memeorandum: On tax cuts, Obama decides to fight (Ezra Klein/Washington Post)

10:35 AM ET, July 10, 2012

Top Items:

President Obama, Mitt Romney deadlocked in race, poll finds — AP - A pair of tepid jobs reports, landmark Supreme Court decisions on health-care and immigration laws, and an unprecedented barrage of negative ads have shaped the opening months of the fall presidential campaign.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Guardian, NewsBusters.org, theGrio, Hot Air and Riehl World View

CNN:

Indiana abortion law ruled illegal — (CNN) - A controversial Indiana law that would keep low-income women from using federal Medicaid benefits to receive any kind of reproductive medical care from Planned Parenthood is unacceptable because it denies women the freedom to choose their health care providers …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:

Obama Trails Romney Again in Battle for Campaign Cash — In the battle for political cash, President Obama is finding himself in an unaccustomed place during the final months of the 2012 campaign: he is losing. — Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee easily outraised …

Discussion: Suburban Guerrilla, The Caucus, Taegan Goddard's … and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Senior Obama adviser: Romney backers trying to ‘purchase’ election — Senior White House adviser David Plouffe on Tuesday accused wealthy Mitt Romney supporters of trying to “purchase the White House,” one day after the presumptive GOP nominee announced a $106 million June fundraising haul that stunned the Obama campaign.

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Chicago keeps up Romney tax attacks — While the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee begin their counteroffensive on outsourcing today, Team Obama is continuing to grind away on the issue of Mitt Romney's personal finances. — “Mitt Romney is defying calls to release …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, The Maddow Blog and Taegan Goddard's …

Washington Post:
Obama's record on outsourcing draws criticism from the left

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Power Line

CNN:
Barbour: If in Romney's position, I would release tax docs

Discussion: Politico, Michelle Malkin and The Page

CNN:
RNC chairman to ‘bracket’ Obama Iowa visit

Discussion: Politico, Politicker and The Hope For America

Wall Street Journal:
Romney Again Logs Big Lead in Fundraising

Discussion: Washington Examiner, New York Magazine and Washington Post

Alexander Burns / Politico:
It's a repeat: Romney tops Obama in June by $35 million

Discussion: CNN, Teamster Nation, Politicker, The Daily Caller and Daily Kos

BuzzFeed:
Romney Set to Counterattack on Bain

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Impolitic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Sky Dancing, Daily Kos and Hot Air

Jeb Bush / CNN:
Jeb Bush not being vetted for VP, son says

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Bloomberg, The Hill, The Buzz Florida Politics Feed and Scared Monkeys

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

On tax cuts, Obama decides to fight — The Obama administration has faced a difficult choice: Does it put off the fiscal crisis looming at the end of the year by capitulating to Republican demands to extend all the Bush tax cuts until 2013 — a move that would infuriate the Democratic base and muddle the campaign's message?

Discussion: Daily Kos, Economix and A plain blog about politics

Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPMDC — One Chart That Shows What The Bush Tax Cut Battle Is All About — Considering all the Sturm und Drang over President Obama's plan to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire on income over $250,000 you'd think that Republicans and Democrats had hugely different ideas about where to set tax policy in 2013.

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, Politico and Booman Tribune

The White House:
Remarks by the President on Extending Tax Cuts for Middle-Class Families

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Mediaite, The Heritage Foundation, Los Angeles Times, Washington Examiner, The Huffington Post and AEIdeas

WMUR:
Obama calls for extending middle-class tax cuts

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times, ABCNEWS and Business Insider

Byron Tau / Politico:
White House would veto full Bush tax cut extension

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Weasel Zippers, CNN and Wonkette

Jack Minor / WND:

BRAD PITT'S MOM IN FEAR AFTER SLAMMING OBAMA — Quaking after being attacked for opposing same-sex marriage — Jane Pitt, mother of actor Brad Pitt, has been scared into silence by the hate-filled, vulgar and even violent reaction to her public assertion that Barack Obama is …

Discussion: Althouse, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Riehl World View, Towleroad News #gay, The Lonely Conservative and Pass The Doucheys …

Rochelle Olson / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Scorned Cottage Grove mom sets self ablaze — Police say the Cottage Grove woman, described as “vodka mom” on TV, was despondent over the asphyxiation death of her infant son. — A 29-year-old Cottage Grove woman set herself afire and died just weeks after being ridiculed as “vodka mom” …

Discussion: Wizbang

Sally Nelson / The Daily Caller:

Report: 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting over Obamacare — Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving their practices over President Barack Obama's health care reform law, according to a survey released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Right Wing News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Scared Monkeys, Conservatives4Palin, Power Line, UrbanGrounds and The Lonely Conservative

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

Cracks Appear in Republican Unity on Health Law Repeal — WASHINGTON — A House vote to fully repeal President Obama's health care law was supposed to be the coup de grâce for “Obamacare,” a final sweeping away of a law that Republicans thought the Supreme Court would gut and leave for dead.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Balkinization and Washington Examiner

Sam Baker / The Hill:

Repealing health law would mean more benefits for members of Congress — Repealing President Obama's healthcare law would let members of Congress keep their government-subsidized insurance coverage after they retire — a benefit they lost under the health law.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Christopher Andersen / NY Daily News:

Mick Jagger's affair with David Bowie revealed in new book: They ‘were really sexually obsessed with each other’ — Bowie's wife found them in bed, backup singer and Playboy model claimed to share their bed — David Bowie's “Ziggy Stardust” era had Jagger wondering if this was the future.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller and Althouse

Associated Press:

As homicides spike, Chicago mayor defends tactics — CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago's mayor and police superintendent publicly defended their new gang-fighting strategy Monday amid growing criticism that the changes are failing and a big reason why the city's homicide rate has soared this year.

Discussion: New York Magazine and JONATHAN TURLEY

Robert Frank / CNBC.com Links List Headlines:

In Maryland, Higher Taxes Chase Out Rich: Study — A new report says wealthy Maryland residents may be moving out due to recent tax hikes - a finding that is sure to escalate the battle over taxing the American rich. — The study, by the anti-tax group Change Maryland …

Discussion: Hot Air

Al Baker / New York Times:

70 Students to Retake Exams After Cheating Case — Seventy students were involved in a pattern of smartphone-enabled cheating last month at Stuyvesant High School, New York City officials said Monday, describing an episode that has blemished one of the country's most prestigious public schools.

Discussion: Unfogged and New York Magazine

Amanda Becker / Roll Call:

House Ethics Will Probe Shelley Berkley's Role in Saving Transplant Program — The House Ethics Committee said today it will investigate whether Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) broke any ethics rules or laws when she intervened to save a kidney transplant program at a hospital where her physician husband had a lucrative contract.

Discussion: RedState

Howard Berkes / NPR:

As Mine Protections Fail, Black Lung Cases Surge … Coal miners are tested for black lung at a clinic in West Virginia. — Part one of a two-part series. — It wasn't supposed to happen to coal miners in Mark McCowan's generation. It wasn't supposed to strike so early and so hard.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money and ThinkProgress