memeorandum: The Cult Of The Presidency In Action (Jonathan Chait/The New Republic)

7:05 PM ET, August 22, 2011

Top Items:

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Obama in Close Race Against Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Paul — Romney has slight edge over Obama, Bachmann slightly lags — PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama is closely matched against each of four possible Republican opponents when registered voters are asked whom they would support …

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Paul Ryan Not Running for President — Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan has decided for a final time that he will not run for president in 2012, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned. Ryan, who began seriously considering a bid in late May after Indiana governor Mitch Daniels took himself out of the race …

Discussion: The Note, TPMDC, National Review, GOP 12, Outside the Beltway, Democracy in America, Campaign 2012, Washington Post, Hot Air, Politics, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Dish, Patterico's Pontifications, Daily Kos, Man Are We Screwed and The Daily Caller

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

Huntsman criticizes rivals in prime time interview — (CNN) - For a second straight day, Jon Huntsman is going after his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. — In an interview to run Monday and Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on CNN's “Piers Morgan Tonight,” the former Utah governor …

Discussion: The Note, Facebook, The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, Piers Morgan, Politics, FP Passport, The Moderate Voice and Minnesota Independent

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

There's Room for More G.O.P. Candidates — Rather than douse speculation about which additional Republicans might enter the presidential sweepstakes, Rick Perry's announcement that he would seek the White House seemed only to stoke the fire. At least five prominent Republicans — Sarah Palin …

Discussion: Politics and A plain blog about politics

Rasmussen Reports:

Obama 50%, Palin 33% — Will she or won't she? Sarah Palin has a busy schedule leading up to a major public event in Iowa on September 3, and Republican insider Karl Rove predicts she's about to enter the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, GOP 12, The Daily Caller, Big Government and Conservatives4Palin

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Gallup: Obama trails Romney, ties Perry

Discussion: Don Surber, Weasel Zippers and National Review

Justin Sink / The Hill: Huntsman says he could join Bachmann as VP candidate

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

The ‘thank America last’ crowd — Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) issued a joint statement last night on the developments in Libya. It's worth taking a look at the lede. … Remember hearing about the “blame America first” crowd? Well, say hello to the “thank America last” crowd.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times, Indecision Forever, New Atlanticist, Jeff Weintraub, Democracy in America, ProPublica, Wonkette, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Dish, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mock, Paper, Scissors, iOwnTheWorld.com and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Adam Serwer / Washington Post:

The right's bizarre response to Libya events — With the regime of Libyan dictator Moammar Ghadafi seemingly toppled by the rebels, the Obama administration is feeling vindicated in its decision to intervene. But the right can't decide whether to be happy Ghadafi is gone or miserable that Obama had something to do with it.

Discussion: Salon, Washington Monthly, The Heritage Foundation, The Politico, Donklephant, AmSpecBlog, New York Magazine and New York Times

Ian Swanson / The Hill:

Obama hails Gadhafi's end after enduring lawmakers' criticism — The fall of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi after a NATO bombing campaign and a six-month civil war would represent a significant foreign policy victory for President Obama. — Despite opposition and heavy criticism …

Discussion: Reuters, The Politico, CNN and JammieWearingFool

Juan / Informed Comment:
Top Ten Myths about the Libya War

Discussion: BBC, The Atlantic Online, Arabist.net, Guardian, Daniel W. Drezner, FP Passport, Mother Jones, New Atlanticist, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, The Mahablog, Newshoggers.com, The Reality-Based Community and Donkeylicious

Faiz Shakir / ThinkProgress:
PHOTOS: Libyans Applaud President Obama And International Allies With Large Thank You Sign

Discussion: Associated Press, Booman Tribune and Babylon & Beyond

Brooks Boliek / The Politico:

FCC finally kills off fairness doctrine — The FCC gave the coup de grace to the fairness doctrine Monday as the commission axed more than 80 media industry rules. — Earlier this summer FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski agreed to erase the post WWII-era rule, but the action Monday puts …

Discussion: Shakesville, The Political Carnival, Sister Toldjah, Mediaite, Balloon Juice, A plain blog about politics and Pajamas Media, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:

The Cult Of The Presidency In Action — Gene Healy has written about what he calls “The Cult of the Presidency,” and I've written about his concept as well. It is a pervasive mentality that views the president as a kind of national father, responsible for everything that goes well or ill …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Washington Monthly, New York Times, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Balloon Juice and A plain blog about politics

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
What could Obama have done? — (Andrew Harrer - Bloomberg) …

Discussion: RedState, Ricochet Conversation Feed and Prairie Weather

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Imagining Better Yesterdays

Discussion: A plain blog about politics

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Just One Week Into His Campaign, Rick Perry Disavows His Nine-Month-Old Book — Last November, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) published Fed Up, a 240-page ode to tentherism, which argues that everything from child labor laws to the Clean Air Act to Medicare violates the Constitution.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, TPMDC, Washington Monthly, Taegan Goddard's …, Firedoglake, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos, Little Green Footballs, The Political Carnival, Shakesville and The Washington Independent

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Perry: Nevermind — Rick Perry wrote in his book, “Fed Up,” …

Discussion: Washington Post, Wonkette, Politics, Swampland, Man Are We Screwed, GOP 12, Liberal Values and The Daily Dish

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Trial lawyers prep for war on Perry — America's trial lawyers are getting ready to make the case against one of their biggest targets in years: Texas Gov. Rick Perry. — Among litigators, there is no presidential candidate who inspires the same level of hatred - and fear - as Perry …

Discussion: Ricochet Conversation Feed, Mother Jones, Law Blog, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, The TrogloPundit, New York Magazine and GOP 12

Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Messing With Texas — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas hasn't lost an election in 10 tries.

Discussion: msnbc.com, NationalJournal.com, Campaign 2012, Texas on the Potomac, Paul Krugman, WILLisms.com, Daily Kos, Connecting.the.Dots, The Agonist and Sadly, No!

Andrea Shalal-Esa / Reuters:

Goldman CEO hires high-profile defense attorney — (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein has hired Reid Weingarten, a high-profile Washington defense attorney whose past clients include a former Enron accounting officer, according to a government source familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Clusterstock, DealBook, Booman Tribune, Mish's Global Economic …, MarketBeat and Dealbreaker

Mercury News:

Opinion: Subsidizing Netflix — One of the success stories of the Internet era has been Netflix, the company that provides movies and TV shows to home viewers. In its earlier years, Netflix was a snail-mail-only service. You ordered a movie. It showed up in your mailbox.

Discussion: TalkLeft and The Enterprise Blog, more at Techmeme »

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress: Is The Free Market ‘Subsidizing’ Netflix?

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The Libya War argument — In April, 2003, American troops entered Baghdad and Saddam Hussein was forced to flee; six months later, the dictator was captured ("caught like a rat in a hole," giddy American media outlets celebrated) and eventually hanged. Each of those incidents caused massive numbers …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Campaign 2012, Hit & Run, The Other McCain, Taylor Marsh and Balloon Juice

Matt Welch / Hit & Run:
Libya, End Zone Taunting, and the Success Curse

Discussion: The New Republic and Democracy in America

Laura Italiano / New York Post:

DA filing to reveal new ‘bombshells’ about DSK accuser's credibility — She lied about sex. She lied about money. She even lied about lying. — That's the conclusion of Manhattan prosecutors, who promise they'll drop “bombshells” in detailing new credibility issues for the hotel maid …

Discussion: Guardian, New York Times, The Awl, TalkLeft and The Politico

City Room:
Prosecutor Asks Court to Drop Charges Against Strauss-Kahn

Discussion: New York Times, News Desk, Runnin' Scared, FT Alphaville, New York Magazine and Clusterstock

Gretchen Morgenson / New York Times:

Attorney General of N.Y. Is Said to Face Pressure on Bank Foreclosure Deal — Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, has come under increasing pressure from the Obama administration to drop his opposition to a wide-ranging state settlement with banks over dubious foreclosure practices …

Inside Higher Ed:

Negotiating No More — The Teaching Assistants' Association at the University of Wisconsin at Madison dates to 1966. In 1970, following a four-week strike, the graduate students at Madison became the first T.A. union to win a contract. Over the years, the union — affiliated …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Questions and Observations and Althouse

Sam Hananel / Associated Press:
AFL-CIO seeks to boost clout with super PAC

Discussion: The Politico and TPMDC

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:

In the Race to Succeed Weiner, a Surprising Anger at Obama — Of all the places to hear fulminations against President Obama, one of the least expected is the corner of 71st Avenue and Queens Boulevard, in the heart of a Congressional district that propelled Democrats like Geraldine A. Ferraro …

Discussion: Power Line, New York Post, The Other McCain, The Note, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Indecision Forever, Hotline On Call, Prairie Weather, PolitickerNY, JammieWearingFool, Moe Lane, White House Dossier, The Lonely Conservative and National Review

Andrew Solomon / News Desk:

Enigmas and Lies in Libya — As rebel forces enter Tripoli, the big question is what will happen to the Qaddafi regime. Most of the pundits expected Qaddafi to go months ago. It looked as though the end were truly nigh when Musa Kusa, his former head of intelligence and the power behind the throne …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Stanley Kurtz / National Review:
Assessing Libya — A full assessment of our war in Libya …

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, The Daily Dish, Hit & Run, alicublog and Fox News

Harvey Golub / Wall Street Journal:

My Response To Buffett And Obama — Before you ask for more tax money from me, raise the $2.2 trillion you already collect each year more fairly and spend it more wisely. — Over the years, I have paid a significant portion of my income to the various federal, state and local jurisdictions …