memeorandum: Romney gaffes alarm GOP (Cameron Joseph/The Hill)

11:40 AM ET, February 3, 2012

Top Items:

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Employment Jumps; Rate 8.3%, 243,000 New Jobs Created — The pace of job creation surged in January, with the US economy generating 243,000 new positions while the unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent, according to government data released Friday. — Both numbers were far better than consensus …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Questions and Observations and The Lonely Conservative

Tyler Durden / ZeroHedge:

Record 1.2 Million People Fall Out Of Labor Force In One Month, Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To Fresh 30 Year Low — A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Swampland and The Strata-Sphere

Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:

Job growth surges, jobless rate drops to 8.3 percent — (Reuters) - The economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.3 percent, providing some measure of comfort for President Barack Obama who faces re-election in November.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Vodkapundit and The Page

Bob Willis / Bloomberg:

Unemployment Drops to 8.3%; Payrolls in U.S. Jump 243,000 — Employment climbed more than forecast in January and the U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly fell to the lowest in three years, casting doubt on the Federal Reserve's pledge to keep interest rates low until late 2014.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Motoko Rich / New York Times:

U.S. Economy Added 243,000 Jobs in January; Unemployment Rate Is 8.3% — The United States economy gained momentum in January, adding 243,000 jobs, the second straight month of better-than-expected gains. — The unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, giving a cause for optimism …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Economix and Prairie Weather

Wall Street Journal:
Economy Adds 243,000 Jobs

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Maddow Blog, Washington Post, Real Time Economics, Gothamist and Saint Petersblog

Michael Brendan Dougherty / Business Insider:

HOPE KILLS: Susan G Komen Foundation Would Rather Be Associated With A Handgun Than Planned Parenthood — Well, here's an interesting weapon! — The Susan G. Komen Foundation, which collects and distributes money for Breast Cancer research and prevention is in the news for withdrawing its …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Jawa Report, Los Angeles Times, The Mahablog, Washington Post, Pirate's Cove, LifeSiteNews.com Latest …, Rumproast, Balloon Juice, Runnin' Scared, Flopping Aces and Newshoggers.com

New York Times:

A Painful Betrayal — With its roster of corporate sponsors and the pink ribbons that lend a halo to almost any kind of product you can think of, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation has a longstanding reputation as a staunch protector of women's health.

Discussion: Business Insider, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post, NewsBusters.org, Outside the Beltway, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Campaign 2012, GetReligion, Political Mojo, The Maddow Blog, TBogg, Daily Kos and The Loyal Opposition

New York Times:
Komen Foundation Urged to Restore Planned Parenthood Funds

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Daily Kos, CatholicVote.org, blogs.wsj.com, The Confluence, Balloon Juice, AlterNet, Capital New York, Media Decoder and The Lede

Kate Noceraand David Nather / Politico:
Susan G. Komen fights to contain Planned Parenthood damage

Discussion: CBS Los Angeles, Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story, The Reid Report, Daily Kos, LifeNews.com and AlterNet

Caroline May / The Daily Caller:
After cutting ties with Planned Parenthood, Komen donations up 100 percent

Steven Ertelt / LifeNews.com:
Why Did Komen Stop? Planned Parenthood Doesn't Do Mammograms

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Sarah Kliff / Washington Post:
Komen speaks on Planned Parenthood

Discussion: TBogg, Feministing, Political Mojo, msnbc.com, The American Independent, The Hill, Wizbang, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Comments from Left Field and The Atlantic Online

Byron York / Campaign 2012:

Team Obama shocked to learn Romney wants to win — Late Thursday night, as the political world was obsessing over fallout from Mitt Romney's “not concerned about the very poor” remarks, the Obama campaign was scandalized by something else Romney said in the wake of victory in Florida.

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:
Romney gaffes alarm GOP

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Post, GOP 12, ABCNEWS, Wall Street Journal, The Other McCain, Mediaite, Hot Air and The Daily Caller

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Romney playing with Trump-brand fire?

Discussion: Washington Wire, Washington Examiner, Swampland, Politics and Wall Street Journal

Ben Geman / The Hill:

Sierra Club took $26m from gas industry to fight coal — The Sierra Club disclosed Thursday that it received over $26 million from natural gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corp. between 2007 and 2010 to help the group's campaign against coal-fired power plants. — Sierra Club Executive Director …

Michael Brune / Coming Clean:
The Sierra Club and Natural Gas

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Big Government and Politico

Bryan Walsh / Ecocentric: Exclusive: How the Sierra Club Took Millions From the Natural Gas Industry—and Why They Stopped [UPDATE]

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Obama's Magic Number? 150,000 Jobs Per Month — The unemployment report on Friday will give us the most tangible read to date on how the economy is performing in 2012. It might also represent the most important number yet for President Obama's prospects of winning re-election.

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Post and Jay Bookman

Edward Wyatt / New York Times:

S.E.C. Is Avoiding Tough Sanctions for Large Banks — WASHINGTON — Even as the Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up its investigations of Wall Street in the last decade, the agency has repeatedly allowed the biggest firms to avoid punishments specifically meant to apply to fraud cases.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Felix Salmon, New Deal 2.0, naked capitalism, Prairie Weather, The BLT and Economix

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Chris Christie Doubles Down Same-Sex Marriage Referendum: ‘This Is The Bargain Of Your Life!’ — New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) argued that he is offering activists of marriage equality “the bargain of your life” by advocating that the legislature pass a bill asking residents to vote …

Discussion: NewJerseyNewsroom.com, Bloomberg and Towleroad News #gay

Washington Examiner:

Holder should walk the plank on ‘Fast and Furious’ — A petulant, angry, and defiant Attorney General Eric Holder refused yesterday to take any responsibility for the growing scandal surrounding Operation Fast and Furious, the ill-conceived and incompetently managed program …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Hot Air

ABCNEWS:
Attorney General Eric Holder Disgusted by Personal Attacks at Fast and Furious Hearing

Discussion: Power Line, TalkLeft and Commentary Magazine

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Romney up big in Nevada — Mitt Romney is headed for a dominant victory in Nevada on Saturday. PPP finds him polling at 50% to 25% for Newt Gingrich, 15% for Ron Paul, and 8% for Rick Santorum. — Certainly in Nevada the Mormon vote will get a lot of attention and Romney leads Paul 78-14 …

Discussion: Ballot Box, GOP 12, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, Campaign 2012, Outside the Beltway, Taegan Goddard's … and Saint Petersblog

BuzzFeed:

Sandra Day O'Connor Hasn't Offended This Many People Since She Upheld Roe V. Wade — The former Supreme Court Justice made a comment about Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. Zing. — by JP Moore · added an hour ago · 58 responses — 12 Pets That Hate Their Families

Discussion: Politics and Balloon Juice

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:

Colbert v. the Court — Why, in the battle over Citizens United, the Supreme Court never had a chance. — The Supreme Court has always had its critics. Chief Justice John Marshall had to contend with the temper of President Andrew Jackson ("John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!").

Discussion: CNN

Mj Lee / Reuters:

Scott Brown pays own daughter Ayla to sing — Sen. Scott Brown's daughter, Ayla Brown, likes to use her musical talent to help boost her father's reelection bid, but the former “America Idol” contestant and her band's services aren't free — the Brown campaign has spent $9,500 …

Discussion: The Boston Globe

Alex Isenstadt / Reuters:

Dems outraised GOP majority in 2011 — It wasn't supposed to be like this. — When Republicans took over the House in a stunning 2010 landslide, it seemed a given that money would rain down on the newly ascendant party. — But Democrats dominated the cash dash in 2011 …

Discussion: CNN and The Page

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
Rep. Shuler to retire, faced tough 2012 race

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Scared Monkeys, Outside the Beltway, Politico, CNN, Sister Toldjah and The Impolitic

Andy Pierrotti / WBBH-TV:

NBC2 Investigates: Voter fraud — Two elections supervisors are taking action after an NBC2 investigation uncovers flawed record keeping and human error allowing people who are not citizens of the United States to vote. — No one knows how widespread this problem is …

Discussion: UrbanGrounds

Politics:

Mitt Romney Was A Democrat — It may only have been for a few minutes in 1992. But this is a little-known, true fact: The likely GOP nominee is a former Democrat. — Mitt Romney's 1992 Democratic Primary vote for Paul Tsongas — a technocratic modernizer and reformer, but very much a Democrat …

Discussion: Mediaite