boston Globe, Outside the Beltway, AMERICAblog News and FrumForum

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly: What GOP leaders were thinking on Medicare

Wall Street Journal:
Republicans and Mediscare — Paul Ryan's GOP critics are ObamaCare's best friends.

Discussion: The New Republic and Betsy's Page

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

The Next President Isn't Currently Running (Updated) — There's no GOP operative for whom I have higher regard than former RNC chair and senior Bush advisor Ed Gillespie. He deserves to be taken seriously when he says (according to Politico): “For all intents and purposes, the field is set.

The Politico:

Behind the Daniels family veto — On Friday, the pieces were coming together nicely for a Mitch Daniels-for-president campaign. Some top potential staffers were told they would have a job, and to keep their powder dry just a little bit longer. Several Washington Republicans expected a declaration in the next few days.

Discussion: The Note, AMERICAblog Elections, Taegan Goddard's …, ABCNEWS, The BLT, White House Dossier, Erick's blog, Wall Street Journal and FrumForum

Jordan Fabian / Ballot Box:
Pawlenty's in: We've tried Obama's way and ‘his way has failed’

Discussion: The Politico

New York Times:
Daniels Is Out, in Another Jolt to G.O.P. Field

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Politico, ThinkProgress, Ben Smith's Blog, Wonkette, Nice Deb, Washington Post, Politics, Blue Mass Group, The Impolitic and Taylor Marsh

Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:
Some observations as Daniels bows out

Discussion: Riehl World View, Runnin' Scared, The Other McCain and Pundit & Pundette

Aharding / CNN:
Huntsman steps up South Carolina campaign

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, NewsBusters.org and GOP 12

A.G. Sulzberger / New York Times:

Death Toll Rises to Nearly 100 From Missouri Tornado — JOPLIN, Mo. — Much of this southwestern Missouri city lay in ruins on Monday morning after a massive tornado, the latest storm to ravage the Midwest and South this spring, tore through the area, killing at least 90 people.

Discussion: The Lede, The Hill and Balloon Juice

Stephanie Condon / CBS News:
Obama monitors response to Joplin, Missouri tornado from abroad

Discussion: Politics, CBS News and HotAirPundit

Associated Press:
Joplin tornado death toll soars to 89

Discussion: The Huffington Post, ABCNEWS, Wake up America, msnbc.com, The Daley Gator, Salon, Associated Press, Gothamist, Taylor Marsh, White House Dossier and The Gateway Pundit

AccuWeather.com:
More Severe Weather Expected Today

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air and Wizbang

Spectator:

Obama's achievement: the mouse that roared — I don't know what strategic purpose Obama had in mind for addressing the Middle East impasse when last Thursday he made the first of a series of speeches on the subject. Whatever this may have been, that speech produced one satisfactory result.

Discussion: Via Meadia, Harry's Place, Big Peace, Pajamas Media, Left Coast Rebel, Democracy in America and Hot Air

Eric Cantor:
Leader Cantor's Remarks to AIPAC

Discussion: Firedoglake, Weasel Zippers, Capital J | JTA and Talking Points Memo

Scott / Power Line:
Cantor at AIPAC — Republican House Majority Leader Eric …

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Sister Toldjah, Ironic Surrealism and Big Peace

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Gingrich: 'I'm not a Washington figure' — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) said he doesn't view himself as a “Washington figure,” positioning himself as an anti-D.C. candidate in his campaign for president. — Gingrich railed against the Washington, D.C. establishment …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Washington Monthly, The Note, Christian Science Monitor, Outside the Beltway, Politics, The Daily Caller, GOP 12 and FrumForum

Alexander Burns / The Politico: Newt Gingrich, citing record, says ignore record

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Biden tells donors: Keep me in mind for 2016 — Vice President Joe Biden surprised a gathering of donors in Cincinnati last week when he floated the prospect of his succeeding President Barack Obama in the White House. — Biden, who started in the Senate young and would be just 70 in 2012 …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Pundit Press and Politics

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Pawlenty Campaign Already Dead? — Tim Pawlenty's hometown newspaper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, ran the story of his presidential campaign announcement on the Obituary page this morning, City Pages reports.

Discussion: The Blotter, Little Green Footballs, Outside the Beltway and Mediaite

Daily Mail:

The best-protected car in the world... defeated by an Irish ramp: Obama's limo ‘The Beast’ gets stuck at U.S. Embassy — Red faces all round as President and First Lady forced to swap vehicles for trip to ancestral home — It's supposed to protect him from terror attacks but President Barack Obama …

Discussion: The Other McCain

Daily Mail:
We didn't realise you were such a big Jedward fan, Michelle. …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Gateway Pundit, The Jawa Report and Mediaite

Josh Margolin / New York Post:

Obama digging up dirt on potential opponent Chris Christie — President Obama's re-election campaign is trying to dig up dirt in the Garden State. — Despite New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's repeated pronouncements that he will not seek the GOP presidential nomination …

Discussion: Ballot Box, The Other McCain, WyBlog, GOP 12, Verum Serum, Betsy's Page and JammieWearingFool

Will Kane / San Francisco Chronicle:

Harold Camping ‘flabbergasted’; rapture a no-show — (05-22) 19:18 PDT ALAMEDA — The man who said the world was going to end appeared at his front door in Alameda a day later, very much alive but not so well. — “It has been a really tough weekend,” said Harold Camping …

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, Simply Left BehindThe …, Gothamist, Runnin' Scared and Gawker

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:

Steele signs up with MSNBC — Michael Steele, the outspoken and unguarded former Republican National Committee chairman, has inked a deal for the job he was born for: talking head on cable news. — MSNBC announced Monday morning in POLITICO's Playbook that Steele will join the network …

Discussion: Gawker

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Steele to MSNBC — This has been in the works, in retrospect, since about January 2009:

Discussion: The Daily Caller

The Note:

Is Donald Trump Back in the 2012 Race? — ABC News' Sheila Marikar and Rick Klein report: Perhaps Donald Trump didn't really bow out after all. — The billionaire business mogul phoned into Fox News' “Fox & Friends” this morning to lament the state of the Republican field.

Discussion: Reuters, Taylor Marsh, Daniel W. Drezner, Weigel, Outside the Beltway, No More Mister Nice Blog and FrumForum

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

When Austerity Fails — I often complain, with reason, about the state of economic discussion in the United States. And the irresponsibility of certain politicians — like those Republicans claiming that defaulting on U.S. debt would be no big deal — is scary.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Questions and Observations, Paul Krugman and Northern Reflections

Jason Zengerle / New York Magazine:

If I Take Down Fox, Is All Forgiven? — David Brock has spent the last decade apologizing to liberals for his role in creating the vast right-wing conspiracy. Now he's trying something more ambitious and hoping it gains him the respect he craves from the White House.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Althouse