memeorandum: Americans, Including Catholics, Say Birth Control Is Morally OK (Frank Newport/Gallup)

6:45 PM ET, May 22, 2012

Top Items:

Is This Obama's Party? — The president didn't come up through Democratic Party institutions, and now he has little organic connection to it. Not fair to compare him to Clinton, says Rendell. — (Getty Images / John Gress) — President Barack Obama took over the country in 2008 …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, CNN, Washington Post, New York Times, Wake up America, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Vodkapundit, Mother Jones, Washington Wire, Political Watch, Wall Street Journal, National Review and ABCNEWS

David Brooks / New York Times:

How Change Happens — Forty years ago, corporate America was bloated, sluggish and losing ground to competitors in Japan and beyond. But then something astonishing happened. Financiers, private equity firms and bare-knuckled corporate executives initiated a series of reforms and transformations.

Discussion: American Prospect, Fox News, The New Republic, The Week, No More Mister Nice Blog, Politico, driftglass, Instapundit, The Daily Caller, Betsy's Page and Mediaite

Matt Negrin / ABCNEWS:

Obama Camp Says Clyburn's ‘Raping’ Comment Is Inappropriate — The Obama campaign says a surrogate's use of the word “raping” to describe Mitt Romney's actions at his private-equity firm, Bain Capital, is inappropriate. — “I want to say to you: I don't take contributions from payday lenders.

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico, BuzzFeed, Mediaite, National Review, Campaign 2012, Weasel Zippers and Washington Free Beacon

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Rendell: Hey, can you believe these Bain attacks from Obama? — Ed Rendell joins Harold Ford and Cory Booker as critics within Barack Obama's own party of his electoral strategy of demonizing private equity. In a BuzzFeed article that focuses on the larger disconnect between Obama …

Discussion: RedState, BuzzFeed, Campaign 2012, msnbc.com, The Enterprise Blog, CNN and Politico

Yahoo! News:
Don't worry, Joe: It ain't so. Why Obama won't run with Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Biden: Romney's experience bad fit

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and CNN

Molly Hunter / Yahoo! News:
Cory Booker ‘Fit To Be Tied’ After GOP's ‘I Stand with Cory Booker’ Email

Discussion: ABCNEWS, ThinkProgress, Political Economy and The Gateway Pundit

ABCNEWS:
Top Obama Donor Tied to Bain Layoffs

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Matt Negrin / ABCNEWS:
Swinging at Bain, Obama Ignores What Private Equity Is

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, The Huffington Post, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, Washington Post, Politico, Washington Wire and Wake up America

Mj Lee / Politico:
Jim Clyburn: Romney ‘raping companies’

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

BuzzFeed:
Romney Campaign Protests Biden Event With Cory Booker Heads

Discussion: ABCNEWS

Charles C. Johnson / BREITBART.COM:

EXCLUSIVE: THE VETTING - DID OBAMA HAVE LOWER SAT SCORES THAN GEORGE W. BUSH? — President Barack Obama is hailed by his supporters and the mainstream media as one of the most brilliant men ever to hold the office. However, his refusal to release his academic records …

Discussion: Wonkette, Indecision Forever, Bookworm Room and Outside the Beltway

Charles Johnson / Little Green Footballs:

Fear the Vetting! Breitbart.com Bombshell Exclusive: We Don't Have Obama's SAT Scores! — It's one BOMBSHELL EXCLUSIVE after another at the site that Andrew Breitbart built! Man, these guys are ON FIRE! — Stand back, because the VETTING continues with an astounding new breaking news story …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Americans, Including Catholics, Say Birth Control Is Morally OK — Birth control has the broadest acceptance among 18 behaviors — PRINCETON, NJ — Eighty-two percent of U.S. Catholics say birth control is morally acceptable, nearing the 89% of all Americans and 90% of non-Catholics who agree.

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

E.J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
Did the Catholic organizations have to sue over the health care mandate?

Discussion: National Review, The Week, The Volokh Conspiracy, US Politics, President and Hot Air

Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
Dem-backed law may be downfall of Obama birth control mandate

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, NewsBusters.org, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, iOwnTheWorld.com, Outside the Beltway, JustOneMinute and New York Times

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

New Republican Ad Takes a Soft Shot at Obama — WASHINGTON — The ad is the work of two of the most fearsome players in Republican politics: Larry McCarthy, the producer behind the infamous Willie Horton commercial in 1988, and Crossroads GPS, the political battle squad founded by Karl Rove.

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, The Caucus, Hot Air, RedState, Politico, ABCNEWS, GOP 12, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, Roll Call and Orlando Sentinel

New York Times:
Anatomy of an Ad: ‘Basketball’

Discussion: Washington Monthly and CNN

Free Times:

THIS JUST IN — A video posted online that shows a former union leader in South Carolina smashing a piñata effigy of Gov. Nikki Haley has riled the national office of the AFL-CIO, which wants it taken down. — “Do you think we can get this video pulled,” asked a national AFL-CIO official …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Daily Caller, GOP 12, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, The Raw Story and NewsBusters.org

ABCNEWS:

Union Boss Smacks Gov. Haley Pinata — Donna Dewitt, the outgoing president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, is seen in this video bashing a piñata of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's face while Dewitt and her colleagues were at a retreat in Columbia, S.C. Saturday afternoon.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Mediaite, National Review and Weasel Zippers

Rex Nutting / MarketWatch:

Obama spending binge never happened — Commentary: Government outlays rising at slowest pace since 1950s … WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Impolitic, The Daily Dish, Hullabaloo and The Maddow Blog

Scott Stump / msnbc.com:

General Colin Powell, who served as secretary of state under President George W. Bush, talks to TODAY's Matt Lauer about politics, war and his new book, “It Worked for Me.” — Though he believes President Obama has had several significant achievements during his first term …

Discussion: Washington Wire and Guardian

Tim Mak / Politico:
Colin Powell pauses on endorsing Obama

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

CNN:
TRENDING: Poll: Obama, Romney tied as race heats up

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hot Air, Campaign 2012, Weekly Standard and Politico

Mark Murray / msnbc.com:

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama's gay-marriage announcement a ‘draw’ — Two weeks after President Obama announced he supports gay marriage, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that his announcement — politically — looks to be a wash. — In the poll, a combined 17 percent says it makes them …

Discussion: Mediaite, Politico, Outside the Beltway, ThinkProgress and Taegan Goddard's …

Jim Treacher / The Daily Caller:

That's my favorite kind of headline, because all I have to do is present the relevant facts. This is hardly the first time “CNN” and “dog poop” have been used in the same sentence, but this time it's literal. — CBS Atlanta: … But it gets even better, as David Stein discovered:

Discussion: The Daley Gator and iOwnTheWorld.com

Colleen Taylor / TechCrunch:

Kleiner Perkins Sued By Partner Ellen Pao, Alleging Sexual Harassment, Gender Discrimination — Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers, one of the most storied and well-respected venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, has been sued by Ellen Pao, an investment partner with the firm.

Discussion: Bits, The PJ Tatler, AllThingsD and Washington Free Beacon

Rasmussen Reports:

40% Now Say Trayvon Martin Shot in Self-Defense; 24% Say It Was Murder — As evidence continues to emerge from the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, Americans are becoming more convinced that his killer acted in self-defense and that the legal system will come to that conclusion.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Althouse

PFC Auctions:

Lot 160 - Ronald Reagan Blood Vial — Current bid: £8,346.00 — Another user is currently the top bidder. — 2d 4h 18m 25s — Bidding allowed for registered users only. Register or Log in. — You are about to place a bid for: — Setting a Max Bid of: — If this is correct, click Place Bid.

Marcus Stern / Reuters:

Gingrich's private ventures are going bankrupt — (Reuters) - ATLANTA - When he entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination in May 2011, Newt Gingrich was the prosperous head of a small empire commonly known as Newt Inc, which included both for-profit consultancies and nonprofit foundations.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Wonkette and New York Magazine

Caitlin McDevitt / Politico:

Coming soon: Bristol Palin's reality show — Bristol Palin's reality show premieres next month, Lifetime announced in a press release on Tuesday:

Susan Saulny / New York Times:

Black Mormons and the Politics of Identity — SALT LAKE CITY — When Marguerite Driessen, a professor here, entered Brigham Young University in the early 1980s, she was the first black person many Mormon students had ever met, and she spent a good bit of her college time debunking stereotypes about African-Americans.

Sam Baker / The Hill:

HHS signs $20M PR contract to promote healthcare law — The Health and Human Services Department has signed a $20 million contract with a public-relations firm to highlight part of the Affordable Care Act. — The new, multimedia ad campaign is designed to educate the public about how to stay healthy …

Discussion: LifeNews.com, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The Heritage Foundation, Weasel Zippers, Hit & Run, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller and Weekly Standard

Ezra Klein:

Wonkbook: Obama's gay marriage bump — “There's been a dramatic zero-point shift in the polls since Obama came out for gay marriage,” tweeted Nate Silver on Monday. — The tweet wasn't attached to a post or to a particular poll, but we can run some of the numbers on our own.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Equality Matters, DealBook, The Hill and Hot Air

Aurelius / Pundit Press:

Did White House Doctor Photo of President “Throwing” Football? — I'm not one for conspiracy theories. I prefer to base my opinions on demonstration fact that I can point to. However, after looking at an extremely odd photo of President Obama “throwing” a football, I have my doubts that this photo is real.

Discussion: Wonkette, Indecision Forever and Little Green Footballs