memeorandum: GOP senator: White House ‘failed miserably’ on economy (Ben Geman/The Hill)

6:35 AM ET, August 27, 2011

Top Items:

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: NewsBusters.org blogs, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, The Moderate Voice and Conservatives4Palin

Jeff Masters / Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog:

Irene's eyewall collapses; further intensification unlikely — Satellite data and measurements from the Hurricane Hunters show that Irene is weakening. A 9:21 am EDT center fix by an Air Force Reserve aircraft found that Irene's eyewall had collapsed, and the central pressure had risen to 946 mb from a low of 942 mb this morning.

Discussion: New York Times, Dot Earth, Gothamist, The Atlantic Online, The Awl, Booman Tribune, JustOneMinute, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice and KIKO'S HOUSE

Brad Johnson / ThinkProgress:

How Global Warming Is Making Hurricane Irene Worse — Hurricane Irene is bearing down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a Category Two storm, and is expected to track a path of destruction up the densely populated Atlantic coast, with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordering …

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Green

The Daily Beast:
Global Warming's Heavy Cost

Discussion: Dot Earth, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Ecocentric, The Daily Caller, Informed Comment, Maggie's Farm, Weasel Zippers and Watts Up With That?

James Barron / New York Times:
Evacuations Ordered in New York as Hurricane Irene Nears

John Seabrook / News Desk:
Irene, Floyd, Katrina, 9/11

Discussion: AlterNet

Chris Cassidy / Boston Herald:
President Obama's posse stays put as tourists flee

Discussion: Sense of Events, Althouse and Confederate Yankee

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: nation.foxnews.com, Michelle Malkin, Top of the Ticket, Doug Ross, The Lonely Conservative and Marooned In Marin

Michael McCarthy / USA Today:

ESPN ‘reminds’ Azinger to lay off tweets about President Obama — UPDATE: ESPN is coming down on Paul Azinger for mocking President Barack Obama on Twitter. The golf analyst tweeted Friday that the Commander-in-chief plays more golf than he does — and that Azinger has created more jobs this month than Obama has.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Ricochet Conversation Feed and JammieWearingFool

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Tea Party Supporters Backing Perry for GOP Nomination — Perry leads by 21 percentage points over Romney, Bachmann among this group — PRINCETON, NJ — Rick Perry's candidacy has attracted strong initial support from Republicans who identify themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement.

Discussion: TPMDC, Washington Blade, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air, Ballot Box, The Hill, Hullabaloo, Iowa Independent and National Review

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

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

Ross Douthat:
Don't Panic, Mitt Romney!

Discussion: Daily Kos, Democratic Strategist, Hot Air, The Reality-Based Community, National Review, Swampland, The New Republic, Pajamas Media and New York Times

Danny Yadron / Washington Wire:
Perry Pivots, Signs Anti-Gay-Marriage Pledge

Discussion: Law Blog

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: Reuters, The Politico and The Hill

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Ron Paul rejects FEMA role in hurricane response — And to think, Ron Paul struggles to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. … To be sure, this isn't exactly surprising. It's consistent with everything we know about Ron Paul and his ideology.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Salon, Wonkette and Daily Kos

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post: Louisiana Congressman: GOP ‘Sinful’ To Tie Disaster Aid To Spending Cuts

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: Latest Stories on Guanabee.com, Box Turtle Bulletin, Wonkette, Mediaite, Joe. My. God., Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Magazine and The Moderate Voice

Brendan Farrington / Denver Post:

Bachmann says she'd consider minimum wage changes — JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla.—Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said Friday she wouldn't rule out changes to the federal minimum wage as a way to lower the cost of doing business and lure corporations back to the United States.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Moderate Voice

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 and The Lonely Conservative

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

TWC / Obama Fail Blog:

Update on Obama's Raid on Gibson Guitar (With Video Transcription) — Note: You can follow Obama Fail Blog on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks!!! — An update to the story of Obama's raid on the offices and factories of Gibson Guitar... It seems this is a case of the Obama DOJ intimidating …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Marooned In Marin and Verum Serum

Eric Felten / Wall Street Journal:
Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear

Discussion: Pajamas Media, americanthinker.com, Obama Fail Blog, theblogprof, The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air, RedState, Right Wing News, Michelle Malkin and Don Surber

Greg Wilson / NBC Washington:

Indiana College Bans “Too Violent” National Anthem — First it banned the words, now the whole song — The National Anthem is a tradition at sporting events, but it is banned at Goshen College. — Tiny Goshen College in Indiana has banned the “The Star Spangled Banner …

Discussion: Hot Air and The Other McCain

Steve Brown / Fox News:

Seeds of Discontent for Bachmann in Iowa; Told to Cut the ‘Barack Obama Rock Star Crap’ — Not two weeks removed from cheers surrounding her momentous victory at the Iowa GOP's Straw Poll, there is a growing chorus of criticism about the way Rep. Michele Bachmann has been conducting her campaign in the Hawkeye State.

Discussion: Wonkette, TBogg, Iowa Independent and ThinkProgress

Rachel Manteuffel / Washington Post:

Martin Luther King a drum major? If you say so. — The memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. has been a little controversial — but not for the right reason. Someone, somewhere along the line, made a decision that makes King look like something he was not: an arrogant jerk.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story and Via Meadia

New York Times:

U.S. Offers Key Support to Canadian Pipeline — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration gave a crucial green light on Friday to a proposed 1,711-mile pipeline that would carry heavy oil from Canada across the Great Plains to terminals in Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast, saying the project …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Nation, Grist, ThinkProgress, Booman Tribune and Switchboard

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Why Far-Off Canadian Tar Sands Have Become A Make-Or-Break Issue For Obama With Enviros

Discussion: Bloomberg and Via Meadia

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

The Near- and Longer-Term Prospects for the U.S. Economy — Good morning. As always, thanks are due to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City for organizing this conference. This year's topic, long-term economic growth, is indeed pertinent—as has so often been the case at this symposium in past years.