memeorandum: Obama budget defeated 414-0 (Stephen Dinan/Washington Times)

9:45 AM ET, March 29, 2012

Top Items:

Valerie Boey / Orlando and Central Florida News …:

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Zimmerman interview — LAKE MARY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - For the first time since that fateful night on February 26, the father of a neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed an unarmed teenager sat down for a television interview. — Robert Zimmerman …

Discussion: Newsy, msnbc.com, Fox News and Business Insider

Frances Martel / Mediaite:

New Police Video Shows George Zimmerman Unscathed On Night Of Trayvon Martin Shooting — ABC News has obtained exclusive video of Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman on the night he shot the Florida teenager, speaking to police. While there is no audio, the video is key evidence …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Pirate's Cove, JustOneMinute, American Power, Examiner, The Hinterland Gazette, National Review and The Caucus

Dan Riehl / BREITBART.COM:

BLAME PALIN? ‘KILL ZIMMERMAN’ TWITTER ACCOUNT LAUNCHED — Barack Obama has remained silent as the usual suspects have been busy stirring up hate aimed at George Zimmerman, the Florida Hispanic involved in the shooting death of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. Now the anger has taken a new twist …

Discussion: americanthinker.com

ABCNEWS:

George Zimmerman on Police Surveillance — Tapes show neighborhood watchman on night of Trayvon Martin killing.

Discussion: HLNtv.com, Examiner, New York Magazine, Mediaite, The Lede, The Daily Caller, Little Green Footballs, The Impolitic, EURweb and Gawker

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Trayvon Martin: The 5 Key Unanswered Questions — Trayvon Martin, as he appeared on his actual Facebook page — It's been more than a month since Trayvon Martin was shot dead by George Zimmerman. (Get a full rundown of the facts of the case here.) — Tonight, ABC News release video footage …

Discussion: Feministing, Mediaite, WWBT-TV, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Mahablog, Hullabaloo, The Hinterland Gazette and Shakesville

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:

George Zimmerman's Father Relates George's Account of Encounter — This WOFL FOX 35 extensive interview last night of George Zimmerman's father, Robert Zimmerman, a former judge and Vietnam Veteran, deserves equal time with the video released yesterday of Zimmerman arriving at the jail …

Discussion: JustOneMinute and msnbc.com

Jeff Weiner / Orlando Sentinel:

Trayvon Martin: Couple who fled home after Spike Lee tweet hires Morgan firm — A couple who say they were forced to leave their home after director Spike Lee re-tweeted their address to his Twitter followers has hired the Morgan & Morgan law firm to represent them.

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, Ed Driscoll, The Hinterland Gazette, Riehl World View and The Raw Story

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
Rasmussen does a poll on whether Zimmerman is guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin.

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, Rasmussen Reports, The Caucus, Outside the Beltway and Bloomberg

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:

Judicial activists in the Supreme Court — Three days of Supreme Court arguments over the health-care law demonstrated for all to see that conservative justices are prepared to act as an alternative legislature, diving deeply into policy details as if they were members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Discussion: US News, Right Wing News, americanthinker.com, Slate, SCOTUSblog and New York Times

Sahil Kapur / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPMDC — Dems Warn Of ‘Grave Damage’ To SCOTUS If ‘Obamacare’ Is Struck Down — A handful of Senate Democrats sought to assure doubtful liberals that the Supreme Court justices aren't ready to strike down their crowning achievement Wednesday, standing before cameras and mics Wednesday in front of the court.

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Swampland, TBogg, Mediaite, Salon, CBS News and HotAirPundit

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Political Memo: Whatever the Ruling in Health Case, Bipartisan Fallout

Discussion: Hotline On Call, Washington Post, The Caucus and Prairie Weather

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
White House has no contingency plans if health law is tossed

Discussion: New York Times, Weasel Zippers and Ezra Klein

Dylan Byers / Politico:
CNN's Toobin discusses the Toobin factor

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Business Week and NewsBusters.org

Reid Cherlin / GQ:
Take It From Me: Defending Obamacare is Super-Hard

Discussion: Don Surber, Ezra Klein and Mother Jones

Jay Firestone / jewishjournal.com:

Sheldon Adelson on Newt: 'He's at the end of his line' — Sheldon Adelson, who with wife Miri, has given more than $15 million to the Newt Gingrich Super PAC Winning Our Future, said Monday he believes Gingrich is “at the end of his line” regarding the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Discussion: The Hill, msnbc.com, ThinkProgress, Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, Washington Post, Politico and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:

Gingrich says no deal after a secret talk with Romney — Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich met secretly with GOP rival Mitt Romney on Saturday, according to a source close to the campaign, but the former House speaker says he has made no deal to end his bid for the GOP nomination.

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, americanthinker.com and Taegan Goddard's …

Paul D. Shinkman / WTOP.com:
Gingrich: Like a struggling sports team, I'm not quitting

Discussion: News Desk, FiveThirtyEight, Politico, Los Angeles Times, The Hill and Daily Kos

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Obama budget defeated 414-0 — President Obama's budget was defeated 414-0 in the House late Wednesday, in a vote Republicans arranged to try to embarrass him and shelve his plan for the rest of the year. — The vote came as the House worked its way through its own fiscal year 2013 budget proposal …

Discussion: Questions and Observations, Jammie Wearing Fools, Scared Monkeys, americanthinker.com and Patterico's Pontifications

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

Tony Scalia's Retirement Has Started Early — Here's the deal. I think Justice Antonin Scalia isn't even really trying any more. It's been clear for some time now that he's short-timing his job on the Supreme Court. The job bores him. All these inferior intellects coming before him.

Discussion: Balkinization

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Conservative Judicial Activists Run Amok — The joke is on you, judicial restraint. — Five years ago, Jeffrey Rosen wrote a startling essay in the New York Times Magazine, describing a radical turn of events that is being borne out before our eyes. In the piece, Rosen described the rise …

Discussion: American Prospect, Slate, The Maddow Blog, The Incidental Economist, Prairie Weather, Lawyers, Guns & Money and david-frum

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
The Supreme Court's Dark Vision of Freedom

Discussion: Politico, News Desk, The Caucus, Lawyers, Guns & Money, National Review and Business Insider

CNN:

CNN Poll: Obama leads Romney and Santorum in November showdowns — Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama holds a double-digit lead over GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in hypothetical general election matchups, according to a new poll.

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico, Liberal Values, Conservatives4Palin and msnbc.com

Michael O'Brien / msnbc.com:
Rubio endorses Romney for president

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Riptide 2.0, MiamiHerald.com, Weasel Zippers, Michelle Malkin, The Maddow Blog, The Hill and Washington Post

Marco Rubio / CNN:
TRENDING: Rubio endorses Romney, argues GOP should ‘come together’

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, americanthinker.com, Politico and The Hill

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:
Marco Rubio Endorses Mitt Romney, Avoids Vice Presidential Speculation

Discussion: The Maddow Blog and The Caucus

JSOnline:

Romney gets flak over Wisconsin anecdote from long ago — Normal — false — false — false — EN-US — X-NONE — X-NONE — MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 — <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" — DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, The Caucus, The Raw Story, BuzzFeed, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Shakesville, The New Republic, Wonkette, Examiner, Stinque, Daily Kos, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Ballot Box and The Stranger …

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

Limbaugh sees heat over comments turn down to a simmer — View Photo Gallery — Rush Limbaugh is no stranger to controversial statements: A month after conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut,” the heat on him is fading.

Discussion: Don Surber, Associated Press and HotAirPundit

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
WaPo: This Rush Limbaugh boycott has pretty much fizzled, huh?

Discussion: Mediaite and Michelle Malkin

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Argument recap: Will Medicaid be sacrificed? (FINAL UPDATE 7:08 pm) — Analysis — Unless a closing oration by a top government lawyer stirs some real sympathy for the poor, the new health care law's broad expansion of the Medicaid program that serves the needy may be sacrificed …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Crooks and Liars, ACS Blog, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, New York Times, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Washington Post

Scott Sayare / New York Times:

After Killings in France, Muslims Fear a Culture of Diversity Is at Risk — TOULOUSE, France — As near to the Spanish border as it is to the Mediterranean, this sunny red-brick city has long been known as a place of welcome and diversity, far removed from the divisive politics of Paris.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org