memeorandum: Short Supply, Not Middle East Tensions, Push up Oil Prices (David P. Goldman/Gatestone Institute)

5:50 AM ET, April 8, 2012

Top Items:

Parting Ways — Anyone who has read Derb in our pages knows he's a deeply literate, funny, and incisive writer. I direct anyone who doubts his talents to his delightful first novel, “Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream,” or any one of his “Straggler” columns in the books section of NR.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Other McCain, ThinkProgress, Guardian, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Hullabaloo, The Impolitic, Daily Kos, Theo Spark and News Corpse, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / Politico:

National Review fires John Derbyshire — The National Review has fired longtime columnist John Derbyshire following an article he wrote for an online magazine that was widely viewed as racist in nature. — “[Derbyshire's] latest provocation, in a webzine, lurches from the politically incorrect …

Discussion: Guardian, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Mediaite

Faiz Shakir / ThinkProgress:

In 2009, Derbyshire Argued Women Shouldn't Vote: ‘Women Voting Is Bad For Conservatism’ — The National Review's John Derbyshire isn't just an avowed racist and a homophobe. He's also a misogynist. In 2009, he authored a book that contained a chapter titled “The Case Against Women's Suffrage.”

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and The Other McCain

Faiz Shakir / ThinkProgress:

Derbyshire In 2003: I'm A Proud ‘Racist’ — Over at the conservative blog RedState, diarist Leon Wolf notes that in a 2003 interview, the National Review's resident racist John Derbyshire proudly proclaimed his lack of tolerance for African-Americans:

Discussion: Juanita Jean's, The New Civil Rights Movement and Suburban Guerrilla

Rich Lowry / National Review:

Derb's Screed — Needless to say, no one at National Review shares Derb's appalling view of what parents supposedly should tell their kids about blacks in this instantly notorious piece here.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Outside the Beltway, Little Green Footballs, Leon_H_Wolf's blog, Mediaite, Daily Pundit, ThinkProgress, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Caller, protein wisdom, Althouse and The Maddow Blog, more at Mediagazer »

John Holbo / Crooked Timber:
Needless To Say? — I'm a bit puzzled by Rich Lowry's degree …

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Josh Barro / The Barrometer:
Why National Review Must Fire John Derbyshire

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The League of Ordinary …, The POH Diaries, Mediaite, The Atlantic Wire, Vox Popoli, The Other McCain, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Hunting of the Snark and Gawker

David P. Goldman / Gatestone Institute:

Short Supply, Not Middle East Tensions, Push up Oil Prices — “Right now the key thing that is driving higher gas prices is actually the world's oil markets and uncertainty about what's going on in Iran and the Middle East, and that's adding a $20 or $30 premium to oil prices,” President Obama said March 23.

Discussion: Cold Fury and Power Line

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Obama heads to the golf course — President Obama kicked off the sunny Easter weekend on Saturday with a trip to the golf course. — The president, a frequent golfer, left the White House shortly before 1 p.m. for a ride to what has become his home course at Andrews Air Force Base.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Mike Huckabee takes aim at Rush Limbaugh — Rush Limbaugh, the longstanding undisputed king of conservative talk radio who's been dogged by controversy recently, is about to face some more heat. Not from the left, but this time from the right. — On Monday, former Arkansas governor …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

ABCNEWS:

Mitt Romney Plans Multi-Million Dollar Pennsylvania Ad Buy — ABC News' Michael Falcone reports: — In an attempt to eject Rick Santorum from the presidential race by force, Mitt Romney's campaign will unveil a nearly $2 million television ad buy on the Pennsylvania airwaves beginning on Monday.

Discussion: Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! and HotAirPundit

Reuters:

Isn't it “marvelous?” Obama seeks to define Romney for voters — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama criticized Mitt Romney by name this week for embracing a controversial Republican budget proposal, he worded his attack carefully and with bite.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Power Line and USA Today

Paul Krugman:

On Ryan Apologists — In my next life I want to be a conservative policy scammer. Think of how much nicer it would be. Instead of constantly being accused of having evil motives, I'd be presumed to have noble intentions no matter how much the actual content of my policy proposals was at odds with such claims.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, CANNONFIRE, Lawyers, Guns & Money and New York Times

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

Sanford (FL) Police deny any indication of neo-Nazis patrolling — The latest wildfire spreading through the media and blogosphere is that armed neo-Nazis are patrolling Sanford, FL, in anticipation of trouble if George Zimmerman is not charged in the killing of Trayvon Martin.