memeorandum: Obama jokes with NASA Curiosity crew: ‘Let me know right away’ if there are Martians (Alicia M. Cohn/The Hill)

2:35 PM ET, August 13, 2012

Top Items:

Catalina Camia / USA Today:

USAT/Gallup Poll: Paul Ryan gets low marks for VP — Americans don't believe Mitt Romney hit a home run with his choice of Paul Ryan as a running mate, a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, with more of the public giving him lower marks than high ones. — Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, GOP 12, Business Insider, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Political Carnival, Washington Post, Applesauce, BuzzFeed, Politico, The Hinterland Gazette, Little Green Footballs and CBS Miami

Emily Schultheis / Politico:

POLITICO-GW Battleground Poll: Tied up — The race for the White House remained in a dead heat just before Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate, a new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground poll finds. — The poll, conducted in the days leading up to the Ryan announcement …

Discussion: Washington Wire, USA Today, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Hot Air, New York Times and First Read

Sandra Sobieraj Westfall / People.com:

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan - and their Wives! - Open Up to PEOPLE — However tough and tight the race against President Obama gets this fall, Janna Ryan predicts that her husband Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney can count on one thing: fun. — PEOPLE was first to sit down with the freshly minted …

Discussion: USA Today, CBS News, Politico, Shakesville, The Page, ABCNEWS, The Hill and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Miller / Washington Post:

Understanding the Ryan plan — The striking thing about Paul Ryan's ascent is the gulf between his proposals and the way the media have characterized them. Since Mitt Romney named Ryan to the ticket on Saturday, the news has been filled with talk of the “ fiscal conservative ” (NPR) " …

Discussion: The New Republic, The Daily Beast, The Daily Banter, The Caucus, Firedoglake, USA Today and Balloon Juice

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Mitt Romney cancels Florida campaign stop, citing exhaustion — Mitt Romney is cancelling a planned campaign stop Monday in Orlando after a whirlwind weekend in which the presumptive Republican nominee introduced Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his running mate.

Discussion: ABCNEWS

David Weigel / Slate:

Paul Ryan's Ayn Rand Reader: Lesson One … - One Thing the 2012 Dream Team Has On the 1992 Dream Team - Yglesias: Is Taco Bell Trying To Turn Itself Into Chipotle? - From Glenn Beck to Ira Glass: Great Magazine Stories About Talk Radio - You Won't Believe the Nasty Things Guys Say to Women Playing Video Games

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Monthly, Guardian, Economist's View, nextnewdeal.net, Business Insider, Balloon Juice, Mediaite and Prairie Weather

Greta Van Susteren / Gretawire:

STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN ABOUT THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION — YOU SEE IT FIRST RIGHT HERE — “...Everything I said at the 2008 convention about then-candidate Obama still stands today, and in fact the predictions made about the very unqualified and inexperienced Community Organizer's plans to …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Reuters, Ballot Box, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, SQUATLO RANT, Marooned In Marin, Hotline On Call, BuzzFeed, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Politico, Conservatives4Palin, New York Magazine and The Buzz Florida Politics Feed

CNN:

New Romney TV ad second straight to attack Obama on welfare — (CNN) - Mitt Romney's first television commercial since announcing House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate brings back a claim first brought up last week: That President Barack Obama is altering …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, The New Republic and Hot Air

Orlando Sentinel:
Romney campaign cancels Monday visit to Orlando

Discussion: ABCNEWS

George F. Will / Washington Post:
Romney's presidential pick

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Politico, Betsy's Page, Via Meadia, RedState, Mediaite, BuzzFeed and Hot Air

Charles Mahtesian / Politico:
Inside the Ryan budget pushback

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Buffalo News and Daily Kos

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:
Paul Ryan Used His Office To Profit From the Financial Crisis

Discussion: Brad DeLong

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
Wonkbook: Everything you need to know about Paul Ryan

Discussion: Guardian, americanthinker.com, Politico and Eschaton

Sara Murray / Wall Street Journal:
Romney Takes Medicare Message to Florida

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Brad Plumer / Washington Post:
What Paul Ryan's budget actually cuts — and by how much

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Firedoglake, Mother Jones, The New Republic and The Hill

Jon Cohen / Washington Post:
Positive views of Ryan jump higher after pick

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Beast, National Review and The Hill

CBS News:
Romney & Ryan: The first interview

Discussion: Firedoglake, PoliticusUSA, Politico, Daily Kos and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Eric Platt / Business Insider:
Paul Ryan Dumped A Bunch Of Bank Stocks The Same Day As Congressional Leaders Met With Hank Paulson During The Crisis

Discussion: The Richmonder, The Daily Dish and OpenSecrets.org

Patrick Gavin / Politico:
Forget the budget: Paul Ryan is hot!

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Other McCain, Rumproast, Ed Driscoll, Los Angeles Times, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and TMZ.com

Paul Waldman / American Prospect:
Paul Ryan: The Next President of the United States?

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Joseph Curl / Washington Times:
Game-changing pick for Romney, worst nightmare for Obama

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wake up America, Mail Online, AEIdeas and Washington Post

Dylan Byers / Politico:
GOP again turns to Kristol ball

Discussion: CNN, EMILY's List, Media Decoder, The Week, The Reaction, Wall Street Journal and Daily Kos

BuzzFeed:
In Florida, Romney Hits Obama For Cutting Medicare

Discussion: Daily Kos and JOSHUAPUNDIT

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: Romney, Ryan play offense on Medicare in 60 Minutes appearance

Discussion: National Review, Althouse, Washington Post, ThinkProgress and Pundit & Pundette

Mittromney / YouTube:
Long History — mittromney Subscribe Subscribed Unsubscribe

Discussion: Politico, Washington Wire, ABCNEWS, ABCNEWS, Ballot Box, Balloon Juice, nation.foxnews.com and The Page

JSOnline:
VP candidate Ryan returns to Wisconsin to adoring crowd

Discussion: Weekly Standard, First Read, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, NO QUARTER, CBS News, The Gateway Pundit, The Lonely Conservative, Moe Lane, The Daily Caller, Scared Monkeys, Politico and JOSHUAPUNDIT

James Downie / Washington Post:
No, Paul Ryan is not ‘courageous’

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Business Insider, Democracy in America, Questions and Observations and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Presidential debate moderators announced — The Commission on Presidential Debates has decided on the moderators for this year's debates, sources confirm to POLITICO. — PBS's Jim Lehrer will host the first presidential debate on October 3 in Denver, Colo. CNN's Candy Crowley will host the second …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Wake up America, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Towleroad News #gay, iOwnTheWorld.com, Taylor Marsh and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Commission on Presidential Debates:

Format — The format for the debates, announced on July 25, 2012, will be: — First presidential debate — The debate will focus on domestic policy and be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and announced several weeks before the debate.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Applesauce and americanthinker.com

CNN:
CNN's Crowley to be first woman in two decades to moderate presidential debate

Discussion: Politico

Paul Krugman:

The Ryan Role — Mark Kleiman points us to a lamentable but revealing column by William Saletan, which illustrates perfectly how the essentially ludicrous Paul Ryan has gotten so far - namely, by playing to the gullibility of self-proclaimed centrists, who want to show their “balance” by finding a conservative to praise.

Discussion: The New Republic, CANNONFIRE, The Daily Banter, American Prospect, Angry Black Lady Chronicles, p m carpenter's commentary, The Daily Dish, News Desk and The Raw Story

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Obama: ‘Chicago Is an Example of What Makes This Country Great’ — In campaign remarks yesterday at the Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago, Illinois, President Barack Obama praised his adopted city, where he lived before becoming president of the United States. “Chicago is an example of what makes this country great,” Obama said.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers and Conservatives4Palin

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Obama camp: 1,000 attended ‘half-full’ fundraiser

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Michelle Obama: Barack's not a ‘superhero’

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette

New York Post:

Anthony Wiener and wife move into $3.3M Manhattan apt. — Anthony Weiner's wife not only took him back, she took him back in style — moving with the shamed pol into a luxurious, $3.3 million Manhattan pad owned by a deep-pocketed Democratic donor, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Algemeiner.com, Gothamist and New York Magazine

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Obama jokes with NASA Curiosity crew: ‘Let me know right away’ if there are Martians — President Obama called to personally congratulate the crew behind NASA's successful rover mission to Mars on Monday and asked them to inform him immediately if they made contact with Martians.

Discussion: Politico, CNN and The Raw Story

Jessica Pressler / New York Magazine:

122 Minutes With Jamie Dimon — The JPMorgan Chase CEO is really, really, really sorry. Except when he's not. — E — ven here, on his own turf, they are giving Jamie Dimon a hard time. — “Um, yeah, my question is kind of broad?” begins a gawky guy who identifies himself as a Tufts student interning in Client Solutions.

Discussion: Guardian, News Desk and Business Insider

Ed Hammond / Financial Times:

Spanish commercial property on the brink — The Spanish and Italian commercial property markets have all but collapsed with the number of transactions in both countries falling more than 90 per cent in the three months to July as investors worry about the future of the eurozone.

Discussion: americanthinker.com