memeorandum: Whistle-blower, documents: Ill. state workers forced to attend Pelosi, Jesse Jackson Jr. event on taxpayer dime (Matthew Boyle/The Daily Caller)

1:45 PM ET, August 14, 2012

Top Items:

GOP pros fret over Paul Ryan — You've heard them on television and read them on POLITICO — cheerful, defiant statements from Republican political professionals about Mitt Romney's bold masterstroke in tapping Paul Ryan as his running mate, and turning the 2012 presidential race into a serious …

David A. Stockman / New York Times:

Paul Ryan's Fairy-Tale Budget Plan — PAUL D. RYAN is the most articulate and intellectually imposing Republican of the moment, but that doesn't alter the fact that this earnest congressman from Wisconsin is preaching the same empty conservative sermon. — Thirty years of Republican apostasy …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Business Insider, The Mahablog, p m carpenter's commentary, The Raw Story, Hullabaloo, The Glittering Eye, Taylor Marsh, Paul Krugman, Politico, Prairie Weather and Esquire

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Stockman Savages Ryan — If there's anyone in recent political history who is a definite precursor to Paul Ryan, it has to be David Stockman, another bright young congress-critter who combined conservative ideological totems (in his case, supply-side economics) with green-eyeshade budget credentials …

Discussion: Applesauce

Guy Benson / Townhall.com:

Brutal: CNN Torches DWS on Medicare Falsehoods — Let me say this right up front: Congratulations to Wolf Blitzer for being a relentless, responsible journalist. If you value the truth, this interview is a pleasure to watch. If you have even an ounce of human compassion for the in-over-her-head target …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Washington Examiner, Scared Monkeys, Wake up America, The Other McCain, Weekly Standard, UrbanGrounds and Business Insider

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Cut This Ad! Clinton COS on Ryan: ‘This Guy is Amazing.’ — Bill Bennett suggested on his radio show this morning that the Romney-Ryan campaign (or someone else) cut an ad to make famous these remarks (delivered a year ago at the University of North Carolina) about Paul Ryan by Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles:

Susan Page / USA Today:

Gov. Chris Christie to deliver keynote at GOP convention — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will deliver the keynote address that launches the Republican National Convention in two weeks, telling USA TODAY he plans to make an “emphatic” argument on behalf of GOP approaches and shared sacrifice to face the nation's biggest challenges.

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org blogs:

Soledad O'Brien Caught Reading Liberal Blog During Heated Debate With Romney Adviser — Can CNN's Soledad O'Brien make her sources any more apparent than she did Monday night? — While filling in for Anderson Cooper, O'Brien was actually caught on screen looking at an article …

Discussion: Viral Read, RedState, tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com, The Maddow Blog, NewsBusters.org, Betsy's Page, American Power, The Other McCain and Hot Air

Wall Street Journal:

Stephens: Paul Ryan's Neocon Manifesto — America's real interests, he understands, come from our deepest values. — Last summer, the chairman of the House Budget Committee made a foray into foreign-policy land with a speech to the Alexander Hamilton Society in Washington …

Discussion: The Glittering Eye and CNN

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
The Republican ticket's big Medicare myth

Discussion: Boston Globe, Swampland, Business Insider, The Incidental Economist, Forbes, National Review, ABCNEWS, PoliticusUSA, NewsBusters.org, Wake up America and AEIdeas

BuzzFeed:
The Return Of No-Risk Romney

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Emily Goodin / Ballot Box:
GOP concerned Ryan could cost party House and Senate seats

Discussion: Washington Post, ABCNEWS, CNN, emptywheel, ThinkProgress, Politico, Booman Tribune, BuzzFeed, The Caucus and p m carpenter's commentary

Rasmussen Reports:
50% Now View Paul Ryan Favorably; 43% Say He Was Right Choice

Discussion: GOP 12, Ballot Box and Althouse

Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Reaction to Ryan as VP Pick Among Least Positive Historically

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, News Desk, Washington Post, Slate, Politico, Daily Kos, The Hinterland Gazette, NewsBusters.org blogs and American Power

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Matthews: Ryan Wants To ‘Screw’ The Poor

Discussion: Hot Air and The Right Scoop

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:
Are Liberals Being Unfair to Paul Ryan?

Discussion: Brad DeLong

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Romney Campaign Chair Contradicts Candidate, Says Romney's Medicare Plan Is ‘Very Different’ From Ryan's Plan

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Maddow Blog and BuzzFeed

First Read:
Romney struggles to get square with Ryan's Medicare plan

Discussion: 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, Talking Points Memo and Applesauce

Suzy Khimm / Washington Post:
Paul Ryan's biggest budget cuts are to Medicaid, not Medicare

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Forbes, Angry Black Lady Chronicles, The Incidental Economist, New York Magazine, FT Alphaville, The Hinterland Gazette, National Review, Washington Monthly and PoliticusUSA

Michael Levenson / Boston Globe:
Brown praises Ryan, but keeps distance

Discussion: Politico

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
A strong solo debut for Ryan — with Romney's script

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Times, ABCNEWS, ABCNEWS and Washington Post

Scott Johnson / Power Line:
A day at the fair — If you look around the Web …

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Daily Caller and USA Today

Richard Danielson / Tampa Bay Times:
Marco Rubio to introduce Mitt Romney at RNC

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, USA Today, Politico, GOP 12, PoliPundit.com and ABCNEWS

First Read:
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks with vice presidential running mate …

Discussion: Plain Dealer, New York Magazine, Mother Jones and Outside the Beltway

Ali A. Akbar / Twitchy:
Soledad O'Brien caught referring to liberal blog during Medicare debate

Discussion: American Power

Niels Lesniewski / Roll Call:
Ron Wyden Takes Issue With Mitt Romney Linking Him to Paul Ryan

Discussion: Questions and Observations, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Maddow Blog, ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Washington Post

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

More questions raised about Fareed Zakaria's work — Columnist and TV host Fareed Zakaria, who acknowledged plagiarizing parts of a magazine article last week, appears to have also published without attribution a passage from a 2005 book. — Zakaria's 2008 book, “The Post-American World …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Poynter, Gatekeeper, Outside the Beltway, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Beast and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

PREMIUM FISHER:

My Sister Paid Progressive Insurance to Defend Her Killer In Court — I've been sending out some impertinent tweets about Progressive Insurance lately, but I haven't explained how they pissed me off. So I will do that here as succinctly as possible. There's a general understanding that says …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Boing Boing, Mashable! and PointOfLaw Forum

Jon Ralston / Las Vegas Sun Blogs:

McCain rebuts Reid on Romney, says “nothing in his tax returns shows he did not pay taxes” — Arizona Sen. John McCain said today that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is wrong about his assertion that Mitt Romney did not pay taxes for 10 years, saying his team that vetted the presumptive GOP nominee in 2008 found no such thing.

Discussion: The Hill, Angry Black Lady Chronicles, Politico, Outside the Beltway and Daily Kos

Francisco Alvarado / Riptide 2.0:

Mitt Romney Is Stumping in Miami at Eatery Owned by Convicted Coke Smuggler … Today, Mitt Romney is forgoing a Miami political campaign tradition by skipping over Versailles restaurant in Little Havana. Instead, Mittens will hobnob with a convicted cocaine smuggler.

Discussion: The Hill, UrbanGrounds, The Hinterland Gazette, The Buzz Florida Politics Feed, Business Insider and Naked Politics

Associated Press:
Host for Romney event is a convicted drug dealer

Discussion: Hit & Run, New York Magazine, NewsBusters.org and Balloon Juice

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:

Whistle-blower, documents: Ill. state workers forced to attend Pelosi, Jesse Jackson Jr. event on taxpayer dime — Documents and a whistle-blower affidavit obtained by The Daily Caller charge that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit and The Jawa Report

ABCNEWS:

Twice-Jilted Pawlenty Sat on VP Secret — REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK by SHUSHANNAH WALSHE (@shushwalshe) — Tim Pawlenty was passed over as a presidential running mate twice. But to a reporter sitting on his front lawn during what must have been a difficult time — getting passed …

Discussion: BuzzFeed and ABCNEWS

James Estrin / Lens:

Criminalizing Photography — Mickey H. Osterreicher is the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association and edits the organization's Advocacy Committee blog. He spoke with James Estrin. Their conversation has been edited. — Q. — It seems like photographing in public is becoming a crime.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Hullabaloo, Media Decoder and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »