memeorandum: Mitt Romney Plays the Birther Card (Andrew Rosenthal/Taking Note)

11:40 PM ET, August 24, 2012

Top Items:

Romney says “birther” joke wasn't a swipe at Obama — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — (CBS News) In an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley on Friday, Mitt Romney played down the remarks he made about President Obama's origins, arguing that they amounted to a joke and not a “swipe” at the president.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post, Business Insider, Politico, The Raw Story and Taylor Marsh

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

Romney Jokes: 'No One's Ever Asked To See My Birth Certificate' — At a campaign stop in his home state of Michigan Friday, Mitt Romney made a joke referencing the continued doubts about President Obama's birth certificate raised by Romney supporters like Donald Trump.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Daily Beast, Althouse, Suburban Guerrilla, Crooks and Liars, Instapundit, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hullabaloo and Lawyers, Guns & Money

ThinkProgress:

7 Birthers Speaking At The Republican Convention — Mitt Romney's invocation of birtherism on Friday took his campaign to a new level of involvement with the bogus idea that President Obama is actually Kenyan-born and therefore ineligible to serve as Commander-in-Chief.

Discussion: Daily Kos

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Mitt Romney's birther joke

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Prairie Weather

BuzzFeed:
Crowd Loves Mitt Romney's Birther Joke

Discussion: Mother Jones, Hot Air, Reclusive Leftist and Rumproast

Andrew Rosenthal / Taking Note: Mitt Romney Plays the Birther Card

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:
Romney Accused Of Going Full Birther After Joke At Campaign Stop

Discussion: Firedoglake and The PJ Tatler

Ben Howe / aglanon's blog:
Obama Campaign Requested Birther Jokes

Discussion: Slate and The Gateway Pundit

Twitchy:
Romney: ‘No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate’; Update: Team Obama feigns outrage

Discussion: Election 2012, American Power, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit and Michelle Malkin

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama spokeswoman: Romney joke latest in ‘pattern’ of ‘gutterball politics’

Discussion: The Raw Story and Jammie Wearing Fools

Donald J. Trump / Talking Points Memo:
Donald Trump Posted Birther Tweet Same Hour As Romney Speech

Discussion: Mother Jones and The Atlantic Online

Luke Johnson / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney Makes Birth Certificate Joke

Discussion: Riehl World News

CNN:

CNN Poll: Obama 49%-Romney 47% among likely voters — Washington (CNN) - With three days to go until the start of the Republican convention, President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney remain deadlocked in the race for the White House, according to a new national survey.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, American Power, The Impolitic, Politico and Hot Air

CNN:

Todd Akin gets online fundraising boost — Tampa, Florida (CNN) - Boosted by a fund-raising appeal from Mike Huckabee, embattled Senate candidate Todd Akin has raised $206,000 online since his “legitimate rape” comment inflamed the political universe last Sunday.

Discussion: Politico, FOX2now.com, Ballot Box and The Raw Story

CNN:
TRENDING: Romney goes THERE: ‘Birther’ joke raises conspiracy theory

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Shakesville and AEIdeas

Kate Nocera / Politico:
Todd Akin: I'm in it through November

Discussion: CNN, PJ Media and Conservatives4Palin

Ann Romney / CNN: Romney campaign contemplating bumping Rubio for Ann Romney

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

Romney Campaign Radically Changes GOP Nominating Process After Ron Paul Takeovers — Paul allies freak out. — Image by JEWEL SAMAD / Getty Images — TAMPA — Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, led by top Romney lawyer Ben Ginsberg, forced through a major change the GOP nominating process …

Discussion: The Fix and Washington Monthly

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Rubio to Be Bumped? — The Republican National Committee is making big changes to the lineup of speakers at the convention next week in Tampa to ensure that broadcast networks cover Ann Romney's speech. Among the changes most seriously under consideration: moving Marco Rubio to Tuesday night …

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Hot Air, Naked Politics and GOP 12

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Second day of Republican convention to feature Ron Paul tribute

Discussion: Politico, BuzzFeed, CNN, Truthdig, Hot Air and Washington Post

New York Post:

Gunman kills coworker and bystander at Empire State Building, wounds 7 others before cop shoots him — Today at the Empire State Building after four people were shot. — A disgruntled worker stalked a colleague down a Midtown street, shot him dead and then turned his weapon …

Discussion: Reuters, New York Times, Guardian, Fox News, Poynter, The Hinterland Gazette, USA Today, Gawker, Mediaite, The Daily Dolt, The Right Scoop, The Jawa Report, Truthdig, LewRockwell.com Blog and Riehl World News, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:
Several Shot, One Fatally, Outside Empire State Building

Discussion: BuzzFeed, CNN, News Desk, Mother Jones, Taking Note, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Gothamist, CBS New York, Algemeiner.com, Gawker, The Mahablog, Outside the Beltway and Eschaton, more at Mediagazer »

nbcnewyork.com: Two Dead, Nine Hurt in Empire State Building Shooting

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: Empire State Building shooting leaves several wounded, two dead, including suspect

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:

Apple Gets Decisive Win in Patent Case — SAN JOSE, Calif.—Nine jurors delivered a sweeping victory to Apple Inc. in a high-stakes court battle against Samsung Electronics Co., awarding the Silicon Valley giant $1.05 billion in damages and providing ammunition for more legal attacks on mobile-device rivals.

Discussion: Reuters and Deadline.com

Brian X. Chen / NYT Bits:

Apple Beats Samsung: First Reactions — In the landmark trial between Apple and Samsung Electronics, a jury awarded Apple over $1 billion in damages on Friday after deciding that Samsung was guilty of infringement on most patents at issue. And in response to Samsung's counter-suit accusing Apple …

Discussion: Wired, Mashable! and Guardian

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Deconstructing A “Devastating” Interview — So Republicans—even the normally clear-eyed David Frum—are gloating today over an Anderson Cooper interview of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz that supposedly leaves her shivering in embarrassment and exposed as a liar.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

The Right Scoop:
BRUTAL: Anderson Cooper obliterates DNC Chair over her lies about Romney's stance on abortion

Discussion: UrbanGrounds and The Daily Beast, more at Mediagazer »

John Avlon / The Daily Beast:

When Did the GOP Get So White: The Republicans' Loss of Diversity — The one-time Party of Lincoln boasted the first African-American, Asian-American, Native-American, Hispanic, and popularly-elected woman senators. Now polls show Romney-Ryan will get virtually no black votes.

Discussion: Univision News Tumblr and The Daily Dish

Daily Mail:

Report abuse — If he were a good president, that has done a lot of good for our country, you would think that he need not campaign at all !!! Seriously ! A great president would just keep his nose to the grindstone and have one simple slogan for his re-election...." America …

Discussion: Hot Air

Ryan J. Reilly / Talking Points Memo:

RNC Official: N.M. Governor ‘Dishonored’ Gen. Custer By Meeting With American Indians — A progressive group called on Republican National Committee leader Pat Rogers to step down on Friday after emails showed him telling New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez's staff that meeting with a group of American Indians …

Discussion: Stinque

Nikki Finke / Deadline.com:

Anti-Obama Docu Expands To #3 Friday; Other Newcomers & Holdovers Weak B.O.; Only 'The Expendables 2′ Can Break $10M — FRIDAY 7:30 PM UPDATE: As predicted Millenium/Lionsgate's The Expendables 2 will finish in first place Friday and this weekend. It's followed by Universal's …

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Prop 8 Opponents Urge Supreme Court To Pass On Appeal — The high-powered lawyers for the gay and lesbian couples challenging California's Proposition 8 say their case is “attractive” for Supreme Court review. Nonetheless, they say the high court should pass on the case.

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid, Towleroad News #gay and Joe. My. God.

Peter Nickeas / Chicago Tribune:

19 people shot in overnight shootings across Chicago — Nineteen people were shot across the South and West sides from Thursday evening through early Friday morning — 13 of them wounded over a 30-minute period, authorities say. — The overnight shootings peaked between 9:15 p.m …

Discussion: Doug Ross, The New Republic, The Raw Story, Guardian, emptywheel and Crooks and Liars

Ron Rosenbaum / Slate:

A New Slur — Calling people “Holocaust-obsessed” is the new holocaust denial. — Is there an algorithm for suffering? One that calibrates how much empathy we should feel for the victims of genocide? What degree of concern is “rational”? What degree is excessive, “obsessed”?

Discussion: The PJ Tatler