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

5:00 PM ET, August 20, 2012

Top Items:

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

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: Politico, Weekly Standard, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, New York Times and Mediaite

David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:

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: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Daily Kos

Noah Bierman / Boston Globe:

Scott Brown calls on Akin to drop out of Missouri Senate race — In a rare intra-party rebuke, Senator Scott Brown called on Missouri Representative Todd Akin this morning to withdraw from the US Senate race in his state, after Akin made controversial remarks on rape.

Discussion: Politicker, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, First Read, The PJ Tatler, WPRI.com Blogs and National Review, more at Mediagazer »

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: Politico, The Other McCain, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Wake up America, Conservatives4Palin, Washington Examiner, Datechguy's Blog, Twitchy and The Raw Story

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: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Wire, The Caucus, The Maddow Blog and The Hinterland Gazette

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:
A Canard That Will Not Die: ‘Legitimate Rape’ Doesn't Cause Pregnancy

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

Discussion: Politico and Daily Kos

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

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Post, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Daily Beast, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Guardian, CNN, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, The Raw Story and rightwingwatch.org

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

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money

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

Discussion: GOP 12 and ABCNEWS

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

Discussion: Midwest Democracy, Los Angeles Times, Taking Note, Guardian and The Atlantic Online

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Akin Comments Could Swing Missouri Senate Race

Discussion: ThinkProgress, First Read, The PJ Tatler, Midwest Democracy, Election 2012, Midwest Voices, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Dish, The Political Carnival, The Caucus and The Hinterland Gazette

BuzzFeed: Republican Source: Akin Moving To Withdraw

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

Discussion: Hot Air, Stinque and Hotline On Call

Byron Tau / Politico:
Obama: ‘Rape is rape’

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and The Hinterland Gazette

David Catanese / Politico:
Todd Akin's rape remark has GOP fretting

Discussion: CNN, Erick's blog, ABCNEWS, The New Republic, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, The Maddow Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Moderate Voice and The Page, more at Mediagazer »

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
How Todd Akin And Paul Ryan Partnered To Redefine Rape

Discussion: Politico, rightwingwatch.org, The New Republic, Todd Akin for U.S. Senate 2012, Mother Jones, Left In Alabama, Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Beast, Shakesville, The Huffington Post, Towleroad News #gay, Daily Kos, The Raw Story, The New Civil Rights Movement and CNN

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
Well, They *Should* Be Defending Akin

Discussion: ThinkProgress, American Prospect, Talking Points Memo and The Other McCain

BuzzFeed:
Family Research Council Backs Akin

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The New Civil Rights Movement

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: The Reality-Based Community, Business Insider, The Daily Beast and Noahpinion

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: Instapundit, The Glittering Eye, New York Magazine and NewsBusters.org blogs

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 Daily Dish

Paul Krugman:

Unethical Commentary, Newsweek Edition — There are multiple errors and misrepresentations in Niall Ferguson's cover story in Newsweek — I guess they don't do fact-checking — but this is the one that jumped out at me. Ferguson says: … Readers are no doubt meant to interpret this as saying …

Discussion: Firedoglake, New York Magazine, NewsBusters.org blogs, Business Insider, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America, Conservatives4Palin, The Daily Dish, Mother Jones, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Mediaite, Crooks and Liars, Wizbang, Scared Monkeys and Brad DeLong, more at Mediagazer »

J. Bradford DeLong / Brad DeLong:

More Lies from Niall Ferguson: Fire-His-Ass-Now Department — Niall Ferguson writes: … The “But” at the start of the second sentence in the quote tells readers two things: (i) that Obama has violated his pledge—that he promised that the ACA would not increase the deficit, but that it did …

Matthew O'Brien / The Atlantic Online: A Full Fact-Check of Niall Ferguson's Very Bad Argument Against Obama

CNN:

Obama says tax return fight 'isn't overly personal' — Washington (CNN) - The ongoing battle over Mitt Romney's personal income tax returns isn't personal, President Barack Obama said Monday, saying instead it was essential for voters to understand a presidential candidate's financial background.

Discussion: Politico

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:
Ryan Dips Into Foreign Policy

Discussion: Washington Post

Byron Tau / Politico:
Obama campaign wants to see Romney's ‘secret plan’ on Afghanistan

Discussion: CNN and GOP 12

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: The Glittering Eye, Election 2012, Althouse, nation.foxnews.com, Business Insider, Marbury, Belmont Club, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Algemeiner.com, JustOneMinute, Weekly Standard and Right Wing News

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Condoleezza Rice among the first female members at Augusta National Golf Club — The site of the Masters tournament has granted entry to female members for the first time in its 80-year history. — Augusta National Golf Club has admitted female members for the first time in its history …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, Lean Left and CNN

Associated Press:
Augusta National to Add First Two Female Members

Discussion: DealBook, Taking Note, newsfeed.time.com and Wonkette

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: 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: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and The PJ Tatler

The Chronicle of Philanthropy: America's Generosity Divide

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

An Unserious Man — Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate led to a wave of pundit accolades. Now, declared writer after writer, we're going to have a real debate about the nation's fiscal future. This was predictable: never mind the Tea Party, Mr. Ryan's true constituency …

Discussion: AEIdeas, Prairie Weather and The Hinterland Gazette