memeorandum: Republican donor expected to shell out $10 million to Gingrich super PAC (Newt Gingrich/CNN)

3:45 PM ET, February 17, 2012

Top Items:

Foster Friess / Campfire Blog:

For those who misunderstood my joke today, here's my quest for forgiveness... Last week my joke at the Conservative Political Action Conference generated laughter and media attention. Today on Andrea Mitchell's show, my aspirin joke bombed as many didn't recognize it as a joke but thought …

Discussion: The Hill, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, Associated Press, Wake up America, Shakesville, msnbc.com, HyperVocal, RedState, Caffeinated Thoughts, Business Insider, National Review, GOP 12, TheBlaze.com and The Huffington Post

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Foster Friess Doubles Down — So on his “Campfire Blog,” which is apparently how he communicates with the world when he's not on our television screens, Santorum Super-PAC heavy and all-purpose spokesman Foster Friess apologized to the poor dumb humorless people who didn't get his “joke” …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Mediaite and Balloon Juice

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

GOP candidate says she wants to kick Santorum ‘in the jimmy’ — Republican congressional hopeful Martha McSally, who is running for the House seat recently vacated by Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), said Rick Santorum's remarks about women in combat made her want to “kick him in the jimmy.”

Discussion: Politico and The Raw Story

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Santorum dodges Friess ‘bad joke’

Discussion: Politics, News Desk, Mediaite, Campaign 2012, Balloon Juice, National Review and The New Republic

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Santorum accuses media of double standard on Obama and Jeremiah Wright

Discussion: Politico

Lucy Madison / CBS News:
Foster Friess: In my day, women “used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives”

Discussion: Mediaite, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Mike Levine / Fox News:

Exclusive: Feds arrest man allegedly heading to U.S. Capitol for suicide mission after sting investigation — Authorities have arrested a man allegedly on his way to the U.S. Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack on one of the nation's most symbolic landmarks, Fox News has learned exclusively.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, New York Times, Gawker, The Jawa Report, Weasel Zippers, NO QUARTER, RedState, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler and Associated Press

Washington Post:

Federal agents arrest man who allegedly planned suicide bombing on U.S. Capitol — The FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police arrested a man Friday after a lengthy investigation into an alleged plot to carry out a suicide attack on the Capitol. — In a cryptic news release …

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation and Arlington, Va.

Mj Lee / Politico: Reports: Man planned Capitol attack

ABCNEWS:

Top GOP Senator Says ‘If Romney Loses Michigan, We Need a New Candidate’ — A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can't win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and GOP 12

Laura Strickler / CBS News:

Gingrich to get another $10 million from casino backer - sources — Sheldon Adelson, left, and Newt Gingrich, right — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's faltering campaign is about to get another shot in the arm, CBS News has learned. — Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson plans …

Discussion: Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog and Political Insider

Newt Gingrich / CNN:
Republican donor expected to shell out $10 million to Gingrich super PAC

Discussion: National Review, GOP 12, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Swampland, Business Insider, Taegan Goddard's …, Wonkette, Ballot Box and The PJ Tatler

Richard A. Oppel Jr / New York Times:
Mitt Romney and Ron Paul Friendly Amid the Rivalry

Discussion: Thoughts and Rantings, Althouse, Shakesville, Campaign 2012, TheBlaze.com, The Caucus, Associated Press and CNN

ABCNEWS:

Mike DeWine Switches Endorsement From Mitt Romney To Rick Santorum — ABC News' Michael Falcone and Shushannah Walshe report: — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has had a change of heart. — The prominent Buckeye State Republican threw his support behind presidential candidate Rick Santorum …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog and Outside the Beltway

Christian Heinze / GOP 12:
Romney: Rombo ad is “most negative ad I've seen”

Discussion: National Review

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Campaign Weighs Santorum

Discussion: ThinkProgress, GOP 12, Hot Air, The Reaction, ABCNEWS, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, Washington Post and National Review

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Jeremy Lin Problem — Jeremy Lin is anomalous in all sorts of ways. He's a Harvard grad in the N.B.A., an Asian-American man in professional sports. But we shouldn't neglect the biggest anomaly. He's a religious person in professional sports. — We've become accustomed …

Discussion: Feministing, Weasel Zippers, The Atlantic Online, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Maddow Blog and Gothamist

Tim Mak / Politico:

Maine GOP: Results went to spam — Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster has admitted that the state party made numerous clerical errors in counting the state's caucus results — even omitting some votes because emails reporting tallies “went to spam” in an email account.

Discussion: Portland Press-Herald, CNN, MaineGOP.com, Frontloading HQ, Daily Kos, Slate and Swampland

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:
Romney's Victory in the Maine Caucuses Is at Risk

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Washington Wire and Politico

Patrick J. Buchanan / The American Conservative:

Blacklisted, But Not Beaten — My days as a political analyst at MSNBC have come to an end. — After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / Wall Street Journal:

A Syllabus for the ‘Occupy’ Movement — Conservatives are wrong to deride college courses on the anti-Wall Street protests. Here's a lesson plan and possible reading list. — Schools from New York's Columbia to Chicago's Roosevelt University are offering courses on the “Occupy” movement.

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Volokh Conspiracy and Ed Driscoll

J.D. Kleinke / Wall Street Journal:

The Myth of Runaway Health Spending — The growth rate of national health expenditures has been declining for a decade, driven by better medical care and consumer choice. — New data show that health spending over the past several years has been normalizing toward the rate of general inflation …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Jeffrey Sachs / The Huffington Post:
Entitlements Hysteria — Wall Street Journal , Federal Budget …

Discussion: Economist's View

Washington Post:

Congress passes extension of payroll tax cut — Congress passed a $150 billion economic package Friday, extending for the rest of the year a payroll tax holiday for 160 million workers and unemployment benefits for millions of others. — On a 293-132 vote, a bipartisan House coalition supported …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, PERRspectives, Wonkette, Hot Air and Opinion L.A.

Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPMDC — House Passes Payroll Tax Cut Compromise

Discussion: New York Times, Firedoglake and Daily Kos

New York Post:

Al Sharpton's SUV impounded at La Guardia Airport — Can I get a witness? — The Rev. Al Sharpton tried to move heaven and earth yesterday to keep his SUV from being towed at La Guardia Airport — but no amount of preaching could stop Port Authority cops from impounding the vehicle.

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, Washington Free Beacon and Gothamist

The Gallup Organization / Gallup:

U.S. Unemployment Increases in Mid-February — Underemployment also up, to 19.0% — PRINCETON, NJ — The U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 9.0% in mid-February, up from 8.6% for January. The mid-month reading normally reflects …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway and The Lonely Conservative

Rick Gladstone / New York Times:

At Work in Syria, Times Correspondent Dies — Anthony Shadid, a prize-winning newspaper correspondent whose graceful dispatches for both The New York Times and The Washington Post covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil, died, apparently of an asthma attack …

Discussion: Washington Post, ABCNEWS, News Desk, Politico, Capital New York, ThinkProgress, The BLT, Media Decoder, Gawker, Gothamist and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Roy Wenzl / Wichita Eagle:

Charles Koch, employees reveal e-mailed threats from past year — Charles Koch, his brother and employees have in recent months been getting death threats, hundreds of obscenity-laced hate messages, and harassment from some far left-wing groups, Koch said on Thursday.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and ThinkProgress

John Bresnahan / Politico:

Ethics panel members recused in Maxine Waters case — Six members of the House Ethics Committee - including all five Republicans on the secretive panel - have recused themselves from the long-running case involving Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), an unprecedented move that raises …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Economist:

Over-regulated America — The home of laissez-faire is being suffocated by excessive and badly written regulation — AMERICANS love to laugh at ridiculous regulations. A Florida law requires vending-machine labels to urge the public to file a report if the label is not there.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, americanthinker.com and The Heritage Foundation

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Is birth control fight a Terri Schiavo moment? — The respected Dem firm Democracy Corps has just published an important polling memo that gets right to the heart of why the birth control battle could matter so much in this year's elections. — The firm's poll finds that one of the most …