memeorandum: Sources: Edwards investigation close to wrapping up (WRAL-TV)

8:20 AM ET, May 25, 2011

Top Items:

Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:

Democrat Wins G.O.P. Seat; Rebuke Seen to Medicare Plan — Democrats scored an upset in one of New York's most conservative Congressional districts on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the national Republican Party in a race that largely turned on the party's plan to overhaul Medicare.

Discussion: The Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, RedState, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post, Daily Kos, alicublog, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, TBogg, Left Coast Rebel, The Page, The Lonely Conservative, New York Magazine, Booman Tribune, The Reality-Based Community, Gawker and Oliver Willis

Chris Lee Resignation / Buffalo News:

Hochul takes House seat in stunner — Kathleen Courtney Hochul, the Erie County clerk and longtime Democratic figure who defied political experts giving her little chance of success, ground out a stunning and surprisingly comfortable victory Tuesday in the special election for the predominantly Republican 26th Congressional District.

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, The Nation, 24Ahead, The Batavian, Gothamist, Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Hill

Allen Wilson / Buffalo News:

Corwin granted court order barring certification of winner — Jane L. Corwin this afternoon obtained a court order from State Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia barring a certification of a winner in the special 26th Congressional District race pending a show-cause hearing before him later this week.

Discussion: The Reaction, Hot Air, Weigel, The Other McCain, TPMDC, The Daily Caller, The Batavian, The Lonely Conservative, Firedoglake, The Beast, The Caucus, Taegan Goddard's … and Ballot Box

Benjy Sarlin / TPMDC:

Democrat Kathy Hochul Wins Upset In NY-26, Medicare Vote Key To Victory — Republicans are going to have plenty of questions about their plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program tomorrow morning after Democrats romped to an improbable victory in a special election focused almost entirely on the issue.

Discussion: The New Republic, UPI, The Politico, First Draft, Salon, ThinkProgress and campaignmoney.org

Kathleen Hennessey / Los Angeles Times:
AP: Democrat Hochul pulls off upset in New York congressional race

Discussion: Washington Post, Hotline On Call, Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Sean J. Miller / Ballot Box:
With his budget plan the top issue, Rep. Ryan waded into NY-26 (updated)

Discussion: The Politico, ABCNEWS and CNN

Raymond Hernandez / The Caucus:
Democrat Wins Upstate New York Congressional Race

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, Prairie Weather, Liberal Values and Capital Tonight

Sean J. Miller / Ballot Box: Dem campaign chief: Medicare ‘changed the climate’ in NY-26

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Palin's Secret Weapon: New Film to Premiere in June — Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment …

Discussion: GOP 12, Wizbang, Taylor Marsh, Conservatives4Palin, The Page, Balloon Juice and The Politico

The Note:
‘Epic’ Sarah Palin Documentary Due Out in June

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, The Politico and Ben Smith's Blog

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Senate Democrats may join rebuff of Obama on Israeli border issue — Senate Democrats are expected to support a resolution intended as a rebuff to President Obama's call for basing Middle East peace talks on the 1967 Israeli-Palestinian borders. — It would be a rare rebuke of the president …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and JammieWearingFool

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: Guardian, Nice Deb, Hit & Run, New York Magazine, Weigel, Ben Smith's Blog, Little Green Footballs, FrumForum and C-SPAN Recent Events

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.

Facebook:
Speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a Joint Meeting of the United States Congress

Discussion: Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, Bad Rachel, TPMCafe, FrumForum, The Right Scoop, FP Passport, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, National Review and Michelle Malkin

Ben Armbruster / ThinkProgress:
The U.S. Congress Cheers Netanyahu's Claim That Israel Does Not Occupy The West Bank

Discussion: COLlive.com, Booman Tribune and Elder of Ziyon

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
House members side with Netanyahu

Discussion: Maggie's Farm, Salon, Washington Post, Weasel Zippers and Ben Smith's Blog

James Hill / ABCNEWS:

John Edwards: US Green-Lights Prosecution for Alleged Campaign Law Violations Tied to Affair Cover-Up — Former Sen. John Edwards speaks at a campaign rally Jan. 26, 2008, in Columbia, S.C. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images) — The United States Department of Justice has green-lighted the prosecution …

Discussion: The Politico, USA Today, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Gateway Pundit, Gawker, JammieWearingFool and FrumForum

WRAL-TV:

Sources: Edwards investigation close to wrapping up — RALEIGH, N.C. — The investigation into former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' affair and campaign finances is coming to a conclusion. — Sources told WRAL News on Tuesday that a major development would occur in the next two weeks.

Discussion: CNN and TalkLeft

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Good news: Obama botches toast to the queen — Ah, now his “2008″ gaffe from earlier today is starting to make more sense. Turns out ... he really is brain-damaged. — No, I kid. I think he, like Frank Drebin, simply doesn't believe in silly ideas like having queens:

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite and Freedom's Lighthouse

Political Punch:

Awkward Moment During Obama Toast to Queen — The president and the orchestra at Buckingham Palace this evening were a bit out of synch. — When the president toasted the Queen the orchestra misunderstood a pause and what seemed to be a cue from the president for “God Save the Queen” to begin playing.

Discussion: Nice Deb, The Lonely Conservative, Michelle Malkin and Pajamas Media

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico: Obama gets the royal treatment

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, Political Punch, Liberal Values, Verum Serum, Outside the Beltway, Pajamas Media, National Review, Telegraph, Freedom's Lighthouse, Mediaite, Atlas Shrugs, Doug Ross, The Blaze, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and JammieWearingFool

Charlie Riedel / The Atlantic Online:

Tornado-Damaged Joplin, From Above — The death toll in Joplin, Missouri, has now topped 118, making Sunday's catastrophe the single deadliest tornado recorded in the United States since modern record keeping began 60 years ago. Rescuers continue their work despite hazardous conditions …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Radio Iowa, CNN and Taylor Marsh

CNN: Tornado kills two near Oklahoma City, officials say

New York Times:
After Missouri Tornado, Grim Search for Missing

Discussion: Freedom's Lighthouse, Outside the Beltway, Newsy.com Videos Feed and FrumForum

Brian Leiter / Leiter Reports:

Sanctimonious Jackass Brad DeLong vs. Political Philosopher Chris Bertram — Here and here. Professor Bertram's response seems to me quite apt. Professor DeLong has a real complex about those to his left. Very odd. — UPDATE: Brad Delong is not only a sanctimonious jackass, he's an underhanded and dishonest slimeball.

Discussion: Crooked Timber and Grasping Reality …

Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:

Obama skirts rule of law to reward pals, punish foes — Senior Political Analyst Follow Him @MichaelBarone — Question: What do the following have in common? Eckert Cold Storage Co., Kerly Homes of Yuma, Classic Party Rentals, West Coast Turf Inc., Ellenbecker Investment Group Inc. …

Frances Cronin / BBC:

Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images — Two new finds are at Saqqara, an older but lesser known pyramid site than Giza — Seventeen lost pyramids are among the buildings identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt. — More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements …

Discussion: msnbc.com

National Council of Women's Organizations:

Older Women's Economic Security Task Force — In the fall of 1998, NCWO formed an Older Women's Economic Security Task Force to address the critical issue of Social Security reform and to help policy makers understand women's stake in this crucial issue. The Task Force has worked …

Discussion: AlterNet, The Huffington Post and Taylor Marsh

David Steinberg / Pajamas Media:

(UPDATED: Uh oh — Lee's wife, Nita Chaudary, behind the “Betray Us” Ad?) Googling Jesse Lee — UPDATE: Lee is married to Nita Chaudary. Here is a CSPAN transcript from Sep. 10, 2007, wherein Chaudary represents — and ardently defends — MoveOn.org for publishing the Petraeus smear ad prior …

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, Weasel Zippers and Pirate's Cove

Chicago Tribune:

Blagojevich plans to take witness stand at his corruption retrial, sources say — “I want to be vindicated,” he says; Rahm Emanuel, Jesse Jackson Jr. also expected to be called by defense — “I fully expect that we're going to be very aggressive in putting on a defense because …

Discussion: The Politico, Chicago Sun Times and Marathon Pundit

David Eldridge / Washington Times:

Study: Liberal leanings hurt Republicans' place in history — Call it history's conservative curse. — According to a University of Miami study, those historical rankings of American presidents that pop up every year or so are significantly weighted in favor of Democrats, thanks to the liberal leanings of academia.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Daily Mail:

The Bin Laden backlash: Angry Muslims demonstrate outside Downing Street as Obama visits Britain — Muslim activists descended on Downing Street today in protest at Barack Obama's state visit to London. — As the president met David Cameron in Whitehall, an angry crowd of burka clad women …

Discussion: Doug Ross and Atlas Shrugs

Tom Phillips / Guardian:

Amazon rainforest activist shot dead — José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva fought against illegal loggers and had received death threats but was refused police protection — Six months after predicting his own murder, a leading rainforest defender has reportedly been gunned down in the Brazilian Amazon.

Discussion: Green