memeorandum: Iran to free US hikers jailed for spying (Saeed Kamali Dehghan/Guardian)

1:45 PM ET, September 13, 2011

Top Items:

The frontrunner has no clothes — The applause identified Rick Perry as the crowd favorite when he took the stage in Tampa for Monday night's Tea Party debate, greeting his lesser rivals as “fellas.” — But two hours later, those fellas - and a gal from Minnesota - had made some serious …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Global Public Square, msnbc.com, Booman Tribune, The Mahablog, Prairie Weather, Daily Kos, A plain blog about politics and Mother Jones

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Social Security hurting Perry? — Americans strongly disagree with the statements Rick Perry made about Social Security in last week's Republican Presidential debate, and Barack Obama has nearly doubled his lead over Perry nationally in the span of just 3 weeks.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, Outside the Beltway, Flower & Thistle, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Daily Dish

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Bachmann: 'I'm offended' — Within 90 minutes of the end of the GOP debate, Michele Bachmann's camp emailed on the HPV vaccine dust-up with Rick Perry, highlighting her status as a mom as she questioned his conservative credentials. — It's also the first time I can remember Bachmann …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, Left Coast Rebel, The Huffington Post, The Other McCain and National Review

Alexander Burns / The Politico:

Bachmann: ‘Crying’ mother shared HPV story — Michele Bachmann again accused Rick Perry of practicing “crony capitalism” Tuesday morning, appearing on NBC's “Today” show to criticize Perry for seeking to force “innocent little 12-year-old girls or 11-year-old girls” to take a “potentially dangerous” vaccine injection.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, National Review, Erick's blog, Questions and Observations and RedState

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Bachmann: Gardasil causes “mental retardation” — Earlier today, I noted that Michele Bachmann finally scored points on Rick Perry by hitting him on his ties to Merck and linking that to the Gardasil mandate Perry imposed through executive order in Texas. This is a fair point on Perry's record …

Discussion: National Review, Sister Toldjah, Moe Lane, Pajamas Media and Outside the Beltway

New York Times:

Perry Wears a Bull's-Eye at G.O.P. Debate — TAMPA, Fla. — The Republican presidential candidates aggressively confronted Gov. Rick Perry at a debate here on Monday night and pressed him to expound upon his views on Social Security and a controversial vaccination program for teenage girls that he signed into law in Texas.

Discussion: The Caucus, Washington Post, Ballot Box, CNN, Wake up America, The Politico, FrumForum, New York Times, Outside the Beltway, ThinkProgress, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, WorldNetDaily and tboblogs.com

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:

Romney's Win — If a debate more than four months before the first vote is cast can influence the outcome of a presidential nomination race, the debate last night among eight Republicans should aid Mitt Romney's candidacy. Seldom has there been as clear a winner.

Discussion: Hot Air, National Review, Campaign 2012 and americanthinker.com

John Podhoretz / Commentary Magazine:
Perry Better Get Better — I don't think Rick Perry lost …

Discussion: Swampland, American Spectator and AmSpecBlog

NationalJournal.com:
Is Rick Perry Making Mitt Romney a Better Candidate?

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Marbury, Mother Jones, Washington Monthly and FrumForum

Jonah Goldberg / National Review:
The Gardasil Flap — I can't make up my mind over this whole controversy.

Discussion: Campaign 2012

Wall Street Journal:
Perry's the Man in the Middle

Discussion: Washington Wire, JustOneMinute, Washington Post, The Politico, The Caucus, Connecting.the.Dots, Big Government and GOP 12

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
VIDEO: Rick Perry Calls Medicare And Social Security Unconstitutional

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Bachmann's vaccine doubts ‘dangerous and irresponsible’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Slate, Gawker and The Volokh Conspiracy

CNN: Did Bachmann's drug lobbyist claims ring true?

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Path to the nomination: What about someone else?

Discussion: The Politico, AmSpecBlog, Campaign 2012 and Taylor Marsh

Paulburka / Burkablog:
Not Rick Perry's night

Discussion: The New Republic, Ben Smith's Blog, The Politico, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Beast and New York Magazine

New York Times:
As Perry Rises, G.O.P. Elite Look Toward Romney

Discussion: The Politico, msnbc.com, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Washington Wire, Gothamist and The Caucus

Jim Acosta / CNN:
Did Bachmann wound front-runner Perry at CNN/Tea Party Debate?

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog

RushLimbaugh.com:
Be Careful, Republicans, When Attacking Perry on Social Security

Discussion: Salon, The Politico, blog.chron.com, Pundit & Pundette, Washington Wire, National Review, CNN and Hot Air

CNN:
New CNN Poll: Social Security needs changes, but it's not a failure

Discussion: Don Surber, Outside the Beltway, alicublog, Maggie's Farm and Campaign 2012

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Axelrod: 'We're not in a negotiation' on Obama $447B jobs package — Obama's top political adviser David Axelrod said Tuesday that the administration was unwilling to break up the president's $447 billion jobs plan if Republicans were only receptive to passing certain elements.

Discussion: The Hill, The Politico, Hot Air, AmSpecBlog, The Impolitic, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, JammieWearingFool and Simply Left BehindThe …

The Politico:

John Boehner tries to cut deeper on 2012 funds — Even Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was skeptical about cutting the CR funding levels, and having backed the idea, Boehner's office appeared to be stepping away, saying that $1.043 trillion is the more likely final number.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Andrew Taylor / Associated Press:
Republicans block Senate disaster aid bill

Discussion: The Hill, ThinkProgress and Mock, Paper, Scissors

Jennifer Gould Keil / New York Post:

Weiner flees amid Dem panic over vote today — Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner did his fellow Democrats no favors yesterday — moving out of his district just as his panicking party struggled to hold on to his endangered congressional seat. — Winer took the last ramining items …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Left Coast Rebel and Campaign 2012

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

Dems' peril in New York special election sparks fear for Nov. '12 — A looming Democratic loss in New York's special election Tuesday would be seen as a sign of big political and policy problems for President Obama and his party heading into next year's election.

Discussion: NY Daily News, YID With LID, Weasel Zippers and JammieWearingFool

U.S. Census Bureau News:

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010 — Summary of Key Findings — The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that in 2010, median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year.

Discussion: The Hill, ABCNEWS, The Politico, emptywheel, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, The Powers That Be and The Washington Independent

Saeed Kamali Dehghan / Guardian:

Iran to free US hikers jailed for spying — Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were detained two years ago for walking across an unmarked border into Iran — Iran has moved to reduce tensions with the international community by pledging to release two Americans held in the country …

Discussion: Truthdig and AmSpecBlog

Lally Weymouth / Washington Post:
Iran's president says he intends to release, ‘pardon’ U.S. hikers

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Lede, Alarabiya.net English, Firedoglake, The Politico and americanthinker.com

Alan Cowell / New York Times:
Iran Will Reportedly Release 2 Jailed Americans

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and New York Magazine

Shebshi / the Heartland:

Some real Shock and Awe: Racially profiled and cuffed in Detroit — Silly me. I thought flying on 9/11 would be easy. I figured most people would choose not to fly that day so lines would be short, planes would be lightly filled and though security might be ratcheted up …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Gothamist and Hit & Run

Max Read / Gawker:
Don't Be a ‘Half-Arab, Half-Jewish Housewife’ on a Plane on 9/11

Discussion: Business Insider, The Atlantic Online and msnbc.com

New York Times:

Militants Launch Attack on U.S. Embassy in Kabul — KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents launched a complex assault against the American Embassy and the nearby NATO headquarters on Tuesday, pelting the heavily guarded compounds with rockets in an attack that raised new questions about the security …

Discussion: The Jawa Report and The Lede

Telegraph:
Kabul US embassy attack: live

Discussion: Guardian, The Long War Journal, BBC, Pirate's Cove, Reuters and This Just In

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Rep. Issa hit with ethics allegations — A liberal advocacy group is filing an ethics complaint against Rep. Darrell Issa, alleging that the California Republican has repeatedly used his public office for personal gain. — The group, American Family Voices, is planning to file the complaint …

Discussion: The Greenroom, The Crawdad Hole, JammieWearingFool and National Confidential

Evan McMorris-Santoro / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPM2012 — Tea Party Debate Audience Cheers Idea Of Letting Sick Man Without Insurance Die (VIDEO) — The last two Republican presidential debates have been some of the most macabre on record. Last time around, at the Reagan Library, the crowd gave the biggest applause of the night …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Firedoglake, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo and Zandar Versus The Stupid

CNN:

CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL — Full Transcript of CNN-Tea Party Republican Debate, 20:00- 22:00 — THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. — ANNOUNCER: Tonight, eight Republicans, one goal: to win the White House and kick Barack Obama out.

Discussion: Campaign 2012 and Top of the Ticket

Stephen Lacey / ThinkProgress:

Exclusive Timeline: Bush Administration Advanced Solyndra Loan Guarantee for Two Years, Media Blow the Story — by Stephen Lacey and Richard Caperton — It's often claimed that the Solyndra loan guarantee was “rushed through” by the Obama Administration for political reasons.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Hit & Run and GOP.com