memeorandum: G.O.P. in Congress Gets Blame for Gridlock (Marjorie Connelly/The Caucus)

3:45 PM ET, January 18, 2012

Top Items:

Obama administration to reject Keystone pipeline — The Obama administration will announce this afternoon it is rejecting a Canadian firm's application for a permit to build and operate a massive oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border, according to sources who have been briefed on the matter.

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation Blog, ThinkProgress, Little Green Footballs, Wake up America, Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin, Mediaite and St. Louis Activist Hub

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:

Obama's jobs council report says ‘drill’ — President Obama's jobs council called Tuesday for an “all-in approach” to energy policy that includes expanded oil-and-gas drilling as well as expediting energy projects like pipelines. — “[W]e should allow more access to oil …

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, Campaign 2012, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Wake up America, JustOneMinute, Grist, Questions and Observations and Betsy's Page

Darren Goode / Reuters:

Keystone XL pipeline to be rejected by Obama administration — The State Department Wednesday will reject the Keystone XL pipeline, multiple sources following the project tell POLITICO. — The formal announcement is expected at 3 p.m. from Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

Discussion: CNN, Heritage Action for America, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Grist, Mediaite, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Political Mojo

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:

AFL-CIO's Trumka slams Obama's jobs council — One union leader on President Obama's jobs council drew attention Tuesday by abstaining from part of the panel's latest report, but the panel's only other labor leader is voicing even more profound disagreement with the committee's stance on taxes, regulation and job creation.

Discussion: ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/* and Weasel Zippers

Ben Geman / The Hill:

Obama administration to reject controversial Keystone pipeline — The Obama administration will reject the Keystone XL pipeline Wednesday afternoon, according to a source closely following the issue. — The State Department is expected to make an announcement at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Discussion: Gawker, The Political Carnival and Campaign 2012

Mamta Badkar / Business Insider:
REPORT: State Department To Reject The Keystone Pipeline

Discussion: Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Big Government and The Lonely Conservative

John Parkinson / ABCNEWS:
Keystone Pipeline Delay Sparks Outrage on Capitol Hill

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com and Fox News Insider

Los Angeles Times:
Obama administration to deny Keystone XL oil pipeline permit

Discussion: Opinion L.A. and Wonkette

Jennifer Martinez / The Politico:

SOPA blackout leads co-sponsors to defect — Amid online protests that include major websites like Wikipedia blacking out their sites, a few co-sponsors of the Stop Online Piracy Act in Congress are defecting. — Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), originally a co-sponsor of the bill, pulled his name from the list of sponsors on Tuesday.

Discussion: Mashable!, TechCrunch, Little Green Footballs, The Gateway Pundit, Techdirt, Balloon Juice, Guardian, Daily Kos and Reuters, more at Mediagazer »

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

SOPA protests shut down Web sites — View Photo Gallery — Who's involved and what are the stakes?: A look at the politicians, companies and lobbying groups involved in the dispute over Stop Online Piracy Act. — This is what happens when you make the Internet mad.

Discussion: Wired Campus, Scientific American, The Impolitic, The BLT and US Politics

Ross Boettcher / Omaha World-Herald:
Terry to remove name from bill

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, PC World, Mashable!, Techdirt, Erick's blog, The Heritage Foundation, RedState, The Political Carnival and American Spectator, more at Techmeme »

The Politico:
SOPA on life support after web protests, White House and GOP rebellion

Discussion: Washington Post, Indecision Forever, Washington Monthly, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, Computerworld, The Mahablog, Wall Street Journal, AllThingsD, The Raw Story, The Hill and Reuters

Megan Ruyle / The Hill:
Unbowed by protests, Lamar Smith to move ahead on piracy bill

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Media Decoder, RedState, Networking Blog, Instapundit and The American Independent, more at Mediagazer »

Jenna Wortham / New York Times:
A Political Coming of Age for the Tech Industry

Discussion: nytm.org, Bits, Runnin' Scared, msnbc.com, Gizmodo, Threat Level, Media Decoder, Gawker, The Stranger …, Wonkette, Campaign 2012, Poynter and Electronic Frontier Foundation, more at Techmeme »

msnbc.com:

First Thoughts: Newt-mentum returns? — Is Newt-mentum returning?... Even if so, Gingrich faces two challenges: time and math... Romney's wealth and Bain Capital have been THE story in the GOP race for the past 10 days (and counting)... Are the first Obama TV ads going up?

Discussion: The Caucus, Wake up America and The Political Carnival

Rosie Gray / Politics:
Santorum Sharpens Attacks On Gingrich

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Zeke Miller / Politics:
Romney's Worried About Newt, Renews Assault On “Undisciplined Leader”

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, Daily Kos and The Daily Caller

Marc Caputo / Naked Politics:
The bitter backstory between Newt Gingrich and Romney backer, Susan Molinari

Discussion: Gawker, FishbowlDC and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

ABCNEWS:
Woman Who Got Cash From Romney Now Part of His Stump Speech

Discussion: Mediaite and Colorlines

Kevinliptak / CNN:
TRENDING: In shift, Romney campaign targets Gingrich

Discussion: The Politico, Hit & Run and The Reaction

Jon Ward / The Huffington Post:
Newt Gingrich: If Mitt Romney Wins South Carolina, It's Over

Discussion: The Caucus, Hot Air, Salon.com, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Buzz Florida Politics Feed, ABCNEWS, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Connecting.the.Dots, americanthinker.com, American Prospect, The Hill, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and msnbc.com

Adam Beam / The State:
SC evangelicals split, frustrated

Discussion: 2012 Decoded and msnbc.com

David Catanese / The Politico:
Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum set South Carolina expectations

Discussion: CNN, Ballot Box, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Shakesville, The Other McCain and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Romney Caricatures Himself — Mitt Romney, in all likelihood, is going to walk away with his party's presidential nomination. Yet from the standpoint of positioning himself for the general election, the primary season has been a disaster for him. Romney's campaign has worked hard …

Discussion: American Prospect, Guardian, Jared Bernstein, Balloon Juice, Public Policy Polling and Washington Monthly

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

When polished meets clumsy — When compared against his Republican rivals, Mitt Romney is extremely slick. After nearly 18 years as a politician, and more than five years as a near-constant presidential candidate, the former governor is clearly smoother and better prepared than his GOP opponents.

Discussion: Paul Krugman, A plain blog about politics, The Reaction, Washington Post and The Caucus

Michelle Malkin:

Editor's Note of the Day — This was attached to the end of a nauseating Boston Globe article celebrating the amorous relations between Occupy protesters: … Oops. — The Boston Herald called out the Globe for its lazy vetting: … Bias? What bias? Congrats, Boston Globe.

Jessica Heslam / Boston Herald:
Key fact fails to occupy Globe story

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Marjorie Connelly / The Caucus:

G.O.P. in Congress Gets Blame for Gridlock — The public is not assigning blame equally between President Obama and Republicans in Congress for the partisan gridlock over key legislation. — In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, 60 percent say Mr. Obama is attempting to work …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, msnbc.com and The Daily Dish

Rolling Stone:

Julian Assange: The Rolling Stone Interview — Under house arrest in England, the WikiLeaks founder opens up about his battle with the ‘Times,’ his stint in solitary and the future of journalism — It's a few days before Christmas, and Julian Assange has just finished moving to a new hide-out deep in the English countryside.

Discussion: Politics, Pat Dollard and Weasel Zippers

Esquire:

Bill Clinton: Someone We Can All Agree On — Even his staunchest enemies now regard his presidency as the good old days. He has become the rare consensus figure in a country that has lost all sense of consensus. So we talked to him about where it went, and how we might get it back.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Recess appointments might not hold — Some legal experts, including those who have sided with President Obama on other constitutional issues, think there is a good chance the courts could overturn his recent recess appointments. — Legal experts said courts could invalidate Obama's appointments …

Discussion: Marathon Pundit, The Heritage Foundation, americanthinker.com and Prairie Weather

Jordan Weissmann / The Atlantic Online:

Why Does Buffalo Pay for Its Teachers to Have Plastic Surgery? — How a broken collective bargaining system has kept a ridiculous, multimillion-dollar perk alive. — In Buffalo, New York, the heart of the American rust-belt, the public school system pays for its teachers to get plastic surgery.