memeorandum: Many lawmakers not mentioning word ‘Congress’ in campaign ads (Rosalind S. Helderman/Washington Post)

10:45 AM ET, June 21, 2012

Top Items:

David Nakamura / Washington Post:

Executive privilege poses tricky situation for Obama — View Photo Gallery — Eric Holder isn't the first: Other high-profile officials held in contempt: Eric Holder isn't the first government official who has been found in contempt of Congress. Congressional Research Service compiled …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Wire, New York Times, Hot Air, Pirate's Cove, The PJ Tatler, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Wall Street Journal

Investor's Business Daily:

Obama's Executive Privilege Has The Stench Of Cover-Up — Scandal: The president illegally asserts executive privilege to protect an attorney general who's either a clueless political hack, malevolent or both, withholding answers of who is responsible for a Border Patrol agent's death.

Discussion: Shot in the Dark

Mark Levin / Facebook:

Executive Privilege and how the House should move forward legally — As the Supreme Court recognized in US v. Nixon, the Executive Branch has a legitimate interest in confidentiality of communications among high officials so that the President can have the benefit of candid advice.

Discussion: National Review, JOSHUAPUNDIT and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
Those Fast and Furious documents must be dynamite

Discussion: The Right Scoop, UrbanGrounds, Questions and Observations, Ordered Liberty, Pundit & Pundette, Hot Air, American Glob, 2012 Decoded, Fox News and Washington Examiner

Eric W. Dolan / The Raw Story: Grayson: Fast and Furious ‘circus’ will backfire on Republicans

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Republicans' attempt to hold Holder in contempt is uphill battle

Discussion: p m carpenter's commentary and The Hill

Politico:
Fast and Furious brawl blows up

Discussion: Reuters, CNN, Power Line, The Heritage Foundation and ThinkProgress

David Kopel / The Volokh Conspiracy:
Is President Obama's assertion of executive privilege valid?

Discussion: Power Line, The Heritage Foundation, Betsy's Page, The Monkey Cage and Outside the Beltway

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:
Murdered Border Agent's Family Says President Obama ‘Compounding This Tragedy’ with Executive Privilege Assertion

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, The Hill, Hot Air, Mediaite, Independent Journal Review, BREITBART.COM, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers and Scared Monkeys

Todd Gaziano / The Heritage Foundation:
Fast And Furious: Executive Privilege Is Illegitimate to Shield Wrongdoing

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Daily Caller, National Review, About.com Conservative …, Doug Ross, The Powers That Be, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Fox News Insider, Des Moines Register, Politico and New York Times

Abby Goodnough / New York Times:

Distaste for Health Care Law Reflects Spending on Ads — DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — Erika Losse is precisely the kind of person President Obama's signature health care law is intended to help. She has no health insurance. She relies on her mother to buy her a yearly checkup as a Christmas gift …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and Mother Jones

Elise Viebeck / The Hill:
HHS touts health law for creating jobs, expanding care

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Booman Tribune

Sarah Kliff / Washington Post:
Health insurance plans owe $1.1 billion in rebates

Discussion: American Prospect, ThinkProgress and US Politics

Michael C. Bender / Bloomberg:

Romney Campaign Said To Ask Scott To Downplay Job Gains — Mitt Romney's presidential campaign asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state's economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee's message that the nation …

Discussion: American Prospect, ThinkProgress, The Hill, Washington Monthly, GOP 12, The Daily Caller, msnbc.com, The Political Carnival and Eclectablog

Chris Geidner / Poliglot:

BREAKING: House GOP Leaders Will Ask Supreme Court By the End of June to Take DOMA Appeal — Lawyers for the House Republican leadership today told a federal court that the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group plans to ask the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling …

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement and Towleroad News #gay

Sam Baker / The Hill:
Court's decision on healthcare law could put progressives back at ‘square one’

Discussion: Pirate's Cove

Timothy M. Phelps / Los Angeles Times:
Supreme Court could reveal healthcare ruling Thursday

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, Hot Air, SCOTUSblog, Hit & Run, Associated Press, The Huffington Post and The Volokh Conspiracy

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Rove: Pelosi ‘sounds like Mad Red Queen’ with arrest threat — Karl Rove said Rep. Nancy Pelosi was “dead wrong” when she suggested Wednesday that she could have had him arrested. — “The only way I could have been arrested is if the House adopted the resolution, which it did not,” …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Daily Caller, The PJ Tatler and Jammie Wearing Fools

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

Susanne Craig / DealBook:

Bosses Rein In Banker Who Golfs With Obama — One of the biggest banks in the world wants the president's favorite banker muzzled. — The banker, Robert Wolf, a top UBS executive in New York, is among President Obama's leading fund-raisers, building more than more than $500,000 for his re-election so far this year.

Discussion: New York Magazine and Business Insider

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

NBC Prepares to Replace Ann Curry on ‘Today’ — NBC executives are readying a plan to replace Ann Curry on the “Today” show, only a year after she became the co-host of the iconic franchise. — The planning — which is taking place in secret and has not been finalized …

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, The Daily Beast, New York Magazine, TVNewser, Mediaite, iOwnTheWorld.com, Gawker, Deadline.com, Newsy and Inside TV, more at Mediagazer »

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:
NBC Contingency Plans Are Not Needed as Ann Curry Reports to Work at ‘Today’

Discussion: Poynter and TVNewser, more at Mediagazer »

Barbara Liston / Reuters:

Florida police chief embroiled in Trayvon Martin scandal fired — (Reuters) - The Florida police chief whose department failed to arrest neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the February shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin was fired on Wednesday, the city of Sanford said.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Business Insider

CNN:
Sanford police chief fired in wake of Trayvon Martin case

Discussion: Shakesville, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Scared Monkeys and New York Magazine

Odarcy / d-umn.campusreform.org:

University sponsors campaign to undermine ‘white privilege’ — The University of Minnesota - Duluth (UMD) is now sponsoring an ad-campaign designed to achieve “racial justice” by raising awareness of “white privilege.” — The project disseminates its message, that “society was setup for us …

Discussion: protein wisdom and The Gateway Pundit

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

4 Pinocchios for Obama's newest anti-Romney ad — “Running for governor, Mitt Romney campaigned as a job creator. But as a corporate raider, he shipped jobs to China and Mexico. As governor, he did the same thing: Outsourcing state jobs to India.” — The Obama campaign apparently loves …

Discussion: GOP 12, Weasel Zippers and ABCNEWS

William Grimes / New York Times:

LeRoy Neiman, 1921-2012: LeRoy Neiman, Artist Who Captured Sports and Public Life, Dies at 91 — LeRoy Neiman, whose brilliantly colored, impressionistic sketches of sporting events and the international high life made him one of the most popular artists in the United States, died on Wednesday in Manhattan.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The Mahablog and Media Decoder, more at Mediagazer »

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Bias Against a Mormon Presidential Candidate Same as in 1967 — Four in 10 Americans do not know that Mitt Romney is a Mormon — PRINCETON, NJ — Eighteen percent of Americans say they would not vote for a well-qualified presidential candidate who happens to be a Mormon, virtually the same as the 17% who held this attitude in 1967.

Discussion: The Political Carnival, Politico, Business Insider and Outside the Beltway

Mchapman / CNSNews:

$9 Billion in ‘Stimulus’ for Solar, Wind Projects Made 910 Final Jobs — $9.8 Million Per Job — (CNSNews.com) - The Obama administration distributed $9 billion in economic “stimulus” funds to solar and wind projects in 2009-11 that created, as the end result, 910 “direct” jobs …

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Independent Journal Review, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and The Powers That Be

Cindy Adams / New York Post:

Bristol Palin: No more sex until marriage — Bristol Palin says being a young mother is “hard”, and now she has vowed no more sex until she and her pipeline worker boyfriend are married. — Palin, 21, tells In Touch that she is determined to walk down the aisle with Giacinto “Gino” …

Discussion: Mediaite

Newt Gingrich / CNN:

Miriam Adelson gets a refund — Washington (CNN) - It is not your typical refund. — Miriam Adelson, the wife of Nevada casino mogul and major GOP donor Sheldon Adelson, got a $5 million refund for one of her contributions to Winning Our Future, the super PAC that almost single-handedly …

Discussion: Inside Missouri Politics, Politico and Ballot Box