memeorandum: Withholder in Chief — Even the Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair … (Maureen Dowd/New York Times)

1:30 AM ET, August 11, 2011

Top Items:

A.Killough / CNN:

TRENDING: Palin bus tour to roll into Iowa — (CNN) - After a more than two-month hiatus, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is planning to crash the presidential party once again with a heartland-themed re-launch of her “One Nation” bus tour this week in Iowa, according to a Palin fundraising email obtained by CNN.

Discussion: New York Times, The Note, Taylor Marsh, The Politico, Campaign 2012, Guardian, Hot Air, The Democratic Daily, Politics, 2012 Campaign Trail Report, The Hill, The Lonely Conservative, State of the Union, The Right Scoop, Rumproast and The Other McCain

Molly Ball / The Politico:

Sarah Palin headed to Iowa — Sarah Palin is making a surprise trip to Iowa this weekend, just in time to catch the political spotlight trained on the Ames straw poll. — In an email to supporters Wednesday, Palin said she's accepted an invitation “to meet folks at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines this week.”

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Washington Times, Wonkette, The Note, nation.foxnews.com, Freedom's Lighthouse and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

A.Killough / CNN:
Romney prediction: Obama won't win Iowa in 2012

Discussion: The Note and The Politico

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Americans Want New Debt Supercommittee to Compromise — Only Tea Party supporters take hard-line stance — PRINCETON, NJ — Six in 10 Americans say members of the new bipartisan “supercommittee” mandated to find new ways of reducing the federal budget deficit should compromise …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, TPMDC, Speaker, Opinion L.A., Washington Monthly, Washington Wire, About.com US Liberal Politics, ThinkProgress, A plain blog about politics, Global Public Square, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wall Street Journal, Balloon Juice and The Politico

Bruce Bartlett / Capital Gains and Games blogs:

23 Polls Say People Support Higher Taxes to Reduce the Deficit — Can/Should the Budget Deficit Be Reduced with Spending Cuts Alone or Should There Be Some Increase in Taxes? — Poll — Date — Some/All Taxes — No Taxes/All Spending — Gallup — 8-10 — 66 — 33 — CNN

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, xpostfactoid and The Daily Dish

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Republicans play hardball. Dems play softball.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Hill and A plain blog about politics

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:

FLASHBACK: In 1990 Campaign Ad, McConnell Said ‘I Think Everyone Should Pay Their Fair Share, Including The Rich’ — Today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) named three Republicans to the fiscal super committee that was created by the debt ceiling deal.

Discussion: TPMDC, The Hill, U.S. Senate Republican … and The Political Carnival

The Hill:
Boehner, McConnell announce picks for deficit ‘supercommittee’

Discussion: Americans for Tax Reform RSS, The Hill and Daily Kos

Ruth Padawer / New York Times:

The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy — As Jenny lay on the obstetrician's examination table, she was grateful that the ultrasound tech had turned off the overhead screen. She didn't want to see the two shadows floating inside her. Since making her decision, she had tried hard not to think about them …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, LifeNews.com and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Thomas L. Friedman / Associated Press:

The Day Our Leaders Got Unstuck — This is a scary economic moment. The response we need is not easy, but it is totally obvious. We need a Grand Bargain between America's two parties — and we need it right now. Until you read the following news article, we'll be stuck in a world of hurt.

Discussion: Hot Air, Gawker, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, Poynter, The Reality-Based Community and Connecting.the.Dots

Jennifer Epstein / The Politico:
Simpson blasts Baucus, Murray

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Huffington Post and PERRspectives

Geneva Sands-Sadowitz / The Hill:

VIDEO: Colbert launches first super PAC ad — Comedian Stephen Colbert's super PAC released its first ad, “Episode IV: A New Hope” paid for by Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow. — The video takes aim at the money being spend to promote candiates before the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, ThinkProgress, TheGazette and Ballot Box

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Taxes key to Mitt Romney's '04 pitch to Standard & Poor's — Gov. Mitt Romney lobbied the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's in 2004 to raise his state's credit rating in part because Massachusetts had raised taxes during an economic downturn two years earlier.

Discussion: Washington Wire, New York Magazine, The Page and Weasel Zippers

Max Hastings / Daily Mail:

Years of liberal dogma have spawned a generation of amoral, uneducated, welfare dependent, brutalised youngsters — A few weeks after the U.S. city of Detroit was ravaged by 1967 race riots in which 43 people died, I was shown around the wrecked areas by a black reporter named Joe Strickland.

Discussion: Washington Post, Wizbang, Guardian and Telegraph

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Tea Party Made Up of ‘Freaked Out White Men’: Whitney — Tea Party members are primarily “freaked out white men” who pose the greatest political threat to Democrats in 2012, according to banking analyst Meredith Whitney. — Speaking in the broader context of a discussion on CNBC regarding …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, YID With LID, Pajamas Media, Clusterstock and JammieWearingFool

Telegraph:

Secret peace talks between US and Taliban collapse over leaks — Secret exploratory peace talks between the United States and the Taliban leadership have broken down after details of the negotiations were leaked, Western diplomats have told The Daily Telegraph.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Wisc. Results Suggest Recall of Governor Would Be Close — Close doesn't count in elections — just ask Al Gore or Norm Coleman. — It appeared as late as midnight on Tuesday that Democrats had a chance to win the three seats necessary to give them control of Wisconsin's State Senate in an unusual and expensive recall election.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Politico, Brookings Institute, Hot Air, New York Times, JSOnline, The Democratic Daily and Rebuild the Dream

Rhonda Bodfield / Arizona Daily Star:

Tucsonans give McCain earful — If U.S. Sen. John McCain's town hall on Tuesday had a theme, it's that Greater Tucson has been dipped in a big vat of angry. — And the heat isn't just the domain of the tea party any more, with progressives showing up in force, just as torqued as their conservative counterparts.

Discussion: KOLD-TV, ThinkProgress and Daily Kos

Bill Salisbury / TwinCities.com:
At town hall meeting, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum addresses concerns about Obama, policies

Discussion: Rebuild the Dream, Daily Kos and AMERICAblog News

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Bachmann: Obama Told Me The Affordable Care Act Eliminates Medicare — Demonstrating yet again her ability to fabricate information on a whim, presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told Fox News host Bill O'Reilly Monday that President Obama personally told her that “Obamacare” …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Withholder in Chief — Even the Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair is not enough to sweeten the mood. — Three years ago, Barack Obama's unlikely presidential dream was given wings by rapturous Iowans — young, old and in-between — who saw in the fresh-faced, silky-voiced black senator …

Discussion: RedState, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Don Surber, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, AMERICAN FUTURE, Spiegel Online, Maggie's Farm, Wake up America and Prairie Weather

Derek Kravitz / Associated Press:

Gov't considers turning foreclosures into rentals … WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration may turn thousands of government-owned foreclosures into rental properties to help boost falling home prices. — The Federal Housing Finance Agency said Wednesday it is seeking input from investors …

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Jared Bernstein / On the Economy:
A Good Housing Idea Gets a Try

Discussion: emptywheel, Calculated Risk, ThinkProgress and Wall Street Journal

Helene Cooper / New York Times:

A Test for Obama's View of a One-Term Presidency — WASHINGTON — It was a year and a half ago when President Obama told Diane Sawyer of ABC News in an interview that he would rather be a good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president. — Now, coming off one of his worst weeks …

Discussion: The Baseline Scenario, Prairie Weather, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and White House Dossier

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic: The Two Crises And The Triumph Of Magical Thinking

Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:

Bruce Schneier's Telepathic Takeover of the TSA — Bruce Schneier is a telepath of unimaginable power. That's the only possible explanation for the stunning reversal at the top of the Transportation Security Administration. — For years, Schneier, the well-known security gadfly …

Charlie Butts / OneNewsNow.com:

Coulter — ‘queen of fabulous’ for gay conservatives — A pro-homosexual faction within the Republican Party is touting the appointment of an outspoken conservative writer to its panel of advisors. — Columnist Ann Coulter — GOProud says conservative columnist Ann Coulter will carry the title of …

Discussion: Holy Bullies …

Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:

Gaffney: Chris Christie May Be Guilty Of “Misprision Of Treason” — After New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vocally rejected claims that by appointing Muslim lawyer Sohail Mohammed to be a judge he was abetting the rise of Sharia law, calling talk of creeping Sharia “crazy,” …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Jihad Watch

Emily Allen / Daily Mail:

We will use water cannons on them: At last Cameron orders police to come down hard on the looters (some aged as young as NINE) — U-turn on ‘softly softly’ approach earlier this week as police finally vow to come down hard on offenders — 109 arrests in West Midlands …

Discussion: Pundit & Pundette, Doug Ross and Europe

Daniel Bice / JSOnline:

Winners and losers in Tuesday's election — By Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel — The political candidates weren't the only winners and losers in the six Senate recall contests. — Here is a quick take on how some of the important players fared as a result of Tuesday's election:

Discussion: Uppity Wisconsin, The Atlantic Online, The New Republic, Wonkette and Towleroad News #gay

Linda B. Blackford / Lexington Herald-Leader:

Noah's Ark theme park to get deep discount on property taxes — The Answers in Genesis group announced that it will open a for-profit, creation-based theme park called Ark Encounter. The park, to be completed in 2014 on an 800-acre site in Northern Kentucky, will be built using “green” methods.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, TBogg, Wonkette, The Raw Story and Daily Kos

Michael Lewis / Vanity Fair:

It's the Economy, Dummkopf! — With Greece and Ireland in economic shreds, while Portugal, Spain, and perhaps even Italy head south, only one nation can save Europe from financial Armageddon: a highly reluctant Germany. The ironies—like the fact that bankers from Düsseldorf …

Discussion: Europe

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Michele Bachmann Repeatedly Sought Stimulus, EPA, Other Government Funds … WASHINGTON — Few candidates in the Republican presidential primary field have decried the federal government with as much gusto as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). The three-term congresswoman has belittled the stimulus package …

Discussion: Slate Magazine, The Note, Hot Air, Indecision Forever, Washington Monthly, Wonkette, The Raw Story, Campaign 2012, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, AmSpecBlog, Doug Ross and TPMDC

Washington Post:

Matt Miller — Why the center-left is fed up with Obama — Does the president sense what the moment requires? It helps to think like Mitch McConnell. Once you do, you'll see there's no way Republicans will partner with Obama to do anything that matters, because they have the president right …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Joe Burns / KTVZ-TV:

Bend Soldier Back Home Amid Foreclosure Furor — Hours Earlier, Bank Auctions Family's Home on Courthouse Steps — BEND, Ore. — It was a bittersweet, even ironic “homecoming” day for Bend resident Tim Collette who's home is in foreclosure. His son, Aaron, arrived back home on leave from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Crooks and Liars

New York Times:

Half-Measures From the Fed — It came as no surprise on Tuesday when the Federal Reserve said that the economy was in a more precarious state than it had previously believed. It was refreshing that the Fed stopped blaming “transitory” factors like supply-chain disruptions from Japan and acknowledged …

Discussion: Somewhat Reasonable and LewRockwell.com Blog

Wall Street Journal:

Doubling Down on Zero — A rare Fed dissent from three regional presidents. — The Federal Reserve has kept its short-term interest-rate target at near-zero for 32 months, and yesterday its Open Market Committee announced that it'll keep the rate there for at least another 24 months.