memeorandum: The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania (Andrew C. McCarthy/National Review)

5:00 PM ET, February 24, 2012

Top Items:

Rick Santorum winning more support from Republican women — Over the past several weeks, Republicans have watched squeamishly as presidential contender Rick Santorum has waded into multiple controversies that risk alienating half the 2012 electorate: women.

Discussion: Politics, The Week, Wake up America, Los Angeles Times, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Indianapolis Star, Pirate's Cove, Politico, Sabato's Crystal Ball and The Page

Politico:

The ‘gotcha’ campaign — MILFORD, Mich. — Caught in a make-or-break moment, Mitt Romney went to the videotape. — To hear him tell it, the GOP front-runner clicked on a classic piece of opposition research for a peek. The six-day-old Fox News clip summed up the day's attacks on Rick Santorum.

Discussion: Riehl World View, The Other McCain, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos and Hot Air

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

What happens if Mitt Romney wins Michigan? — DETROIT — For the past week, much of the focus of the Republican presidential race has centered on the consequences Mitt Romney will face if he loses Michigan's primary. After a debate in Arizona on Wednesday, the question should be: What will happen if he wins his home state?

Discussion: Politico, News Desk, detroitnews.com, New York Times, Online NewsHour, The Huffington Post, Shakesville, MLive.com, FiveThirtyEight, ABCNEWS and Las Vegas Sun Blogs

Kyle Leighton / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPM2012 — Why Mitt Romney Might Be Even Weaker Than You Think

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Obama Diary

Jon Ward / The Huffington Post:
Santorum Swings Hard At Romney, Says His Team Is ‘All Democrats’

Discussion: Daily Kos

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Romney Takes Michigan Forecast Lead

Discussion: News Desk, The Spectacle Blog, Ballot Box, GOP 12 and Rasmussen Reports

Alex Roarty / 2012 Decoded:
Republican Race's Volatility is Historic

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Tim Mak / Politico:
Arlen Specter: Rick Santorum ‘so far to the right’

Discussion: ThinkProgress, PhillyNow and On Top Magazine Headlines

Arizona Republic:
Romney right for these times

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN and GOP 12

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

Romney speech falls flat in Detroit — Mitt Romney spoke to several empty seats Friday in Detroit, in a speech that offered Democrats more fodder for their attacks and failed to deliver the major economic address his campaign promised. — Television cameras showed rows of empty chairs …

Discussion: Reuters, Politico, CNN, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, Algemeiner.com and Guardian

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Romney Boasts: He Has Not One, But Four, American Cars — He also thinks Michigan's trees are “just the right height.” — (Original Photo Source: Getty Images) — DETROIT, Michigan—Mitt Romney addressed the Detroit Economic Club today and proved once again why he's hard to relate to.

Discussion: Wake up America, Gawker and The Daily Caller

Steven Rattner / New York Times:

Delusions About the Detroit Bailout — WHEN Mitt Romney takes the podium at Ford Field in Detroit today, he's likely to include yet another sharp denunciation of the government's rescue of General Motors and Chrysler. — That Mr. Romney would traverse Michigan trashing a program that saved tens …

Discussion: The Hill, The Caucus, msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, The Maddow Blog, Angry Bear, ThinkProgress, Brad DeLong, CNN, Politico, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Gallup, A plain blog about politics, Mediaite, The Atlantic Online, Jared Bernstein, ABCNEWS and Detroit Free Press

Investor's Business Daily:

5 Biggest Whoppers In Obama's Energy Speech — Energy: The White House billed President Obama's energy policy speech as a response to mounting criticism of record high gas prices. What he delivered was a grab bag of excuses and outright falsehoods. — Obama's main message to struggling motorists …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, The Gateway Pundit, Wizbang, JunkScience.com, Wake up America, Betsy's Page, Hot Air, Power Line, Doug Ross and New York Times

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
White House says nothing ‘off the table’ in dealing with gas prices

Discussion: Algemeiner.com

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
Out of Gas — The folly of blaming Obama for higher gas prices.

Discussion: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com, Firedoglake, The White House, White House.gov Blog, ThinkProgress, The Week, Institute for Energy Research, The Maddow Blog and Washington Post

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Obama 2008 Ads Focused On Gas Prices

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools, Wake up America, Ed Driscoll, Hot Air, USA Today, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

Sandhya Somashekhar / Washington Post:

Karen Santorum: husband's presidential run is 'God's will' — Rick Santorum's wife granted a rare interview Thursday, telling conservative talk show host Glenn Beck that she initially had been against her husband running for president but finally concluded it was “God's will.”

Discussion: Hot Air, Shakesville, The Raw Story and Althouse

Rebecca Kaplan / NationalJournal.com:

Santorum: Obama College Plan Aimed at ‘Indoctrination’ — DALLAS, Texas - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Thursday that President Obama wants more young adults to go to college so they can undergo “indoctrination” to a secular world view.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Mother Jones, Washington Monthly, Sky Dancing, Wonkette and A plain blog about politics

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Karen Santorum: Husband's surge 'is God's will'

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Gateway Pundit

Emily Goodin / The Hill:

Palin said her divorce was ‘when,’ not ‘if’ — Sarah Palin, in 2007, indicated she was contemplating a divorce. — In a Sept. 26, 2007, email obtained by The Associated Press, Palin wrote to an aide and her husband, Todd Palin: “So speaking of. .. If we, er, when we get a divorce …

Discussion: Associated Press and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Associated Press:
Emails show Palin wanted to leave Alaska governor's job months before she resigned

Discussion: Politico, msnbc.com, Mediaite, Wonkette and The Jane Dough

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:

The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania — the Transcript — I have made a transcript of the Pennsylvania case in which state judge Mark Martin, a Muslim convert and U.S. Army reservist who served in Iraq, relied on a sharia law defense (as well as some evidentiary contortions) …

Discussion: Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, Harry's Place, Jihad Watch, Opposing Views and Atlas Shrugs

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania

Discussion: Verum Serum, Sister Toldjah, The PJ Tatler, The American Conservative, The Volokh Conspiracy, Cold Fury, Weasel Zippers, iOwnTheWorld.com and The Jawa Report

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Romney's Economic Closet — According to Michael Kinsley, a gaffe is when a politician accidently tells the truth. That's certainly what happened to Mitt Romney on Tuesday, when in a rare moment of candor — and, in his case, such moments are really, really rare — he gave away the game.

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hullabaloo, Prairie Weather, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Balloon Juice

Tim Mak / Politico:

Reports: Jeb Bush says 2012ers are 'appealing to people's fears' — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said Thursday that he found it “troubling” that the 2012 presidential candidates are “appealing to people's fears and emotion” on the campaign trail, according to reports.

Discussion: CBS Dallas, Hot Air, Fox News, UPI, Swampland, ABCNEWS, Guardian, Newsy, Weasel Zippers, Booman Tribune and LewRockwell.com Blog

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Romney's Stadium Speech Today Dwarfed By Obama Stadium Speech In 2008 — At this very moment, Mitt Romney is holding an event at Ford Stadium which has failed to attract enough people to come even close to filling it up (in fact, you could fit Romney's 1,200 person crowd in the 65,000-seat stadium 54 times over).

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, NetRight Daily and The Raw Story

Elizabeth Warren / The Boston Globe:

Denying women coverage under any guise is a big step backward — MAYBE YOU saw the pictures. Five middle-age men seated at a congressional hearing table to discuss freedom of religion and contraception. And not a single woman was on the panel. Unbelievable.

Discussion: Washington Post, JustOneMinute, The Hill, Politico and Daily Kos

Amanda Peterson Beadle / ThinkProgress:

Buchanan To Republicans: You're Overeaching On Birth Control — Women's health care has dominated political discussions as GOP-controlled state legislatures consider legislation to extremely curtail women's access to abortions and right-wing leaders claim the Obama administration is infringing …

Discussion: Wonkette

Ken Dilanian / Los Angeles Times:

U.S. does not believe Iran is trying to build nuclear bomb — The latest U.S. intelligence report indicates Iran is pursuing research that could enable it to build a nuclear weapon, but that it has not sought to do so. — Revolutionary Guard personnel watch the launch of a Zelzal missile in June 2011 near Qom, Iran.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Guardian, Reuters, Washington Post, Associated Press and The Agonist

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Democratic governors discuss bypassing Congress with Obama — President Obama met with a group of Democratic governors on Friday and discussed plans to work around Congress toward policy goals. — Gov. Jack Markell, the Democratic governor of Delaware and the vice chairman …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Patrick Goodenough / CNSNews:

Taliban's Response to Obama's Apology: ‘Kill Them, Beat Them, Take Them as Prisoners’ — (CNSNews.com) - In the wake of President Barack Obama sending a three-page letter to Afghan President Hamid Kharzai, apologizing for U.S. forces having mistakenly burned some Qur'ans at a U.S. air base in Afghanistan …

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and protein wisdom

Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:

Maryland Senate passes same-sex marriage bill — Maryland will join seven states and the District in allowing same-sex marriage, ending a year-long drama in Annapolis over the legislation and expanding nationwide momentum for gay rights. — The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 25 …

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Crooks and Liars, The Impolitic, The BLT, CNN, The Page, Mother Jones, US Politics and The Reaction

JournalGazette.net:

You choose, we deliver … The Scoop — A written report from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources: (Rochester) Conservation Officers investigated an off-road vehicle accident that occurred in Fulton County on February 22nd during the early evening hours.Today 7:34 am

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, Politico, The Jane Dough, WANE-TV and 89.3 WFPL News

Josh Kraushaar / 2012 Decoded:

Dem Pollster: Voters Don't Think America's Back — Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg is out with a must-read polling memo this morning, which offers some eye-opening advice to President Obama and his re-election team. After testing several of the president's economic messages …

Discussion: Don Surber, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers