memeorandum: Obama courts new foreign policy crowd (Dylan Byers/Politico)

3:05 AM ET, May 11, 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: The Moderate Voice, Bloomberg, CNN, BAGnewsNotes, Rumproast, The Huffington Post, ThinkProgress, Booman Tribune, DownWithTyranny!, New York Magazine, Mediaite, American Power, 24Ahead, Reuters, FOX News Radio, Ballot Box, Politicker, “The Lid”, ABCNEWS, PoliticusUSA, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The Reaction, The Hill, Indecision Forever, Power Line, Newshoggers.com, msnbc.com, Boing Boing, Swampland, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, The Other McCain, Taking Note, Los Angeles Times, TheBlaze.com, Washington Monthly, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, nation.foxnews.com, LGBTQ Nation, Via Meadia, Campaign 2012, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Advocate, Business Insider, Addicting Info, Human Rights Campaign, The Caucus, Rod Dreher, Politico, I Should Be Laughing, BuzzFeed, National Review, Patterico's Pontifications, The Gateway Pundit, Guardian, Poynter, Towleroad News #gay, US Politics, The Atlantic Wire, The Lonely Conservative, Mother Jones, No More Mister Nice Blog, Gay Politics, Little Green Footballs, Erick's blog, BuzzFeed, Washington Wire, GOP 12, The Reality-Based Community, Crooks and Liars, The New Republic, The Maddow Blog, Hullabaloo, Gawker, Blue Mass Group, The Daily Dish, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, The PJ Tatler, The Right Sphere, American Prospect, Althouse, Outside the Beltway, Lawyers, Guns & Money, protein wisdom, Shakesville, Joe. My. God. and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, more at Mediagazer »

ABCNEWS:

Former Romney Classmate Describes ‘Bullying Supreme’ - A ‘Pack of Dogs’ Who Targeted ‘Different’ Boy — A high school classmate of presidential candidate Mitt Romney told ABC News today that he considers a particular prank the two pulled at Michigan's Cranbrook School to be “assault and battery” …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Mediaite and The Daily Dish

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: Liberal Values, New York Magazine, The Right Sphere, Daily Kos, The Raw Story, The Right Scoop, The PJ Tatler, RedState 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

Washington Post:

Mitt Romney's prep school classmates recall pranks, but also troubling incidents — Now, nearly half a century later, Romney's presidential campaign has turned to the candidate's youthful antics as evidence of his capacity for harmless, humanizing pranks and as an indication of his looser, less wooden self.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Raw Story and The Reality-Based Community

ABCNEWS:
Sister of Alleged Romney Target Has ‘No Knowledge’ of Any Bullying Incident

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Washington Post, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, PoliticusUSA, The Reaction and The Moderate Voice

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Source for WaPo's Romney hit piece: Actually, I wasn't present during the prank

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

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

Matt K. Lewis / The Daily Caller:
A question emerges in reading the Washington Post piece …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Gateway Pundit, The Raw Story and ABCNEWS

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: Tablet Magazine, Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Politico, Advocate, Politicker, LGBTQ Nation, TBogg, Mediaite, Human Rights Campaign, Indecision Forever, Outsports, BuzzFeed, Gawker, Good As You, GOP 12 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: Weasel Zippers, Politico, Campaign 2012, Capital New York, Firedoglake, Hot Air, Guardian, Mediaite, The Hill, The Caucus, Outside the Beltway and The Atlantic Online

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

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Obama's gay marriage announcement followed by flood of campaign donations

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Huffington Post, NewsBusters.org, Corrente and GayPatriot

Olivier Knox / ABCNEWS:
Biden apologizes to Obama over shotgun comments on gay marriage

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Ariel Edwards-Levy / The Huffington Post: Franklin Graham: Barack Obama Has ‘Shaken His Fist’ At God With Support For Same-Sex Marriage

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

Discussion: Hotline On Call, 2012 Decoded, Weasel Zippers and American Power

Mike Dorning / Bloomberg:
Biden Said to Apologize to Obama for Gay Marriage Remarks

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Weekly Standard

Felix Salmon:

JP Morgan: When basis trades blow up — I'm not sure if it was the biggest quarterly loss of all time, but Merrill Lynch's $16 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2008 certainly ranks very high up there in the annals of investment-bank blowups. It happened after the bank had already …

Discussion: Mother Jones

Wall Street Journal:

J.P. Morgan's $2 Billion Blunder — Bank Admits Losses on Massive Trading Bet Gone Wrong; Dimon's Mea Culpa — A massive trading bet boomeranged on J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., leaving the bank with at least $2 billion in trading losses and its chief executive, James Dimon …

Discussion: Deal Journal

David Benoit / Deal Journal:
J.P. Morgan Reveals 'London Whale'-Size Losses

Discussion: naked capitalism and Hullabaloo

DealBook:
JPMorgan Discloses $2 Billion in Trading Losses

Discussion: Suburban Guerrilla, Calculated Risk 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: Washington Post, The Caucus, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, JustOneMinute and The PJ Tatler

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: Outside the Beltway, Firedoglake and Washington Monthly

Steve Benen / msnbc.com:
House GOP pits Pentagon vs. poor

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The New Republic

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

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

Discussion: Toledo Blade, RedState, The Daily Dish, Business Insider, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Jeff Bercovici / Mixed Media:

Will Time's Breastfeeding Cover Be Bad For Business? — Time's new cover. Click to expand. — It's safe to say the folks at Time magazine weren't caught unawares by the controversy already boiling up around their latest cover, which features an attractive 26-year-old mother breastfeeding her almost-four-year-old son.

Discussion: Healthland, The Week, Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice, Gawker, Politico, Daily Mail and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

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.

Discussion: Instapundit

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
John Edwards prosecution plays tape of lies, rests

Discussion: ABCNEWS

Rod Dreher:

Pro-Gay Fox News? — Noting Fox News anchor Shepard Smith's denunciation of conservatives who oppose gay marriage “for being on the wrong side of history,” Maggie Gallagher questions Fox's impartiality on the issue: … This is nothing new. Talking with a Fox staffer about covering …

Discussion: alicublog

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

Discussion: Equality Matters and The Huffington Post

Alex Pareene / Salon:

Jonah Goldberg's desperation — The National Review hack is a unique figure: Striving for seriousness, but too lazy to achieve it … Jonah Goldberg is a syndicated columnist, author of books and National Review Online editor because his mother nearly took down Bill Clinton.

Discussion: TBogg and Balloon Juice

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Ten Most Disturbing Anti-Latino Practices Described By DOJ's Lawsuit Against Sheriff Joe Arpaio — Earlier today, the Department of Justice filed a formal legal complaint against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) alleging widespread constitutional violations and lawless mistreatment of Latinos.

Discussion: tpmmuckraker …, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hullabaloo and Instapundit

Sarah Kliff / Ezra Klein:

Exclusive: NARAL President Nancy Keenan to step down — At the end of this year, Nancy Keenan will step down from her post as president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the country's oldest abortion-rights advocacy group. — The 60-year-old Keenan said she is leaving out of concern for the future …

Discussion: LifeNews.com

NARAL Pro-Choice America:
NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA PRESIDENT NANCY KEENAN TO DEPART IN JANUARY 2013

Discussion: Politico and The Caucus

BuzzFeed:

Prominent Ron Paul Supporter Muses About Assassinating Mitt Romney — Adam Kokesh, a co-founder of Veterans for Ron Paul who received Paul's endorsement for his 2010 congressional run, contemplates a Romney assassination on his talk show. The Secret Service promises a “follow-up.”

Discussion: Business Insider, Addicting Info and CNN