memeorandum: Anti-abortion “personhood” bill clears Oklahoma senate (Steve Olafson/Reuters)

6:10 PM ET, February 16, 2012

Top Items:

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Democratic Women Boycott House Contraception Hearing After Republicans Prevent Women From Testifying — This morning, Democrats tore into House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for preventing women from testifying before a hearing examining the Obama administration's …

Discussion: The Impolitic, Crooks and Liars, The Maddow Blog, GOOD, Stinque, No More Mister Nice Blog, Feministing, Booman Tribune, Colorlines and Hullabaloo

Tom Shine Serena Marshall / ABCNEWS:

All Male Contraception Panel Criticized — A Capitol Hill hearing that was supposed to be about religious freedom and a mandate that health insurers cover contraception in the United States began as an argument about whether Democrats could add a woman to the all-male panel.

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Hot Air, Political Mojo, The Mahablog, Daily Kos and Little Green Footballs

J. Lester Feder / Politico:

Female Dems walk out of House contraceptive panel — Two female Democrats walked out of a House oversight committee hearing on the contraceptive coverage rule Thursday morning, accusing Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) of manipulating committee rules to block female witnesses from testifying.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed and Weasel Zippers

Rory Sheehan / democrats.oversight.house.gov:
ISSA REJECTS MINORITY WITNESS FOR HEARING ON CONTRACEPTION

Discussion: Religion Dispatches, ECHIDNE of the snakes, The Maddow Blog, Taylor Marsh and Politico

Laura Bassett / The Huffington Post:
House Democrats Walk Out Of One-Sided Hearing On Contraception, Calling It An ‘Autocratic Regime’

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wonkette and The Atlantic Online

Cheyenne Steel / oversight.house.gov:
Chairman Issa Hearing Preview Statement

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Lynn Sweet, Right Wing Watch and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Pelosi blasts dearth of women at contraceptives hearing: ‘Duh’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Daily Kos

Louise Radnofsky / Washington Wire:
Catholic Bishops Fight Contraception Rule at House Hearing

Discussion: alicublog

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Mitt Romney to skip March 1 CNN debate — Mitt Romney will skip the CNN Republican debate scheduled for March 1, just days before Super Tuesday. — “Gov. Romney will be spending a lot of time campaigning in Georgia and Ohio ahead of Super Tuesday,” Romney press secretary Andrea Saul said in a statement.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Hot Air, Wonkette and Daily Kos

Tim Mak / Politico:

Maine GOP recounting caucus votes — The Maine Republican Party, under fire from Ron Paul supporters for its mishandling of the state's recent caucuses, is now re-canvassing counties and municipalities to recount vote totals. — POLITICO obtained an email from the State Republican Party …

Discussion: Bangor Daily News

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Final pre-Super Tuesday debate falls apart

Discussion: Big Government and Mediaite

Ron Paul / CNN:
Romney, Paul decline debate invite

Discussion: GOP 12, Deadline.com, Taegan Goddard's …, Guardian, The Raw Story and Fox News

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Santorum Sugar Daddy Foster Friess Gives ‘Gals’ Contraception Advice: Put An Aspirin Between Your Knees — Appearing of MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell today, Foster Friess, the main donor to the Super PAC backing Rick Santorum's presidential bid, dismissed the controversy surrounding President Obama's …

Discussion: Rumproast, US Politics and Balloon Juice

Kyle Leighton / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPM2012 — Santorum Funder Friess: ‘Gals’ Used To Put Aspirin Between Their Knees For Contraception — This whole contraception debate is just so new-fangled, says billionaire investor and mega-funder to the super PAC supporting former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) for President, Foster Friess.

Discussion: The New Republic, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Gawker, TheBlaze.com, Talking Points Memo and Little Green Footballs

ABCNEWS:
Santorum Supporter: Women Used Aspirin As Contraception

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Rasmussen Reports:

Ohio GOP Primary: Santorum 42%, Romney 24% — Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum continues to ride his polling momentum into Ohio where he leads Mitt Romney by nearly two-to-one in the first Rasmussen Reports survey of Republicans in the state. — The new statewide telephone survey …

Discussion: Guardian, Big Government, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, The Strata-Sphere, GOP 12 and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Mike Wilkinson / detroitnews.com:
Poll: Rick Santorum leads Mitt Romney in Michigan

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Politico, CNN, Washington Post, Firedoglake, The Page, Hot Air, msnbc.com and GOP 12

Ben Domenech / Ricochet Conversations Feed:
The Best Candidate in a Losing Effort

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Hot Air, Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog and Politics

Tim Mak / Politico:

The Colbert Report suspended temporarily — The late-night comedy program hosted by Stephen Colbert will suspend production for at least two days this week, POLITICO has confirmed. — The Colbert Report, the home of relentless parodying of super PACs and the campaign finance system …

Discussion: Third Beat, msnbc.com, Show Tracker and Joe. My. God.

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Colbert Report Suspends Production For The Week, Reasons Unknown (Updated) — Update: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Colbert has suspended his show temporarily due to an emergency in his family. — If you just flipped over to Comedy Central to catch Stephen Colbert after a new episode …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Huffington Post, newsfeed.time.com, Deadline.com, Ed Driscoll, TVLine, Gothamist, Guardian and Rolling Stone

Sam Schechner / Speakeasy:
Stephen Colbert Suspends Production of His Show

Discussion: The Raw Story and Outside the Beltway, more at Mediagazer »

Politics:

Marco Rubio “Is Supposedly Representing Hispanic Issues,” Harry Reid Says — A nonplused Rubio spokesman responds: “Rubio represents Florida. — Rubio at CPAC. — (Reuters / JONATHAN ERNST) — Majority Leader Harry Reid's suggestion that the job of Florida Senator Marco Rubio …

Glenn Thrush / Politico:
Marco Rubio and Obama duel on diplomacy

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Caller and Weasel Zippers

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit:

THE NON-PROCREATIVE FUNCTIONS OF SEX: “If you're interested in the stability of families, then you should also be a fan of non-procreative sex (which, let's face it, is going to be a majority of sex any couple engages in, even if they're choosing to forgo birth control).

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh

Steve Olafson / Reuters:

Anti-abortion “personhood” bill clears Oklahoma senate — (Reuters) - Oklahoma lawmakers edged closer toward trying to outlaw abortion on Wednesday by approving “personhood” legislation that gives individual rights to an embryo from the moment of conception.

Discussion: Religion Dispatches and The Raw Story

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
The War on Lady Parts Continues in Congress, States

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Truth Wins Out and The Maddow Blog

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Red White & Blue blitz in Michigan (UPDATED) — Rick Santorum's super PAC is coming out of the gate strong in Michigan with a nearly $700,000 TV buy — packed into only a five-day period. — We reported last night that the Red White & Blue Fund was in the process of launching what looked …

Discussion: Politics, MLive.com, Daily Kos and The Daily Dish

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Santorum super-PAC backer: Women ‘used Bayer aspirin for contraception’

Discussion: CNN

Michelangelo Signorile / The Huffington Post:

Victoria Jackson At CPAC: Former SNL Star On Gay Marriage, Barack Obama, GOP Candidates … LGBT Rights , Republican Party , Cpac , Gay Rights , Republicans , Video , Cpac 2012 , Victoria Jackson , Gay Voices News — “I'm here to save America from communism,” the former “Saturday Night Live” …

Discussion: Truth Wins Out

Democracy Corps:

New Phase and Shifting Balance — The latest national survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for Democracy Corps and Women's Voices. Women Vote Action Fund shows a Republican Party in deepening trouble and emerging underlying trends that may have shifted the balance for 2012.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Little Green Footballs and Daily Kos

Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:

Who Wants to See Tina Korbe's Thighs? — The title of this post is not a hypothetical question, because last week the aforesaid Miss Korbe joined her Hot Air colleague Ed Morrissey for a video interview with Rick Santorum, which I didn't see until somebody brought it to my attention yesterday:

Discussion: Townhall.com, Reuters, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Wake up America, Thoughts and Rantings, Datechguy's Blog and The PJ Tatler

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Supreme Court should take on New York City's rent control laws — James and Jeanne Harmon reside in and supposedly own a five-story brownstone on Manhattan's Upper West Side, a building that has been in their family since 1949. But they have, so to speak, houseguests who have overstayed their welcome by …

Discussion: Hit & Run

RSC:

A Graphic Question: Where Are the Jobs? — Tomorrow, February 17, 2012, will be exactly 3 years since President Obama signed his infamous stimulus package into law. It was a plan designed to create jobs by growing the size of government, and its record has not been good.

Discussion: Belmont Club, Instapundit, The Lonely Conservative, The Gateway Pundit and The Enterprise Blog

Charles Duhigg / New York Times:

How Companies Learn Your Secrets — Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: “If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn't want us to know, can you do that? ”

Discussion: Felix Salmon, Political Mojo and Truthdig

Jeremy Herb / The Hill:

Senators pledge to back Obama if he attacks Iran to halt nuclear program — Sens. Graham and Lieberman introduced a resolution calling on the US to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. — A group of bipartisan senators said Thursday they would stand by President Obama if he decided …

Discussion: Algemeiner.com

Paul A. Rahe / Ricochet Conversations Feed:

More Than a Touch of Malice — When Barack Obama first announced that he intended to force all employers, including Catholic institutions, to provide contraception and abortifacients as part of the healthcare package they offer their employees, my friend Michael Barone observed …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Garry Wills / New York Review of Books:

Contraception's Con Men — By a revolting combination of con men and fanatics, the current primary race has become a demonstration that the Republican party does not deserve serious consideration for public office. Take the controversy over contraceptives.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, A plain blog about politics and Corey Robin