memeorandum: Confederate plates could be touchy issue for Perry (Jim Forsyth/Reuters)

9:50 AM ET, August 17, 2011

Top Items:

Dave Levinthal / The Politico:

Stephen Colbert loses treasurer to Rick Perry — No joke: Presidential candidate Rick Perry and comedian Stephen Colbert, who last week barraged Iowa voters with advertisements urging voters to support “Rick Parry,” shared the same political committee treasurer - until they didn't.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Gawker, Reuters and The Raw Story

Political Math:

Rick Perry And Texas Job Numbers — Full disclosure: I don't like Rick Perry for our next president. I have my reasons that aren't worth going into here. However, when I was watching the GOP debate and pro-Perry people started bringing up Rick Perry's job numbers as a cudgel against other candidates …

Discussion: National Review, Betsy's Page, NO QUARTER, The Daily Caller, The Daily Dish, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Questions and Observations, UrbanGrounds, Chicago Boyz, Wizbang, Marginal Revolution, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Campaign 2012

Jim Forsyth / Reuters:

Confederate plates could be touchy issue for Perry — SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) — A decision on whether Texas should issue a license plate commemorating the state's Confederate heritage has landed square in the lap of Governor Rick Perry — just as he begins his run for the presidency.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Washington Post, The Political Carnival and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Harold Meyerson / Washington Post:
The sad facts behind Rick Perry's Texas miracle

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, ThinkProgress, The TrogloPundit and Prairie Weather

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Wire:
Perry Points to ‘Idiotic’ U.S. Rule That Doesn't Exist

Discussion: Washington Post, SFGate, TPMDC, Mother Jones, The Politico and Iowa Caucuses

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Rick Perry, the ‘no apologies’ candidate

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Political Punch, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and Reuters

Brent Budowsky / Pundits Blog:
Rick Perry will self-destruct within 30 days

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, Mediaite, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Commentary Magazine, The Note, Taylor Marsh, Political Punch, Booman Tribune, TPMDC and The POH Diaries

Rich Lowry / National Review:
Let the Perry Hatred Begin

Discussion: Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos and The Politico

Sam Youngman / Ballot Box:

Obama 2012: Return of the road warrior — Yes, President Obama is on a taxpayer-funded campaign swing. No, he's not rolling out specific economic proposals yet. — But for a wounded president, it sure is some darn good politics. — As Obama tore through the Midwest and his Republican opponents …

Discussion: Fausta's Blog, JammieWearingFool, Washington Monthly and Prairie Weather

New York Times:

Obama Presses His Case in Crucial Iowa, but Perry Is Close on His Heels — PEOSTA, Iowa — President Obama pulled up to a bucolic community college here in his $1.1 million black armored bus on Tuesday and spent much of the day closeted in a conference with farmers and small-business owners …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Caucus, Balloon Juice and Hot Air

Wall Street Journal:

President Weighs Asking Panel for Stimulus Measures — President Barack Obama is considering recommending that lawmakers on a deficit committee back new measures to stimulate the lagging economy, people familiar with White House discussions said Tuesday. — The plan Mr. Obama is considering …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

James Oliphant / Los Angeles Times:

Obama dares Republicans to block his coming jobs package — The president, visiting the Midwest, pledges to send Congress a plan in September and challenges Republicans to block it. Not all Democrats are comfortable with his hard-line stance. — Reporting from Davenport, Iowa …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and American Power

NationalJournal.com:
White House Warns Perry Should Watch What He Says

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Pundit & Pundette and Connecting.the.Dots

The Atlantic Online:
Fighting Perception of Weakness, Obama Puts Onus on Lawmakers

Discussion: Pajamas Media

New York Times:

Crashing the Tea Party — GIVEN how much sway the Tea Party has among Republicans in Congress and those seeking the Republican presidential nomination, one might think the Tea Party is redefining mainstream American politics. — But in fact the Tea Party is increasingly swimming …

Discussion: National Review, NewsBusters.org blogs, New York Magazine, The Awl and Prairie Weather

Abe Sauer / The Awl:

What I Learned in Two Years at the Tea Party — When I started going to Tea Party meetings two years ago, I was sympathetic. Just after attending one in North Dakota in August of 2009, I wrote: “Most tea partiers are not bad people. They're just mad. In many meaningful ways …

Discussion: Wonkette

JSOnline:

Wirch, Holperin win Senate recalls; GOP retains 17-16 majority — By Tom Tolan, Patrick Marley and Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel — The six-month saga that was Wisconsin's state Senate recall movement ended Tuesday with Democrats retaining two seats - and Republicans still in possession …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Ballot Box, The Moderate Voice, The Nation and Shot in the Dark

Walter Russell Mead / Via Meadia:
Blue Partisans Shorten The Lines

Discussion: National Review

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Wisconsin Recall Results // Update - Dems hold both seats

Discussion: RedState

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Sentiment moving against Walker recall

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, TPMDC, Campaign 2012, Hot Air, The Political Carnival, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, Firedoglake and Taegan Goddard's …

Larry O'Connor / Breitbart.tv:

NBC News Caught Red Handed ‘Selectively Editing’ & ‘ Doctoring’ Video to Smear Gov Perry as Racist — Ed Schultz used a deceptive edit to misinform his audience about the content of Gov. Rick Perry's speech in Iowa yesterday. Schultz claimed that Gov. Perry was calling President Obama a …

Discussion: Hot Air, NewsBusters.org blogs, Betsy's Page, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Campaign 2012, The Sundries Shack, Patterico's Pontifications, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, UrbanGrounds, theblogprof, RedState and blogs.abcnews.com

Larry O'Connor / Breitbart.tv:
NBC News' Ed Schultz Admits Selective Edit Deception; Not False Racism Charge

Discussion: RedState, NewsBusters.org blogs, Hot Air and theblogprof

Adam C. Smith / The Politico:

Perry dives into Florida — How do you start from nothing and quickly rev up a serious presidential campaign in a state as big as Florida? — We're about to see Rick Perry try. — The Republican presidential race suddenly looks like a three-person battle between Texas Gov. Perry …

Discussion: CNN

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
The 2012 election brings a new kind of fundraiser: The super bundler

Discussion: The Note

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama, GOP candidates all unpopular

Discussion: Firedoglake and GOP 12

Rasmussen Reports:
GOP Primary: Perry 29%, Romney 18%, Bachmann 13%

Liz Goodwin / Yahoo! News:

Silicon Valley billionaire funding creation of artificial libertarian islands — Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine.

Discussion: Gawker, The Other McCain, Wonkette, Donklephant, Dean's World, The Reaction, LewRockwell.com Blog, Roger Ailes, Althouse and Balloon Juice

Details:
THE BILLIONAIRE KING OF TECHTOPIA

Discussion: Hot Air and The Raw Story

Brad Harvey / WTOL-TV:

Lambertville vandalism turns life-threatening — LAMBERTVILLE, MI (WTOL) - The Monroe County Sheriff's Department is working to solve a case of vandalism that turned life-threatening. — John King was shot in the arm last week when he surprised a man trying to slash the tires on the truck …

Discussion: RedState, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller

Quinnipiac University:

Christie Is Flat And Obama Is Down In New Jersey, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Are Not Worried About Gov's Health — New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie stops his slide and flattens out with a 47 - 46 percent job approval rating from New Jersey voters, his best score in four months …

Discussion: Online NewsHour, Hotline On Call and JammieWearingFool

Kerry Picket / Washington Times:

(audio) Lieberman unsure he'll support Obama in 2012 — Senator Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, told host John McCaslin on America's Morning News radio show on Tuesday morning that he had not decided if he would endorse President Obama in 2012:

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Breitbart.tv, Doug Ross and Big Government

Bruce Bartlett / Economix:

It's the Aggregate Demand, Stupid — Bruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and served on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul. — With the debt limit debate temporarily set aside, the Obama administration is talking …

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Mother Jones, The Atlantic Online and The Mahablog

Ramesh Ponnuru / Bloomberg:
Loose Money Will Keep Economy From Sliding Away: Ramesh Ponnuru

Discussion: Macro and Other Market Musings, National Review, Slate, Campaign 2012, Washington Post and AmSpecBlog

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Herman Cain: Impeaching Obama would be ‘a great thing’ — Asked on a conference call with bloggers this evening why Republicans can't just impeach Barack Obama, Herman Cain answers that it's mostly a matter of legislative politics, POLITICO's Elizabeth Titus reports:

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway and Alan Colmes' Liberaland