memeorandum: Focus Group Fallout (The Iowa Republican)

3:00 PM ET, December 14, 2011

Top Items:

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Newt Gingrich commits a capital crime — Newt Gingrich — the friend of his detractors, to whom he offers serial vindications — provided on Monday redundant evidence for the proposition that he is the least conservative candidate seeking the Republican presidential nomination: He faulted Mitt Romney for committing acts of capitalism.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Booman Tribune, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Daily Dish, Business Insider, Riehl World View, The New Republic and National Review

Mj Lee / The Politico:

Christine O'Donnell: I like Mitt Romney's flip — Talk about a backhanded compliment. — Christine O'Donnell, who has endorsed Mitt Romney, appeared on CNN Wednesday and inadvertently drew attention to one of the charges against the former Massachusetts governor from his critics - flip-flopping.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Magazine, CNN, Fox News, New York Times, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Indecision Forever, Outside the Beltway, The Caucus, Connecting.the.Dots, The Moderate Voice, Harry's Place, Daily Kos, Public Policy Polling and The Hill

The Iowa Republican:

Focus Group Fallout — A participant in a focus group organized by TheIowaRepublican.com and McClatchy newspapers lost his job because of comments he made during the event last week. Shortly after participating in the focus group, Craig Bergman was hired as the Iowa political director for Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Iowa Caucuses, Washington Post, Washington Wire, Wall Street Journal and TBogg

The Caucus:
Romney Warns of Nominating ‘Zany’ Gingrich

Discussion: The Page and New York Times

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:
Rick Perry, Mitt Romney internals show Newt Gingrich slippage, sources say

Discussion: CNN

Ross Douthat / Campaign Stops:
Ron Paul Rising

Discussion: Hit & Run, Ellisblog!, GOP 12, Real Clear Politics, The Iowa Republican, National Review, Vox Popoli, Prairie Weather, The Daily Caller, Salon.com, Mediaite, Business Insider and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Jennifer Jacobs / Iowa Caucuses:
Gingrich's Iowa political director leaves campaign after Mormonism ‘cult’ remark

Discussion: The Iowa Republican, USA Today, The Raw Story, Publius Forum, Taylor Marsh, Shakesville, CBS News, The Politico and O.KayHenderson.com

Kurt Andersen / Time:

The Protester — Once upon a time, when major news events were chronicled strictly by professionals and printed on paper or transmitted through the air by the few for the masses, protesters were prime makers of history. Back then, when citizen multitudes took to the streets without weapons …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Law Librarian Blog, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The PJ Tatler, NewsBusters.org, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, News Desk, Boing Boing and Poynter

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Time's POTY: “The Protester” — Really? The most influential and newsworthy person of the year currently occupies space in urban downtown areas, unless you're on the West Coast, where you can find them hanging out at the docks, blocking traffic and making your cost of goods needlessly increase.

Discussion: The Week, Taylor Marsh and Patterico's Pontifications

Mj Lee / The Politico:
Time's Person of the Year: ‘The Protester’

Discussion: The Hill, americanthinker.com and The Daily What

WISN Milwaukee's Channel 12:

Mickey Mouse, Adolf Hitler Allowed On Wis. Recall Petitions — GAB Rules Address, Date More Important Than Names — MADISON, Wis. — The signatures of Mickey Mouse and Adolf Hitler will be counted on recall petitions targeting Gov. Scott Walker as long as they are properly dated and include …

Discussion: Hot Air, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Althouse, The Jawa Report, The Impolitic, The PJ Tatler and Instapundit

Tim Mak / The Politico:
‘Mickey Mouse’ OK for Walker recall

Discussion: Wizbang

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Boehner gets tough with Senate: Time to act on House payroll tax extension — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday implored the Senate to act on the House-passed payroll-tax bill, making a bid to wrap up Congress's work for the year and head home for the holidays.

Discussion: The Politico and CNN

Jesse Helfrich / The Hill:
House Republicans pass payroll tax bill, gain leverage on Senate Dems

Discussion: The Politico, Associated Press, Roll Call, Wake up America, dhorowitz3's blog, The Heritage Foundation, Campaign 2012 and Speaker

New York Times:
House Passes Extension of Cut to Payroll Taxes

Discussion: Firedoglake, The White House, The Week, The Caucus, CANNONFIRE, ThinkProgress, THEROOT.COM, The Moderate Voice, The Lonely Conservative, Scared Monkeys, The Washington Independent, The Other McCain, The Politico, Daily Kos, Speaker, tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com and Washington Post

Office of the Assistant Secretary …:

2.5 Million Young Adults Gain Health Insurance Due to the Affordable Care Act — This Issue Brief is available on the Internet at: — Printer Friendly version in PDF format (2 pages) — [Free PDF reader ] — How to Obtain a Printed Copy — Results released today [12/14/11] …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Hill, White House.gov Blog and Booman Tribune

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
More Obamacare News: 2.5M Young Adults Got Insurance

Discussion: American Prospect, ThinkProgress, Taegan Goddard's … and White House.gov Blog

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

At Fort Bragg, Obama hails the end of the Iraq war — FORT BRAGG, N.C. — As the United States' nine-year war in Iraq draws to a close this month, President Obama on Wednesday hailed the hundreds of thousands of troops who fought to establish the “sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq” that America is leaving behind.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and White House.gov Blog

BBC: Obama speech at Fort Bragg marks end of Iraq war

CNBC:

Realtors: We Overcounted Home Sales for Five Years — Data on sales of previously owned U.S. homes from 2007 through October this year will be revised down next week because of double counting, indicating a much weaker housing market than previously thought.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, americanthinker.com, Balloon Juice and KVOA-TV

Matthew Lynn / MarketWatch:

This slump won't end until 2031 — Commentary: Our predicament parallels the Long Depression of 1870s — LONDON (MarketWatch) — In retrospect, it wasn't hard to see that the markets were becoming dangerously unstable. Germany had just adopted a new monetary system, and Europe was being flooded with cheap German money.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Newshoggers.com and The Agonist

Malcolm Moore / Telegraph:

Inside Wukan: the Chinese village that fought back — Something extraordinary has happened in the Chinese village of Wukan. — Thousands of Wukan's residents gathered for a second day in front of a triple-roofed pagoda that serves as the village hall — For the first time on record …

Discussion: New York Times, The Lede, Global Spin, americanthinker.com, Vox Popoli and msnbc.com

Keith Koffler / White House Dossier:

Obama Campaign Collecting GOP Emails — The Obama presidential campaign is launching an effort to collect Republican email addresses by inviting its supporters to submit information about their Republican associates to the Obama 2012 website. — The effort could help the Obama campaign build …

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit, Sister Toldjah and Daily Pundit

Robert Costa / National Review:

Ryan to Gingrich: ‘This Is Not the 1990s’ — Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the influential Budget Committee chairman, has kept his distance from the GOP primary. But after reading Newt Gingrich's latest comments about entitlement reform, he says the contenders must seriously address the debt crisis, not play political games.

Discussion: The Hill, Time, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The Enterprise Blog and American Spectator

Phyllis Furman / NY Daily News:

Milk Street Cafe, FiDi eatery that lost business due to Occupy Wall Street barricades, to close for good — Thursday is last day for popular Financial District restaurant that opened in June — Milk Street Cafe owner Marc Epstein, on steps of City Hall in November, complained about Occupy Wall Street barricades hurting business.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Datechguy's Blog, The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air and Jammie Wearing Fools

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

A First Iowa Forecast: Race Is Still Wide Open — We're a few days away from releasing the official version of our polling-based forecasts for the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. But the statistical work behind the model is done, so I can give you a preview of what the forecasts will look like.

Discussion: The Impolitic, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, GOP 12, A plain blog about politics, The New Republic, Patterico's Pontifications and Hot Air

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

Democratic balanced budget amendment fails in Senate vote, 21 to 79 — A balanced budget amendment sponsored by Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) has failed in the Senate by a vote of 21 to 79. — Just as the Senate started voting on the Democratic version of a balanced budget amendment Wednesday …

Discussion: The Politico and CNN

The Jewish Week:

My Tim Tebow Problem — I've got a Tim Tebow problem. — I want to root for the guy, but I'm afraid of what will happen if the hulky Denver Bronco quarterback continues to pull off what is fast becoming the Greatest Gridiron Story Ever Told. Since taking over as starting quarterback earlier this season …

Discussion: Business Insider, Datechguy's Blog, Jammie Wearing Fools, Publius Forum, Jihad Watch, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Ed Driscoll, Liberal Values and The Other McCain

KSL-TV:

Middle school student is ‘outed’ to parents — LEHI — The Alpine School District is in the national spotlight after a middle school apparently “outed” a student as gay to his parents over safety concerns. — District spokeswoman Rhonda Bromley told KSL students in a class …

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay and ThinkProgress

Julia Preston / New York Times:

Immigration Crackdown Also Snares Americans — A growing number of United States citizens have been detained under Obama administration programs intended to detect illegal immigrants who are arrested by local police. — In a spate of recent cases across the country, American citizens …

Discussion: Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Bark Bark Woof Woof and Balloon Juice

Rachel Levin / The Hill:

Rogue websites: A threat to the US economy — America has become an international leader in innovation and a hotbed for industries, job creators, artists and new thinkers of all kinds. — Spanning from the music to manufacturing to technology sectors, America has a significant interest …

Discussion: The Politico

Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:

Important Election News from Across the Pond — Over the last week, there has been a torrent of stories illustrating the extent to which the Obama re-election team is observing the Republican presidential contest and developing their strategy for the general election season.

Discussion: Reuters

Wil Longbottom / Daily Mail:

The end of Sharm el-Sheikh? Islamist parties call for ban on Westerners drinking, wearing bikinis and mixed bathing on Egyptian beaches — Bargain holidays for Westerners looking to get a bit of sunshine and a drink by the pool in the winter could be a thing of the past on Egypt's Red Sea coast.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and The Jawa Report