memeorandum: Maxine Waters to Obama on unemployment: Iowans or blacks? (Jonathan Allen/The Politico)

6:20 PM ET, September 8, 2011

Top Items:

Ron Paul Debate: Rick Perry Physically Grabs Him, Points at His Face — During the Sept. 7 Republican debate, Ron Paul clashed with fellow Texan Rick Perry once again. — This time, things got physical. — During a commercial break, Perry walked up to Paul's podium, physically grabbed Paul's wrist …

Discussion: Trail Blazers Blog, The Lonely Conservative, Taylor Marsh, Saint Petersblog, National Review, Weasel Zippers and Hit & Run

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:

Rick Santelli to Tom Friedman: 'You're idiotic' — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate, stuck to his claim that Social Security in its current form is a so-called Ponzi scheme during last night's presidential debate. The media are getting a lot of mileage out of sound bite.

Discussion: Hot Air, Freedom's Lighthouse, Pajamas Media, National Review and Verum Serum

New York Times:

Romney and Perry Clash, Drawing Lines in G.O.P. Sand — SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — The fight for the Republican presidential nomination began narrowing into an intense and ideological battle at a debate here Wednesday night, with Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Mitt Romney sharply clashing over Social Security …

Jake Sherman / The Politico:

Eric Cantor weighs in on Rick Perry's ‘Ponzi’ rhetoric — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Thursday offered Texas Gov. Rick Perry a softer way to describe Social Security, instead of calling it a Ponzi scheme. — The Virginia Republican, speaking to a group of reporters at a lunch organized …

Discussion: GOP 12

Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:

How Rick Perry Won the Debate — The most intellectually interesting portion of tonight's Republican presidential debate occurred in its opening moments, when Rick Perry and Mitt Romney sparred over their states' record of job creation. Perry cited his states record of creating jobs.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Don Surber, A plain blog about politics, ThinkProgress, The Province, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Washington Monthly, Althouse, The Politico, The Atlantic Online, Talking Points Memo, Saint Petersblog, Rod Dreher and The Moderate Voice

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Rove ‘surprised’ by Perry's criticism of him at Republican debate — Former George W. Bush and Rick Perry adviser Karl Rove said that it was an “odd moment” when his critique of the current Texas governor was mentioned in last night's presidential debate, and that he was “surprised” …

Discussion: Business Insider and Politics

Z. Byron Wolf / Politics:
Rick Perry, Galileo and Global Warming

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Huffington Post, Guardian, Outside the Beltway, Feministing, Indecision Forever, Swampland, PoliPundit.com and The Atlantic Online

New York Times:
Attacking the Democrats, but Not Always Getting It Right

Discussion: New York Times, Swampland, Washington Post, The New Republic, ThinkProgress, The Caucus, Minnesota Independent, Prairie Weather and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

Jon Ward / The Huffington Post:
Rick Perry, Mitt Romney Locked In Cage Match On Social Security Following California Debate

Discussion: National Review, The Atlantic Online, Daily Kos and Pajamas Media

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Fact checking the GOP debate at the Reagan library

Discussion: The Hill, PERRspectives, Verum Serum, Daily Kos and Campaign 2012

Shikha Dalmia / Hit & Run:
Social Security is Not a Ponzi Scheme, Mr. Perry

Discussion: National Review, Pajamas Media and TheBlaze.com

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
The Morning Plum — * Obama prepares to sell the “American jobs act” …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, NationalJournal.com, msnbc.com, CBS News, Washington Monthly, New York Times, Hullabaloo and Verum Serum

Ron Paul .com:
Force vs. Reason

Discussion: Mediaite, Crooks and Liars, Hot Air, Gawker and Outside the Beltway

Jennifer Haberkorn / The Politico:

Court rejects health law challenges — A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out two challenges to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul on procedural grounds. — Delivering a two-pronged win to the Obama administration, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said Virginia has no right …

Discussion: The BLT, Hit & Run, The Jawa Report, www2.timesdispatch.com, National Review and The Page

Sam Baker / Healthwatch:

Appeals court shoots down Virginia's healthcare challenge — A federal appeals court on Thursday dismissed one of the highest-profile challenges to President Obama's healthcare reform law. — The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Monthly, Ben Smith's Blog and CNN

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Fourth Circuit Majority Votes To Uphold The Affordable Care Act

Discussion: Daily Kos

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Health care challenge rejected

Discussion: Hot Air

San Francisco Chronicle:

FBI serves search warrants at Solyndra — (09-08) 09:35 PDT FREMONT — FBI agents served search warrants this morning at Solyndra, the Fremont solar company that abruptly closed last week, two years after receiving more than $500 million in federal stimulus money, an agency official said.

Discussion: New York Times, Power Line, Scared Monkeys, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …, The Heritage Foundation, National Review, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Glittering Eye and Pirate's Cove

Lisa Fernandez / Mercury News:
FBI agents executing search warrant at Solyndra

Discussion: Pajamas Media, ABCNEWS, Business Insider, Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, BizzyBlog and The Lonely Conservative

Washington Times:
FBI raids solar panel company hailed by Obama

Discussion: Associated Press, PoliPundit.com and Pajamas Media

RJ Middleton / NBC Bay Area:
FBI at Solyndra Headquarters

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Big Government, GigaOM, Weasel Zippers, The Politico, Hot Air and americanthinker.com

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Why They Cheered — Capital punishment brings out the worst in the liberal elite. — (Note: We're working on an assignment, so today's column is abbreviated. We return tomorrow at the usual length.) — Perhaps the most striking statement at last night's Republican presidential debate came …

Discussion: Salon, iOwnTheWorld.com, NewsBusters.org and The Atlantic Online

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
What Perry has ‘never struggled with at all’

Discussion: Rod Dreher, No More Mister Nice Blog, Business Insider, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, emptywheel, The Mahablog, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Daily Dish, Indecision Forever and The Moderate Voice

New York Times:
The Republican Debate at the Reagan Library

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Dish, Democracy in America, democracyarsenal.org, Wake up America, Clayton Cramer's Blog, Althouse, PoliticusUSA, FrumForum, FP Passport, Hit & Run, Post on Politics, Washington Monthly and The Lonely Conservative

Yahoo! News:

Longshoremen storm Wash. state port, damage RR — LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Jawa Report, Campaign 2012, Hot Air, Confederate Yankee, The Lonely Conservative, Associated Press, Maggie's Notebook, Weasel Zippers, OpenMarket.org, Pajamas Media, Wake up America, JammieWearingFool, Moonbattery and Verum Serum

Joel Millman / Wall Street Journal: Labor Dispute Erupts at Port

David Jackson / USA Today:

Obama brings guests to jobs speech — This is turning into a State of the Union-like event. — The White House has announced that nearly two-dozen guests will sit with first lady Michelle Obama to watch President Obama deliver his jobs speech to a joint session of Congress.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Neil Munro / The Daily Caller:
White House releases talking points to liberals ahead of speech

Discussion: Nice Deb, Pajamas Media and Riehl World View

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Obama invites representatives from business, labor to jobs speech

Discussion: CNN

Jonathan Allen / The Politico:

Maxine Waters to Obama on unemployment: Iowans or blacks? — Just hours before President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of Congress on his jobs plan, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is demanding the nation's first African-American president prove he cares as much about unemployed blacks as he does about Iowa's swing voters.

Discussion: Campaign 2012

The Politico:

A big, bold jobs plan — With President Barack Obama preparing to address a joint session of Congress about our unemployment crisis Thursday night, our message to him - as his reliable supporters and political allies — is simple: Think big and act boldly. — Americans expect and deserve nothing less.

Discussion: Minnesota Independent and msnbc.com

Paul Needham / The Huffington Post:

‘Reason To Believe’: Joe Scarborough Releases Powerful Antiwar Song … For all the similarities between America's war in Vietnam and those in Iraq and Afghanistan, this past decade's wars have not yielded the singular pop-cultural response that the earlier quagmire did.

Discussion: Salon, Crooks and Liars, New York Magazine, Mediaite, NewsBusters.org, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, Hullabaloo and Gawker

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:

Rep. Bachmann fills vacuum, announces rebuttal to president's jobs speech — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), struggling to maintain visibility as a Republican presidential candidate, will rebut President Obama's jobs speech to Congress on Thursday, her congressional office said.

Discussion: CNN, The Politico, Wonkette, Saint Petersblog, Gawker, Daily Kos, CBS News, National Review and Fox News

Jessica Taylor / Hotline On Call:

DCCC Drops A Half-Million To Save Weiner Seat — From National Journal: — PICTURES: Pols and Wonks Who Went to Hollywood — INSIDERS POLL: Dems Hold on to Hope — Perry: Powerful but Unpolished — Democrats are showing the clearest sign yet of concern ahead of next Tuesday's special election …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Rothenberg Political …, RedState, Don Surber, Ballot Box, National Review, JammieWearingFool, Business Insider and HotAirPundit

Sami Aboudi / Reuters:

Turkish warships will escort aid vessels to Gaza: Erdogan — (Reuters) - Turkey said on Thursday it would escort aid ships to Gaza and would not allow a repetition of last year's Israeli raid that killed nine Turks, setting the stage for a potential naval confrontation with its former ally.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs and Weasel Zippers

Michael J. Boskin / Wall Street Journal:

The Obama Presidency by the Numbers — The president constantly reminds us that he was dealt a difficult hand. But the evidence is overwhelming that he played it poorly. — When it comes to the economy, presidents, like quarterbacks, often get more credit or blame than they deserve.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Don Surber, Swampland, Cafe Hayek and The Lonely Conservative

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Why liberals fear the ‘Lochner’ decision — Liberal certitudes continue to dissolve, the most recent solvent being a robust new defense of a 1905 Supreme Court decision that liberals have long reviled — and misrepresented. To understand why the court correctly decided Lochner v. New York …

Discussion: alicublog, The Volokh Conspiracy and The Jawa Report

New York Post:

The check may never be in the mail again — It may be the perfect metaphor for America, 2011: The US Postal Service — one of the few government agencies actually authorized by the Constitution — is about to go bankrupt. — The USPS traces its roots back to 1692 but has seen …

Discussion: Pajamas Media and National Review