memeorandum: Syria blast strikes at heart of Assad's rule (AJE

8:30 PM ET, July 18, 2012

Top Items:

How The Romney Campaign Decided To Take The Gloves Off — Surrogates will bring up cocaine, Fast and Furious, and ties to Blagojevich, one aide says. What Romneyland is thinking. — Image by Win McNamee / Getty Images — IRWIN, Penn. — Standing before hundreds of roaring partisans …

Zach Carter / The Huffington Post:

Mitt Romney Taxes For 2010 Not Fully Disclosed … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Politics, Taxes , Video, Mitt Romney Tax Returns, Mitt Romney Taxes, Election 2012, Fbar, Mitt Romney 2012, Mitt Romney Taxes 2010, Politics News

Discussion: New York Magazine, Firedoglake, Start Making Sense, Salon, Discourse.net and Daily Kos

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

“Vetting” Genie Out of the Bottle — I don't want to over-react to John Sunnunu's bizarre outburst yesterday, or put too much weight on McKay Coppins' report today that it represented a Romney campaign decision to “take the gloves off” and go nuclear on the president.

Discussion: Washington Post

Abby Huntsman / The Huffington Post:

Mitt Romney Never Thought He'd Have To Release Tax Returns: Bain Sources … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Elections 2012, Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Video, Mitt Romney Bain Capital, Mitt Romney Tax Returns, Mitt Romney Taxes, Bain Capital, Mitt Romney 2012, Mitt Romney Quit, Politics News

Discussion: Reuters, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos, AEIdeas and Guardian

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Romney camp: ‘Not true’ he paid $0 in taxes — With Mitt Romney declining to release additional years of personal tax returns, the Obama campaign and an array of commentators have floated the possibility that Romney may not have paid any taxes at all in one year or another.

Discussion: CNN, National Review, US Politics, Jezebel and Angry Black Lady Chronicles

CNN:

Why won't Romney release more tax returns? — Editor's note: Edward D. Kleinbard is a professor at Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California. He is the former chief of staff of Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. Peter C. Canellos, a lawyer, is former chair of the New York State Bar Association Tax Section.

Discussion: Guardian and Towleroad News #gay

CNN:
Another day on the trail: Dancing horses, cronyism

Discussion: Politico, The Caucus, ABCNEWS, ABCNEWS, The Impolitic and msnbc.com

Steve M. / No More Mister Nice Blog:
DEAD ANDY BREITBART IS NOW ROMNEY'S TOP CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Weasel Zippers, Balloon Juice and Booman Tribune

Seema Mehta / Los Angeles Times:
Romney campaign's attacks on Obama play on ‘birther’ fears

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard, ABCNEWS, The Lonely Conservative, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, NewsBusters.org, Patterico's Pontifications, Hot Air, American Prospect and The Hinterland Gazette

BuzzFeed:
Olympics Documents, Intro Described Romney As Bain CEO

Discussion: Guardian and Balloon Juice

CNN:
Americans view Romney's campaign more unfavorably than Obama's

Discussion: Politico, The Caucus, Politicker, Connecting.the.Dots, The Daily Dish, The Moderate Voice and Washington Examiner

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Is Team Romney Becoming Unhinged?

Discussion: BuzzFeed, msnbc.com and The Mahablog

Latino Decisions:

New poll: After SB1070 decision Obama widens lead over Romney among Latinos — Latino Decisions released new national poll of Latino registered voters showing Barack Obama winning 70% of the Latino vote compared to 22% for Mitt Romney. The poll, commissioned by the Center …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, American Prospect, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, The Reaction, Naked Politics and The Hinterland Gazette

New York Times:

Poll Shows Economic Fears Undercutting Obama Support — Declining confidence in the nation's economic prospects appears to be the most powerful force influencing voters as the presidential election gears up, undercutting key measures of support for President Obama and helping give his Republican challenger …

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Obama lead in New Mexico declining — PPP's newest New Mexico poll finds the race for President there getting a lot more competitive. Barack Obama continues to lead but his advantage is down to 5 points at 49-44, a far cry from the leads of 14 and 15 points he had on our previous two polls of the state.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Politico and Business Insider

Christopher Kolk / People.com:

Anthony Weiner Shares a Family Photo — What's next for former New York congressman Anthony Weiner? Baby's first birthday, of course. — “I'm very happy in my present life,” Weiner, 47, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. “The only next dramatic steps I'm planning on are Jordan's first …

Discussion: CNN, CBS News, Politicker, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, CBS New York, Politico, Guardian, The Daily Caller and New York Magazine

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Bachmann: Letter on Clinton aide was ‘distorted’

Discussion: Politico and Wonkette

Jason Linkins / The Huffington Post:
Michele Bachmann Points To Huma Abedin As Muslim Brotherhood Infiltrator

Discussion: Mediaite, ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, ABCNEWS, ansamed.info, New York Magazine and Informed Comment

Haaretz:

7 reported killed in terror attack against Israelis in Bulgaria — Haaretz brings you minute-by-minute updates on the deadly attack; Israeli rescue services en route to country; Terror attack occurs on 18th anniversary of attack on Jewish community in Buenos Aires.

Discussion: Ynetnews, Fox News, Guardian, Washington Free Beacon, msnbc.com, The Gateway Pundit, Elder of Ziyon, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Business Insider, The Spectacle Blog, Atlas Shrugs, Mondoweiss and The Jawa Report

Marcus Dysch / thejc.com:
The scene at the airport — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu …

Discussion: Reuters, Taylor Marsh, Weasel Zippers and Atlas Shrugs

Jerusalem Post:
5 dead in suicide bombing on Israeli bus in Bulgaria

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools and Israel Matzav

CNN:

CNN's GUT CHECK for July 18, 2012 — n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle — JUST IN ... TIM PAWLENTY MAKES HIS CASE, SAYS FLASHINESS DOESN'T GAS UP YOUR CAR: — Neil Cavuto: How would you defend yourself from that criticism that maybe Mitt Romney needs a flashy running mate?

Discussion: Politico and The Huffington Post

Josh Gerstein / Politico: White House: Obama's plate too full for Jobs Council

New York Times:

Blast Kills Core Syrian Security Officials — BEIRUT, Lebanon — An explosion that Syria state television called a suicide bomb attack killed at least three top aides to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Wednesday including the defense minister and Mr. Assad's powerful brother-in-law.

Discussion: Telegraph, Wired, The PJ Tatler, Taking Note, Weekly Standard, Outside the Beltway, JOSHUAPUNDIT, americanthinker.com, Taylor Marsh, News Desk, Via Meadia and Mother Jones

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
A Brief Reminder: Suicide Bombing is Not a Hopeful Sign

Discussion: National Review

Hubble Smith / Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Amonix closes North Las Vegas solar plant after 14 months, heavy federal subsidies — The Amonix solar manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas, heavily financed under an Obama administration energy initiative, has closed its 214,000-square-foot facility 14 months after it opened.

Discussion: Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, The Heritage Foundation, Las Vegas Sun Blogs, Red Alert Politics and Washington Examiner

Russ Burlingame / ComicBook.com:

Rush Limbaugh: Bane's Creator Weighs In — Not long after Rush Limbaugh was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter this afternoon as asserting that the use of longtime DC Comics villain Bane in the upcoming Batman film The Dark Knight Rises was in fact a subtle jab at Bain Capital co-founder Mitt Romney …

Discussion: The Hill, The New Republic, Hollywood Reporter, Washington Examiner, Rush Limbaugh, The Hinterland Gazette and Gawker

Ben Geman / E2-Wire:

Hacker evades British cops in ‘climate-gate’ probe — British police say their investigation of the 2009 theft of climate scientists' emails from a prominent U.K. research institute will end without catching the hacker. — The hacking from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) …

Discussion: Monkey Wrenching America

Norfolk Constabulary:
Police closes UEA investigation

Discussion: Green, Mother Jones, Watts Up With That? and Jammie Wearing Fools

Tim Mak / Politico:

Nancy Pelosi: Democrats should skip the convention — House minority leader Nancy Pelosi says that Democratic members should stay home and campaign in their districts rather than go to the party's national convention in North Carolina. — “I'm not encouraging anyone to go to the convention …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Taylor Marsh, Weekly Standard, The Right Scoop, Althouse, The Gateway Pundit and Jammie Wearing Fools

Brennan Center for Justice:

The Challenge of Obtaining Voter Identification — PUBLICATIONS — Ten states now have unprecedented restrictive voter ID laws. Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin all require citizens to produce specific types …

Discussion: ACS Blog, Washington Post, The BRAD BLOG, American Prospect, Firedoglake, Right Now, ThinkProgress and Politico

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Mack says Smith not a real journalist — The war between Rep. Connie Mack and Tampa Bay Times political editor Adam Smith continued today when the Republican representative told Smith to his face that he wasn't a real journalist. — As my colleage Charlie Mahtesian has reported …

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, Naked Politics and Connie Mack for Senate

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:

The chart that shows just how much reelection trouble Obama is in — A daisy chain of political disaster seems to be forming for President Obama, says political analyst Dan Clifton at Strategas Research. Clifton suggests that “there seems to be a relationship between consumer confidence and whether a president gets reelected.

Discussion: Washington Post

Hunter Walker / Politicker:

Former Navy SEAL Launches PAC To Fight Obama — Ryan Zinke in his Navy days. (Photo: IraqVetsForCongress.com) — Today, Ryan Zinke, an ex-Navy SEAL and Montana State Senator, announced the launch of Special Operations for America, a political action committee dedicated to “the election of Mitt Romney and like-minded candidates.”

Discussion: Hot Air and Atlas Shrugs