memeorandum: Indie Block — When Americans elect announced last July … (Michael Crowley/Time)

7:10 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 …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN, Washington Monthly, Mediaite, Power Line, The Hill, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, Bloomberg, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Politicker, Swampland, Taking Note, Politico, The Caucus, The Moderate Voice, PoliticusUSA, nation.foxnews.com, BuzzFeed, Reuters, LGBTQ Nation, The Other McCain, The Daily Caller, FOX News Radio, Via Meadia, The Atlantic Wire, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, msnbc.com, Guardian, American Prospect, Poynter, US Politics, Wonkette, No More Mister Nice Blog, I Should Be Laughing, Booman Tribune, The Gateway Pundit, Human Rights Campaign, Campaign 2012, Addicting Info, FreakOutNation, BuzzFeed, Rod Dreher, Business Insider, Little Green Footballs, The Reality-Based Community, RedState, The Right Sphere, Hullabaloo, Indecision Forever, Washington Wire, Gawker, Mother Jones, Outside the Beltway, National Review, Crooks and Liars, Balloon Juice, New York Magazine, The Maddow Blog, GOP 12, The New Republic, protein wisdom, The Lonely Conservative, Shakesville, The PJ Tatler, Towleroad News #gay, The Daily Dish, Blue Mass Group, Daily Kos, Althouse, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Joe. My. God. and Gay Politics, more at Mediagazer »

Emily Friedman / ABCNEWS:

Romney Camp on Defense Over ‘Pranks’ — ABC News' Emily Friedman, Emily Stanitz and Steven Portnoy report: — One of Mitt Romney's closest friends and a high school classmate has been asked by the Romney campaign to come out and offer “supporting remarks” in defense of the candidate following …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Daily Caller, The Right Scoop, RedState, Daily Kos, The Right Sphere, The PJ Tatler and Guardian

Tlc / The Talk of the Times:

Young Obama Bullied....A Girl — The above text comes directly from President Obama's first memoir, “Dreams From My Father” and recounts an incident which occurred while he was in middle school. When our president became the subject of taunts from his fellow classmates, he decided to shove a little girl named Coretta.

Discussion: Instapundit

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Content of Romney's Character — A young Mitt Romney, relaxing with friends. — It is a horrendous coincidence of timing for Mitt Romney that the day after President Obama ceased his elaborate wink-and-nod game and endorsed gay marriage, Jason Horowitz reports that Romney bullied a gay classmate at his prep school.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Mother Jones and The Daily Dish

Adam Peck / ThinkProgress:
Mitt Romney Outed As Anti-Gay High School Bully

Discussion: Advocate, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog and New York Magazine

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Mitt Romney apologizes for high school pranks that ‘might have gone too far’

Discussion: Politicker, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Business Insider, GayPatriot, National Review, Shakesville and Wonkette

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Romney on prank: ‘Back in high school I did some dumb things’

Discussion: Ballot Box

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Cutting-edge reporting from WaPo: Let's take an in-depth look at ... Romney's cruel high-school pranks

Discussion: Washington Post, PoliticusUSA, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Patterico's Pontifications and The Daily Caller

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

Discussion: Mediaite and The Raw Story

Bristol Palin:

Hail to the Chiefs - Malia and Sasha Obama — Is anyone really surprised by the fact that President Obama came out of the closet for gay marriage? What was most surprising is when he explained how his position (supposedly) “evolved,” by talking to his wife and daughters: … Let's pause for just one second.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Politicker, LGBTQ Nation, Advocate, Stinque, BuzzFeed, Wonkette, Outsports, TBogg, Mediaite, Human Rights Campaign, Gawker, ABCNEWS, Good As You, GOP 12 and Truthdig

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 …

Aliyah Shahid / NY Daily News:

Bristol Palin rips President Obama for listening to daughters Malia, Sasha on supporting gay marriage — Palin — a single mom herself — argued children are raised in homes where there is both a mother and a father — Bristol Palin ripped President Obama on Thursday for allowing his daughters …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and ABCNEWS

New York Times:

Biden Said to Apologize to Obama Over Gay Marriage Issue — WASHINGTON — A few hours before President Obama offered his historic endorsement of same-sex marriage on Wednesday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. apologized to the president in the Oval Office for forcing Mr. Obama's hand …

Discussion: The Caucus, Guardian, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite and Outside the Beltway

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
News Analysis: Obama's Watershed Move on Gay Marriage

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

Maggie Gallagher / National Review:
Fox News: Pro-Gay Marriage?

Discussion: Rod Dreher, Equality Matters and The Huffington Post

Charles Mahtesian / Politico:
Barack Obama's seven states of grief over gay marriage

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Salon, Rush Limbaugh, americanthinker.com, Towleroad News #gay, GOP 12, The PJ Tatler, US Politics and National Review

Chris Good / ABCNEWS:
Rep. Allen West: Obama May Lose African American Votes Over Gay Marriage

Discussion: LGBTQ Nation and The Huffington Post

Major Garrett / NationalJournal.com:
Biden With the Assist: Veep Again Dumb Like a Fox

Discussion: 2012 Decoded, Hotline On Call and Weasel Zippers

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Livewire:
Romney Gets Testy After Questions On Gay Marriage, DREAM and Pot

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Democracy in America, The Daily Dish, Hot Air, The Raw Story, Wonkette, Politico, Politicker, The Agitator, Slate and New York Magazine

Noah Bierman / Boston Globe:

Records shed more light on Elizabeth Warren's minority status — A second law school, the University of Pennsylvania, has touted Elizabeth Warren as a minority faculty member in an official school publication, according to an online document obtained by the Globe.

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

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

Convention organizer: North Carolina amendment like Jim Crow — The North Carolina same-sex marriage ban is right up there with the worst kind of discrimination, said Democratic National Convention Committee co-chair Jim Rogers, reflecting on the constitutional amendment that passed in his home state this week.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

George E. Condon Jr / 2012 Decoded:
Democrats and Charlotte: Far From a Perfect Match

Discussion: Mediaite

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Black voters in NC supported Amendment One by 2-1 margin

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Addicting Info, Mediaite and RedState

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Obama Ad Claims to Have Helped Man Get a Job, but Man Claims Employment Since 2006 — Matt Negrin of ABC reports that “A new ad by Obama tells the story of Brian Slagle, an autoworker in Ohio who says he was laid off and ‘scared to death’ until the president swooped in to save the industry.”

Discussion: msnbc.com, Wake up America and The Right Sphere

Matt Negrin / ABCNEWS:
Spotlight on Autoworker in Obama's Latest Ad

Discussion: Toledo Blade, Business Insider and Balloon Juice

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, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Althouse, Weekly Standard, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Ian Swanson / The Hill:

House votes to replace Pentagon cuts mandated by debt deal — The House voted Thursday to override steep cuts to the Pentagon's budget mandated by last summer's debt deal and replace them with spending reductions to food stamps and other mandatory social programs.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, Outside the Beltway, Weekly Standard and The Maddow Blog

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

Indiana GOP Senate Candidate Says His Concern About Poor Not Paying Taxes Akin To Lincoln's Fears About Slavery — The Republican Party's nominee for Indiana's U.S. Senate seat recently compared the fight over tax rates and reform to former president Abraham Lincoln's concern over slavery …

Discussion: Taking Note and The Maddow Blog

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Abraham Mourdock Confronts the Lucky Duckies

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Ryan J. Reilly / tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPMMuckraker — Justice Department Sues Sheriff Joe Arpaio Over Alleged Latino Abuse — The Justice Department finally filed suit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Maricopa County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, accusing the Arizona official of engaging “in a pattern or practice …

Discussion: The Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Instapundit and Stinque

New York Times:
Justice Department Sues Arizona Sheriff

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

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: Hullabaloo, The Volokh Conspiracy, ThinkProgress, Politico and Pirate's Cove

Tara Palmeri / New York Post:

Policy adviser testifies Edwards wanted Supreme Court seat — GREENSBORO, NC — A delusional, two-timing Sen. John Edwards dreamed of a Supreme Court appointment, even as his political career crumbled under the weight of a seedy sex scandal, according to testimony today.

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Tide Turns — The Obamaites let go of fear and make this a choice election - between the future or the past: — One small note. Above, Romney says that we should not discard 3,000 years of history of one-man-one-woman marriage. Ahem. His own family were ardent polygamists only a century ago …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

BBC:

Prince Charles turns BBC Scotland weatherman — Prince Charles presents a special weather forecast during his BBC Scotland visit — Prince Charles had a go at reading the weather during a tour of BBC Scotland's Pacific Quay headquarters. — He and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall …

Discussion: Mediaite, This Just In, Towleroad News #gay, ABCNEWS and Gawker