memeorandum: Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano favored women pals for jobs: lawsuit (Bruce Golding/New York Post)

1:15 PM ET, August 10, 2012

Top Items:

Mike Allen / Politico:

Exclusive: Obama to include Republicans in hard-hitting convention — Advisers to President Barack Obama are scripting a Democratic National Convention featuring several Republicans in a prime-time appeal to independents — and planning a blistering portrayal of Mitt Romney as a heartless aristocrat who …

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, The Caucus, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Washington Post, Connecting.the.Dots, Towleroad News #gay, The Political Carnival, The Hill and Jammie Wearing Fools

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Republican Party Chairman: Americans Who Want Romney To Release More Tax Returns Are The New Birthers — RNC Chairman Reince Priebus compared the overwhelming majority of Americans — including a growing number of Republicans — calling on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns to birthers …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, CNN and Politico

Dana Blanton / Fox News:

Fox News poll: Obama's lead grows as Romney's support slips — Mitt Romney has had a tough couple of weeks on the campaign trail — and it shows in the latest Fox News poll. After a barrage of campaign ads, negative news coverage of his overseas trip and ongoing talk about his tax returns …

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:

Obama Is Ahead, but Is He Winning? — The polls put the incumbent in the lead, but there are plenty of reasons for Republicans to be optimistic — and Democrats to be jittery. — Reuters — Three months remain until election day, and President Obama narrowly leads in nearly every national poll.

Discussion: Brad DeLong

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Romney May Have No Choice But to Pick Paul Ryan — Conservative anxiety has stalked Mitt Romney since the outset of his presidential campaign, expressing itself in a series of hopes that a nominee who was not Romney might win, and then, after his nomination became inevitable …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and CBS News

BuzzFeed:
Conservative Group Launches “Dump Romney” Campaign

Discussion: Daily Kos, Influence Alley, Joe. My. God., ABCNEWS, The Hinterland Gazette, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Impolitic

CNN:
CNN Poll: Obama holds 7-point lead over Romney

Discussion: Politico, American Spectator, Talking Points Memo, The Lonely Conservative, Newsy, No More Mister Nice Blog, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Liberal Values, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette, National Review, Taegan Goddard's …, USA Today and Joe. My. God.

CNN:
CNN Poll: Optimism on the economy drops

Discussion: Politico

Kos / Daily Kos:

It's Jon Huntsman Sr, right Harry? — Harry Reid's source. Probably. — Harry Reid has a Republican source who has told him that Mitt Romney didn't pay taxes in 10 years. Who could he possibly known that would have that information? Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's dad sounds like the likely source.

Discussion: Firedoglake, BuzzFeed, The Moderate Voice, New York Magazine, Prairie Weather, The Maddow Blog, Booman Tribune and The Hinterland Gazette

Mike McIntire / New York Times:

In Real Estate Deal, Romney Made His Loss a Couple's Gain — MISSOURI CITY, Tex. — Look closely and it is there, sandwiched between Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Partners II and D3 Family Bulldog Fund: the mortgage on Timothy and Betty Stamps's modest home on Gentle Bend Drive here.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Lonely Conservative, National Review, The Daily Caller, Pundit & Pundette, New York Magazine, Power Line, The Caucus and Riehl World View

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Harry Reid's Mitt Romney Tax Source A Republican, Says Top Aide

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, The Impolitic, CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, The Reaction, Newsy, Ballot Box, The Political Carnival, The New Republic, Gawker, Mother Jones, Hot Air and Balloon Juice

The Onion:

‘Romney Murdered JonBenét Ramsey,’ New Obama Campaign Ad Alleges — CHICAGO—With campaign rhetoric becoming increasingly heated and both presidential nominees releasing more attack ads, a new 30-second spot from the Obama campaign this week accuses his opponent Mitt Romney of committing …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller, RedState, americanthinker.com, New York Magazine, Washington Wire and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:

The Postmodern President — The challenge is finding anything his campaign says that is true. — President Obama spent his formative years in academia, so he's no doubt familiar with postmodernism, the literary theory that rejects objective reality and insists instead that everything …

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review and Betsy's Page

BuzzFeed:
Top Romney Aide: Obama Has “Lost His Credibility”

Discussion: Mediaite

Dylan Byers / Politico:
MSNBC: Romney a ‘yes,’ Obama ‘no’

Discussion: CNN, Power Line, Chicago Tribune, AEIdeas, Business Insider and The Daily Beast

Bruce Golding / New York Post:

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano favored women pals for jobs: lawsuit — A veteran US law-enforcement official has filed a blockbuster discrimination lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, charging she pushed him aside to make way for a less-qualified woman who's …

Discussion: Politico, The Gateway Pundit, Wonkette, The Hinterland Gazette and Clayton Cramer's Blog

NY Daily News:

Janet Napolitano-run Homeland Security treated male staffers like lapdogs, federal discrimination lawsuit charges — James Hayes Jr., who now is New York's top Homeland Security cop, claims Napolitano filled top spots in Washington, D.C., with two of her gal pals who were bent on tormenting male employees.

Discussion: Debbie Schlussel

Debbie Schlussel: EXCLUSIVE: Top NY Homeland Security Cop Sues Napolitano; Alleges Obama DHS Officials' Anti …

Agoldberg / The Smoking Gun:

Zimmerman Prosecutors In Huge Screw-Up — Photo of dead Trayvon Martin, college docs mistakenly released — In an embarrassing screw-up, Florida prosecutors today accidentally distributed a post-mortem photo of Trayvon Martin as well as copies of George Zimmerman's college records …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Mediaite, Gawker and New York Magazine

Super User / gzlegalcase.com:
There Will Be A “Stand Your Ground” Hearing in the George Zimmerman Case

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Scared Monkeys, newsfeed.time.com, Business Insider and NPR

Rene Stutzman / Orlando Sentinel:
Can Zimmerman win ‘stand your ground’ hearing?

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos and Outside the Beltway

Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:

The Killing — The Massachusetts multimillionaire who won his party's nomination largely on perceptions of “electability” had become the target of a ferocious blitz of negative advertising. Partisans and media decried many of the attacks as misleading or false.

Discussion: Politico, Taking Note and Washington Post

Robert Farley / FactCheck.org:
Is Romney to Blame for Cancer Death?

Discussion: CNN, USA Today, Townhall.com, ABCNEWS and Wizbang

Byron Tau / Politico:
Obama camp acknowledges knowing man's story (Updated)

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Strata-Sphere, Washington Examiner, Right Wing News, The Hill, The Caucus, First Read, Politicker, iOwnTheWorld.com, American Power, Wake up America and Investor's Business Daily

Wall Street Journal:

Noonan: A Nation That Believes Nothing — Romney doesn't need to talk about America becoming like Europe—he needs to warn us about America becoming like California. — It's been a week marked by mistakes, some new and some continuing. — The pro-Obama Super PAC ad that essentially blames Mitt Romney …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, No More Mister Nice Blog and Smartypants

John Fund / National Review:

The Great VP Fake-Out — This week saw media scrutiny of Mitt Romney ratchet up as reporters were allowed to follow him outside his scheduled public events. Everyone wants to know who will be his pick for running mate, and he's not saying much. — The people who are talking are consultants …

Fareed Zakaria / Time:

The Case for Gun Control — After the ghastly act of terrorism against a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Aug. 5, Americans are pondering how to stop gun violence. We have decided that it is, in the words of New York Times columnist David Brooks, a problem of psychology, not sociology.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Questions and Observations and newsfeed.time.com, more at Mediagazer »

Ron Nixon / New York Times:

Citing Drought, U.S. Expects Lowest Corn Yield in 17 Years — WASHINGTON — This year's corn yield is projected to be the lowest since 1995, according to an Agriculture Department report that sharply cut production estimates for some major crops because of damage from the nation's worst drought in 56 years.

Discussion: Firedoglake and Green

Matthew Rosenberg / New York Times:

Attacker in Afghan Uniform Kills 3 U.S. Soldiers — KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan police officer shot and killed at least three American Special Forces soldiers on Friday after inviting them for a meal at a check post in southern Afghanistan, an Afghan official said, in what appeared …

Discussion: The Agonist and Outside the Beltway