memeorandum: Capital Area Food Bank to get $1 million donation to eliminate fee (Isaac Arnsdorf/Washington Post)

12:45 PM ET, August 23, 2011

Top Items:

Conservative elites pine for 2012 hero — It's a tough time to be a conservative intellectual. — From the Weekly Standard to the Wall Street Journal, on the pages of policy periodicals and opinion sections, the egghead right's longing for a presidential candidate of ideas …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, TheBlaze.com, Booman Tribune, Online NewsHour, Erick's blog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weekly Standard, Balloon Juice and Politics

National Review:

Five Reasons Ryan Bowed Out — Sources close to Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin tell National Review Online that the Budget Committee chairman considered a variety of factors this summer as he mulled a late-entry presidential campaign. This afternoon, he closed the door on a 2012 bid, choosing to remain in the House.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Man Are We Screwed, Patterico's Pontifications and Hot Air

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Perry takes the lead in Iowa — Rick Perry is the new leader in Iowa: — The race is pretty close four ways in Iowa but Rick Perry is the new favorite among Republican voters in the state. Among announced candidates he's at 22% to 19% for Mitt Romney, 18% for Michele Bachmann, and 16% for Ron Paul.

Discussion: GOP 12 and National Review

Paul A. Gigot / Wall Street Journal:

Huntsman's Anti-GOP Strategy — The former Utah governor tries to save his GOP presidential bid by using global warming as a wedge issue. — When Joe Manchin wanted to save his U.S. Senate campaign, the West Virginia Democrat loaded a rifle and put a bullet through a sheet of paper labeled …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Power Line, Althouse, Politics and YID With LID

Frank Newport / Gallup:
Obama in Close Race Against Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Paul

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Arab Summer may not spread to Syria …

Discussion: Mercury News, The Note and Taegan Goddard's …, more at Techmeme »

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Spending, not entitlements, created huge deficit — It's conventional wisdom in Washington to blame the federal government's dire financial outlook on runaway entitlement spending. Unless we rein in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the conventional wisdom goes, the federal government is headed for disaster.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, UrbanGrounds and The Lonely Conservative

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:
Rick Perry's views on the Constitution get closer scrutiny

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, TPMDC and Man Are We Screwed

Steve Bainbridge / ProfessorBainbridge.com:
If the trial lawyers hate Rick Perry, maybe I should reconsider him

Discussion: PointOfLaw Forum, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Law Blog, Mother Jones and Pajamas Media

Mark Knoller / CBS News:

National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama — The latest posting by the Treasury Department shows the national debt has now increased $4 trillion on President Obama's watch. — The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Mr. Obama took office. The latest calculation from Treasury shows the debt has now hit $14.639 trillion.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, Questions and Observations, Scared Monkeys, Clusterstock, Doug Ross, The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers, National Review and Pajamas Media

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
New national debt data: It's growing about $3 million a minute, even during his vacation

Discussion: Althouse, BizzyBlog and Weasel Zippers

Joe Nocera / New York Times:

How Democrats Hurt Jobs — The airplane's aft section arrived early Monday morning. That's what they'd been waiting for at the final assembly plant in North Charleston, S.C. They already had the wings, the nose, the tail — all the other major sections of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner.

Discussion: Ricochet Conversation Feed, Washington Post, The Business Insider and Betsy's Page

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:

Fresh Palin Tea Leaves Seem to Predict a Late September Decision — The biggest - perhaps the only - question remaining about the size and shape of the Republican presidential field is whether Sarah Palin intends to join. The answer is not expected to come by Labor Day, but rather in the final weeks of September.

SarahPAC:
Setting The Record Straight: Wrong & Misleading

Discussion: Ballot Box, CNN, Don Surber, RedState, Politics and Hot Air

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
Will Palin be in by Labor Day? ‘I doubt it’

Discussion: GOP 12, The Other McCain, Iowa Caucuses, Conservatives4Palin, The Gateway Pundit, Fox News, RedState, Man Are We Screwed and American Spectator

The White House:

Statement by the President on Libya Blue Heron Farm, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts — THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. I just completed a call with my National Security Council on the situation in Libya. And earlier today I spoke to Prime Minister Cameron about the extraordinary events taking place there.

Discussion: Osborne Ink, Man Are We Screwed, News Desk, Political Punch, ThinkProgress, Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post, White House.gov Blog, CNN, Connecting.the.Dots, The Daily Dish and Washington Monthly

Richard A. Posner / The New Republic:

Let's Be Honest: We're in a Depression, Not a Recession, And There's No End In Sight — This article is a contribution to ‘Is There Anything That Can Be Done? A TNR Symposium On The Economy.’ Click here to read other contributions to the series. — If the notion that we are merely living through …

Max Pizarro / Politicker NJ:

In LD8, Delany derailed by wife's email to Lewis — Former Assemblyman Pat Delany abruptly resigned last month from his post representing the 8th district after his wife sent a racially tinged email to senate challenger Carl Lewis, the former Olympic Gold medalist.

Discussion: New Jersey Online, Wonkette, The Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, iOwnTheWorld.com, TPM LiveWire and Dependable Renegade

Hoover Institution:

How Is Warren Buffett Like the Pope? — by Richard A. Epstein (Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow and member of the Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force) — They are both dead wrong on economic policy. — The terrible economic news from both Europe and the United States …

Discussion: National Review, Mirror of Justice, MuniLand, The Reality-Based Community, Wonkette and The Huffington Post

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:

Debbie's Very Bad Day in Iowa — During my Iowa trip, I got lots of photos and videos I wasn't able to upload at the time due to connectivity issues and the very hectic schedule. One of the items that never made it to the blog was an incident at the Iowa State Fair where DNC Chairwoman …

Patricia Mazzei / Naked Politics:

Beware the tea party, Jesse Jackson, Frederica Wilson and black Democrats say at jobs meeting — Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus are in Miami Tuesday to host a jobs fair, part of their five-city tour to draw attention to high unemployment, particularly in the black community.

Discussion: The Politico, Big Government, americanthinker.com, Washington Post and Chicago Boyz

Gautham Nagesh / The Hill:

FCC officially kills Fairness Doctrine, wiping it from rules — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the elimination of 83 outdated and obsolete agency rules on Monday, including the controversial Fairness Doctrine. — “The elimination of the obsolete …

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Neil_Stevens's blog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Don Surber, more at Mediagazer »

Felix Salmon:

How to get $12 billion of gold to Venezuela — Ever since the news broke last week that Hugo Chávez wanted to transport 211 tons of physical gold from Europe to Caracas, I've been wondering how on earth he possibly intends to do such a thing. — There are 99 tons already being held …

Discussion: Fausta's Blog

Michael O'Brien / Ballot Box:

Warren's criticism of Wall Street poses fundraising dilemma — Elizabeth Warren's combative history with Wall Street could create a fundraising dilemma for her burgeoning Senate campaign. — Her ardent grassroots following on the left — forged during stints as TARP watchdog and as mastermind …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Shakesville and Prairie Weather

Gregory Simmons / ABCNEWS:

Gov. Sanford on Emerging From Seclusion — A scandal-plagued former governor who was once considered a potential presidential contender for 2012 is instead standing on the periphery, reflecting on what might have been and watching as the Republican primary field continues to take shape.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, The Hill, CNN and The Note

Jeff Reinitz / Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier:

NEW DETAILS: Witnesses said they heard beating victim taunted — A brutal fight that claimed the life of a Waterloo teen started with taunting, witnesses said. — Police confirmed that 19-year-old Marcellus Richard Andrews was officially pronounced dead at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Box Turtle Bulletin

Tevi Troy / National Review:

What's Obama Reading? — The reports are in about the books President Obama is looking at on his annual trip to Martha's Vineyard. According to reports from the Los Angeles Times and the AP, Obama purchased five books on his trip to the Vineyard bookseller Bunch of Grapes: Marianna Baer's Frost …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and New York Magazine

Julia Preston / New York Times:

U.S. Issues New Deportation Policy's First Reprieves — The call came in the morning to the lawyer representing Manuel Guerra, an illegal immigrant from Mexico living in Florida who had been caught in a tortuous and seemingly failing five-year court fight against deportation.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Michelle Malkin, TalkLeft, Washington Monthly and Rasmussen Reports

David Tuller / New York Times:

No Surprise for Bisexual Men: Report Indicates They Exist — In an unusual scientific about-face, researchers at Northwestern University have found evidence that at least some men who identify themselves as bisexual are, in fact, sexually aroused by both women and men.

Discussion: Shakesville, Gawker, AMERICAblog Gay and Towleroad News #gay

Bradley Keoun / Bloomberg:

Morgan Stanley at Brink Got $107B From Fed — As markets convulsed in September 2008, Morgan Stanley (MS) Treasurer David Wong briefed the Federal Reserve on a “dark” scenario in which the U.S. firm would need at least $10 billion of emergency loans from the central bank. — It got 10 times darker by month's end.

Discussion: Clusterstock, Man Are We Screwed, Firedoglake and Hot Air

Henry Blodget / Politics:

Here's Why Bank Of America's Stock Is Collapsing Again — It's deja vu all over again. — The stock of a humongous American bank, Bank of America (BAC), is collapsing. — This is stoking fears that Bank of America will go bust, taking the whole economy down with it. — Why is Bank of America's stock tanking?

Discussion: FT Alphaville, Modeled Behavior, Clusterstock, MarketBeat, Deal Journal and naked capitalism

New York Times:

It's a Flawed Settlement — The Obama administration has turned up the heat on Eric Schneiderman, New York's attorney general, to go along with a proposed settlement with the nation's largest banks over dubious foreclosure practices. Mr. Schneiderman should stand his ground in not supporting the deal.

Discussion: naked capitalism, AMERICAblog News, DownWithTyranny!, Gothamist, Felix Salmon, Salon and Clusterstock

DealBook:

Milken's Gift Stirs Dispute at U.C.L.A. Law School — When the U.C.L.A. School of Law announced a $10 million gift from Lowell Milken to establish a business law institute in his name earlier this month, the university described him as a “pioneer in education reform” and a “leading philanthropist.”

Discussion: ProfessorBainbridge.com and Truth on the Market