memeorandum: Obama seeks more power to merge agencies, streamline government (Washington Post)

2:10 PM ET, January 13, 2012

Top Items:

Four Pinocchios for ‘King of Bain’ — Your Browser DoesNot Support IFrames. … — Voice-over from “King of Bain” video promoted by a pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC, “Winning Our Future.” — Newt Gingrich, meet Michael Moore! — The 29-minute video “King of Bain” is such an over-the-top assault …

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

How low can he go? — Everyone has probably heard the corny “I once caught a fish this big” joke. A guy boasts about the size of the fish he reeled in, but when pressed, he gradually reduces the actual size of his catch. The little comedic routine is about exaggeration. — I wonder if Mitt Romney has heard it.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Applesauce, Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog and The Mahablog

msnbc.com:

First Thoughts: Best of times (and worst of times) for Romney — NBC's David Gregory talks to TODAY's Matt Lauer about whether fierce attacks on Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney will backfire against his rivals or stop what seems to be Romney's inevitable march to the nomination.

Discussion: New York Times, Faith in Public Life, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wonkette, Politics, The Moderate Voice, Saint Petersblog, Washington Monthly and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Toni Sandys / ABCNEWS:

Rick Perry Lists 3 Departments He'd Cut, But Adds One, Misses Another — BLUFFTON, S.C. - Oops he did it again. When asked to name and provide the number of federal departments he'd eliminate as president, Texas Gov. Rick Perry managed to list three, but they weren't the three agencies …

Discussion: The Other McCain, The Hill, Connecting.the.Dots, Mediaite and The Political Carnival

Ashley Parker / The Caucus:

New Romney Ad Defends Candidate's Record at Bain — GREENVILLE, S.C. — Mitt Romney's campaign plans to release its latest television ad in South Carolina Friday, geared to combat the growing attacks — from both Republicans and Democrats — on Mr. Romney's career at Bain Capital as a corporate buyout specialist.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, The Week, ThinkProgress, The Moderate Voice, News Desk, Freedom Line Blog, Washington Post, GOP 12, Connecting.the.Dots, Wonkette and The Huffington Post

Matea Gold / Los Angeles Times:

Mitt Romney no stranger to tax breaks, subsidies — Bain Capital profited from a steel company that got them, and he used them to attract business when he governed Massachusetts — A Steel Dynamics plant in Butler, Ind. Bain Capital, the former private equity firm of Mitt Romney …

Discussion: American Spectator, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos and The Political Carnival

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Oops, He Did It Again: Perry Forgets The Three Federal Agencies He Wants To Abolish — During a November debate, Rick Perry inexplicably forgot the name of the third federal agency he wants to eliminate. He struggled for cringe-inducing 53 seconds, before acknowledging that he couldn't remember with an infamous “oops.”

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette

Rich Lowry / National Review:
‘The Leni Riefenstahl of the blistering attack documentary’

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
GOP House freshmen urge WH hopefuls to lay off Bain attacks

Discussion: CNN

Aaron Katersky / ABCNEWS:
Tea Party Leader Sen. Jim DeMint: Mitt Romney Should be More Empathetic

Discussion: Rumproast, The Politico, American Spectator and The Other McCain

Eamon Javers / CNBC:
Romney's Former Firm Bain Advised Obama on Auto Bailout

Discussion: The Enterprise Blog, Hot Air, BizzyBlog, National Review, Riehl World View and The Politico

William Galston / The New Republic:
Why Romney's Bain Problem Could Kill His Candidacy

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Dish, National Review, Booman Tribune, CNN, Washington Post and Opinion L.A.

Anjeanette Damon / Las Vegas Sun:
Sheldon Adelson distancing himself from documentary attacking Mitt Romney

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, PJ Media, ThinkProgress and CNN

Washington Post:

Obama seeks more power to merge agencies, streamline government — President Obama asked Congress on Friday for the power to consolidate parts of the federal government, proposing a first step of merging several trade- and commerce-related agencies under a plan that the White House …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, White House.gov Blog, Campaign 2012, The PJ Tatler, The Hill, Ron Paul 2012 Presidential …, Daily Kos and The Gateway Pundit

Chris Johnson / Washington Blade:
Obama opposes laws ‘designed to take rights away’

Discussion: Good As You, ThinkProgress, Towleroad News #gay and Boy in Bushwick

Ben Feller / Associated Press:
APNewsBreak: Obama seeks power to merge agencies

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, IntoxiNation and Washington Wire

Dylan Byers / The Politico:

CNN's Loesch champions Marine video — CNN political analyst Dana Loesch celebrated the U.S. Marines who appear to have urinated on the bodies of dead Taliban members during her radio show on Thursday. — “Now we have a bunch of progressives that are talking smack about our military …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, St. Louis Activist Hub, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, CNN, Mercury Rising and Hullabaloo

Dana Loesch / Big Journalism:

Correcting the Progressive Spin on My Defense of the Marines — Yesterday on my radio show I discussed the topic of the Marines videotaping themselves urinating on dead Taliban fighters. The usual mob of progressive haters started campaigning on Twitter and complaining to CNN. — Video still

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Battleland

New York Times:

U.S. Warns Top Iran Leader Not to Shut Strait of Hormuz — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is relying on a secret channel of communication to warn Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that closing the Strait of Hormuz is a “red line” that would provoke an American response …

Discussion: Tikun Olam, Outside the Beltway, Questions and Observations, The Atlantic Online, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Battleland

Sharyl Attkisson / CBS News:

Tax dollars backing some “risky” energy projects — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — WASHINGTON - Solar panel maker Solyndra received a $528 million Energy Department loan in 2009 - and went bankrupt last year. The government's risky investment strategy didn't stop there, as a CBS News investigation …

Discussion: Hot Air, Verum Serum, The Daily Caller and Weasel Zippers

Daniel J. Wakin / New York Times:

Ringing Finally Ended, but There's No Button to Stop Shame — They were baying for blood in the usually polite precincts of Avery Fisher Hall. — The unmistakably jarring sound of an iPhone marimba ring interrupted the soft and spiritual final measures of Mahler's Symphony No. 9 at the New York Philharmonic on Tuesday night.

Discussion: The Verge, DownWithTyranny!, Gothamist, The Maddow Blog, Superconductor and Boing Boing

Binyamin Appelbaum / New York Times:

Inside the Fed in 2006: A Coming Crisis, and Banter — WASHINGTON — As the housing bubble entered its waning hours in 2006, top Federal Reserve officials marveled at the desperate antics of home builders seeking to lure buyers. — The officials laughed about the cars that builders …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Atlantic Online, Business Insider, The Awl, THE CUNNING REALIST, Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics, Paul Krugman, Firedoglake, Eschaton and Brad DeLong

Tim Mak / Reuters:

Chris Christie praises Obama political skills — In a wide-ranging interview with Oprah Winfrey, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has kind words for President Barack Obama, calling him “charismatic,” “genuine” and “as good a politician as I've ever seen.” — Winfrey, who is a well-known friend …

Discussion: Associated Press and CNN

Buzzfeed Politics / Politics:

Book Depicts Cranky Obama On Baghdad Visit — The then-candidate “didn't want to take pictures with any more soldiers. — President Obama at a recent Pentagon briefing. — (Getty Images / SAUL LOEB) — Michael Hastings' new book, The Operators, jabs at what could be a vulnerable spot …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers and Atlas Shrugs

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Arthur Brisbane and selective stenography — The real media sin is not uncritical printing of false claims: it's extending that license only to the powerful — The New York Times' Public Editor Arthur Brisbane unwittingly sparked an intense and likely enduring controversy yesterday when he pondered …

Discussion: New York Times, GigaOM, The Public Editor's Journal, Outside the Beltway, The Mahablog, War in Context, Guardian, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, LewRockwell.com Blog, Poynter and Pressthink, more at Mediagazer »

Anna Harvey / The Hill:

Tar sands pipeline will comfort our enemies — By Steven M. Anderson, retired Army brigadier general, and senior mentor with the Army's Battle Command Training Program - 10/25/11 10:21 AM ET — As the military's senior logistician in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, I saw the impact of our oil addition in the Iraq combat zone.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Reuters:

Tea Party may get rebuffed in tax cut showdown — (Reuters) - House Speaker John Boehner, hoping to spare fellow Republicans a second embarrassing defeat over payroll tax cuts, is prepared to navigate around rebellious Tea Party-aligned lawmakers to get a deal, according to congressional aides.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, The Hill and The Raw Story

M. Alex Johnson / msnbc.com:

Mercedes apologizes for using Che Guevara image — Daimler AG — Dieter Zetsche, head of the Mercedes-Benz unit of Daimler AG, revealed the controversial ad during a presentation Tuesday at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. — By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com

Discussion: National Review

Chris Rawson / TUAW:

Most of Apple's $82 billion cash stockpile is ‘trapped’ overseas — Apple may have enough cash on hand to make Scrooge McDuck's money vault look like a kiddie pool by comparison, but according to SeekingAlpha, most of that cash is effectively trapped overseas.

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

America Isn't a Corporation — “And greed — you mark my words — will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.” — That's how the fictional Gordon Gekko finished his famous “Greed is good” speech in the 1987 film “Wall Street.”

Discussion: American Prospect, Campaign 2012 and Prairie Weather