memeorandum: Cameron and the civil service coup (James Forsyth/Spectator)

9:40 AM ET, April 20, 2012

Top Items:

Secret Service supervisors involved in Colombia scandal identified — One of the Secret Service supervisors who was forced out of the agency this week for his involvement in the Colombia prostitution scandal made light of his official protective work on his Facebook page …

Discussion: Politico, RealClearPolitics Video Log, The Hill, Hot Air, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, New York Magazine and msnbc.com

Edgar Sandoval / NY Daily News:

EXCLUSIVE: First photos of Colombia escort in explosive Secret Service hooker scandal — 24-year-old single mom is known as Dania, she says agent offered $30 for $800 service — CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA - The Daily News can reveal the first photo of the 24-year-old Colombian call girl whose encounter …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Gateway Pundit, Hit & Run, msnbc.com, Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, TMZ.com, HotAirPundit and nation.foxnews.com

Tommy Christopher / Mediaite:

Mitt Romney's 'Obama Isn't Working' Banner Evokes Racial Stereotypes — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney rolled out a new accessory at a speech in Ohio today, delivering his remarks in front of a black banner that said “Obama Isn't Working,” which is also the name …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers and Patterico's Pontifications

Nia-Malika Henderson / Washington Post:
Romney ties Obama to factory closed under Bush

Discussion: Daily Kos, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Maddow Blog

Janet Hook / Washington Wire:
Romney Visits Empty Factory to Mock Obama

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, ABCNEWS, Bloomberg and Washington Post

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama has small lead; Christie would help Romney

Discussion: CNN, The Monkey Cage, Hit & Run, Politico, Hot Air, The Hill, Taegan Goddard's … and Guardian

Ben Jacobs / The Daily Beast:

Brian Schweitzer: Mitt Romney's ‘Family Came From a Polygamy Commune in Mexico’ — Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer says Mitt Romney's roots in Mexico will hurt him with female voters. — The Daily Beast contacted the office of Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer today to talk about whether his state …

Discussion: New York Magazine, RedState, The Other McCain, msnbc.com, Taegan Goddard's …, The Gateway Pundit, The Reality-Based Community, Hot Air and Mediaite

Washington Examiner:

York:Obama faces defeat on pipeline as Dems defect — U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the southern site of the Keystone XL pipeline on March 22, 2012 in Cushing, Oklahoma. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) — While much of the political world obsesses over Twitter fights and Seamus the dog …

Discussion: Power Line and Wall Street Journal

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Democrats Joining G.O.P. on Pipeline — WASHINGTON — President Obama is finding himself increasingly boxed in on the Keystone pipeline fight as more Congressional Democrats are joining Republicans in backing the project, which has strong labor support and could generate significant numbers of jobs in economically hard-hit states.

Discussion: Don Surber, Fox News, Weekly Standard, Politico and Firedoglake

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Pros, cons of Capitol veep picks

Discussion: Politico

The Catholic League:

CAMPAIGN AGAINST JON STEWART BEGINS — Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments as follows: — Jon Stewart refused to apologize last night for the unprecedented assault on Christian sensibilities he launched on April 16. In that episode, “The Daily Show” featured a naked woman …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, BuzzFeed, Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake, CANNONFIRE and Mediaite

Terence P. Jeffrey / CNSNews:

Pelosi: Amend the First Amendment — (CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday endorsed a movement announced by other congressional Democrats on Wednesday to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow Congress to regulate political speech when it is engaged …

Discussion: Right Wing News, protein wisdom, Weasel Zippers and Hot Air

Annie Lowrey / New York Times:

Fears Rise That Recovery May Falter in the Spring — WASHINGTON — Some of the same spoilers that interrupted the recovery in 2010 and 2011 have emerged again, raising fears that the winter's economic strength might dissipate in the spring. — In recent weeks, European bond yields have started climbing.

Discussion: The Awl

Ron Paul / CNN:

Paul campaign touts campaign cash — (CNN) - Ron Paul's Republican presidential campaign says they raised more than $2.6 million last month, bringing to nearly $10.4 million the amount they took in during the first quarter of this year. — The campaign of the longtime congressman from Texas …

Discussion: Politico

Olivier Knox / ABCNEWS:
Dogfight over Obama's dog-meat-eating childhood joined by White House

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Yahoo! News, The Daily Caller and Politico

Courier-Journal:

Ted Nugent booted from Fort Knox concert line up — Fort Knox — The artist lineup for the Fort Knox annual summer concert scheduled for June 23 no longer includes right-wing rocker Ted Nugent. — Co-headliners REO Speedwagon and Styx remain scheduled to perform.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Outside the Beltway

LZ Granderson / CNN:
Ted Nugent should be in jail

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, Politico and CANNONFIRE

Jesse Helfrich / Ballot Box:

Democrats expressing buyers' remorse on Obama's healthcare law — An increasing number of Democrats are taking potshots at President Obama's healthcare law ahead of a Supreme Court decision that could overturn it. — The public grievances have come from centrists and liberals and reflect rising anxiety ahead of November's elections.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Washington Free Beacon and Instapundit

National Review:

The Questionable Prosecution of — John Edwards — John Edwards, the Dorian Gray of the Democratic party, is one of the most loathsome characters in American politics, corrupt himself and a source of corruption in others, a preening, moralizing fraud who went so far as to have a staffer claim paternity …

Discussion: JustOneMinute and The Volokh Conspiracy

Jon Pareles / New York Times:

Levon Helm, Drummer and Rough-Throated Singer for the Band, Dies at 71 — Levon Helm, who helped to forge a deep-rooted American music as the drummer and singer for the Band, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 71 and lived in Woodstock, N.Y. — His death, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center …

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Gawker

Rolling Stone:
Levon Helm, Drummer and Singer of the Band, Dead at 71

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Maddow Blog and Althouse

James Forsyth / Spectator:

Cameron and the civil service coup — We thought CoffeeHousers might care to read James's political column from this week's magazine (on sale today), so here it is: — There is a split in the Cameron circle. The divide is between those who think that the problems of the past few weeks have been a blip …

Discussion: Guardian and blogs.telegraph.co.uk

Maggie Haberman / Politico:

Crossroads groups raise $100M — American Crossroads, the pro-Republican super PAC co-founded by Karl Rove, and its nonprofit affiliate Crossroads GPS, will announce $100 million raised for both so far through the 2012 cycle, officials told POLITICO. — The cash haul runs through all of 2011 …

Discussion: Mother Jones and The Page

Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:

From Hope to Hardball — How Barack Obama became Bill Clinton. — Though it was obvious to almost no one at the time, Thursday, April 5, may have certified a momentous change in contemporary politics. It was that day when Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jay Cost / Weekly Standard:

Morning Jay: Can Romney Win Back the Wealthy Suburbs? — The conventional wisdom in American politics is that Democrats win poor voters, Republicans win the rich, and the two sides battle over the middle class. That used to be true - indeed, that was basically the case during …

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Romney hires national security spokesman — Mitt Romney has hired Richard A. Grenell, a veteran Republican communications strategist who served in the George W. Bush administration, as his national security and foreign policy spokesman, a campaign official said Thursday.

Discussion: Politico, Poliglot, Roger L. Simon and Joe. My. God.

David Brooks / New York Times:

Testing the Teachers — There's an atmosphere of grand fragility hanging over America's colleges. The grandeur comes from the surging application rates, the international renown, the fancy new dining and athletic facilities. The fragility comes from the fact that colleges are charging more money …

Discussion: The Monkey Cage

Adam Peck / ThinkProgress:

If It's Sunday, It's Meet The Republican White Men — An exhaustive new study by media watchdog Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting shows that the Sunday morning talk shows have been dominated over the last eight months by white, Republican men. — Between June 2011 and February of this year …

Discussion: The Impolitic, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, The Political Carnival and Blue Virginia

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

North Carolina a Front in Democrats' Battle for House — CONCORD N.C. — Representative Larry Kissell slid into a diner booth here and sought to explain — with no small amount of irritation, since he has apparently been asked many times — his decision to run in his newly configured House district …

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Politico, The Moderate Voice and The Page