memeorandum: George W. Bush impersonator Steve Bridges dies at 48 (Claire Noland/L.A. NOW)

1:10 PM ET, March 5, 2012

Top Items:

Rush Limbaugh, AOL Part Ways … REACT: — FOLLOW: — WASHINGTON — AOL, the parent company of The Huffington Post, has become the eighth advertiser to pull its money from Rush Limbaugh's syndicated radio program since he called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke …

Discussion: Tucson Citizen, ThinkProgress, Latest Open Salon Blog, The Daily What, Gothamist, Boing Boing, Daily Kos, News Desk, Scholars and Rogues, The Reality-Based Community, Cold Fury, The Moderate Voice and Datechguy's Blog, more at Mediagazer »

Daily Kos:

I've spent the past 2 days trying to convince my 16 y/o she is not a “slut” **Updated x 3 — I can hardly type, can hardly put this into words! I have been writing and rewriting this because if I don't break down in tears, I get so angry that I can't think straight!

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Riehl World View, Questions and Observations, pandagon.net, Booman Tribune, Pirate's Cove, The Last Tradition, Addicting Info, Hullabaloo and The Reality-Based Community

Brian Stelter / New York Times:

Limbaugh Advertisers Flee Show Amid Storm — Emboldened by Rush Limbaugh's public apology over the weekend to a law school student whom he had called a “slut” and a “prostitute,” critics of the radio talk show host are intensifying their online campaign against his advertisers.

Discussion: Washington Post, Indecision Forever, Media Decoder, The Impolitic, Michelle Malkin, The Maddow Blog, Althouse, Runnin' Scared and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Welcome to total political war — And I'm not talking about the attempt to get advertisers to stop advertising on Rush Limbaugh's show, or Fox News, although that would be bad enough. — I'm talking about the second-tier of the warfare, the attempt to intimidate those removed …

Discussion: protein wisdom and Cold Fury

Jennifer H. Cunningham / NY Daily News:

Cardinal tweaks Limbaugh, urges fight against birth control policy to stay civil — Dolan to Catholics: Be firm but not ‘pugnacious’ — Timothy Cardinal Dolan leads morning mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on — Timothy Cardinal Dolan chided Rush Limbaugh on Sunday …

Discussion: CNN, ThinkProgress and Joe. My. God.

Charles Johnson / Little Green Footballs:
Pamela Geller Spews Hatred at Sandra Fluke: ‘Banging It Five Times a Day’

Discussion: The Mahablog, The Huffington Post, Towleroad News #gay, Balloon Juice and The Raw Story

Matt Negrin / ABCNEWS:
Sandra Fluke Says Rush Limbaugh's Apology Doesn't Change Anything

Discussion: msnbc.com

Tommy / The Right Sphere:
Is This Why Carbonite Dumped Rush But Not Ed Schultz?

Discussion: Datechguy's Blog and The PJ Tatler

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Rush On Degrading Comments About Women: 'I'm Not Going To Apologize. People In My Position Never Apologize'

Discussion: Speakeasy, Daily Kos and The Progressive Pulse

Will Dunham / Reuters:
Ron Paul unimpressed with Limbaugh apology

Discussion: Shakesville, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Balloon Juice and NewsBusters.org

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs:
Slutgate: Contact Carbonite — Drop Ed Schultz UPDATE: 7 Companies to Boycott

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, American Spectator, thump whip, Wall Street Journal, The Other McCain, Betsy's Page, Riehl World View, The Jane Dough, The Lonely Conservative, iOwnTheWorld.com and Doug Ross

Tim Mak / Politico:
Timothy Dolan to Rush Limbaugh: ‘Do it civilly’

Discussion: CNN

Tali Arbel / Associated Press:
A 7th advertiser pulls out of Limbaugh's show

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Other McCain, Villainous Company, Sky Dancing, The Week, The Mahablog and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Andrew Breitbart / BREITBART.COM:

THE VETTING, PART I: BARACK'S LOVE SONG TO ALINSKY — Prior to his passing, Andrew Breitbart said that the mission of the Breitbart empire was to exemplify the free and fearless press that our Constitution protects—but which, increasingly, the mainstream media denies us. — “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”

Charles Johnson / Little Green Footballs:
Everything Is Different Now - the Breitbartocalypse Is Upon Us

Discussion: Pat Dollard

Mark Murray / msnbc.com:

NBC/WSJ poll: Primary season takes ‘corrosive’ toll on GOP and its candidates — As another round of voting takes place this week in the Republican presidential race - with 11 states holding Super Tuesday contests - a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that the combative …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Moderate Voice, ThinkProgress, The Maddow Blog, No More Mister Nice Blog, American Power, Zandar Versus The Stupid, National Confidential and Taegan Goddard's …

Neil King Jr / Wall Street Journal:

Romney Advances as Obama Gains — Mitt Romney has regained the lead in the Republican presidential contest thanks to new support from conservatives, while evidence emerges that the bitter nomination fight has damaged the GOP candidates' standing among the wider public, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.

Discussion: American Prospect, CNN, Hot Air and Daily Kos

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
In GOP circles, some wonder whether the party needs to lose big to eventually win

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Huffington Post, The PJ Tatler, The Maddow Blog and Erick's blog

msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Damaged goods?

Discussion: New York Times, Daniel W. Drezner, Macon Telegraph and The Political Carnival

Washington Wire:

Transcript of Remarks by Obama, Netanyahu — President Barack Obama welcomed Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House Monday, assuring him that “the bond between our two countries is unbreakable,” and that the U.S. “will always have Israel's back when it comes to Israel's security.”

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
President Obama to hold first press conference of the year on Super Tuesday

Discussion: CNN

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Santorum says Obama undermines Israel ‘on every front’

Discussion: Politico

Claire Noland / L.A. NOW:
George W. Bush impersonator Steve Bridges dies at 48

Discussion: FishbowlDC and The Daily Caller

NBC's Garrett Haake / msnbc.com:
Romney: If Obama is reelected, Iran will get a nuclear weapon

Discussion: Guardian, The Raw Story and The Daily Dish

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

State-by-State Analysis: Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates — Although the Super Tuesday states are a mix of favorable and unfavorable terrain for Mitt Romney, his situation has improved enough that he could be on track to win an outright majority of the delegates on the night.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Hit & Run, Lawyers, Guns & Money, americanthinker.com, PJ Media and Philly.com

Quinnipiac University:

Romney Has Momentum In Ohio GOP Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; But Presidential Primary Too Close To Call — The Ohio Republican presidential primary remains too close to call, but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has the momentum, and 34 percent of likely Republican primary voters …

Discussion: Washington Wire, American Research Group, GOP 12, Washington Post, Metro, weaskamerica.com, Hot Air, The Caucus, New York Post, NY Daily News, Tucson Citizen, The Week, Business Insider and Marist Poll

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Split decision for Super Tuesday — The news is good for Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and bad for Rick Santorum in PPP's final polls of the three biggest Super Tuesday states. — In Ohio Romney leads with 37% to 36% for Santorum, 15% for Gingrich, and 11% for Ron Paul.

Discussion: Firedoglake, GOP 12, Ballot Box, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, Politico, Guardian, CNN, Daily Kos and msnbc.com

John Bresnahan / Politico:

White House to Congress Dems: Expect no money — President Barack Obama has a bleak message for House and Senate Democrats this year when it comes to campaign cash: You're on your own. — Democratic congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi …

Discussion: Don Surber, Weasel Zippers, americanthinker.com, Taegan Goddard's …, Right Wing News and Hotline On Call

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

States of Depression — The economic news is looking better lately. But after previous false starts — remember “green shoots”? — it would be foolish to assume that all is well. And in any case, it's still a very slow economic recovery by historical standards.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, American Prospect, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Suburban Guerrilla, Business Insider, Daily Kos, US Politics, Paul Krugman and Economist's View

Larry Solov / BREITBART.COM:

THE ‘BIG’ CHANGE — Dear Readers: — Today, as Andrew dreamed and planned, we launch what he called “Breitbart 2.0.” — Many of you wondered what he was working on so hard during the last year of his life. Here it is. — This was Andrew's design. And it is Big, like everything else about him.

Discussion: L.A. NOW, Pat Dollard, Babalú Blog, Ed Driscoll and The Daily Caller

Michael Winerip / New York Times:

Hard-Working Teachers, Sabotaged When Student Test Scores Slip — For 15 years, Anna Allanbrook has been the principal of Public School 146 in Brooklyn, one of the highest-achieving elementary schools in the city. In that time, she has never had a more talented and hard-working bunch than the current team of fifth-grade teachers.

Discussion: Joanne Jacobs