memeorandum: Obama offers 2012 election supporters change they can believe in — next term (David Nakamura/Washington Post)

1:25 PM ET, August 27, 2011

Top Items:

Locked Up and Left Behind: Hurricane Irene and the Prisoners on New York's Rikers Island — “We are not evacuating Rikers Island,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference this afternoon. Bloomberg annouced a host of extreme measures being taken by New York City in preparation …

Discussion: Mock, Paper, Scissors, Gothamist, TalkLeft and New York Times

Bob King / The Politico:

Was Hurricane Irene caused by global warming? — Hurricane Irene hadn't even made landfall in the United States before some people figured out what to blame it on. — “Irene's got a middle name, and it's Global Warming,” environmental activist Bill McKibben wrote Thursday night in The Daily Beast.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, NewsBusters.org blogs, Althouse, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, Pajamas Media, Informed Comment, Dot Earth, Conservatives4Palin, The Daily Caller, Watts Up With That?, Collide-a-scape, The Daily Beast and Weasel Zippers

msnbc.com:

Hurricane Irene batters N.C., killing 1 — Falling tree limb kills man in Nash County, N.C.; tropical storm conditions extend into Va., Md., Del. — Below: — updated 2011-08-27T15:43:06 — Top developments: — Hurricane Irene battered the North Carolina coast with wind and rain Saturday …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Crooks and Liars, PhotoBlog and ABCNEWS

Kamalwallace / This Just In:

Live blog: Storm blamed for two deaths — Are you there? Share your story with iReport and be a part of CNN's coverage. — Hurricane Irene continues to crawl north after making landfall Saturday morning in North Carolina. The storm is expected to head up the East Coast from Virginia to Maine …

Discussion: CNN, USA Today and Hot Air

New York Times:

Core of Hurricane Irene Starts Coming Ashore — NAGS HEAD, N.C. — The eye wall of Hurricane Irene, now a category one storm, is within a hours of making landfall in eastern North Carolina, the first stop in the mainland United States for a storm that is expected to scrape up the East Coast and bring flooding rains to a dozen states.

Discussion: Metropolis, New York Magazine, Gothamist, Bloomberg, Politics and Ecocentric

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:

Louisiana Congressman: GOP ‘Sinful’ To Tie Disaster Aid To Spending Cuts … WASHINGTON — As East Coasters brace for what some say will be a historic pummel by Hurricane Irene, at least one lawmaker is fuming over a requirement by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Confluence and ThinkProgress

Jeff Masters / Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog:
Irene's eyewall collapses; further intensification unlikely

Discussion: Power Line, Dot Earth, Los Angeles Times, Wizbang, Sky Dancing, New York Times, Hot Air, The Atlantic Online, Booman Tribune, Gothamist and JustOneMinute

Robin Bravender / The Politico:

Gore: Eat less meat to fight warming — Al Gore wants society to ditch meat-heavy diets and go organic to combat global warming. — “Industrial agriculture is a part of the problem,” Gore said Friday during an interview with FearLess Revolution founder Alex Bogusky.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative and Sister Toldjah

Ben Geman / The Hill:
Al Gore to Rick Perry: Climate scientists aren't motivated by money

Discussion: Don Surber

Douglas Mackinnon / Investor's Business Daily:
Left And Right Going Nuclear On Rick Perry

Discussion: Washington Post, Campaign 2012, Patterico's Pontifications and New York Times

Catherine Herridge / Fox News:

State Department: Don't Invade Privacy of Cleric on CIA Kill List — While the New Mexico-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, is the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list, the U.S. State Department refuses to release documents about al-Awlaki citing his right to privacy.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Atlas Shrugs, americanthinker.com, Right Wing News and Jihad Watch

Dana Loesch / Big Journalism:

ESPN Moves to Silence Golf Analyst Who Criticized Obama *UPDATED: ESPN Ignores Political Tweets of Other Personalities *UPDATE: More Cherry-Picking — A note for future prospective ESPN employees: You can only cheerlead Obama at ESPN. I'm not joking. — Case in point: The network's golf analyst …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, No More Mister Nice Blog, Scared Monkeys, americanthinker.com, Michelle Malkin, Top of the Ticket, INSTAPUTZ, theblogprof, nation.foxnews.com, The Lonely Conservative, Marooned In Marin, Doug Ross, The Gateway Pundit, USA Today, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

Obama offers 2012 election supporters change they can believe in — next term — Three years after storming the White House with the “fierce urgency of now,” President Obama has a new message for his reelection campaign: be patient, democracy is big and tough and messy.

Discussion: The Business Insider and Greg's Opinion

Maureen O'Connor / Gawker:

Republican Politician Naked, Bending Over on Gay Sex Site — Puerto Rico's Anthony Weiner is much more thrilling than ours: Last week, images from Puerto Rican senator and GOP cheerleader Roberto Arango's alleged profile on gay hook-up app Grindr surfaced. When a Puerto Rican TV show confronted him …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Moderate Voice

Latest Stories on Guanabee.com:
Puerto Rican Senator Roberto Arango Caught Posting Nude Pics On Grindr

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, The Raw Story, Joe. My. God., Box Turtle Bulletin, Wonkette, Mediaite and New York Magazine

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

The Times Retracts Issa Hit Piece, One Correction at a Time — I wrote here about the hit piece on Congressman Darrell Issa by Eric Lichtblau that appeared on the front page of the New York Times. Lichtblau's article, which sought to create the impression that Issa has misused …

Discussion: New York Times and Pajamas Media

Ben Geman / The Hill:

GOP senator: White House ‘failed miserably’ on economy — Freshman Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) on Saturday bashed President Obama's economic record while calling for a balanced budget amendment and a tax code overhaul that lowers rates. — Heller's GOP weekly address arrives amid of a wave …

Discussion: CNN

The Note:

Ron Paul: Who Needs FEMA Anyway? — ABC News' Jason Volack reports: — With Hurricane Irene bearing down on the East Coast and taking direct aim at America's biggest city, who needs the Federal Emergency Management Agency anyway? — At least that's the question that presidential candidate …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, Reuters and The Politico