memeorandum: Romney Firing Remarks Draw Criticism From Huntsman (Ashley Parker/The Caucus)

2:30 PM ET, January 9, 2012

Top Items:

Romney at Bain: Big Gains, Some Busts — Mitt Romney's political foes are stepping up attacks based on his time running investment firm Bain Capital, tagging him with making a fortune from the rougher side of American capitalism—even as Mr. Romney says his Bain tenure shows he knows how to build businesses.

Discussion: American Prospect, Hot Air, Washington Examiner, Washington Wire, National Review, The Caucus, The Enterprise Blog, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Prairie Weather, Washington Post, ABCNEWS, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, Campaign 2012, The Lonely Conservative, The Raw Story and Business Insider

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

‘I like being able to fire people’ — Mitt Romney's detractors in both parties are eager to point out one of the more glaring problems with the former governor's background: he's put thousands of Americans out of work. — And with that push in mind, Romney's critics could hardly believe …

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Towleroad News #gay

Quinnipiac University:

Romney Has Big GOP Likely Voter Lead In Florida, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Most Voters Say They Might Change Their Mind — With 36 percent of Florida Republican likely primary voters, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has a double-digit lead three weeks before the nation's …

Discussion: Hot Air, GOP 12, National Review, The Caucus, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Hill, msnbc.com, Naked Politics and Washington Post

Michelle Malkin:

The abysmal incompetence of the non-Romneys — Sigh. Let me say that again: Siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. — If you were unfortunate enough to watch Saturday night's GOP debate in New Hampshire, you saw a pageant of feckless non-Romneys fail to step up to the plate and forcefully challenge Mitt …

Discussion: The Politico, Ballot Box, The Hill, The Caucus and Campaign 2012

Byron Tau / The Politico:

Obama spokesman: ‘!!!’ — Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt tweets “!!!” about this Mitt Romney moment from the campaign trail: … The Romney campaign has not exactly been judicious about providing context to clips of President Obama they have used in campaign ads.

Discussion: The Raw Story

Ashley Parker / The Caucus:

Romney Firing Remarks Draw Criticism From Huntsman — 12:27 p.m. | Updated NASHUA, N.H. — Mitt Romney began an address to the Nashua Chamber of Commerce here on Monday by talking about how he started his consulting career “at the entry level,” and wound down his speech talking about the need to be …

Discussion: GOP 12, New York Times, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Loyal Opposition and Wonkette

New York Times:
Pro-Gingrich PAC Details Ads Against Romney's Bain Role

Reuters:
Mitt Romney and the Bain bomb

Discussion: CNN, The Politico, Ballot Box and Swampland

ABCNEWS:
Perry Lambasts Romney For Handing Out Pink Slips

Discussion: The Hill and The Pajama Pundit

David Brody / The Brody File:
Exclusive: Gingrich Tells The Brody File His Goal is to Slow Romney Down and Expose Him

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Boston Globe

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:
Romney's Bain Capital Made Billions While Bankrupting Nearly One-Quarter Of The Companies It Invested In

Discussion: The Caucus, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, msnbc.com and The Raw Story

Laura Conaway / The Maddow Blog:
And Mitt Romney keeps on talking

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly and Politics

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
The Boffo Awfulness — In the preceding post I referenced …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Campaign 2012, The Impolitic, The Enterprise Blog, Balloon Juice and Political Mojo

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Huntsman Has Momentum, but He Lacks Time

Discussion: Business Insider, Campaign 2012, The Politico, Concord Monitor, American Spectator, Washington Post, The Daily Dish and PJ Media

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Romney holding steady in NH

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, americanthinker.com, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com and Washington Post

Bloomberg:
Romney Bain Leadership Attacked as Exploiting Companies for Cash

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Caucus, Political Mojo, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post

Los Angeles Times:
Chris Christie turns Romney protests against Obama in New Hampshire

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Suburban Guerrilla

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:
PPP: Romney at 35 percent, Paul and Huntsman nearly tied

Discussion: The New Republic, The PJ Tatler and The Right Sphere

WMUR:
Poll Shows Battle For 2nd In Primary; Romney Keeps Lead

Discussion: Smart Politics, CNN, ThinkProgress, ABCNEWS, Ballot Box, GOP 12 and Swampland

Walter Shapiro / The New Republic:
This Is the Most Boring New Hampshire Primary Ever

Discussion: ABCNEWS

Santina Leuci / ABCNEWS:

Todd Palin Endorses Newt Gingrich — ABC News' Santina Leuci and Z. Byron Wolf report: — Sarah Palin's husband is endorsing Newt Gingrich for president, Todd Palin told ABC News today. — But Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and John McCain's 2008 Republican running mate …

Discussion: The Hill, GOP 12, The Jawa Report, Mediaite, Campaign 2012, Washington Post, The Right Scoop, The Raw Story, Conservatives4Palin and Wake up America

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Mitt Romney Campaign Disavows Pro-Gay Rights Flyer From 2002 … GOP Debate , Mitt Romney , Republican Debate , Video , New Hampshire Primary , Romney Gay Rights , Romney New Hampshire , Mitt Romney 2012 , New Hampshire Primary 2012 , New Hampshire Romney , Social Issues , Politics News

Discussion: Poliglot, The Other McCain, Steve Rothaus' Gay …, Brad DeLong, BuzzFeed, Towleroad News #gay, Joe. My. God. and ThinkProgress

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Romney Campaign Disavows 2002 Gay Pride Flyers

Discussion: Holy Bullies …

New Jersey Online:
N.J. Legislature to introduce bill legalizing gay marriage

Discussion: Poliglot, Box Turtle Bulletin, Towleroad News #gay and nbcnewyork.com

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Record-High 40% of Americans Identify as Independents in '11 — More Americans identify as Democrats than as Republicans, 31% to 27% — PRINCETON, NJ — The percentage of Americans identifying as political independents increased in 2011, as is common in a non-election year …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, The Politico, The PJ Tatler, The Moderate Voice, Questions and Observations and National Review

Fox News:

Suspected Islamic Extremist Arrested in Alleged Florida Bomb Plot — URGENT: A 25-year-old man described as an Islamic extremist was arrested in an alleged plot to attack crowded areas in the Tampa, Fla., area with a car bomb, assault rifle and other explosives, authorities said Monday.

Discussion: Jihad Watch

Bill Keller / New York Times:

Just the Ticket — THE beginning of a new year is a time for resolutions, and Hillary Clinton's admirers are already busily, lovingly resolving on her behalf. On one sideline, her friends tell me that after a few years of hyperactive globetrotting what she really needs is to put her feet …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, Booman Tribune, NewsBusters.org, Prairie Weather and Connecting.the.Dots

Richard Black / BBC:

Carbon emissions ‘will defer Ice Age’ — The climate, if not species, of an Ice Age “ought” to return within 1,500 years — Human emissions of carbon dioxide will defer the next Ice Age, say scientists. — The last Ice Age ended about 11,500 years ago, and when the next one should begin has not been entirely clear.

Discussion: News Corpse, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Via Meadia, Pirate's Cove, Dot Earth and Nature

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:

Media mob chases Ron Paul from campaign stop in New Hampshire — MANCHESTER, N.H. — A campaign stop at a New Hampshire eatery unraveled into a bit of a circus when the media scrum chasing Ron Paul apparently became too much for the 76-year-old Texas congressman to handle.

Discussion: CNN, Business Insider, The Politico, The Other McCain and The Lonely Conservative

David Kotok / Business Insider:

An Alarming Development In China That Everyone Has Missed — “I think this move is a sign of weakness and will only increase the likelihood that the winds of change from the Arab spring will reach China. The Chinese middle class, while enjoying their new wealth, will eventually demand …

Discussion: New York Times and The Lonely Conservative

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:

Keith Olbermann Agrees to Anchor Current Election Coverage (Exclusive) — “I am pleased that I'll be running the election coverage on Current, following this Tuesday's New Hampshire primary,” said Olbermann in a statement on Sunday. “However, I don't think those participating in the New Hampshire primary will share my satisfaction.”

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Mediaite, skippy the bush kangaroo and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

David Carr / New York Times:
The Media Equation: At Current TV, Keith Olbermann Is Trapped Inside His Show

Discussion: Wonkette, more at Mediagazer »

Seattle Times:

Republican Sen. Steve Litzow helps lead with gay-marriage support — Washington state Sen. Steve Litzow told The Seattle Times editorial board he will be the first Republican in the Senate to support gay marriage. His decision is a profile in courage. He will make a big difference.

Discussion: PubliCola