memeorandum: Not Closing the Deal — “In five years of campaigning … (Erick Erickson/RedState)

6:03 PM ET, March 14, 2012

Top Items:

Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs — TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity.

Neil Rafferty / The Daily Mash:

Why I am leaving the Empire, by Darth Vader — TODAY is my last day at the Empire. — After almost 12 years, first as a summer intern, then in the Death Star and now in London, I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its massive, genocidal space machines.

Nelson D. Schwartz / New York Times:

A Public Exit From Goldman Sachs Hits at a Wounded Wall Street — Wall Street traders come and go all the time, but few have quit with the flair of Greg Smith. The way he resigned from Goldman Sachs, and what he had to say, could reignite a debate over how much Wall Street has changed in the wake of the financial crisis.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, Ezra Klein, Guardian, Deal Journal, FT Alphaville, Truthdig and The BLT

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:
Goldman Sachs Mobilizes Rapid Smear Campaign Against Whistleblower

Discussion: Firedoglake and Deal Journal

David Enrich / Deal Journal:
Goldman Rejects Claims Made by Outgoing Executive

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Jungle, ThinkProgress, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Guardian, The Big Picture and DealBook

Jon Ward / The Huffington Post:

Santorum-Gingrich Ticket Floated By Gingrich Adviser … 2012 Election , Mitt Romney , Newt Gingrich 2012 , Rick Santorum , Elections 2012 , Newt Gingrich , Ron Paul , Video , Election 2012 Blog , Ron Paul 2012 , Mitt Romney 2012 , Rick Santorum 2012 , Santorum , Politics News

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, ABCNEWS, Mother Jones, Business Insider, The Raw Story, Power Line, Indecision Forever, Washington Monthly, GOP 12, The Moderate Voice and National Review

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Not Closing the Deal — “In five years of campaigning it is stunning to me that the Romney camp still has no clue how to play the expectations game.” — This morning you were going to read a post from me saying Mitt Romney was definitely now the nominee and it was time for Santorum and Gingrich to drop out.

Discussion: American Spectator, The Daily Caller, msnbc.com and GOP 12

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Will Newt Gingrich drop out?

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air, The Maddow Blog, Business Insider and The American Conservative

Mj Lee / Politico:
Mitt's team: Count the delegates

Discussion: ABCNEWS, ThinkProgress, CNN, Associated Press and The Hill

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama up in NC, primary hinges on Newt

Discussion: Firedoglake, Guardian and Outside the Beltway

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
How Romney Gave Rick Santorum An Opening In Illinois

Discussion: msnbc.com, RedState and BuzzFeed

CNN:
TRENDING: Republicans to Romney: Fix your message

Discussion: Politico

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:

House Republican Leaders Plan To Renege On Debt Ceiling Deal — Last week, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) signaled during an interview with Fox Business that he was open to reneging on the budget deal the GOP crafted with Democrats last year during the debacle over raising the nation's debt ceiling.

Discussion: The Impolitic and Hullabaloo

David Lawder / Reuters:

House Republican leaders set to break US budget deal — * Republican aides say cuts may not be enough for conservatives — * Spending bill impasse, September shutdown battle feared — Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are ready to break a hard-fought budget deal …

Discussion: Daily Kos, A plain blog about politics and Balloon Juice

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Here we go again — Via Pat Garofalo, Reuters reports: … The original August 2011 deal that resolved the debt ceiling impasse called for a $1 trillion limit on discretionary spending for fiscal 2013. House conservatives want much deeper cuts. House GOP leaders are offering a compromise …

Discussion: US Politics

Scott Wong / Politico:
Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell strike deal on judges

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Senate OKs highway bill

Discussion: ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

Reuters:

Santorum to Puerto Rico: Speak English if you want statehood — (Reuters) - Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told Puerto Ricans on Wednesday they would have to make English their primary language if they want to pursue U.S. statehood, a statement at odds with the U.S. Constitution.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette and Business Insider

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Santorum says Puerto Rico must adopt English as official language if it wants statehood

Discussion: CNN

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Bloomberg:

Republicans Losing on Birth Control as 77% in Poll Spurn Debate — Americans overwhelmingly regard the debate over President Barack Obama's policy on employer-provided contraceptive coverage as a matter of women's health, not religious freedom, rejecting Republicans' rationale for opposing the rule.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, ThinkProgress, NewsBusters.org blogs, The War Room …, Politico, Little Green Footballs, The Raw Story, Ballot Box, Reuters, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Daily Kos

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Obama gives Cameron a Braten 1000 Series grill to celebrate visit — If there was a theme at the White House for British Prime Minister David Cameron's visit on Wednesday, it could be, well, fire. — During the official welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn on Wednesday morning …

Discussion: Politico

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:
President Obama Gives UK Prime Minister Cameron a Custom-Made 100% Made in America Grill

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The 1600 Report, Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Caitlin McDevitt / Politico:
George Clooney to visit the White House

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, The Caucus and Guardian

Pew Research Center:

Romney Leads GOP Contest, Trails in Matchup with Obama — Gas Prices Offset Good News about Jobs — OVERVIEW — Mitt Romney has retaken a significant lead nationally in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, even as he has fallen further behind Barack Obama in a general election matchup.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Prospect and ThinkProgress

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:
Coulter on Palin, brokered convention: GOP has ‘a problem with con men and charlatans’

Discussion: The Shark Tank, The Raw Story, Hot Air and Wonkette

Neil Munro / The Daily Caller:

Times nixes anti-Islam ad, runs anti-Catholic ad — Executives at The New York Times have rejected a full-page anti-Islam advertisement that mimicked a controversial anti-Catholic advertisement they published on March 9. — According to a Mar. 13 letter sent by the Times to the ad's sponsor …

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, The Catholic League, Taylor Marsh and iOwnTheWorld.com

Pamela Geller / Atlas Shrugs:
REJECTED! What the NY Times WON'T Run: Counter-Jihad Facts What the NY Times Will Run: Anti-Catholic Smear Ads

Discussion: Wake up America, The Volokh Conspiracy, National Review, Cold Fury, Vox Popoli, iOwnTheWorld.com, Jihad Watch and Israel Matzav

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

Jon Stewart Tells Fox News To ‘Shut The F*ck Up’ About Bill Maher's Offensive Rants — Jon Stewart began his show continuing the news narrative before it was rudely interrupted by another election night: “radio shock-blob Rush Limbaugh” saying something offensive on his radio show.

Discussion: Gothamist, The Gateway Pundit and The Raw Story

Keach Hagey / Politico:
David Axelrod bails on Bill Maher

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Weasel Zippers, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller, JustOneMinute, Mediaite, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, Hotline On Call, ThinkProgress, Jammie Wearing Fools, Shot in the Dark, Washington Free Beacon, Taylor Marsh, Washington Post and 2012 Decoded

Thania A. Betancourt / ASU News:

Senate judiciary committee endorses controversial contraceptive bill — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-2 Monday to endorse a controversial bill that would allow Arizona employers the right to deny health insurance coverage for contraceptives based on religious objections.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Addicting Info, The Diary of Daedalus, Feministing, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider and Firedoglake

Erin Gloria Ryan / Jezebel:
Law Will Allow Employers to Fire Women for Using Whore Pills [Pill Baby Pill]

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, ThinkProgress, The Mahablog and Balloon Juice

Wynton Hall / BREITBART.COM:

EXCLUSIVE: CHRIS ROCK ATTACKS CONSERVATIVE AUTHOR OVER TEA PARTY QUESTION — The New York Times bestselling author of the explosive new book, Hollywood Hypocrites: The Devastating Truth About Obama's Biggest Backers, Jason Mattera, had his crew's camera snatched and hurled by comedian Chris Rock …

Discussion: Mediaite, RedState, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, No More Mister Nice Blog and Michelle Malkin

Tim Mak / Politico:

‘Game Change’ authors: Hillary Clinton in '16 — “Game Change” co-authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann both predicted Wednesday that there was a high probability that Hillary Clinton would run for president in 2016. — “What are the odds this morning that Hillary Clinton runs for president in 2016? …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Don't Tread on Us — Hillary Clinton has fought for women's rights around the world.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Joshua Rhett Miller / Fox News:

American flag with President Obama's image sparks outrage at Florida Democrats — Lake County Democratic Party officials removed the flag on Tuesday following complaints by local veterans in Florida. — An American flag with President Obama's image in place of the stars flew …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Wake up America, Wizbang, Sister Toldjah, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers

James Whittaker / MSDN Blogs:

Why I left Google — Ok, I relent. Everyone wants to know why I left and answering individually isn't scaling so here it is, laid out in its long form. Read a little (I get to the punch line in the 3rd paragraph) or read it all. But a warning in advance: there is no drama here …

Discussion: Brad DeLong

Washington Examiner:

Thursday is ‘Poolmageddon’ for trial lawyers — President Obama's Department of Justice — led by Attorney General Eric Holder — has found a new way to make the Americans with Disabilities Act pay off for Democratic trial lawyer campaign donors. — Since the ADA first became law in 1990 …

Discussion: The Camp Of The Saints, The Lonely Conservative, protein wisdom, Cold Fury, Hot Air, Campaign 2012 and PointOfLaw Forum

nbcconnecticut.com:

Woman Raped at Occupy New Haven: Cops — Police charged England Gamble, 53, of New Haven, with sexual assault. — A member of the Occupy New Haven movement was raped in a tent at the Occupy camp late on Monday night or early Tuesday morning, police said.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Gateway Pundit, TBogg, Hartford Courant and Weasel Zippers