memeorandum: Pawlenty should rethink the ‘doofus’ line (Steve Benen/Washington Monthly)

11:40 AM ET, May 30, 2011

Top Items:

Gennette Cordova / NY Daily News:

Statement from Gennette Cordova, student who was sent lewd Twitter photo from Rep. Weiner's account — Friday evening I logged onto Twitter to find that I had about a dozen new mentions in less than an hour, which is a rare occurrence. When I checked one of the posts that I had been tagged …

New York Post:

Weiner goes to great lengths — By S.A. MILLER in Washington, DC and SALLY GOLDENBERG and LEONARD GREENE in NY — US Rep. Anthony Weiner yesterday spent the day on the grill after a lewd photo purporting to be of him was sent to a pretty Seattle coed from his Twitter account — but the young woman insisted a stalker was the culprit.

Discussion: Verum Serum and FrumForum

NY Daily News:
Student who got lewd pic from Rep. Anthony Weiner's Twitter account denies she's his mistress

Discussion: Gawker, Weasel Zippers and The Daily What

Maria Newman / New York Times:
Congressman Says Hacker Sent Lewd Photo Using His Name

Discussion: Althouse, Don Surber and Balloon Juice

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:
Alleged Recipient Of Alleged Rep. Weiner Photo Gennette Nicole Issues Statement

Discussion: Balloon Juice

CBS News:
Rep. Weiner: I did not send Twitter crotch pic

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, STRANAHAN dot COM, The Other McCain, The Raw Story and Don Surber

Colby Hall / Mediaite:
Rep. Weiner Still Claims Twitter Account Hacked; Big Questions Remain

Discussion: minx.cc, Daily Kos, Proof Positive, Pajamas Media, Joe Report, Big Government, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Datechguy's Blog, The Last Tradition, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, STRANAHAN dot COM and The Daily What

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:

Palin Family Tours Washington ‘Incognito’ — Sarah Palin and her family sneaked out in Washington on Sunday night for what she called an “incognito” tour of the national monuments, having successfully created a media frenzy and then ditched the press. — Details of the visit …

Discussion: Althouse and The Daily Caller

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:

Palin's Path May Be Unclear, but Her Ride Is Revved Up — WASHINGTON — For sheer mastery of celebrity theater, Sarah Palin cannot be beat. — Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, let the anticipation build for hours on Sunday in the Pentagon's North Parking Lot, where thousands of bikers …

Discussion: NY Daily News, Don Surber, The Caucus and FrumForum

Andy Barr / The Politico:
Sarah Palin swarmed at first bus tour stop

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Pulp, Conservatives4Palin, Swampland, The Raw Story, The Note, Pirate's Cove, Washington Post and TPMDC

Heidi Przybyla / Bloomberg:
Sarah Palin Joins Bikers for ‘Ride to Freedom’

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Scared Monkeys

SarahPAC: Roll On, Rolling Thunder!

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Pawlenty should rethink the ‘doofus’ line — Tim Pawlenty talked to CNN the other day, and raised a line of attack I hadn't heard him make before. … It's a strange pitch, and not just because of Pawlenty's apparent willingness to refer to the president as a “doofus.”

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Against Learned Helplessness — Unemployment is a terrible scourge across much of the Western world. Almost 14 million Americans are jobless, and millions more are stuck with part-time work or jobs that fail to use their skills. Some European countries have it even worse: 21 percent of Spanish workers are unemployed.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Economist's View, Prairie Weather and Clusterstock

David W. Blight / New York Times:

Forgetting Why We Remember — MOST Americans know that Memorial Day is about honoring the nation's war dead. It is also a holiday devoted to department store sales, half-marathons, picnics, baseball and auto racing. But where did it begin, who created it, and why?

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Connecting.the.Dots and Outside the Beltway

Frank Newport / Gallup:

U.S. Military Personnel, Veterans Give Obama Lower Marks — Younger, active-duty military less likely to have an opinion on Obama either way — PRINCETON, NJ — U.S. military veterans and those currently on active military duty are less likely to approve of President Obama's job performance …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Don Surber and NewsBusters.org

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

What the media establishment refuses to understand — It was quite a roundtable on “Meet the Press” yesterday. Viewers got to see a Republican strategist, a conservative pundit, a conservative Democrat, and an ostensibly center-left columnist who thinks that Democrats are big meanies when it comes to Medicare.

Discussion: Paul Krugman

Matt Schneider / Mediaite:

George Will: Everyone Knows Sarah Palin Should Not Be Trusted With Nuclear Weapons — With Sarah Palin fever sweeping across the media again, persistent Palin critic and conservative commentator George Will clearly was not excited by the speculation surrounding her potential run for President.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Reaction, The Last Tradition and The Politico

Walter Russell Mead / Via Meadia:

Memorial Day: The War in Iraq — How to commemorate those who have laid down their lives for their country? Memorial Day wasn't much of an issue in my childhood. 100 years after the Civil War, most white Southerners still considered this a Yankee holiday.

Brian C. Mooney / Boston Globe:

Romney and health care: In the thick of history — The former governor has faced a fusillade from the right for the plan they call RomneyCare. But a look back at the birth of the Mass. law shows why he can't, and won't, back away. It was an amazing political feat, and no one's role was bigger than his.