memeorandum: The 22-Year War Between George H.W. Bush and Grover Norquist (David Weigel/Slate)

6:20 PM ET, July 13, 2012

Top Items:

Do Bain SEC documents suggest Mitt Romney is a criminal? — “Romney and Bain claim that he was not involved with Bain, but Bain and its portfolio companies in their required filings under the Securities Exchange Act continuously certified to the Securities and Exchange Commission say precisely …

WJLA-TV:

President Obama says Romney should answer Bain Capital questions — In an exclusive interview, President Barack Obama tells ABC7's Scott Thuman that GOP challenger Mitt Romney should answer questions about Bain Capital and his time there. Here's a transcript of the interview.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Weekly Standard, Eclectablog, National Review and Business Insider

BuzzFeed:

McDonnell Declares Bain Off Limits — Drawing a line in 1999. — McDonnell and Romney in June. — Image by JASON REED / Reuters — WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia — Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a leading Republican figure, said Friday that Mitt Romney's time at the helm of Bain Capital …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, American Prospect, ABCNEWS, Washington Monthly, The Maddow Blog and Daily Kos

Jed Lewison / Daily Kos:

Bain Capital press release described Romney as ‘part-time’ in July, 1999 — A July 19, 1999 press release distributed on behalf of Regan Communications and Bain Capital described Mitt Romney as the “Bain Capital CEO” and said he was “on a part-time leave of absence to head the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee.”

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and ThinkProgress

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Kessler: He's Drowning Not Waving — Glenn Kessler, WaPo's fact-checker, has a detailed examination of the latest Globe story. Why he thinks criminal charges are extremely unlikely: … Throughout, Kessler bizarrely asserts that telling the SEC that someone is the CEO and sole owner of a company, when he isn't, is no big deal.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

J. Bradford DeLong / Brad DeLong:

Is This the Silliest Thing Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post Has Ever Written? — Suggestions for sillier things welcome: … Give it up, Glenn. — It would be very unusual for somebody to have the titles of not just “CEO” but “President”, “Chairman of the Board” and be “sole stockholder” …

Amie Parnes / The Hill:

Obama mocks GOP health law repeal votes — VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — President Obama mocked Republicans on Friday for seeking to repeal the healthcare law 33 times instead of working to pass a tax extension that would help the middle class. — Kicking off a two-day, five-stop bus tour in Virginia …

Discussion: CNN and Rush Limbaugh

Steve Kornacki / Salon:

Why Mitt's story doesn't add up — What Romney said a decade ago makes a lot more sense than what he's saying now — When the Boston Globe reported yesterday that Mitt Romney continued to be listed as Bain Capital's president, CEO, chairman and sole shareholder on SEC documents long …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Maddow Blog, The Mahablog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, The Reaction, The Hinterland Gazette, Trail Blazers Blog, Swampland, Taegan Goddard's …, Prairie Weather and The Page, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Team Romney: Obama campaign is ‘unraveling’ — A top Romney spokesperson said the Obama campaign's allegations that he misled the public over his tenure at Bain Capital are “reckless and wild” and a sign that the president's campaign is “unraveling.” — “The only confusion that there is on this issue …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and National Review

Brooks Jackson / FactCheck.org:

Romney's Bain Years: New Evidence, Same Conclusion — New reporting cites strong evidence that Mitt Romney wasn't actively managing Bain Capital while he was running the Olympics, despite what the Obama campaign (and some news reports) would have voters believe.

Discussion: LifeNews.com, National Review, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, News Desk, The Daily Dish, US Politics, Washington Post, msnbc.com and CNN, more at Mediagazer »

Alexander Burns / Politico:
Mitt Romney did business in Massachusetts during Olympics

Discussion: CNN, New York Magazine, Boston Globe, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, The Huffington Post and Business Insider

Ginger Gibsonand Dylan Byers / Politico:
Mitt Romney set for slew of TV sit-downs

Discussion: News Desk, Business Insider, CNN, The Hinterland Gazette and Online NewsHour

Hunter Walker / Politicker:
Mitt Romney's Shifting Bain Story

Discussion: BuzzFeed and The Maddow Blog

Jonathan Easley / The Hill: Romney surrogate: ‘Can you imagine how dumb this president is?’

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Romney to give television interviews today

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Guy Benson / Townhall.com:
Obama Deputy Campaign Manager: Romney Might Be A Felon, You Know

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air, Fox News, NewsBusters.org and Washington Examiner

CBS News:
Obama: Romney not necessarily qualified to think about “economy as a whole”

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Guardian, Weasel Zippers, Riehl World View, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Lonely Conservative, Mediaite and Weekly Standard

Washington Examiner:
Morning Examiner: Why is Obama granting amnesty to a Wall Street felon?

Discussion: New York Magazine, Boston Globe, Washington Post and CNN

BuzzFeed:

Audio Exclusive: The Speech That Landed Condi On Romney's List — A call to “storm Washington D.C.” Speculation in Park City that “she wants to be Vice President.” — With The Drudge Report driving speculation that Condoleezza Rice is now a leading contender in the Republican veepstakes …

Discussion: VDARE.com, Mother Jones, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, American Spectator, Wonkette, Washington Wire, ABCNEWS, New York Magazine, Althouse, Drudge Report, The PJ Tatler and The Gateway Pundit

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Palin says Rice's view on abortion shouldn't disqualify her as VP

Discussion: Riehl World View

Condoleezza Rice / CNN:
TRENDING: Report sparks speculation of Rice as Romney running mate

Discussion: Fox News and Shakesville

PARADE Magazine:

Preview: The Exclusive PARADE Interview With President and Mrs. Bush — Nineteen years after leaving the White House, George H. W. Bush, 88, is seeing his legacy burnished. In an exclusive interview in this Sunday's issue of PARADE, the former president and his wife, Barbara, 87 …

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Politico, ThinkProgress, NewsBusters.org and Riehl World View

David Weigel / Slate:

The 22-Year War Between George H.W. Bush and Grover Norquist … - Josh Levin: Penn State Should Cancel Its Football Program for a Few Seasons — Is It Legal for Airlines To Let Richer Passengers Go Through Airport Security First? — Yglesias: Amtrak's $151 Billion Plan for High-

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Fox News:

Republicans accuse HHS of gutting welfare reform with quiet policy change — June 20, 2012: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speaks at Covenant Community Care, Inc. in Detroit.AP — Republicans are accusing the Obama administration of unilaterally gutting welfare reform …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Mickey Kaus / The Daily Caller:
Obama weakens welfare reform (again): Here are some quick initial …

Discussion: The Foundry, americanthinker.com, Wizbang and The Lonely Conservative

acf.hhs.gov:
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Information Memorandum

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Heritage Foundation, National Review, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Wake up America, Washington Free Beacon and americanthinker.com

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

13 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever — This week, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. On its own, such a vote would be unremarkable. Republicans control the House, they oppose President Obama's health reform law, and so they voted to get rid of it.

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Influence Alley and rubber hose

David Brooks / New York Times:

Why Our Elites Stink — Through most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Protestant Establishment sat atop the American power structure. A relatively small network of white Protestant men dominated the universities, the world of finance, the local country clubs and even high government service.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Daniel W. Drezner, Wonkette, The American Conservative, Gawker, Balloon Juice and Connecting.the.Dots

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:

Ed Rendell — Team Obama went “a little bit too far with the felony business” — The only positive thing President Obama has going for him with swing voters is that they tend to like him personally. I'm not sure why, but assume it's some combination of his race, the positive initial impression he made …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Instapundit and Jammie Wearing Fools

Ktla-Ltv / ktla.com:

Downtown L.A. Erupts into Violence During Art Walk — LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — Demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at LAPD officers as police and protesters squared off in downtown Los Angeles late Thursday night. — At least 20 arrests were made and four officers were injured.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Firedoglake

Jim Lindgren / The Volokh Conspiracy:

Over 30% of President Obama's 2009-2011 Gross Income Came From Foreign Sources — I find it strange that the Obama campaign would be making so much of Romney's income from foreign sources when Obama's foreign source income appears to be a much bigger percentage of his income over the last few years.

Discussion: Clayton Cramer's Blog

Matt Vespa / NewsBusters.org:

Open Thread: Unintentionally Hilarious Trailer for Pro-Obama Movie — It's Friday, so what better way to kick off the weekend than a hilarious trailer promoting an over-the-top pro-Obama movie. Judging by the 2:30-long trailer for The Obama Effect, the movie, set in 2008 …

Discussion: Twitchy, Michelle Malkin, TheBlaze.com and Ed Driscoll

Jessica Silver-Greenberg / DealBook:

JPMorgan Fears Traders Obscured Losses in First Quarter — Updated — JPMorgan Chase, which reported its second-quarter results on Friday, disclosed that the losses on a soured credit bet could mount to more than $7 billion, as the nation's largest bank indicated that traders …