memeorandum: House strikes back on gay marriage (Seung Min Kim/Politico)

2:25 PM ET, May 10, 2012

Top Items:

Jason Horowitz / Washington Post:

Mitt Romney's prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents — BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — Mitt Romney returned from a three-week spring break in 1965 to resume his studies as a high school senior at the prestigious Cranbrook School. Back on the handsome campus …

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Cutting-edge reporting from WaPo: Let's take an in-depth look at ... Romney's cruel high-school pranks — And so the general election media coverage begins. I guess the Washington Post ran out of stories based on Seamus the Roof-Ridin' Dog. Despite demonstrating zero curiosity …

Discussion: GOP 12, Patterico's Pontifications, The Daily Caller, Business Insider and National Review

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Romney on prank: ‘Back in high school I did some dumb things’ — Mitt Romney said Thursday that “back in high school I did some dumb things” but insisted that the prep school pranks chronicled in a news story were never intended to target gay students specifically.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Taegan Goddard's … and nation.foxnews.com

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Mitt Romney apologizes for high school pranks that ‘might have gone too far’ — Mitt Romney apologized Thursday morning for pranks he helped orchestrate in high school that he said “might have gone too far,” including an incident in which he pinned down a fellow student and cut his hair.

Discussion: Daily Kos and GayPatriot

Benjy Sarlin / 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPM2012 — Romney Apologizes For ‘Hijinks’ But Won't Acknowledge Specific Attack — Mitt Romney offered a qualified apology for his behavior as a high school student, without specifically saying whether a report that he bullied a student thought by his classmates to be gay was accurate.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, ABCNEWS, CNN, American Prospect, Crooks and Liars, Balloon Juice, Towleroad News #gay and The Daily Dish

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The Content of Romney's Character

Discussion: Mother Jones

BuzzFeed:
AUDIO: Romney Apologizes For High School Bullying

Discussion: Hot Air and Business Insider

Emily Schultheis / Politico:
Romney on pranks: ‘Some may have gone too far, and for that I apologize’

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, New York Magazine and The PJ Tatler

Washington Post: Mitt Romney's prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

House strikes back on gay marriage — Just hours after President Barack Obama publicly backed gay marriage, the House struck back and passed a measure aimed at reinforcing the Defense of Marriage Act. — With a 245-171 vote, the House voted to stop the Justice Department from using taxpayer funds …

Discussion: CNN, neo-neocon, Advocate, ThinkProgress, Wake up America, The Daily Beast, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Mahablog, Reuters, americanthinker.com, Gawker and FiveThirtyEight

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

News Analysis: Obama's Watershed Move on Gay Marriage — President Obama's endorsement of gay marriage on Wednesday was by any measure a watershed. A sitting United States president took sides in what many people consider the last civil rights movement, providing the most powerful evidence …

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Caucus, NewsBusters.org, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, theGrio, msnbc.com, GOP 12, Towleroad News #gay, The BLT, ThinkProgress and Marginal Revolution

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:
Obama and Romney Alike Face Political Risks on Gay Marriage

Discussion: The Huffington Post, CBS News, GOP 12, CNN and Guardian

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
A bipartisan call for Congressional action on gay rights

Discussion: Prop 8 Trial Tracker, Poliglot and The Maddow Blog

Carlo Munoz / The Hill:
House Armed Services vote bans gay marriage on military bases

Discussion: Washington Post, ABCNEWS and Los Angeles Times

Joseph Williams / Politico:
Black voters remain divided on gay marriage

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Mediaite, Slate, CNN, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, RedState, Weasel Zippers, Addicting Info, Ballot Box and Liberal Values

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Obama on Biden: ‘Got Out a Little Bit Over His Skis’ — Vice President Joe Biden is at least part of the reason President Barack Obama came out in favor of same sex marriage yesterday, the president admitted in the interview on the issue with ABC's Robin Roberts:

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Hot Air, Althouse and Instapundit

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Why ABC's Robin Roberts got the exclusive — For President Barack Obama's ground-breaking interview on gay marriage, the White House turned to a friendly face - ABC's Robin Roberts. — She's a respected journalist who knows both Barack and Michelle Obama well, isn't regarded as a difficult …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Right Scoop, TVNewser, The PJ Tatler, Washington Free Beacon and ABCNEWS, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:

Biden blamed; politics drove timing — Joe Biden just might go down in history as the guy who forced Barack Obama to publicly announce his private support for gay marriage. — But the vice president is no hero in the West Wing, and administration officials are struggling to cast Obama's truly historic …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, nation.foxnews.com, Salon, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online, The New Republic, BuzzFeed, The Other McCain, The Caucus, New York Times, Taylor Marsh, US Politics, Log Cabin Republicans and The Moderate Voice

John H. Cushman Jr / The Caucus:
Biden Got Out ‘Over His Skis,’ Says Obama

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Connecting.the.Dots, Mother Jones, New York Times and Weekly Standard

CNN:
Obama hits Romney with ‘Etch A Sketch’

Discussion: Shakesville and Weasel Zippers

Elliott Abrams / Weekly Standard:
‘On My Behalf’ — The debate over same sex “marriage” …

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, This ain't Hell …, americanthinker.com, Right Wing News, American Spectator, alicublog, The Daily Caller, Public Discourse, The Gateway Pundit, NO QUARTER, American Power and Politico

CNN:
Source: Obama had planned marriage announcement on ‘The View’

Discussion: TVNewser, Politico and Hot Air

Michael Barone / National Review:
Reelection Is Not Inevitable

Discussion: Campaign 2012, GayPatriot and The Daily Caller

BuzzFeed:

How Barack Obama Lost Hollywood — Last time they fell in love, volunteered, gave millions, but now “they hate him.” Can gay pride and a Clooney bash make his star twinkle again? — Source: flickr.com — LOS ANGELES, Calif. — On Tuesday night, comedian Jon Lovitz stood in the green room …

Discussion: Hot Air and Washington Free Beacon

TMZ.com:
George Clooney's House Under Mega-Lockdown for President Obama Event

Discussion: The Daily Caller and FishbowlDC

Tina Daunt / Hollywood Reporter:
Clooney's Obama Fundraiser Haul Could Hit Nearly $15 Million

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Campaign 2012 and American Spectator

Chairman Reince Priebus / reincepriebus's Diary:
While the Middle Class is Hurting, Obama Hobnobs with Hollywood

Discussion: The Hill, BuzzFeed, Wall Street Journal and Business Insider

Rasmussen Reports:

Wisconsin Recall Election: Walker 50%, Barrett 45% — Embattled Republican Governor Scott Walker holds a five-point lead over his newly nominated Democratic challenger Tom Barrett in Wisconsin's special recall election. — A new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey shows that 50% …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Weekly Standard, The Gateway Pundit, Althouse, The PJ Tatler and National Review

First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Obama's careful line on same-sex marriage

Discussion: JSOnline

James Hansen / New York Times:

Game Over for the Climate — GLOBAL warming isn't a prediction. It is happening. That is why I was so troubled to read a recent interview with President Obama in Rolling Stone in which he said that Canada would exploit the oil in its vast tar sands reserves “regardless of what we do.”

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico and The Volokh Conspiracy

New York Times:

Ultra-Orthodox Shun Their Own for Reporting Child Sexual Abuse — The first shock came when Mordechai Jungreis learned that his mentally disabled teenage son was being molested in a Jewish ritual bathhouse in Brooklyn. The second came after Mr. Jungreis complained, and the man accused of the abuse was arrested.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, CNN and Mondoweiss

Katherine Ellison / The Atlantic Online:

An Inconvenient Lawsuit: Teenagers Take Global Warming to the Courts — Industry giants say their case is misguided. But that isn't stopping a group of high school students from using the legal system to make environmental demands. — Alec Loorz turns 18 at the end of this month.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The PJ Tatler, ThinkProgress, The Gateway Pundit, New York Times and Guardian

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Livewire:

Romney Gets Testy After Questions On Gay Marriage, DREAM and Pot — Mitt Romney would like to talk about the economy. He would apparently prefer not to talk about marriage equality, education for the children of illegal immigrants or medical marijuana. In an interivew with a CBS affiliate …

Discussion: Politico, The Raw Story, Wonkette, Politicker, New York Magazine and CBS News

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Romney scolds reporter after social-issues questions: “Aren't there issues of significance …

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, The Daily Dish, The Onion, NewsBusters.org, CANNONFIRE, The Greenroom, ABCNEWS, BuzzFeed and Slate

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

Democrats have real chance to hold on to Senate majority — Republicans need to pick up four more seats to take control of the Senate, and a year ago they had many plans for how to do so — none of which envisioned a battle to hold on to Indiana. — But Tuesday's landslide victory …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway