memeorandum: BREAKING: Republican Judge Strikes Down Ban On Corporate Contributions Directly To Candidates (Ian Millhiser/ThinkProgress)

5:55 PM ET, May 27, 2011

Top Items:

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

McConnell: I Won't Agree To Raise The Debt Limit Without Medicare Cuts — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says substantial Medicare cuts must be part of a spending and deficit cut package to get his support to raise the debt limit. — In a Capitol briefing with reporters Friday …

Discussion: Washington Post, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway and The Raw Story

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Medicare and Mediscares — Yes, Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, is a sore loser. Why do you ask? — To be sure, Mr. Ryan had reason to be upset after Tuesday's special election in New York's 26th Congressional District. It's a very conservative district …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, NewsBusters.org, The Confluence, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Prairie Weather

David Brooks / New York Times:

Medicare Survival Guide — Sometime this summer, the Democrats and the Republicans will go toe-to-toe over whether to raise the debt ceiling. At the height of the confrontation, President Obama may well address the country and say that even though he has offered the Republicans …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, The New Republic and DailyHowler.com

The Hill:

McConnell: Saying Medicare is off the table is ‘silly talk’ and ‘nonsense’ — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday that Medicare reform must be part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, despite indications that changing the entitlement will be politically unpopular.

Discussion: The Note and FrumForum

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

A Cornered Animal Is A Dangerous Animal — Public polling, the NY-26 outcome, and other objective indicators make it clear Republicans have boxed themselves into a political corner with their plan to end Medicare. It's a big problem for them politically, and there's no easy way out …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Booman Tribune

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
McConnell puts Medicare in the ransom note

Discussion: Balloon Juice

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Not ‘Right Now’ — Paul Ryan opens the door for a presidential run.

Discussion: Washington Post, Eunomia and National Review

Meredith Shiner / The Politico:
Mitch McConnell agrees with Bill Clinton on Medicare

Discussion: TalkLeft

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

CNN Poll: GOP 2012 field still up in the air — Washington (CNN) - Call it a sign of how unsettled the GOP presidential field remains: Two of the three people at the top of new national poll in the battle for the Republican nomination may not even run for the White House.

Discussion: The Note, Washington Wire, Taegan Goddard's …, Washington Post, GOP 12, Gothamist, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, FrumForum and FiveThirtyEight

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
State of Uncertainty for Romney Camp as It Looks to Iowa

Discussion: CNN, msnbc.com, The Politico, Iowa Caucuses, Taegan Goddard's …, USA Today, Daily Kos, TPMDC, Washington Post and Associated Press

Kevin Hall / The Iowa Republican:

Bachmann's Debacle — “This is a disaster,” said one prominent Polk County Republican. An elected official called it “an embarrassment”. The embarrassing disaster was the result of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann's last minute cancellation of her appearance at the Polk County GOP's Robb Kelley Dinner.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

The Huffington Post:
Karl Rove: Sarah Palin Doesn't Seem To Think ‘Rules Apply To Her’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: Guardian, Mediaite, Washington Post, Sister Toldjah and The Moderate Voice

The Note:

Obama Won't Personally Sign Patriot Act Extension — ABC News' Matthew Jaffe (@jaffematt) and Devin Dwyer (@devindwyer) report: Congress officially passed an extension of the Patriot Act tonight, just hours before key provisions of the national security law were due to lapse at midnight.

Discussion: The Politico, Boing Boing, The Daily Caller, Top of the Ticket, The Volokh Conspiracy, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Odd Clauses Watch, Josh Blackman's Blog, The Moderate Voice, No More Mister Nice Blog, Michelle Malkin, rubber hose and New York Magazine

Political Punch:
ROBAMA: Is It OK for a President to Autopen a Bill Into Law?

Discussion: TPMDC and The Note

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Rep. Graves questions Obama's autopen signing of Patriot Act extension

Discussion: Cato @ Liberty and Weasel Zippers

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
Obama Uses Autopen to Sign Patriot Act Extension

Discussion: New York Times, Cato @ Liberty, The New Republic, Hot Air, Gawker, Danger Room and Battleland

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:

Judge strikes down corporate donations ban — A federal court in Alexandria, Va. on Thursday struck down a federal ban on corporate campaign contributions, in a case with potentially dramatic ramifications for a campaign finance regulatory system under siege by legal and regulatory attacks.

Discussion: Moe Lane and Gawker

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Republican Judge Strikes Down Ban On Corporate Contributions Directly To Candidates — Reagan-appointed federal Judge James Cacheris just ruled that corporations have a constitutional right to contribute money directly to political candidates:

Discussion: Associated Press, Crooks and Liars and OpenSecrets.org

Rick Hasen / Election Law Blog:
Federal District Court, in Criminal Case, Holds That Ban on Direct Corporate Contributions …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Josh Blackman's Blog, Patterico's Pontifications, Wall Street Journal, The Volokh Conspiracy, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Law Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, Sunlight Foundation Blog and Hit & Run

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

What Obama did to Israel — Every Arab-Israeli negotiation contains a fundamental asymmetry: Israel gives up land, which is tangible; the Arabs make promises, which are ephemeral. The long-standing American solution has been to nonetheless urge Israel to take risks for peace …

Discussion: Don Surber, Nice Deb, Washington Monthly, Swampland, FrumForum, Wonk Room, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Israel Matzav, Betsy's Page, Mondoweiss, AlterNet, OpEdNews, TomDispatch and The Huffington Post

Reuters:
G8 leaders omit mention of 1967 borders in Middle East statement

Discussion: The Lede and Washington Post

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Wow!... Canada Defends Israel From Obama Administration - Blocks 1967 Line From G8 Statement

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs

The Note:

Mitt Romney Supports Ethanol Subsidies, Opposes Tim Pawlenty's ‘Hard Truth’ — ABC News' Emily Friedman (@emilyabc) & Matthew Jaffe (@jaffematt) report: — Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are at odds on one of the biggest issues to voters in Iowa, home of the nation's first presidential caucuses.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Ballot Box, GOP 12, Ben Smith's Blog, Pajamas Media and Outside the Beltway

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Pawlenty was ‘open to’ mandate, a ‘worthy goal,’ in '06 speech

Discussion: Fox Nation, GOP 12 and The New Republic

Matthew Yglesias / Yglesias:
Tim Pawlenty's Doing It Wrong

Discussion: Washington Post, Grasping Reality … and Cato @ Liberty

Jason Embry / Austin American-Statesman:

Perry says he will consider White House run — Gov. Rick Perry today gave his strongest indication yet that he may run for president. — “I'm going to think about it” after the legislative session ends Monday, Perry said. — For years, Perry has said that he would not run for president and that he had no interest.

Discussion: CNN, The Note, Ballot Box, Pajamas Media, Wake up America, Hot Air, Proof Positive, The Politico, Big Government, Outside the Beltway, Swampland, The Gateway Pundit, Ben Smith's Blog and Weasel Zippers

Stogie / Saberpoint:

Soquel High School Students Suspended for Wearing White T Shirts (They're Signs of “White Supremacy") — Soquel, California — on the Central Coast: — Several high school seniors wore white t shirts to their class's group picture last Wednesday and were suspended for doing so.

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel and Five Feet of Fury

Azenith Smith / kionrightnow.com:
Soquel Students Suspended for White Supremacy Claims

Discussion: Wake up America, Moonbattery and The Daily Caller

Clay Dillow / Popular Science:

This Time Lapse Video of the Very Large Telescope At Work is the Coolest Thing You'll See Today — Your Universe (As Seen From the Home Planet) ESO/Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado — There's very little we can write to preface the imagery below, so we'll just set the scene and get out of the way.

Discussion: Questions and Observations and Yourish.com

Amazon.com:

Amazon.com Reveals the Most Well-Read Cities in America — Cambridge, Mass., tops the list with the most books, magazines and newspapers purchased per capita of any city in the United States — (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Just in time for the summer reading season, Amazon.com announced its list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and The New Editor

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

When a party declares intellectual bankruptcy — The good news is, House Republicans unveiled a plan yesterday that's intended to create jobs. The bad news is, the plan can charitably be described as a bad joke. — As we discussed yesterday, the jobs agenda, such as it is …

Discussion: Just-A-Small-Town-Country-Boy, PERRspectives, Balloon Juice, Mother Jones, Daily Kos and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

Paul Krugman:
No Ideas — Ezra Klein points us to the House GOP's rather pitiful jobs manifesto.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Daily Kos

The Note:

Rolling Thunder Riders Praise Sarah Palin's Participation in Rally — ABC News' Sheila Marikar [@sheilaym] reports: For the riders of Rolling Thunder, the news that Sarah Palin will participate in their national rally on Sunday came as a surprise. A welcome surprise.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Weasel Zippers and Mediaite

Brendan Greeley / Business Week:

Tyler Cowen, America's Hottest Economist — The George Mason University professor has written a bestseller, The Great Stagnation, keeps an influential blog, and reads way too many books — Tyler Cowen sits with a cranberry juice and a pile of books he no longer intends to read.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway and The Moderate Voice

Edward Lewine / New York Times:

Inside Meghan McCain's Bachelorette Pad — The famous daughter of the famous senator shows off her 1,100-square-foot bachelorette home in West Hollywood. — LEAST-REPUBLICAN PIECE OF CLOTHING: My black studded Christian Louboutin heels. They are hard-core. My friend nicknamed them my dominatrix heels.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Wonkette and Gawker