memeorandum: SUMMERTIME BLUES FOR DRIVERS: GAS AT AUGUST RECORD (Sandy Shore/Associated Press)

5:20 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: Washington Post, CNN, Ballot Box, The Fix, Mediaite, 2012 Decoded, Talking Points Memo, The Mahablog, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Election 2012 and Hotline On Call

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, Politico, St. Louis Post-Dispatch 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: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Politicker, Outside the Beltway, First Read, New York Magazine, WPRI.com Blogs, The PJ Tatler 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, Washington Examiner, Datechguy's Blog, Conservatives4Palin and Twitchy

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, Erick's blog, Daily Kos, The Hinterland Gazette and Little Green Footballs

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

Discussion: Washington Monthly, NY Daily News, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Physicians For Life, Mother Jones, Claire McCaskill, Firedoglake, CNN, Advocate, The Daily Beast, ECHIDNE of the snakes, Show Me Progress, Salon, Religion Dispatches, rubber hose, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Reaction

BuzzFeed:
Republican Source: Akin Moving To Withdraw

Discussion: The Daily Caller

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 Daily Beast, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Daily Caller, The Maddow Blog, ThinkProgress, Guardian, rightwingwatch.org, Washington Monthly, CNN, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos and The Raw Story

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

Discussion: Show Me Progress, Hot Air, Stinque, thenation.com/blogs/164578 and Shakesville

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 and Mediaite

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, The Daily Dish and Talking Points Memo

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Obama On Todd Akin: ‘Rape Is Rape’

Discussion: Fox News, The Political Carnival and AEIdeas

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

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

BuzzFeed:
Family Research Council Backs Akin

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The New Civil Rights Movement

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

Discussion: ThinkProgress, American Prospect, Democratic National Committee and The Other McCain

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

Discussion: GOP 12 and ABCNEWS

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

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and The Hinterland Gazette

Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Republicans pull money from Missouri

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

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, Left In Alabama, BuzzFeed, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, Towleroad News #gay, Shakesville, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, The Raw Story 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, Noahpinion, Business Insider and The Daily Beast

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

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 …

Discussion: Economist's View

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

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

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

Trip Gabriel / The Caucus:

Ryan Dips Into Foreign Policy — GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — Since Representative Paul D. Ryan was named the vice-presidential nominee, his schedule has included briefings on foreign policy with a top aide to Mitt Romney, with the Republican Party sensitive to the charge that neither man on the ticket has extensive national security experience.

Discussion: Washington Post and Election 2012

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

Discussion: Politico

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

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, The Hinterland Gazette and Prairie Weather