memeorandum: The Ex Factor — Romney gets a break from Gingrich's former wife. (James Taranto/Wall Street Journal)

9:55 AM ET, January 20, 2012

Top Items:

Palin: ‘Dumb arses’ in media ‘overplayed their hand’ with Gingrich — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has now weighed in on the controversy surrounding an ABC interview with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's ex-wife, and Palin had some tough words for the media.

Discussion: The Caucus, The Politico, Don Surber, Hot Air, Connecting.the.Dots, Mediaite and Wizbang, more at Mediagazer »

newt.org:

Speaker Newt Gingrich and Mrs. Gingrich Release 2010 Income Tax Return and Gingrich Foundation Tax Return — Atlanta, GA - Today, Newt and Callista Gingrich released their 2010 federal income tax return, which they filed jointly with the Internal Revenue Service.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, The Page, Washington Post, Telegraph, CNN, Taylor Marsh, Washington Wire and Mediaite

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Republican Debate Audience Boos Mitt Romney Over Releasing Tax Returns — In recent days, the heat has been turned up on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns, with pressure coming from rivals, allies, and revelations about his Cayman Islands investments. At Thursday night's South Carolina …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Campaign 2012 and Washington Post

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Gingrich maintains 6 point lead — Thursday may have been one of the most eventful days of the Republican campaign so far, but the state of the race in South Carolina didn't change much. Newt Gingrich continues to lead Mitt Romney by 6 points, 35-29, with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum each tied for third at 15%.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Salon, Politics, The Hill, Hot Air and Daily Kos

The Hill:

Gingrich's attack on the media sets feisty tone for GOP debate — Newt Gingrich lashed out at reports on his ex-wife's accusations and Mitt Romney stumbled in South Carolina. — CHARLESTON, S.C. — A fiery attack by Newt Gingrich on the news media for raising questions about his acrimonious divorce set …

Discussion: Reuters, Scared Monkeys, The Politico, The Gateway Pundit and Los Angeles Times

Benjy Sarlin / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPM2012 — Newt: CNN ‘Despicable’ To Bring Up ‘Trash’ Open Marriage Story — CNN wasted no time in asking Newt Gingrich the burning question of the day: did he, as his wife claims in interviews, ask for an open marriage so he could carry on his affair with then-mistress Callista Gingrich?

Discussion: Oliver Willis, Talking Points Memo, Seeing the Forest and Hullabaloo

New York Times:
Debate Opens With Questions on Gingrich's Marriages

Discussion: The New Republic, Slate, Media Decoder, USA Today, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, The Politico, ABCNEWS and FITSNews

New York Times:
Moralizing's High Cost

Discussion: Washington Post, Opinion L.A. and NewsBusters.org blogs

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Palin Says Interview With Ex-Wife Will Help Gingrich ‘Soar’

Discussion: CBS News, The Political Carnival and The Daily Caller

A.Killough / CNN:
BREAKING: Romney calls Santorum

Discussion: The Politico, The BRAD BLOG, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller and Rush Limbaugh

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Romney's Incredible Luck Continues

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, msnbc.com, The Politico, Big Government, The Reaction, Political Mojo and The Daily Dish

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Gingrich Tied With Romney in South Carolina Forecast

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Iowa Caucuses, The Reaction, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, Hit & Run, Public Policy Polling, CBS News, Hot Air, The Stranger … and Indecision Forever

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
The campaign's wildest day — POLITICO Slideshows require the Adobe Flash Player.

Discussion: msnbc.com, ThinkProgress, Telegraph and CNN

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Taxes at the Top — Call me peculiar, but I'm actually enjoying the spectacle of Mitt Romney doing the Dance of the Seven Veils — partly out of voyeurism, of course, but also because it's about time that we had this discussion. — The theme of his dance, for those who haven't been paying attention, is taxes — his own taxes.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Prairie Weather

Wall Street Journal:

How Much the Rich Pay — Mitt Romney, the 1% and taxes. — Mitt Romney's disclosure this week that his effective federal tax rate is “probably closer to the 15% rate than anything” has created the predictable political uproar. The White House and its media allies figure they've now got …

Discussion: Althouse

Sam Biddle / Gizmodo:

Anonymous Goes on Megaupload Revenge Spree: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music All Offline — Anonymous has sure been quiet lately, but today's federal bust of Megaupload riled 'em up good: a retaliatory strike against DoJ.gov (and plenty of other foes) leaving them completely dead.

Discussion: rt.com, Gawker, Ars Technica, The Gateway Pundit, TalkLeft, Mashable!, The Daily Caller, TechCrunch, The Moderate Voice and Unqualified Offerings, more at Techmeme »

Ben Sisario / New York Times:
7 Charged as F.B.I. Closes a Top File-Sharing Site

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Right Wing News, Scared Monkeys, Associated Press, Rolling Stone, msnbc.com, Gothamist, FP Passport, Gizmodo, Media Decoder and Engadget, more at Mediagazer »

The United States Department of Justice:
Justice Department Charges Leaders of Megaupload with Widespread Online Copyright Infringement

Discussion: Guardian, The Verge, TechCrunch, Stuff.co.nz, Threat Level, GigaOM, Gizmodo, TalkLeft, Law Blog, Washington Post, Pat Dollard, Big Government, Deadline.com, Techdirt and Truthdig, more at Techmeme »

Devlin Barrett / Wall Street Journal:
FBI Charges Seven With Online Piracy

Discussion: Ars Technica, The Raw Story, TechCrunch, GigaOM, Gizmodo, Law Blog and Kathy Gill, more at Mediagazer »

Robert J. Samuelson / Washington Post:

Rejecting the Keystone pipeline is an act of insanity — President Obama's rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico is an act of national insanity. It isn't often that a president makes a decision that has no redeeming virtues and — beyond the symbolism …

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Salon.com, Power Line, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Huffington Post, Doug Ross, Ron Radosh, The Heritage Foundation, Via Meadia, Campaign 2012, New York Times and FP Passport

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:
Secretary Clinton won't testify on Keystone pipeline rejection

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Politico and New York Times

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

The Ex Factor — Romney gets a break from Gingrich's former wife. But why has she changed her story? — Bye-Ku for Rick Perry — Trounced in Iowa — New Hampshire and—the third one — I can't. Sorry. Oops — Mitt Romney just got his biggest break in over a week.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mail Online, Don Surber, TalkLeft, ABCNEWS and Washington Wire

Evan McMorris-Santoro / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Looking The Other Way: South Carolinians Yawn Over Newt ‘Bombshell’

Discussion: Daily Kos, Rush Limbaugh, Firedoglake, Washington Post and Indecision Forever

Mitt Romney for President of the United States …:

“I THINK GRANDIOSE THOUGHTS” — Location — A Selection Of Speaker Gingrich's Thoughts Over The Years — Gingrich on Gingrich: — “I Am Essentially A Revolutionary.” (Adam Clymer, “House Revolutionary,” The New York Times, 8/23/92) — “Philosophically, I Am Very Different …

Discussion: Swampland, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Mail Online and Outside the Beltway

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Romney to Occupy protester: Go back to Russia — The Romney campaign is proudly circulating this video of Mitt Romney dressing down an Occupy Wall Street protester with this line: “America's right, and you're wrong.” — “GREAT VIDEO,” Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom Tweeted just now.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Washington Monthly, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hullabaloo and Balloon Juice

Paul Werdel / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Romney Snaps At Questioner, 'America's Right, And You're Wrong!

Discussion: CNN, The Reality-Based Community and Shakesville

Sydney Morning Herald:

Love online: 100,000 Grindr users exposed in hack attack — The Grindr app, left, and founder Joel Simkhai's profile. — A popular “meat-market” smartphone app that spawned a sexual revolution in Australia's gay community has been compromised by a Sydney hacker, potentially exposing …

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay

Matthew Rosenberg / New York Times:

Afghanistan's Soldiers Step Up Killings of Allied Forces — KABUL, Afghanistan — American and other coalition forces here are being killed in increasing numbers by the very Afghan soldiers they fight alongside and train, in attacks motivated by deep-seated animosity between the supposedly allied forces …

Discussion: Pat Dollard and Battleland

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Herman Cain will deliver Tea Party response to the State of the Union — Herman Cain will deliver the Tea Party Express response to President Obama's State of the Union address. — Tea Party Express, a political action committee, announced on Thursday that the former presidential candidate would be the speaker.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Indecision Forever and Hot Air

Smitty / The Other McCain:
GOP MADNESS @ FINAL FOUR

Discussion: Big Government, News Desk, PJ Media and The Lonely Conservative

Reuters:

Exclusive: Senior al Qaeda figure killed in drone strike — A militant who acted as a senior operations organizer for al Qaeda was targeted and killed in one of two U.S. drone strikes launched against targets inside Pakistan last week, a U.S. official said.

Discussion: The Long War Journal, Weasel Zippers and The Jawa Report