memeorandum: Giuliani Aiming to Take Down Romney in New Hampshire (Paul Bedard/US News)

4:30 PM ET, May 24, 2011

Top Items:

An Anti-Israel President — The president's peace proposal is a formula for war. — Say what you will about President Obama's approach to Israel—or of his relationship with American Jews—he sure has mastered the concept of chutzpah. — On Thursday at the State Department …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Facebook, REPUBLICAN REDEFINED, CNN, Michelle Malkin, The Right Scoop, Balloon Juice, The Lonely Conservative, theblogprof, Sense of Events, Israel Matzav, Wonk Room, Betsy's Page, Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Confederate Yankee and The Daily Dish

The Note:

Israeli Prime Minister Gets 29 Standing Ovations in Congress, Sends Message to White House* — ABC's Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) reports: — *UPDATE: President Obama got 25 standing ovations from Congress during his 2011 State of the Union address. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got 29 today.

Discussion: The Politico, Mediaite, Israel Matzav, Weasel Zippers, Mondoweiss and Wake up America

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:

Benjamin Netanyahu wows Congress — POLITICO Slideshows require the Adobe Flash Player. — In a muscular and well-received address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the case for why his nation should not return to its pre-1967 borders …

Discussion: YID With LID, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Right Wing News

Scott Wong / The Politico:

Rand Paul skips Netanyahu address — As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a warm welcome from a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) skipped out on the speech, sitting quietly at his Senate desk shuffling through papers and newspapers.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, New York Times, Hit & Run, Little Green Footballs, New York Magazine and FrumForum

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:

Harry Reid rebukes Barack Obama's Israel speech — The most powerful Democrat in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), on Monday night publicly rejected President Barack Obama's decision to use a recent speech to lay out aspects of a potential peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Discussion: The Hill, National Review, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Dish, USA Today, Ben Smith's Blog, Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Israpundit, White House Dossier, FrumForum and Washington Post

Haaretz:
Heckler yells ‘stop Israeli war crimes’ during Netanyahu's speech to Congress

Discussion: MOVEOVERAIPAC, The Gateway Pundit, National Review and HotAirPundit

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Jewish GOP official blasts DWS

Discussion: TPMDC and Weasel Zippers

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Obama friend: Israel shouldn't be political football

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Algemeiner.com:
Full Text of Netanyahu Speech to AIPAC

Discussion: Power Line and Wake up America

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL — King: Giuliani ‘very close’ to joining GOP presidential race — Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose presidential campaign fizzled in 2008, is leaning toward another race for the White House, according to a close associate. New York Republican Rep. Peter King …

Rich Lowry / National Review:

The Republican Field: Is This It? — How's this for an impressive Republican lineup? — A likable former governor and TV personality; a two-term governor with an unmatched fiscal record; another former governor with the best education-reform credentials in the country; a rising star in the House …

Discussion: blogs.telegraph.co.uk, pandagon.net, Taegan Goddard's … and Ben Smith's Blog

Marc Ambinder / NationalJournal.com:
What Obama's Political Team Thinks of the Republican Field

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
For Republican Hopefuls, the Bush Primary Is Well Under Way

Discussion: Daily Kos

Paul Bedard / US News: Giuliani Aiming to Take Down Romney in New Hampshire

Dan Amira / New York Magazine:

President Obama Has No Idea What Year It Is — This is how President Obama signed the guestbook at Westminster Abbey earlier today, where he got a tour from the Very Reverend Dr. John Hall and laid a wreath on the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. … It was really nice until he got the date wrong by three years.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Freedom's Lighthouse, Michelle Malkin, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Political Punch, The Blaze, Hot Air and The Right Sphere

Telegraph:
Barack Obama lays memorial wreath at Westminster Abbey

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

Jonathan Strong / The Daily Caller:

What a top aide to Sarah Palin really thinks about Mitt Romney, Bristol Palin, Erick Erickson and more — A series of messages forwarded to The Daily Caller show a top aide to former Alaska Gov. and possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin mocking top political figures and even her boss's own daughter, Bristol Palin.

Discussion: RedState, Salon, The Note, FishbowlNY, Hot Air, Riehl World View, The Politico, GOP 12 and Moe Lane

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Don't talk to strangers, Palin edition — There's no more dangerous place for a political staffer than the anonymous wilds of online comments sections. And while much of Sarah Palin's political infrastructure grew up online at Conservatives4Palin, one of her top aides, Rebecca Mansour …

Discussion: Pajamas Media, The Other McCain, FrumForum, Conservatives4Palin, The Daily Caller, Riehl World View and The Note

David Brooks / New York Times:

Britain Is Working — In 1920, Winston Churchill's mother held a dinner for M. Paul Cambon to celebrate the end of his 20 years as the French ambassador to Britain. One of the guests asked Cambon what he had seen in his two decades in London. — “I have witnessed an English revolution …

Discussion: Yglesias, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Marbury, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Enterprise Blog, Guardian, Washington Post and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

David Brooks' political dream — David Brooks flew to London so now he's an expert on British politics, and in his New York Times column this morning, he explains why “the British political system is basically functional while the American system is not.” Here's the crux of what makes their system so admirable in his eyes:

Discussion: Eschaton and blogs.telegraph.co.uk

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

Will Dems Give Up Their Political Advantage On Medicare In Debt Limit Fight? — Is it possible that Democrats will squander the political advantage on Medicare that they just regained over Republicans? It could happen. — At his weekly Capitol briefing with reporters Tuesday …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hullabaloo and Yglesias

Karoli / Crooks and Liars:
GOP Rep. Rob Woodall On Medicare: Suck it up and take care of yourself

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Hullabaloo

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
At the intersection of candor, callousness, and conservatism

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Daily Kos

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

Cantor Says Congress Won't Pay For Missouri Disaster Relief Unless Spending Is Cut Elsewhere — Firefighters and rescue workers who arrived in Joplin, MO, found that the deadly tornado that hit the state Sunday had left a “barren, smoky wasteland” in its path.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Times, WALV-TV, AmeriCares News …, Comments from Left Field, CNN and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Richard Eden / Telegraph:

Cannes 2011: Peter Fonda encourages his grandchildren to take up arms against President Barack Obama — Peter Fonda, the star of Easy Rider, says he is training his grandchildren to use rifles for a conflict with President Barack Obama. — Lars von Trier, who was banned from Cannes for praising Hitler …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Moderate Voice, Maggie's Notebook, Five Feet of Fury, Confederate Yankee, Pajamas Media and Moe Lane

Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:

Kansas Lawmaker Says Women Should Plan Ahead For Rape: ‘I Have A Spare Tire’ — The anti-choice tidal wave stemming from the 2010 elections has produced nearly 1,000 anti-choice bills this year alone. When Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) took office last year, he called on the state legislature to create …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Jezebel, Religion Dispatches, Shakesville and Oliver Willis

Peter Rugg / Plog:
Kansas Rep. Pete DeGraaf: Being impregnated during a rape is just like getting a flat tire

Discussion: The Other McCain, Little Green Footballs, Feministing and Balloon Juice

Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:

Steady Decline in Major Crime Baffles Experts — The number of violent crimes in the United States dropped significantly last year, to what appeared to be the lowest rate in nearly 40 years, a development that was considered puzzling partly because it ran counter to the prevailing expectation …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Yglesias, Marginal Revolution, New York Magazine, Patterico's Pontifications, Chicago Boyz, Modeled Behavior, The Awl, The Daily Dish and Mother Jones

Dean Schabner / ABCNEWS:

New Doomsday: Preacher Says It's Still Coming — Harold Camping, the radio evangelist who predicted the apocalypse would begin Saturday, May 21, 2011, said today his understanding of God's plan was just a little off. — Speaking outside the headquarters of his media empire near the Oakland …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Gawker, Liberal Values and Mediaite

Garance Burke / Associated Press:
Preacher says world will actually end in October

Discussion: Hot Air, Associated Press, Outside the Beltway, Blag Hag and Shakesville

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Gingrich taps former conservative Dem senator as campaign co-chairman — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) named a former conservative Democratic senator as a co-chairman of his 2012 presidential campaign. — Gingrich named former Georgia Sen. Zell Miller (D) and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue …

Discussion: The Note, TPMDC, GOP 12 and Shakesville

New York Post:

Strauss-Kahn's pals bid to pay off woman's kin — By ORON DAN in Tel Aviv and LAURA ITALIANO and BOB FREDERICKS in NY — Friends of alleged hotel sex fiend Dominique Strauss-Kahn secretly contacted the accusing maid's impoverished family, offering them money to make the case go away since …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Hit & Run, New York Times, The Raw Story, Pundit & Pundette, City Room, Law Blog, JammieWearingFool, Connecting.the.Dots, Hot Air, Gawker, Fox News and Telegraph, more at Mediagazer »

myfoxny.com:

Teens Riot In Manhattan Businesses — MYFOXNY.COM - It's like a flash mob gone bad. Security footage from a Manhattan Dunkin' Donuts shows a group of youths climbing on counters, throwing chairs and throwing tables in a violent attack on workers. — It happened at the Dunkin' Donuts on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village.

Discussion: The Daley Gator, UrbanGrounds, alicublog, The Gateway Pundit and Pat Dollard

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

‘Rock and roll dude’ eyes W.H. run — Another Republican is eyeing a late entrance into the presidential primary, and his name is not Jeb, Chris, Paul or Rick. — It's Thaddeus. — In an interview Monday with POLITICO, Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter said he's seriously considering …

Discussion: The Note, Washington Wire, Outside the Beltway, The Daley Gator and The Daily Caller

Juana Summers / The Politico:

Herman Cain: Muslim comments ‘misconstrued’ — Herman Cain wants to correct the record: He would consider a Muslim for his cabinet or as a federal judge if he's elected president. — Cain's clarification comes two months after he initially said he wouldn't have any Muslim appointees …

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Feingold would be favorite — If Russ Feingold wants to return to the Senate he'll start out as a strong front runner. He has good favorability numbers and leads four potential Republicans opponents by double digits. — 51% of voters in the state have a favorable opinion of Feingold to 38% with an unfavorable one.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and JSOnline