memeorandum: Is Rick Running? — A Republican campaign veteran tells us … (James Freeman/Wall Street Journal)

7:45 PM ET, June 23, 2011

Top Items:

Senator Kyl Drops Out of the Debt Talks, Leaving Zero Republicans at the Table — ABC News' Sunlen Miller (@sunlenmiller) reports: — Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., will also drop out of the debt talks, a source within his office confirms today. The Arizona Republican's office will issue a formal statement shortly.

Discussion: The Other McCain, The TrogloPundit, The Daily Dish, Taylor Marsh, YID With LID, The Moderate Voice, Political Punch and HotAirPundit

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Why Eric Cantor won't make the budget deal — (Brendan Hoffman - Getty Images) Eric Cantor is pulling out of the debt-ceiling talks. But he's not saying they should end. In fact, he's saying they've been very successful thus far. “We have a blueprint to move forward to trillions …

Discussion: Washington Wire, TPMDC, The Atlantic Online, Balloon Juice, Sky Dancing, Washington Monthly, Weigel and Blue Virginia

Wall Street Journal:

Cantor Pulls Out of Biden-Led Budget Talks — WASHINGTON—House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Thursday said he was pulling out of the bipartisan budget talks headed by Vice President Joe Biden for now because the group has reached an impasse over taxes that only President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) could resolve.

Discussion: TPMDC, Washington Wire, Real Time Economics, The Note, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Hullabaloo, Weigel, RedState, Gawker, Felix Salmon, Hot Air, PERRspectives, The Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Wake up America, New York Magazine, National Review and Talking Points Memo

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:

How To (Temporarily) Survive a Debtpocalypse — Intra-caucus dynamics on the GOP side seem to be dooming the debt limit talks. Eric Cantor's preference is for John Boehner to sign a deal he can grumble about, so that when the GOP loses seats in 2012 he can challenge Boehner for the leadership.

Discussion: The Caucus, National Review and Washington Monthly

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Budget Talks Near Collapse as G.O.P. Leader Quits

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Jared Bernstein

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Cantor pulls out — Eric Cantor pulled out of the debt ceiling talks …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Daily Kos

BooMan / Booman Tribune:
Republicans Appear Incapable of Compromise

Discussion: The Hill and Ballot Box

Reuters:
Republicans walk out of budget talks over taxes

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Right Scoop

The Note:

Mystery Candidate Leads to Walk Out at Ames Straw Poll Land Auction — ABC News' Russell Goldman (@GoldmanRussell) and Arlette Saenz (@ArletteSaenz) report: — A little bit of intrigue at the Ames straw poll land auction... Representatives of Republican candidates are meeting today in Ames …

Discussion: USA Today and Ben Smith's Blog

CNN:

Six GOP campaigns land spots for Ames Straw Poll — Washington (CNN) - Six Republican presidential campaigns secured spots Thursday to participate in the high stakes Ames Straw Poll in Iowa. — Multiple GOP sources told CNN that the former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann …

TAPPED:
The Rules of the Game — The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza joins …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Reaction, News Desk and A plain blog about politics

Craig Robinson / The Iowa Republican:
Thaddeus McCotter Creates Chaos At Straw Poll Auction

Discussion: The Politico and Nice Deb

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Romney leads the way in Florida

Discussion: GOP 12, Flap's Blog and Orlando Sentinel

Michele Chabin / USA Today:

U.S. Jews not able to fly on Delta flights to Saudi Arabia — JERUSALEM — Jews and Israelis, or passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith, will not be able to fly Delta Air Lines flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under Delta's new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Weasel Zippers and American Glob

James Freeman / Wall Street Journal:

Is Rick Running? — A Republican campaign veteran tells us that Texas Governor Rick Perry has decided to run for President, though the official word from Team Perry is still a definite maybe. — A Republican campaign veteran tells us that Texas Governor Rick Perry has decided to run for President …

Discussion: The Note, Ballot Box, The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, USA Today, Flap's Blog, The Daily Caller and The Page

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

White House threatens to veto Defense bill — The White House on Thursday threatened to veto the 2012 defense appropriations bill. — “The administration strongly opposes a number of provisions in this bill. If a bill is presented to the President that undermines his ability as commander …

Discussion: The Politico

Robin Bravender / The Politico:
Senate Democrats: Long live the ‘czars’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and American Glob

Dan Berman / The Politico:
Enviros, celebs plan W.H. protest

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Pirate's Cove and NewsBusters.org blogs

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

EXCLUSIVE — Herman Cain: Jon Stewart Attacked Me 'Because I'm Black' — ThinkProgress filed this report from Iowa Falls, Iowa. — Earlier this month, ThinkProgress reported that GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain told an audience in Pella, Iowa that he would not sign a bill longer than three pages.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Salon, The Washington Independent, Fox Nation, The Wire, Wonkette and Gawker

Adam Clark Estes / The Atlantic Wire:

Confirmed: Obama to Address Same-Sex Marriage Debate Tonight — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney expects President Obama to break his recent silence on same-sex marriage at an LGBT fundraiser tonight. But he doesn't anticipate any surprises, “I'm sure he will mention it,” said Carney to the White House press pool.

Discussion: PolitickerNY, Towleroad News #gay, Good As You and Capitol Confidential

Chris Johnson / Washington Blade:
Carney: Obama to ‘mention’ N.Y. marriage bill, but won't endorse it

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

Answering Andrew Sullivan on Allison Benedikt — Andrew weighs in on the Benedikt controversy with a thoughtful post, which you should read in full. He writes, at the end: … The outrage comes form the fact that many of us — I would dare say most American Jews — believe that you just don't get to walk away.

Discussion: Water Over Rocks, National Review, The Volokh Conspiracy and JTA

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Jews In America And Israel

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community, Mondoweiss, Water Over Rocks and The Atlantic Online

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

President Obama's Afghanistan speech confirms America's decline — The American Century just ended. This was the phrase coined by Henry Luce, which so aptly described America as the modern-day colossus, more powerful than any nation had ever been. Wednesday night, President Obama said that power had reached its limit.

Discussion: Jack & Jill Politics, The Moderate Voice and Mediaite

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
‘Mission accomplished,’ Obama style

Discussion: New York Times and Weekly Standard

New York Post:
So much for real victory - unless, that is, it's merely a political one

Discussion: National Review and msnbc.com

Robert Kagan / Washington Post:

Military leaders know Obama's decision is a disaster — The press is reporting that the top military leaders have “endorsed” President Obama's Afghan troop withdrawal decision. With all due respect to the fine reporters, that is not the news. Under our Constitution …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Arizona Republic, Guardian, Hot Air, New York Times, Pajamas Media, National Review and Swampland

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012 — Even a small drop in the share of black voters would wipe out his winning margin in North Carolina. — President Barack Obama is likely to be defeated in 2012. The reason is that he faces four serious threats. The economy is very weak and unlikely …

Discussion: Indecision Forever, americanthinker.com, The New Republic, Taylor Marsh, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, GOP 12 and Wake up America

Sabato's Crystal Ball:

Democrats Blue as Senate Acquires a Reddish Tinge — Larry J. Sabato and Kyle Kondik, U.Va. Center for Politics — As we take a fresh look at next year's Senate races, one thing is clear: Barring an unexpected reelection landslide by President Obama, Republicans are at least slightly favored to take the Senate.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Huffington Post

Shelley Murphy / Boston Globe:

Whitey Bulger arrested — Boston gangster surrenders quietly in Calif. after 16 years on run — Fugitive South Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, wanted for 19 murders, was captured last night in Southern California, the result of a tip from FBI television spots that began airing this week.

Discussion: New York Times, Salon, Mediaite, L.A. NOW, The New Republic, AmSpecBlog, The Daily What, ThinkProgress, The Democratic Daily, The Camp Of The Saints, JammieWearingFool, The Impolitic and New York Magazine

Jennifer Abbasi / Popular Science:

Why Sex With Creatures from the Future Is a Bad Idea — Researchers test sexual adaptations in time-traveling brine shrimp — When time travel finally becomes possible, we might want to think twice about getting it on. According to a new study on tiny shrimp (Artemia franciscana) …

James Bovard / Wall Street Journal:

The Food-Stamp Crime Wave — The number of food-stamp recipients has soared to 44 million from 26 million in 2007. Not surprisingly, fraud and abuse are rampant. — Millionaires are now legally entitled to collect food stamps as long as they have little or no monthly income.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Moonbattery and Gawker

Jack Shafer / Slate Magazine:

Who Is Jose Antonio Vargas? — A prominent journalist comes out as an illegal immigrant, raising additional questions about his real identity. — A prefatory note before I join the Jose Antonio Vargas commentary: I am an immigration dove, to pluck a pungent phrase from today's Twitter-stream.

Discussion: Mother Jones, SFGate, The New Republic and Democracy in America, more at Mediagazer »

Stephen Moore / Wall Street Journal:

Drafting Rubio — The Republican nomination for president is completely up for grabs, but there's a lot of agreement on who the vice presidential pick should be: freshman senator Marco Rubio. — The Republican nomination for president is completely up for grabs, but there's a lot of agreement …

Discussion: GOP 12, Balloon Juice, The Daily Pulp, Ben Smith's Blog, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller and AmSpecBlog

Richard Stengel / Time:

U.S. Constitution Under Siege over Libya, Taxes, Health Care — DNA. Sexting. Airplanes. The atom. Television. Medicare. Collateralized debt obligations. The germ theory of disease. Miniskirts. The internal combustion engine. Computers. Antibiotics. Lady Gaga.

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and NewsBusters.org blogs

The United States Department of Justice:

Two Men Charged in Plot to Attack Seattle Military Processing Center … SEATTLE - Two men were arrested late last night and are charged by criminal complaint with terrorism and firearms related charges. The complaint alleges that Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, aka Joseph Anthony Davis, 33 …

Discussion: Reuters and The Investigative Project …

Robert Stacy McCain / AmSpecBlog:

Gingrich: ‘Strategic Blunder’ for Palin to Mock Obama as ‘Community Organizer’ — Republicans, including Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani, made a “strategic blunder” by making a joke of Barack Obama's work as a community organizer, Newt Gingrich says in a new book about the radical ACORN group.

Discussion: Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and The Other McCain

Heidi Przybyla / Bloomberg:

Ryan Medicare Plan Would Make Americans Worse by 57%-34%, Poll Shows — Representative Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman who has become a star in the Republican Party with his plan to overhaul Medicare, is emerging as a polarizing figure among Americans.