memeorandum: Leading social conservatives rally to Akin's defense (Tony Perkins/CNN)

8:40 PM ET, August 20, 2012

Top Items:

Reports: Akin Advisers Make Preparations For Withdrawal Tomorrow — Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin's advisers are making preparations to withdraw from the race Tuesday, GOP operative Richard Grenell and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson report.

Discussion: Donklephant and Daily Kos

Robert Costa / National Review:

Romney: Akin's ‘Inexcusable’ Comment — In a phone interview this morning, Mitt Romney told National Review Online that Representative Todd Akin's recent comment on rape is “inexcusable.” — “Congressman's Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong,” Romney said.

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Crossroads pulls out of Missouri after Akin comments — The conservative outside-spending powerhouse Crossroads GPS is pulling its ads from the Missouri Senate race, three sources confirmed to POLITICO. — The group had originally booked a new round of ads to start Wednesday but began canceling them earlier today.

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, Ballot Box, The Fix, Election 2012, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Hotline On Call, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, AEIdeas, The New Civil Rights Movement and National Review

Tony Perkins / CNN:

Leading social conservatives rally to Akin's defense — Tampa, Florida (CNN) - While much of the Republican universe spent Monday condemning Missouri Senate hopeful Todd Akin for his comments about “legitimate rape” and abortion, one of the nation's most prominent conservative organizations rallied to his defense.

Discussion: Politico, ABCNEWS, Pirate's Cove, The New Republic, Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog, The Moderate Voice and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

National Review:

Step Aside, Todd Akin — Representative Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senator from Missouri, became nationally notorious yesterday for saying something stupid. In the course of explaining why he believes abortion should be illegal even when pregnancies result from rape …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Politico, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, Althouse, Todd Akin for U.S. Senate 2012 and American Power

Michelle Malkin:

The Todd Akin mess — Ugh. — Over the weekend, GOP Rep. Todd Akin — the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Missouri — said some really, really stupid things. (Twitchy has comprehensive coverage. Click here and keep scrolling.) — There's no sugar-coating or whitewashing this.

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air, BuzzFeed, Politico, American Power, The Other McCain, Datechguy's Blog, Washington Examiner, Wake up America, Conservatives4Palin, Twitchy, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Election 2012

BuzzFeed:

Mitt Romney Said In 2007 He Would Be “Delighted” To Sign A Bill Banning All Abortions Nationally — The Romney campaign released a statement criticizing Missouri Republican Senate nominee Todd Akin: “Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Atlantic Wire, Washington Monthly, Truthdig, ABCNEWS, The Caucus, The Maddow Blog and The Hinterland Gazette

BuzzFeed:

Republican Source: Akin Moving To Withdraw [UPDATED] — The controversial candidate is “taking concrete steps.” UPDATE: Another Republican close to Akin says he's “in the campaign.” — Rep. Todd Akin, left. — Image by Orlin Wagner / AP — Missouri Republican Todd Akin …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and The Daily Caller

Washington Post:
National GOP pulls funding from Todd Akin's Missouri race

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, News Desk, 2012 Decoded, ThinkProgress, The Daily Dish, The Moderate Voice and The Mahablog

Noah Bierman / Boston Globe:
Scott Brown calls on Akin to drop out of Missouri Senate race

Discussion: Politico, FiveThirtyEight, The Reaction, CNN, First Read, Midwest Democracy, Politicker, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, WPRI.com Blogs, New York Magazine, The PJ Tatler, Outside the Beltway, National Review, Washington Examiner and The Gateway Pundit

Kaili Joy Gray / Daily Kos:
Todd Akin clarifies he's on the same page as Paul Ryan on ‘forcible rape’

Discussion: The Hill, Firedoglake, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, Talking Points Memo, The Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Family Research Council head defends Akin

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNN, Midwest Democracy, rightwingwatch.org and Talking Points Memo

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:
Todd Akin: 'I've Not Yet Begun To Fight'

Discussion: The Daily Beast, American Prospect, Hot Air, Show Me Progress, Stinque, Firedoglake, Shakesville and ECHIDNE of the snakes

Rosalind S. Helderman / Election 2012:
Jim Talent won't replace Akin

Discussion: National Review, Washington Examiner, Hot Air and Conservatives4Palin

Pema Levy / Talking Points Memo:
'God's Little Shield': A Short History Of The False No-Pregnancy-From-Rape Theory

Discussion: Taking Note, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Guardian, Advocate, thenation.com/blogs/164578 and Shakesville

Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Republicans pull money from Missouri

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, Politico, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Hotline On Call

Sarah Kliff / Associated Press:
Rep. Todd Akin is wrong about rape and pregnancy, but he's not alone

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Atlantic Online, This Just In, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, The Daily Caller, rightwingwatch.org, The Lede, Physicians For Life, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, Guardian, CNN, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Dish and No More Mister Nice Blog, more at Mediagazer »

RealClearPolitics Video Log:
Hannity Urges Akin To Consider Dropping Out In Interview With Him

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

BuzzFeed:
Todd Akin Says He Won't Drop Out

Discussion: The Raw Story

BuzzFeed:
House Republican Hijinks Embarass The Ticket

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
Democrats Tie Ryan, Romney to Akin as ‘Dangerous’ for Women

Discussion: ABCNEWS

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

As a Harvard Alum, I Apologize — Yes, I know, you could imagine many sentences that would follow that headline. But here is what I have in mind right now: A tenured professor of history at my undergraduate alma mater has written a cover story for Daily Beast/Newsweek that is so careless …

Discussion: 2012 Decoded, The Reality-Based Community, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Beast, Balloon Juice, Noahpinion and Business Insider

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Niall Ferguson's ridiculous defense — Niall Ferguson's selective edit of the CBO report on Obama's Affordable Care Act. — Niall Ferguson, author of this week's Newsweek cover story calling for Obama's ousting, has returned fire on Paul Krugman — albeit in a ridiculous, misleading …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Daily Dish, News Desk, New York Magazine, NewsBusters.org blogs, Mediaite and The Maddow Blog

Matthew O'Brien / The Atlantic Online:

A Full Fact-Check of Niall Ferguson's Very Bad Argument Against Obama — A counterfactual history of the past four years. — Celebrity historian Niall Ferguson doesn't like President Obama, and doesn't think you should either. — That's perfectly fine. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to disapprove of the president.

Discussion: A plain blog about politics

Niall Ferguson / The Daily Beast:

Newsweek Cover Rebuttal: Paul Krugman Is Wrong — The liberal New York Times blogger objected to ‘multiple errors and misrepresentations’ in this week's Newsweek cover story on Obama's record in office. Author Niall Ferguson rebuts the charges. — You know you have hit the target …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Paul Krugman, Business Insider, New York Magazine, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Glittering Eye, Mother Jones, Instapundit, Wake up America, The Daily Dish, Conservatives4Palin, Hot Air, Crooks and Liars and Wizbang, more at Mediagazer »

J. Bradford DeLong / Brad DeLong:
More Lies from Niall Ferguson: Fire-His-Ass-Now Department

Discussion: Economist's View

TMZ.com:

Phyllis Diller Dead — Legendary Comic Dies at 95 — Dead at 95 — EXCLUSIVE DETAILS — Comedian Phyllis Diller — who paved the way for today's female comics — died this morning, TMZ has learned. — Sources close to Diller tell us the comedian died in her sleep at her L.A. home, surrounded by family.

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Towleroad News #gay

Mackenzie Weinger / Reuters:

Study: Red states more charitable — Red states give more money to charity than blue states, according to a new study on Monday. — The eight states with residents who gave the highest share of their income to charity supported Sen. John McCain in 2008, while the seven states …

Discussion: 24Ahead, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and The PJ Tatler

The Chronicle of Philanthropy: America's Generosity Divide

Caitlin McDevitt / Reuters:

Kelsey Grammer praises Mitt Romney — Actor Kelsey Grammer gave Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney his vote of confidence in a recent interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. — Asked if he supports Romney, Grammer told the paper, “Oh, I think he'd make a terrific president.”

Discussion: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

CNN:
Obama says tax return fight 'isn't overly personal'

Discussion: Politico

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

POLITICO e-book: Obama campaign roiled by conflict — President Barack Obama's campaign team, celebrated four years ago for its exceptional cohesion and eyes-on-the-prize strategic focus, has been shadowed this time by a succession of political disagreements and personal rivalries that haunted the effort at the outset.

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com, The Lonely Conservative, Althouse, Business Insider, Algemeiner.com, The Glittering Eye, Hot Air, Marbury, Election 2012, Weasel Zippers, Belmont Club, Jammie Wearing Fools, Right Wing News, Washington Examiner and Weekly Standard

Michelangelo Signorile / The Huffington Post:

An Open Letter to Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council: Let's Talk About Hate … FRC SPLC , FRC Tony Perkins , FRC Hate Group , FRC Shooting , Family Research Council , Family Research Council Southern Poverty Law Center , Family Research Council Tony Perkins , Family Research Council Hate Group …

Discussion: GLAAD, The Daily Dish and Joe. My. God.

BuzzFeed:
Family Research Council Backs Akin

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The New Civil Rights Movement

Alexis Levinson / The Daily Caller:

Shock poll: Obama could lose Illinois — President Barack Obama could lose his home state of Illinois in November, a new poll shows. — A poll conducted by Illinois-based pollster and political strategist Michael McKeon found Obama leading Republican Mitt Romney by 49 percent to 37 percent in Cook County, the home of Chicago.

Discussion: Hot Air and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Obama to media: Romney's whole campaign is based on lies — In a surprise appearance before reporters at the White House just now, Obama made a striking, if perhaps long overdue, charge: He pushed back on GOP claims he's running a dirty campaign by arguing that Romney's entire campaign is based on flat out lies.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Political Carnival

New York Times:

In Congress's Paralysis, a Mightier Supreme Court — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court does not always have the last word. Sure, its interpretation of the Constitution is the one that counts, and only a constitutional amendment can change things after the justices have acted in a constitutional case.