memeorandum: Senate Dems growing cool to extending payroll tax holiday (Alexander Bolton/The Hill)

12:00 PM ET, July 20, 2012

Top Items:

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:

THE USUAL SUSPECTS: ABC'S ROSS, STEPHANOLPOULOS POINT TO TEA PARTY IN DARK KNIGHT SHOOTING — On Good Morning America, ABC News' Brian Ross and George Stephanolpoulos suggested that the Tea Party might be connected to the mass shootings early this morning in an Aurora, CO theater during …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Examiner, Weekly Standard, Patterico's Pontifications, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Right Scoop, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Jammie Wearing Fools

Pierre Thomas / ABCNEWS:

Aurora ‘Dark Knight’ Shooting Suspect Identified: James Holmes — The young man who is in custody after allegedly gunning down 12 people in a mass shooting spree overnight in Aurora, Colorado has been identified as local resident James Holmes, according to federal authorities.

Denver Post:

12 killed, dozens wounded at Aurora movie theater — AURORA — About 50 people were shot — 12 fatally — early Friday when a gunman opened fire at an Aurora movie theater during a premiere showing of the new Batman movie. — A 24-year-old man in is custody and an apartment building …

Discussion: The Other McCain, Mediaite, News Desk, The Mahablog, Poynter, Outside the Beltway, BBC, KUSA-TV, The Gateway Pundit, Gawker, Bark Bark Woof Woof, LewRockwell.com Blog, TheDenverChannel.com and Talking Points Memo, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

12 killed, 38 wounded in Colorado theater — (CNN) — A heavily armed gunman attacked an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater early Friday, tossing tear gas before opening fire on the terrified audience and killing 12 and wounding 38, authorities said. The theater was showing the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, Rolling Stone, CBS News, newsfeed.time.com, The Jawa Report, CANNONFIRE, Weasel Zippers, KUSA-TV, This Just In, NO QUARTER, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Vodkapundit, Joe. My. God., Guardian and Pundit & Pundette

Dennis de Groot / Twitchy:

Left blames Aurora shooting on Rush Limbaugh … Some Twitter users are speculating that the Aurora, Colo., shooter was inspired by comments made by Rush Limbaugh. The shooting occurred at a midnight premiere of the movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.” On Tuesday July 17, Limbaugh …

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Rush Limbaugh, News Desk and Guardian

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Bloomberg: What will Obama, Mitt do? — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has emerged as one of the nation's highest-profile supporters of gun control, demanded on Friday that the presidential candidates “stand up and tell us what they're going to do about” mass shootings.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Michelle Malkin, Weasel Zippers, americanthinker.com, The Lonely Conservative and Jammie Wearing Fools

Rebecca Leffler / Hollywood Reporter:

‘Dark Knight Rises’ Paris Premiere Cancelled Due to Colorado Shootings — Christopher Nolan and cast members Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway and Morgan Freeman also scrapped press interviews after learning of the Denver movie theater attack. — Plans for The Dark Knight Rises have fallen through …

Discussion: Guardian, Mediaite, Towleroad News #gay, Mashable! and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / Politico:

ABC draws possible Tea Party connection with alleged Aurora shooter — ABC News has suggested that James Holmes — the suspect in today's shooting in Aurora, Colorado — may have a connection to the Tea Party. — ABC's Brian Ross reported this morning that there is “a Jim Holmes of Aurora …

Discussion: Red Alert Politics, Poynter and nation.foxnews.com

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:
ABC Corrects Report: ABC News' Brian Ross Links Colorado Shooter To Local Tea Party

Discussion: Politico, Hit & Run and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

msnbc.com:
12 shot dead at ‘Dark Knight Rises’ screening in Aurora, Colorado

Discussion: ComicBook.com, Business Insider and Crooks and Liars

Associated Press:
Police: 14 dead in Colorado theater shooting

Discussion: Hot Air, CBS News, The Heritage Foundation, Althouse, Denver Post and Conservatives4Palin

Alyssa Rosenberg / ThinkProgress:
The Shootings at ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ in Colorado

Discussion: News Desk, Prairie Weather, Washington Monthly, Sean T. Collins and The Daily Dish

Doug Stanglin / USA Today:
Liveblog: 24-year-old suspect ID'd in ‘Dark Knight’ shooting

Discussion: CNN, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Guardian and newsfeed.time.com

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Why the Aurora shootings won't likely change the gun control debate

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS: Obama Responds to Colo. Shooting, Cancels Second Event

New York Times:
12 Killed in Shooting at Colorado Theater

Discussion: The Caucus, Firedoglake, Mediaite and Daily Kos

Associated Press:
12 dead in Colorado theater shooting

Discussion: Washington Examiner and US Politics

Jade Walker / The Huffington Post:
Aurora Shooting: Suspect Opens Fire At Colorado Movie Theater, Killing 14

Discussion: Firedoglake and Taylor Marsh

Clayton Sandell / ABCNEWS:
Aurora, Colorado Movie Theater Shooting: 12 Dead

Discussion: JustOneMinute, ABCNEWS, Fox News, Mediaite and Scared Monkeys

Jim Davis / Boston Globe:

Romney kept reins, bargained hard on severance — Shortly after Mitt Romney took a leave of absence from Bain Capital to run the Olympics in February 1999, he made a trip to Palm Beach, Fla. The firm Romney founded was meeting to celebrate its 15th anniversary as well as the men he had helped make extraordinarily wealthy.

First Read / msnbc.com:

First Thoughts: Politics takes a back seat — Politics takes a back seat to the tragic shooting in Colorado... With so much at stake in this election, the presidential contest has been so small as of late... Latest Romney TV ad hits Obama for “you didn't build that” remark …

Discussion: CNN, Taegan Goddard's … and Daily Kos

Aurora Shooting / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney Avoided Major Tax Hit By Shifting Stock Of Offshoring Firm

Discussion: Start Making Sense

CNN:

Campaigns pull ads after shooting — (CNN) - The campaigns for the two presidential candidates said Friday they were asking television stations to discontinue airing some political advertisements following a deadly shooting in Colorado. — Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney's campaign …

Discussion: The Rightnewz

Dylan Byers / Politico:
After Aurora, campaigns pull Colorado ads

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite and Daily Kos

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Obama, Romney offer support to victims of Colorado shootings

Discussion: Politico and ABCNEWS

Matt Taylor / Salon:
Obama's pot problem

Discussion: TalkLeft and Unqualified Offerings

Wall Street Journal:

Noonan: A Remedial Communication Class — Lessons from three recent failures, at the Olympics and on the campaign trail. — Thoughts on three recent failures to communicate: — In the controversy surrounding the uniforms of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, the problem isn't China.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:

Louie Gohmert: Aurora Shootings Result Of ‘Ongoing Attacks On Judeo-Christian Beliefs’ … FOLLOW: — Denver News, Aurora Shooting, Colorado Shooting, Dark Knight Shooting, James Holmes, Louie Gohmert, Aurora, Aurora News, Aurora Shooting 2012, Aurora Shootings, Aurora Theater Shooting …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mediaite, Hit & Run and Influence Alley

David Weigel / Slate:

Say the Magic Word — How partisans gave special meaning to Obama's words, “you didn't build that.” — President Obama speaking in Roanoke, Va. on July 13. In the following days, conservatives jumped on his remarks. — Why did it take so long for Mitt Romney's campaign to realize …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Mother Jones

Michael Grunwald / Swampland:

The Aurora Shooting: Sometimes There's Nothing Wrong With Politicizing a Tragedy — The telegenic schoolmarms we call pundits are all denouncing the politicization of the tragedy in Aurora, calling out the crass opportunists who would dare to use human suffering to advance their preferred public policy choices.

Discussion: Mediaite

Jay Cost / Weekly Standard:

Morning Jay: Are the Polls Skewed Toward Obama? — A topic that inevitably receives a lot of focus during election season is the partisan spread of the major media polls. Conservatives regularly complain that the polls are tilted against their side, and thus favor the Democrats. — They have a point.

Discussion: Betsy's Page and FiveThirtyEight