memeorandum: Judge guts vote registration law (Harvey Rice/Houston Chronicle)

7:00 PM ET, August 3, 2012

Top Items:

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Economy Creates 163,000 New Jobs but Rate Rises to 8.3% — The U.S. economy followed up a weak second quarter by creating more jobs than expected with 163,000 new positions added in July, but the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent. — Markets reacted positively to the announcement …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, CNN, The Democratic Daily, The Other McCain, First Read, Questions and Observations, Associated Press, Weasel Zippers, The Political Carnival, IMAO, The Mental Recession, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, The PJ Tatler, Washington Free Beacon, FT Alphaville and Washington Examiner

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:

July jobs report: America's labor market depression continues — Only in a world of lowered, New Normal expectations was the July jobs report anything less than another disaster for U.S. workers. Nonfarm payrolls rose 163,000 last month as the unemployment rate rose to 8.3%.

Discussion: Instapundit, USA Today, Washington Wire, Hot Air, Daily Pundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Rush Limbaugh, The Gateway Pundit, Sense of Events, The PJ Tatler, Blue Crab Boulevard and Speaker.gov

Alan B. Krueger / White House.gov Blog:
The Employment Situation in July

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, zerohedge.com/fullrss2.xml, USA Today, Weasel Zippers, Obama 2012 Blog, Americans for Tax Reform …, RNC Research, Power Line, CNBC, The PJ Tatler, Washington Examiner, AEIdeas and Planet Washington

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
RNC sends DNC 'you didn't bake this' Obama birthday cake

Discussion: Politico, ABCNEWS and USA Today

The Hamilton Project / Papers:
A Record Decline in Government Jobs: Implications for the Economy and America's Workforce

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Calculated Risk and ThinkProgress

Binyamin Appelbaum / Economix:
Beware the Jobs Report of July

Discussion: Felix Salmon, ThinkProgress, Calculated Risk, The Political Carnival, Business Insider, American Prospect, FiveThirtyEight, AEIdeas, Firedoglake, The Daily Dish, Daily Kos and Washington Monthly

Terence P. Jeffrey / CNSNews:
195,000 Fewer Americans Had Jobs in July; 150,000 Dropped Out of Labor Force

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, JOSHUAPUNDIT, protein wisdom and Washington Examiner

Neil Shah / Wall Street Journal:
Hiring Climbs but Jobless Rate Ticks Up

Discussion: NY Daily News, Real Time Economics, CNNMoney.com, FOX News Radio, Quite Normal, Newsy and americanthinker.com

Catherine Rampell / New York Times:
Pace of Hiring Rose in July, but Jobless Rate Ticked Up

Discussion: Politico, Taylor Marsh, The Caucus, Jared Bernstein, Economix, Via Meadia, Outside the Beltway, The New Republic, BBC and JustOneMinute

Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:
Job growth steps up, but jobless rate rises

Discussion: Indecision Forever

Tampa Bay Fl News:

Porn star Jenna Jameson endorses Romney — “I'm very looking forward to a Republican being back in office,” Jameson said while sipping champagne in a VIP room at Gold Club in the city's South of Market neighborhood. “When you're rich, you want a Republican in office.”

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Los Angeles Times, The Political Carnival, Outside the Beltway, The Moderate Voice, Indecision Forever, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The Raw Story, Balloon Juice and The Impolitic

Bdisbrow / CBS San Francisco:

Porn Star Jenna Jameson Endorses Romney As Candidate For Rich In SF — SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - Porn star Jenna Jameson chose a familiar stage to make her endorsement for the 2012 presidential election Thursday night. At a San Francisco strip club, the former adult actress and stage performer …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Politicker, Newsy, The Daily Caller and Gawker

Caitlin McDevitt / Reuters:
Jenna Jameson supporting Mitt Romney

Discussion: Althouse

Andrew Kirell / Mediaite:
‘Queen Of Porn’ Jenna Jameson Endorses Romney: 'When You're Rich, You Want A Republican In Office'

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Jawa Report

Emily Schultheis / Politico:

Romney: Chick-Fil-A, Huma Abedin ‘not ... part of my campaign’ — POLITICO's Ginger Gibson reports from the Romney press avail in Vegas:

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Towleroad News #gay

Phil Villarreal / Arizona Daily Star:

Tucson exec loses job over anti-Chick-fil-A rant in drive-thru — An executive at a medical manufacturing firm lost his job after a YouTube video of him verbally ambushing a young employee at a Tucson Chick-fil-A went viral. — Adam Smith, formerly Chief Financial Officer at Vante …

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, Little Green Footballs, Los Angeles Times, Patterico's Pontifications, Gawker, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, BREITBART.COM and BuzzFeed

David Seifman / New York Post:
Mayor blasts Chick-fil-A critics, says trying to shutter store undermines Constitution

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air, Reuters, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Business Insider and Gothamist

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:

Romney rips Reid, says he's paid ‘a lot of taxes’ — Mitt Romney said he has “paid taxes every year, and a lot of taxes” when asked about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) recent accusations that he hadn't paid any. — “Categorically, I have paid taxes every year and a lot of taxes …

Discussion: CNN, National Review, Politico and GOP 12

Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPMDC — Dem Lawmakers Want Answers About Romney's Enormous IRA — Leading House Democrats want to turn Mitt Romney's enormous IRA into more than just a political problem. — Romney's most recent financial disclosure form revealed that his tax-deferred individual retirement account holds upwards …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Politicker and The Mahablog

Sam Youngman / Reuters:
Romney says paid “a lot of taxes” every year

Discussion: ABCNEWS and The Political Carnival

TBogg:
Harry's Game

Discussion: New York Times, The Atlantic Online, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Reality-Based Community, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Rafalca Delays VP Pick — Almost two weeks ago, I speculated on Fox News Sunday that Mitt Romney would announce his vice presidential pick early next week, on August 6 or 7. It was, if I may say, a reasonably well-informed forecast at the time. But I didn't take into account the existence …

Harvey Rice / Houston Chronicle:

Judge guts vote registration law — GALVESTON - A federal judge in Galveston on Thursday partially blocked new Texas registration laws that critics say amount to vote suppression because they prevent large voter registration drives. — U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa blocked the state …

Discussion: JOSHUAPUNDIT and ThinkProgress

Tomer Ovadia / Politico:

Peter King: White House leaked Syrian rebel aid news — Rep. Peter King alleged Friday that “all the evidence points towards the White House” as the source of recent reports that President Barack Obama signed a secret order to provide U.S. support to Syrian rebels — and that the information was leaked to “enhance” Obama's reputation.

Discussion: CNN and Algemeiner.com

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Bombshell: Obama chief of staff Daley briefed on Solyndra concerns six months before bankruptcy

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, ABCNEWS, The PJ Tatler, Sister Toldjah, Pirate's Cove, National Review and Washington Free Beacon

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:

New SuperPAC, FightBigotry.com, Smears President Obama For ‘Racism Against White Folks’ — FightBigotry.com, a new Super PAC registered with the Federal Election Commission this week, makes no bones about its aim. It intends to run an attack ad that it says will hit President Barack Obama for …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wonkette, Shakesville, Little Green Footballs and Joe. My. God.

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:

Dems Nominate Anti-Gay Conspiracy Theorist for Senate — Update, 2:55 p.m.: Via the Tennessean, the Tennessee Democratic party has condemned Clayton, saying in a statement that he is “associated with a known hate group” (a reference to Public Advocate of the United States) …

Discussion: Tennessean.com, Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed, The Daily Caller, Nashville Scene and Wonkette

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Obama's Magic Number: 316,000 — A rhetorical milestone appears to be in reach. — With three months to Election Day, today's tepidly positive July jobs report has prompted Republican attacks on an increased unemployment rate and relief from the Administration that it could have been worse.

Discussion: Mediaite and Joe. My. God.

Bloomberg:

The Bad History Behind 'You Didn't Build That' — The controversy surrounding President Barack Obama's admonishment that “if you've got a business — you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen” has defied the usual election-year pattern. — Normally a political faux pas lasts little more than a news cycle.

Discussion: The New Editor

BuzzFeed:

Can Obama's “Chemical Warfare” Keep The White Vote Down? — John Ellis on the president's negative campaign. Romney hasn't figured out an antidote. — Image by Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images — President Barack Obama's re-election campaign has spent more than $100 million on advertising over the last 3 months.

Discussion: Wonkette and Mother Jones

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Heeding critics, Mitt sharpens pitch for long run — Popular in Politics — The Romney campaign likes to project an image of great confidence. It sees itself as an organization that doesn't panic when things go wrong and doesn't jump when critics, especially nervous Republicans, urge Romney to change direction.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, NationalJournal.com and ABCNEWS

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Why Washington Accepts Mass Unemployment — Good news! The economy added 163,000 jobs last month, just a bit over the level required to keep up with population growth. A return to a free fall now seems less likely. On the other hand, there is the small footnote that the return to full employment is nowhere in sight.

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, Brad DeLong, The Confluence, New York Times and The Agonist

Sean Gardiner / Wall Street Journal:

City Declines to Defend Sued Officer — New York City has distanced itself from a high-ranking police official accused of firing pepper spray at Occupy Wall Street protesters, taking the unusual step of declining to defend him in a civil lawsuit over the incident.

Discussion: City Room, The Raw Story, ANIMAL, emptywheel and New York Magazine