memeorandum: Republican Environmental Group Drops ‘Republican’ From Its Name (Lucia Graves/The Huffington Post)

5:30 PM ET, April 4, 2012

Top Items:

Impeach the Supreme Court Justices If They Overturn Health-Care Law — The Roberts Court's rulings appear to be a concerted effort to send us back to the Gilded Age. If they dump the Affordable Care Act, writes David Dow, we should dump them. — You think the idea is laughable?

Discussion: protein wisdom, Instapundit, Hot Air, The Agonist, Power Line, Campaign 2012, The PJ Tatler, The Volokh Conspiracy and Weasel Zippers

Andrew Koppelman / The New Republic:

The 1918 Case That May Have Foreshadowed Obamacare's Demise — It took decades for Congress to address the problem. When, at long last, federal legislation was passed, some people raised constitutional objections, but few took them seriously. The objections required the Supreme Court …

Discussion: Althouse, The Volokh Conspiracy, Mother Jones, American Prospect and Balkinization

Nancy Pelosi / CNN:
Pelosi's specific Supreme Court health care prediction

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico and The Daily Caller

Fox News:
Holder says ‘courts have final say’ in response to furor over Obama's health law comments

Discussion: Washington Post, PERRspectives and Washington Monthly

Jennifer Granholm / Politico:
Being uninsured is a mandate, too

Discussion: Pirate's Cove

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org:

Scarborough: ‘No One’ In GOP Establishment Thinks Romney Will Beat Obama — Unemployment stubbornly over 8%. His landmark piece of legislation in dire peril of being dumped by the Supreme Court. The “flexibility” moment with Putin's pawn. Does that sound like an invincible incumbent to you?

Discussion: Ed Driscoll, American Prospect, Mediaite, The Mental Recession and Daily Pundit

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Is it Over? — It's over: CNN estimates that Barack Obama has won enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination for president in 2012. — Oh—the Republicans? OK, I'll concede that contest is getting close to over as well. Mitt Romney will almost certainly be the GOP nominee.

Discussion: Campaign 2012

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama doing better in Nevada

Discussion: GOP 12 and Taegan Goddard's …

Andrew Restuccia / Ballot Box:
Romney campaign blasts Obama ‘attack machine’ for ‘slinging mud’ in energy ad

Discussion: Politico, CNN, ABCNEWS, The Week, Washington Post and The Hill

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Anti-Evolution ‘Monkey Bill’ Poised To Become Law In Tennessee — Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) announced yesterday that he will “probably” sign a bill that attacks the teaching of “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning” …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Taylor Marsh and Booman Tribune

Nick Wing / The Huffington Post: Bill Haslam, Tennessee Governor, Will ‘Probably’ Sign Evolution Bill

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Top Romney Surrogate Donald Trump Offers To Expose His ‘Very Very’ Impressive Genitals — Politico's Mike Allen reported last month that reality star/businessman/attention seeker Donald Trump is building his political stature as a top surrogate for Mitt Romney.

Jennifer Wlach / ABCNEWS:
Ann Romney's Birthday Bash at Trump Tower Sells Out

Discussion: USA Today

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Top Romney Surrogate: In General Election, Women Will See Romney's ‘Real Views’

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Feministing, Booman Tribune, Daily Kos and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Mj Lee / Politico:

James Carville: Rick Santorum is headless chicken — James Carville chose these colorful words to describe Rick Santorum after Mitt Romney swept three Republican primaries Tuesday: “He was like a chicken with his head chopped off. The chicken is dead. The only person that don't know it is the chicken.”

Discussion: The Hill

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
For Santorum, Battle for Relevance Moves to Pennsylvania

Discussion: The Agonist, The New Republic, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Wire, Newshoggers.com, City Room and The Caucus

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Obama gets laughs and ‘amens’ at prayer breakfast — President Obama spoke strongly about his faith at an Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House on Wednesday, at one point getting laughs while quoting Jesus as saying, “in this world you will have trouble.”

Discussion: CNN and Washington Free Beacon

Kim Hart / Politico:
Obama ties Easter to U.S. rebirth

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Investor's Business Daily:

Obama Alienates Canada And Mexico At Three Amigos — At the U.S.-Mexico-Canada summit, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, left, panned Obama for Fast and Furious, and Canadian PM Stephen... View Enlarged Image — Diplomacy: Most summits are mush-mouthed affairs full of pleasantries.

Discussion: Fausta's Blog

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Dumb Diplomacy Alienates Canada and Mexico, Costs Consumers

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Wide Racial, Partisan Gaps in Reactions to Trayvon Martin Coverage — Most Republicans See ‘Too Much’ Coverage — OVERVIEW — The Trayvon Martin shooting is the public's top story for the second consecutive week. But interest in the teenager's death is deeply divided along partisan, as well as racial, lines.

Discussion: JustOneMinute and Politico

New York Times:
Republicans Examine Alternatives to Obama Health Plan

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Hotline On Call, The Incidental Economist and Daily Kos

Benny Johnson / TheBlaze.com:

ACTUAL BILL AYERS RANT: WHY DO ‘UNIFORMED MILITARY’ GET TO BOARD PLANES FIRST? — Bill Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn paid an impromptu visit to Occupy Wall Street in New York City Friday, bestowing their advice to a gaggle of elated protesters. Ayers and Dohrn, former leaders …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, protein wisdom, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller

Lucia Graves / The Huffington Post:

Republican Environmental Group Drops ‘Republican’ From Its Name … REACT: — FOLLOW: — WASHINGTON — After 16 years of trying to marry their party's support for drilling and climate change denial with environmental protection, Republicans for Environmental Protection is dropping the word “Republican” from its name.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Impolitic

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

Trayvon Martin resolution introduced — Several Congressional Black Caucus members have introduced a resolution that memorializes 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and calls for the repeal of controversial gun laws that allow shooters to claim self-defense. — The resolution states …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Paul Ryan / Facebook:

The President's Speech Distorts the Truth to Distract From His Failed Record — In today's disappointing speech, the President made a series of claims that are simply false. — The President's attacks began with an admission that his assumptions reflect White House spin, not our budget's substance …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, The Enterprise Blog and National Review

Bloomberg:

Treasury Officials Given a Day to Review U.S. Solyndra Loan — The U.S. Treasury Department was given one day to review Solyndra LLC's $535 million U.S. loan guarantee after learning the Energy Department was ready to announce the award, according to a Treasury audit.

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Weasel Zippers and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:

Four Former DNC Chairs Endorse Marriage Equality In Democratic Platform … REACT: — FOLLOW: — lgbt, Civil Rights, Howard Dean, Video, 2012 Democratic Platform, DNC Platform, David Wilhelm, Democratic National Committee, Democratic Platform, Howard Dean DNC, Democratic Platform Marriage Equality …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Daily Kos

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Mitt's media lament — Speaking to the Associated Press luncheon that President Obama addressed Tuesday, Mitt Romney began with an extended riff on shortcomings of the political media: … Romney is hardly the first politician to bristle at his treatment at the hands of the press …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Swampland and Wonkette

Sam Anderson / New York Times:

Angry Birds, Farmville and Other Hyperaddictive ‘Stupid Games’ — In 1989, as communism was beginning to crumble across Eastern Europe, just a few months before protesters started pecking away at the Berlin Wall, the Japanese game-making giant Nintendo reached across the world to unleash upon America its own version of freedom.

Discussion: Poynter, Mediaite and AllThingsD, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:

Mine union boss: Coal industry could suffer same fate as bin Laden — The coal industry will suffer the same fate as Osama bin Laden under new climate regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, the head of the United Mine Workers of America said this week.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Scott Wong / Politico:

Harry Reid loses procedural ruling on budget vote — The Senate's chief referee has issued a key ruling against Majority Leader Harry Reid, POLITICO has learned — a move expected to bring unwanted election-year pressure on the Nevada Democrat to act on politically dicey budget bills.

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Mitt Romney for President of the United States …:

Mitt Romney Delivers Remarks to the Newspaper Association of America — Location — Mitt Romney today delivered remarks to the Newspaper Association of America in Washington, D.C. The following remarks were prepared for delivery: — Over the last ten months, I've come to know a good deal …

Discussion: CNN, ThinkProgress, New York Times, American Prospect, Daily Kos, Guardian and Mediaite

Jon Tevlin / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

DeLaSalle kids have a few words with archdiocese at marriage talk — When DeLaSalle senior Matt Bliss heard rumors that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis planned to hold a mandatory school assembly to talk about marriage, and potentially gay marriage, he remembers thinking, “This is not going to end well.”

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay and Joe. My. God.