memeorandum: House panel approves Holder contempt resolution (Fox News)

4:50 PM ET, June 20, 2012

Top Items:

Obama grants Holder request on ‘Furious’ documents as contempt vote looms — DEVELOPING ... President Obama has granted an 11th-hour request by Attorney General Eric Holder to exert executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents, a last-minute maneuver that appears unlikely to head off …

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:

Nancy Pelosi Slams Contempt Vote: 'I Could Have Arrested Karl Rove ... But We Didn't' … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Darrell Issa, Eric Holder, Karl Rove, Nancy Pelosi, Elections 2012, Video, Darrell Issa Contempt, Eric Holder Contempt, Fast And Furious, Holder Fast And Furious, Issa Fast And Furious, Politics News

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Business Insider, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Tom Cohen / CNN:

Att. General Eric Holder held in contempt — Washington (CNN) — Voting on strictly partisan lines, a House committee recommended Wednesday that Attorney General Eric Holder be cited for contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents relating to the botched Fast and Furious weapons sting operation.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Little Green Footballs, Mediaite, Politico, americanthinker.com, The Moderate Voice, The Political Carnival and Vodkapundit

Washington Post:

Fast and Furious scandal: Obama invokes executive privilege; House panel moves forward with Holder contempt vote — President Obama asserted executive privilege over documents related to the “Fast and Furious” operation Wednesday as a House panel moved to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr …

Discussion: Wonkette, The Volokh Conspiracy, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice and Conservatives4Palin

John H. Cushman Jr / New York Times:

Obama Claims Executive Privilege in Gun Case — WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday invoked executive privilege to withhold from a Congressional oversight committee some documents and communications among his advisers regarding the failed gun enforcement operation known as “Fast and Furious …

Discussion: The Week, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh and Truthdig

Byron Tau / Politico:

Boehner: Privilege claim implies White House cover-up — On the heels of President Obama's decision to shield Department of Justice documents under the doctrine of executive privilege, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner wondered if White House officials were being involved in a cover-up.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Gateway Pundit

Fox News:

House panel approves Holder contempt resolution — DEVELOPING ... The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has approved a resolution holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. — The measure now goes to the full House. — ORIGINAL STORY ...

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Obama Executive Privilege Asserted Over Fast And Furious Documents

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian, ABCNEWS and American Spectator

Donovan Slack / Politico:
White House: No cover-up, GOP playing politics with Fast & Furious

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

Politico:
President Obama uses executive privilege on Fast and Furious

Discussion: Univision News Tumblr

Evan Perez / Wall Street Journal:
White House Intervenes in Holder Rift

Discussion: The Right Scoop, Washington Free Beacon, GOP.com, Hot Air, Questions and Observations and Mediaite

Fox News Insider:
READ: Attorney General Eric Holder's Letter to President Obama Requesting Executive Privilege …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Heritage Foundation, Weasel Zippers and Conservatives4Palin

New York Post:
Is this the end of Eric Holder's games?

Discussion: RedState and National Review

Des Moines Register:
Iowa's Grassley responds to Obama's executive privilege move on ‘Fast and Furious’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Obama asserts executive privilege ahead of Holder contempt vote

Discussion: CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, Townhall.com and The Moderate Voice

Richard A. Serrano / Los Angeles Times:
Obama invokes executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Chicago Boyz, The Powers That Be and The Right Scoop

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Matthews Slimes GOP as Racist for Going After Holder: An ‘Ethnic’ ‘Stop-and-Frisk’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line: White House asserts executive privilege claim to further DOJ's Fast and Furious cover-up

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Bloomberg:

Obama Leads In Poll As Voters View Romney As Out Of Touch — Barack Obama has opened a significant lead over Mitt Romney in a Bloomberg National Poll that reflects the presumed Republican nominee's weaknesses more than the president's strengths. — Obama leads Romney 53 percent …

David J. Lynch / Bloomberg:

Americans Say They'Re Better Off Since Obama Took Office — A plurality of Americans now say they are better off than they were when President Barack Obama was inaugurated, providing a surprising lift to Obama's re- election campaign despite troublesome economic news.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, American Prospect, Politico and The Political Carnival

CNN:

New poll: Obama has double digit advantage — Washington (CNN) - A new national survey indicates President Barack Obama has opened up a double digit lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the race for the White House, an advantage for Obama that no other major poll released this month has found.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Political Carnival

BuzzFeed:

Mitt Romney Is Terrible For Traffic — We admit it, and so do other bloggers and editors: Nobody seems to want to read stories about Mitt Romney. For the candidate, a blessing or a curse? — In the war of partisan trash talk that frequently consumes online political media …

Discussion: Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Conservatives4Palin and Weasel Zippers

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:
How Romney's Dance With Rubio Proves the Veepstakes Matters

Discussion: GOP 12, New York Magazine, ABCNEWS and Politico

First Read / msnbc.com:
First Thoughts: Why Rubio probably won't be the pick

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Washington Wire, www2.wsls.com, Booman Tribune and Daily Kos

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:

Middle class could face higher taxes under Republican plan, analysis finds — The tax reform plan that House Republicans have advanced would sharply cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and could leave middle-class households facing much larger tax bills, according to a new analysis set to be released Wednesday.

Discussion: Daily Kos, American Prospect, Eclectablog and Balloon Juice

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Soak The Middle Class

Discussion: U.S. Congress Joint … and blog.sfgate.com

Pat Garofalo / ThinkProgress:
Study: House Republican Budget Would Raise Taxes On The Middle Class, Cut Them For Millionaires

Discussion: American Prospect

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

For immediate release — Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the economy has been expanding moderately this year. However, growth in employment has slowed in recent months, and the unemployment rate remains elevated. Business fixed investment has continued to advance.

Discussion: Reuters, Firedoglake, Felix Salmon, Ezra Klein, msnbc.com, Bloomberg, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, FT Alphaville, ABCNEWS and Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire

Maggie Habermanand Alexander Burns / Politico:

The 2012 campaign is the smallest ever — For years, operatives, reporters and potential nominees envisioned the 2012 presidential campaign as a titanic clash of media-swarmed combatants with big ideas about the future. In the Republican primaries, this was almost a mantra: this is the most important campaign in a generation.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Taylor Marsh, pandagon.net and Riehl World View

Jordan Michael Smith / Salon:

New NSA docs contradict 9/11 claims — “I don't think the Bush administration would want to see these released,” an expert tells Salon — Over 120 CIA documents concerning 9/11, Osama bin Laden and counterterrorism were published today for the first time, having been newly declassified and released to the National Security Archive.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, US Politics, Suburban Guerrilla, The Mahablog and Hullabaloo

Nick R. Martin / tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPMMuckraker — Arizona Secretary Of State's Latest Theory: Obama Lied About Being Born In Kenya To Get Into College — The top election official in Arizona, fresh off his flirtation with birtherism, has moved on to a strange new conspiracy theory involving President Barack Obama.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Mediaite and Feathered Bastard

Scott Jaschik / Inside Higher Ed:

E-mails show U.Va. board wanted a big online push — By — E-mail messages were flying among leaders of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia in the weeks leading up to the ouster of Teresa A. Sullivan as president of the university. The e-mail messages show …

Discussion: naked capitalism

GOProud, Inc.:

GOProud Endorses former Governor Mitt Romney for President — Organization of Gay Conservatives and their Straight Allies Will Commit Significant Resources to Electing Mitt Romney — (Washington, D.C.) - Last night, the Board of Directors of GOProud - a national organization of gay …

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, Mediaite, Advocate, The Raw Story and Joe. My. God.