memeorandum: Bert and Ernie should not get married (Petula Dvorak/Washington Post)

12:25 PM ET, August 12, 2011

Top Items:

8 From G.O.P. Trade Attacks at Iowa Debate — AMES, Iowa — A withering critique of President Obama's handling of the economy was overshadowed by a burst of incivility among the Republican presidential candidates who, in a debate here Thursday night, fought to stay alive in the party's increasingly competitive nominating race.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Caucus, News Desk, CNN, Iowa Caucuses, Washington Post, Ballot Box, Prairie Weather, Outside the Beltway, Patterico's Pontifications, The Politico, GOP 12 and American Power

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Mike Huckabee: Rick Perry timing ‘bad form,’ ‘tactical blunder’ — Mike Huckabee is giving a big thumbs-down to Rick Perry's campaign rollout, telling Fox News that the Texas governor's decision to announce on the day of the Iowa straw poll is a big “tactical blunder.”

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Note, Washington Post, Iowa Caucuses, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Caucus, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, msnbc.com, Campaign 2012 and CNN

Mike Allen / The Politico:

NEW SHERIFF: RICK PERRY RUNNING ON CHANGE - Announces Sat. - You're invited: Pawlenty headlines Playbook Breakfast in downtown Des Moines, 8:15 a.m. CT — PLAYBOOK CRYSTAL BALL - Spotted later today, lunching in Kennebunkport: President George H.W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, Jean Becker, Doug Band and W.J.C. CoS Laura Graham.

Discussion: The Note, USA Today and Weekly Standard

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Pawlenty: Poor straw poll showing would force me to ‘reassess’

Discussion: HotAirPundit

Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Tim Pawlenty: Ames flop would force campaign to ‘reassess’ plan

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:
The Gloves Come Off at Iowa Debate

Discussion: Guardian, nation.foxnews.com, American Power and Althouse

The Note:
Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty Take Gloves Off At Iowa Debate

Discussion: blogs.abcnews.com, CNN, Ben Smith's Blog and The Politico

Michael Cooper / The Caucus:
Fact Check: The Republican Debate

Discussion: White House Dossier

Washington Post:
Pawlenty, Bachmann spar early, often in GOP debate

Discussion: New York Magazine, NationalJournal.com, The Daily Caller, Gothamist, Wall Street Journal, Mr. Media Training, National Review, The Daily Dish, American Spectator, Politics and The Page

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
King hits Perry for treating Iowans like “country bumpkins”

Discussion: The Politico and The Raw Story

James C. Moore / CNN:
Moore: Get ready for President Perry

Discussion: Opinionator, The Moderate Voice, This Just In, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Opinion L.A. and GOP 12

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Rick Perry Says Social Security And Medicare Are Unconstitutional — Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has, to say the least, a very odd understanding of the Constitution. He thinks Texas should be able to opt out of Social Security, and he believes that everything from federal public school programs to clean air laws are unconstitutional.

Discussion: The Agitator

The Daily Beast:

Rick Perry on the Record — From scrapping Social Security and Medicare to immigration to Constitutional amendments, Texas Governor Rick Perry spoke openly last fall with Andrew Romano. — In Fed Up!, you criticize the progressive era and the changes it produced: the 16th and 17th Amendments, Social Security, Medicare, and so on.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Daily Kos and Shakesville

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Fact checking the GOP debate in Iowa

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Newt Gingrich Brawls With Fox News' Chris Wallace Over Debate ‘Gotcha’ Question — While his fellow GOP presidential candidates were busy zinging each other, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich livened up Thursday night's Fox Presidential Debate by throwing some haymakers at moderator Chris Wallace.

Discussion: The Politico, Pundits Blog and AMERICAblog News

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
The Defining Moments of the GOP Debate

Discussion: Washington Post and Eunomia

Frances Martel / Mediaite:
Tim Pawlenty And Rep. Michele Bachmann Rumble In White Hot Debate Exchange

Discussion: Wake up America, Connecting.the.Dots and Hot Air

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

John Roberts Is No Fool — The White House tries to put one over on the Supreme Court. — “The White House . . . has quietly altered its website to remove the references to Jerusalem being in ‘Israel,’ ” the New York Sun reports. It sounds like another make-work Keynesian stimulus: dig a hole, fill it up.

Discussion: The Jawa Report

New York Post:

JetBlue flier who ‘peed’ on girl could be axed from US Ski Team — By GORDON BOCK in Warren, Vt., and DON KAPLAN in NY — He probably just pissed away his Olympic dreams. — The drunken JetBlue passenger who treated a sleeping 11-year-old girl like his personal potty is a member …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Runnin' Scared, Gothamist, Gawker and The Jawa Report

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Hijacked Crisis — Has market turmoil left you feeling afraid? Well, it should. Clearly, the economic crisis that began in 2008 is by no means over. — But there's another emotion you should feel: anger. For what we're seeing now is what happens when influential people exploit a crisis rather than try to solve it.

Discussion: Daily Kos and Prairie Weather

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Democrats Enjoy Slight Edge on 2012 Congressional Ballot — Twice as many voters say Tea Party endorsements are a negative rather than a positive — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup's first measure of the 2012 congressional elections shows Democrats leading Republicans, 51% to 44% …

Discussion: The Hill, The Daily Caller, The Political Carnival, TPMDC, Talking Points Memo, Hotline On Call and Daily Kos

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

All The Anti-Gay Rhetoric From The GOP Presidential Debate...In Under 2 Minutes — The GOP presidential candidates reiterated their opposition to same-sex marriage during Thursday's debate in Ames, Iowa, even as the majority of Americans now support marriage equality and 11.4 percent …

Discussion: Washington Blade, The Strata-Sphere, Towleroad News #gay, Pam's House Blend and Shakesville

Geoff Earle / New York Post:

NY turns negative on Bam — WASHINGTON — President Obama might need to start taking a few more campaign trips to New York — and not just to raise cash. — A stunning new survey gives the president a negative approval rating in the Empire State for the first time, with just 45 percent approval …

Discussion: JammieWearingFool and The Lonely Conservative

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Ten-to-one isn't good enough for the GOP — I'm still working my way through the transcript of last night's debate for Republican presidential candidates, but there was one moment that clearly stood out for its significance. It wasn't a zinger or an attack; it was a response all of the candidates offered by raising their hands.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

David Axelrod Promises To Fire Any Team Obama Staffer Who Calls Mitt Romney ‘Weird’ — On MSNBC's Morning Joe, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele pressed senior Obama adviser David Axelrod on the Politico piece that suggested Team Obama's strategy would be to paint GOP hopeful Mitt Romney as “weird.”

Discussion: Washington Post, Ben Smith's Blog, New York Magazine, TPMDC, The Atlantic Online, The Daily Dish and The Politico

Oren Yaniv / NY Daily News:

Woman sues for sexual harassment at People's Choice Realty; Their response? She's too ugly to touch — A 23-year-old lesbian says the Brooklyn real estate office she once worked in is a den of deviants where raunchy sexcapades were the norm. — But the bosses she's suing say she's too ugly to harass.

Discussion: Joe. My. God. and Gothamist

Sonny Riddle / GazetteVirginian.com:

Proposed rule on farms called ‘absurd’ — A new rule being proposed by the federal Department of Transportation would require farmers to get commercial drivers licenses. — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is a part of DOT, wants to adopt standards that would reclassify …

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, The Gateway Pundit and LewRockwell.com Blog

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Obama: ‘Last thing we need’ is for Congress to return to DC — President Obama blasted Congress from the road on Thursday, saying things would be worse if lawmakers returned to Washington. — “There is nothing wrong with our country,” Obama said in a speech at a Holland, Mich. plant.

Josh Boak / The Politico:

S&P: Skeptics fueled downgrade — A Standard & Poor's director said for the first time Thursday that one reason the United States lost its triple-A credit rating was that several lawmakers expressed skepticism about the serious consequences of a credit default — a position put forth by some Republicans.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly and TPMDC

Kara Scannell / Financial Times:

SEC makes S&P downgrade inquiries — The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked credit rating agency Standard & Poor's to disclose who within its ranks knew of its decision to downgrade US debt before it was announced last week, as part of a preliminary look into potential insider trading, people familiar with the matter say.

Discussion: Firedoglake, MarketBeat, Reuters and New York Magazine