memeorandum: Ann Romney says woman could be VP (Alicia M. Cohn/The Hill)

10:50 AM ET, July 5, 2012

Top Items:

Romney's Tax Confusion — The candidate's response on the ObamaCare mandate reveals larger campaign problems. — If Mitt Romney loses his run for the White House, a turning point will have been his decision Monday to absolve President Obama of raising taxes on the middle class.

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, American Prospect, Washington Monthly, The Hill, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Politics News, ABCNEWS, Washington Wire, Taylor Marsh, BuzzFeed and Paul Krugman

First Read / msnbc.com:

First Thoughts: Romney's fatal flaw — Penalty-vs.-tax episode exposes Romney's fatal flaw: Conservatives simply don't trust him... Romney's verbal gymnastics... Will tomorrow finally allow Romney to change the subject to the economy after three weeks when it hasn't been the dominant issue? …

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Post and ABCNEWS

Rose Gordon Sala / msnbc.com:
It's a penalty, it's a tax ... it's more Romney flip-flopping on health care

Discussion: The Agonist

Jan Crawford / CBS News:
Romney clarifies health care mandate position

Discussion: Swampland, Washington Examiner, Scared Monkeys, New York Magazine and Crooks and Liars

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Romney Shifts Tone, Saying Health Care Mandate Is a Tax

Discussion: Washington Post, The Maddow Blog, The Caucus, The Daily Dish, Prairie Weather and Firedoglake

Lindsey Boerma / CBS News: Romney: Individual mandate “is a tax”

Amy Bingham / ABCNEWS:
Romney Calls Individual Mandate a Tax, Contradicts His Top Aide

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Hullabaloo, americanthinker.com, US Politics and Politico

Jan Crawford / CBS News:

Ann Romney: Obama's whole campaign strategy is “let's kill this guy” — (CBS News) On a mission to shatter the image of her husband as rigid and unrelatable, Ann Romney told CBS News she worries that President Obama's entire campaign strategy is “kill Romney.”

Discussion: Politico, Wonkette, protein wisdom, Althouse, Washington Post and Freedom's Lighthouse

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Ann Romney says woman could be VP — Ann Romney said Thursday that at least one woman is under consideration as Mitt Romney's running mate. — “We've been looking at that. And I'd love that option as well,” Ann told “CBS This Morning” when asked if she'd like to see a female vice presidential nominee.

Jan Crawford / CBS News:
Romney: Roberts' health care ruling “not accurate”

Discussion: Business Insider

Kurt Andersen / New York Times:

The Downside of Liberty — THIS spring I was on a panel at the Woodstock Writers Festival. An audience member asked a question: Why had the revolution dreamed up in the late 1960s mostly been won on the social and cultural fronts — women's rights, gay rights, black president, ecology …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air and Booman Tribune

Timothy Dalrymple / Philosophical Fragments:

Against the Hippies: Or, In Defense of American Individualism — Kurt Andersen's piece in the New York Times today is in some respects a terrific column. But if you can spot the vast logical leap. — Andersen recalls a time when he was confronted with the question …

Lauren Steussy / KNSD-TV:

Fireworks Shot Off Early in Bay — Big Bay Boom fireworks display delayed after sudden burst — Thousands of people who camped out to watch the Big Bay Boom in San Diego's Glorietta Bay Wednesday night got more of a Big Bay Bust. — Port District authorities said a “technical difficulty” …

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed, msnbc.com, The Atlantic Wire, Gawker, LAist, L.A. NOW, Stinque and Towleroad News #gay

Rong-Gong Lin II / L.A. NOW:

San Diego fireworks show exploded in 15 seconds, ruining show [Video] — One of the largest Fourth of July fireworks shows in the nation was ruined in San Diego Wednesday after a glitch caused all the pyrotechnics to ignite all at once. — About five minutes before the Port …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and The Raw Story

Elizabeth Mendes / Gallup:

Adults Aged 26 to 64 Lose Employer Healthcare; Young Gain It — Government-based insurance up among both age groups — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fewer U.S. adults aged 26 to 64 are getting health insurance from an employer in 2012, continuing a downward trend that began in 2008.

Discussion: Reuters and ThinkProgress

Marisa Schultz / detroitnews.com:

TV pilot an outlet for Rep. McCotter — Lowbrow project was a way to deal with his failed presidential bid — As U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter's short-lived presidential run fizzled last year, the Livonia Republican turned to another aspiration: writing a TV show.

Discussion: Politico, Taegan Goddard's …, TheBlaze.com and Hotline On Call

Ian Swanson / The Hill:

Marine Corps band plays Romney song on White House lawn — A subset of the Marine Corps band struck up one of Mitt Romney's walkout songs while President Obama was greeting visitors at the White House Independence Day celebration. — A White House pool report said the band struck up Rodney Atkins's …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and iOwnTheWorld.com

Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:

Hopeful signs emerge for struggling jobs market — (Reuters) - U.S. private employers stepped up hiring in June and the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits last week fell by the most in two months, hopeful signs for the struggling labor market.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway and americanthinker.com

Wall Street Journal:

Why Health-Spending Trend Matters — Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared President Barack Obama's health-care initiative constitutional, the next health policy move awaits the outcome of the November elections. — But the U.S. health-care system isn't waiting.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Incidental Economist

Phil Galewitz / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Supreme Court health care ruling allows states to cut off Medicaid to those now enrolled

Discussion: Firedoglake

Jim Angle / Fox News:

Efforts to implement ObamaCare law raise concerns of massive government expansion — With the Supreme Court giving President Obama's new health care law a green light, federal and state officials are turning to implementation of the law — a lengthy and massive undertaking still in its early stages …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Questions and Observations and The Gateway Pundit

Reuters:

“It's a boson:” Higgs quest bears new particle — (Reuters) - Scientists at Europe's CERN research center have found a new subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe, which appears to be the boson imagined and named half a century ago by theoretical physicist Peter Higgs.

Discussion: his vorpal sword

Dennis Overbye / New York Times:
Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to the Universe

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, americanthinker.com, The Reaction, Boing Boing, The Confluence, Outside the Beltway and BBC

New York Post:

Corzine is having no fun in the shun — How the mighty have fallen. — It seems like only yesterday that Jon Corzine was the life of the party, holding court on the Hamptons political circuit, raising money for Barack Obama. — Now, Corzine — just months removed from a humiliating financial scandal …

Discussion: DealBook