memeorandum: Among Undecided Voters, 64% Disapprove of Obama (Rasmussen Reports)

8:20 PM ET, September 19, 2011

Top Items:

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Multi-Millionaire Rep. Says He Can't Afford A Tax Hike Because He Only Has $400K A Year After Feeding Family — Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) appeared on MSNBC with Chris Jansing this morning to attack President Obama's new deficit reduction plan, which includes some tax increases on the wealthy.

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Why the White House changed course — President Obama's deficit-reduction plan (pdf) is most interesting for what's not in it. It does not cut Social Security by “chaining” the program's cost-of-living increases. It does not raise the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67.

Discussion: The Caucus, Firedoglake, US Politics, Booman Tribune, Hullabaloo, MyDD, The Incidental Economist and Grasping Reality …

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Obama throws ‘class warfare’ charge back in GOP's face — This has to be the clearest sign yet that Obama has taken a very sharp populist turn as he seeks to frame the contrast between the parties heading into 2012. During his remarks this morning, Obama directly responded to Republicans accusing him of …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The New Republic and Connecting.the.Dots

Helene Cooper / New York Times:

Obama Deficit Plan Cuts Entitlements and Raises Taxes on Rich — WASHINGTON — President Obama will unveil a deficit-reduction plan on Monday that uses entitlement cuts, tax increases and war savings to reduce government spending by more than $3 trillion over the next 10 years, administration officials said.

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Obama defends new taxes: 'This is not class warfare, it's math' — President Obama defended his proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy Monday and promised to veto any deficit reduction plan from Congress that cuts entitlement programs but doesn't raise taxes on the wealthy.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Politico and The Heritage Foundation

Jonathan Bernstein / Washington Post:

Behind Obama's newfound aggressiveness: GOP fear of the ‘trigger’ — It's probably true, as Greg wrote this morning, that Barack Obama's willingness to promote a jobs bill and now a deficit reduction package that are dead on arrival in the House — but will give the White House popular talking points …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Salon and The Caucus

Helene Cooper / New York Times:
Obama Vows Veto if Deficit Plan Has No Tax Increases

Discussion: The Caucus, Gawker, Hot Air, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Truthdig, DISSENTING JUSTICE and The Other McCain

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Liberals pan benefit cuts in Obama plan

Discussion: Healthwatch and CNN

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Obama Debt Reduction Plan a Sharp Pullback from Grand Bargain Territory

Discussion: ThinkProgress, TPMDC, Washington Monthly and The Hill

Rose Garden / The White House:
Remarks by the President on Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, Obama 2012 Blog, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and AMERICAN FUTURE

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:

The Qwikster and the Dead — This morning I found an apology-laden missive in my inbox from Reed Hastings of Netflix, explaining that they'd really messed up the transition when they announced the end of free streaming, and that in order to fix it, they had . . . decided to more decisively split their DVD and streaming services.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mother Jones and alicublog

Reed Hastings / The Official Netflix Blog:

An Explanation and Some Reflections — I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation. — It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes.

abovethecrowd.com:

Understanding Why Netflix Changed Pricing — Filed under: Internet, online video, Uncategorized, video, Web/Tech — Many journalists have offered their opinion on Netflix's recent changes, its stock price decline, and their even more recent branding changes (Qwikster).

Discussion: New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, Felix Salmon, Washington Post, GigaOM and TechCrunch, more at Techmeme »

Mike Isaac / Epicenter:
Meet Qwikster: Netflix Spins Off Discs-By-Mail from Streaming Video

Discussion: Hot Air, msnbc.com, Mashable, Deadline.com, Media Decoder, GigaOM, skippy the bush kangaroo, AllThingsD and Eschaton, more at Mediagazer »

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:

Justice Department opposes Texas Congressional map — The Department of Justice on Monday expressed its opposition to the congressional map devised by Texas Republicans, claiming it does not meet the requirements of the Voting Rights Act and needs to be redrawn.

Discussion: Associated Press

Ryan J. Reilly / tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com:
DOJ: Rick Perry's Texas Congressional Redistricting Map Violates Voting Rights Act

Discussion: Roll Call, ThinkProgress, Mother Jones and Capital Tonight

Aljazeera: Vote suppression in the US revs up

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

Susan Rice: Palestinians Are Delaying Creation of Their State — The anti-Israel Barack Obama, who has strengthened America's defense and intelligence ties with Israel (despite secretly hating it, as many Republican will tell you), also appointed the secretly Israel-hating Susan Rice …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Ben Smith's Blog, Bloomberg and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

John Heilemann / New York Magazine:
The Tsuris — Barack Obama is the best thing Israel has going for it right now.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, NY Daily News, Israel Matzav, Pajamas Media, Democracy in America, Weekly Standard, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Ben Smith's Blog, JammieWearingFool and New York Times

Tim Mak / The Politico:
Mahmoud Abbas: ‘All hell has broken out’

Discussion: Reuters and Israel Matzav

Susan Page / USA Today:

Poll: Perry, Romney draw support from distinct groups — WASHINGTON - Texas Gov. Rick Perry leads former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, in what is becoming a battle between the candidate who excites more Republicans …

Discussion: Washington Wire, RedState, Daily Kos, The New Civil Rights Movement, Business Insider, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, National Review and Trail Blazers Blog

The Daily Beast:

Bill O'Reilly's Civil War — The Fox News host thinks America is in dire straits—and what it needs is a history lesson. In this week's Newsweek, he tells Peter J. Boyer about his new book and why he likes Obama.

Discussion: Mediaite

Tim Mak / The Politico:
Bill O'Reilly: Only Barack Obama more powerful than me

Discussion: The Right Scoop

Mj Lee / The Politico:

Greta Van Susteren: Tucker Carlson's a ‘pig’ for Palin story — Fox News host Greta Van Susteren is calling out Daily Caller owner Tucker Carlson as a “pig” and “purveyor of smut” for prominently posting a story with the headline: “Mike Tyson: Sarah Palin met the ‘womb shifter’.”

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, All American Blogger, The Crawdad Hole, FishbowlDC, Mediaite, The Other McCain, Riehl World View, Left Coast Rebel, Datechguy's Blog and American Power

David Edwards / The Raw Story:
Greta Van Susteren calls Tucker Carlson a ‘pig’

Discussion: Gretawire and ThinkProgress

Bill Keller / New York Times:

Fill In the Blanks — Just a few winters ago my wife and I took our daughters to witness the inauguration of a man who had campaigned on hope and embodied possibility. We are pretty immune to political euphoria, but, circulating among the footsore pilgrims, we could imagine our country …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, NewsBusters.org, Balloon Juice, Pajamas Media and LewRockwell.com Blog

Jim Brunner / Seattle Times: State voters favor Obama, McKenna in poll

Jerome R. Corsi / WorldNetDaily:

Elite team of 5 assigned to seek truth on Obama — Sheriff Joe picks ‘Cold Case Posse’ to investigate president's eligibility — Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio told WND he has assigned a five-member “Cold Case Posse” to investigate the authenticity of Barack Obama's birth certificate.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mother Jones, Feathered Bastard and Joe. My. God.

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

A Blockbuster Case Yields an Unexpected Result — WASHINGTON — People who hate Citizens United, last year's blockbuster campaign finance decision by the Supreme Court, tend to blame it for allowing secret money from corporations and unions to flood the political landscape.

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

BlueCheddar melts, pulls video confession of “beer pouring” guy (but the internet never forgets) — BlueCheddar is a Wisconsin “progressive” website that posted a video confession by an anti-Republican stalker who poured beer over a Republican legislator. — The stalker has been charged …

Discussion: Pajamas Media

The Wtmj / Local:

Thompson files fundraising papers for Senate run — MADISON - Former Governor Tommy Thompson has said that his long consideration of a run for U.S. Senate is over, and the process to run for the Senate has begun. — “I've filed my corporation documents today, which allows me now to build my organization …

Discussion: The Raw Story, Washington Post, Ballot Box, Daily Kos, Don Surber and Hotline On Call

Rasmussen Reports:

Among Undecided Voters, 64% Disapprove of Obama — Recent polling shows President Obama attracting between 39% and 46% of the vote against a variety of potential Republican challengers. Despite those relatively low levels of support, the president has never trailed a Republican …

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Seth McLaughlin / Washington Times:

Liberals vow to challenge Obama in Democratic primaries — President Obama's smooth path to the Democratic nomination may have gotten rockier Monday, after a group of liberal leaders, including former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, announced plans to challenge the incumbent in primaries next year.

Discussion: Mediaite and The Atlantic Online

Noah / Noahpinion:

Great Stagnation...or Great Relocation? — “I was on top of the Westin Hotel being shown the sights of [Shanghai], and I had a sudden crisis as I looked out at the extraordinary skyscrapers the architecture and the art deco. I thought to myself, well, the mandate of heaven has passed from us and come home.”

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Marginal Revolution

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day — “By the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over.” — Rep. John Fleming (R-LA), in an interview on MSNBC, on why as a small business owner he can't afford a tax increase.