memeorandum: Bill Clinton: ‘Of course’ country better off now (Alexander Burns/Politico)

7:20 AM ET, September 6, 2012

Top Items:

Dylan Byers / Politico:

DNC's Wasserman Schultz, Gaspard cancel interviews amid platform debacle — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Democratic National Committee chiefs Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Patrick Gaspard cancelled interviews with local media outlets tonight, amid controversy surrounding the party's decision to reintroduce “God” and “Jerusalem” to the platform.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Fix, The Mental Recession, PolitiFact, Washington Free Beacon, Associated Press, Foreign Policy, Weasel Zippers, The Hinterland Gazette and The PJ Tatler

BuzzFeed:

Chaos As Democrats Try To Put Jerusalem, God Back In Platform — Three votes and boos as convention chairman LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pushes through platform amendment after criticism. — Source: youtube.com — The Democratic National Convention dissolved into unexpected procedural …

Discussion: Politico, Commentary Magazine, The Atlantic Online, Hullabaloo, Tablet Magazine, Riehl World News, Israel Matzav, Washington Wire, Doug Ross, Taylor Marsh, Wake up America, Towleroad News #gay, Blue Crab Boulevard and The Right Scoop

CNN:

Just in: Democrats update platform with Jerusalem, God reference — (CNN) - Democrats voted to update their party's platform Wednesday evening at their convention to include a reference to Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, as well as the insertion of the word “God,” …

Discussion: Politico, Friendly Atheist, The Caucus, Los Angeles Times, Slate, Hit & Run, Blue Crab Boulevard, Michelle Malkin, Wonkette, Weasel Zippers, ABCNEWS, JOSHUAPUNDIT and American Power

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:

Obama intervened on God, Jerusalem platform language — CHARLOTTE, N.C. - President Obama ordered his staff to have the Democratic Party's platform language changed to include God and affirm Jerusalem as the proper capital of Israel, a campaign source said Wednesday.

Discussion: Mediaite, Scared Monkeys, RealClearPolitics Video Log and Power Line

Justin Sink / The Hill: Romney: DNC a ‘celebration of failure’

Emily Goodin / The Hill:
After three votes, Dems put Jerusalem, God back into party platform

Discussion: New York Times, JustOneMinute and The Daily Dish

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
How to Understand the DNC's Jerusalem Imbroglio

Discussion: The Daily Dish and The Daily Beast

BuzzFeed:
DNC Chair On Why God/Jerusalem Were Overlooked: The Platform Is Many Pages Long

Discussion: Hot Air and BuzzFeed

Nikki Haley / CNN:
TRENDING: Haley a Nazi? Democrat not backing down from analogy

Discussion: Belmont Club, Talking Points Memo and Weekly Standard

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
Division over platform at DNC

Discussion: Hot Air, Naked Politics, Outside the Beltway, Power Line and Washington Free Beacon

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Oh my: Boos at convention as Dems reinstate language on God and Jerusalem in platform; Update …

Discussion: American Spectator, Wall Street Journal, Babalú Blog, “The Lid” and Betsy's Page

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Democrats Cave on Platform, Make Changes on God, Jerusalem

Discussion: American Power and ThinkProgress

David Brody / The Brody File:
DNC Almighty Nightmare In Charlotte: Now Dems Put God And Jerusalem Language Back Into The Platform

Discussion: Power Line

CNN:
Ann Romney challenges women to ‘wake up’

Discussion: The Reaction, ABCNEWS, ABCNEWS, JOSHUAPUNDIT and Taylor Marsh

Associated Press:
Democrats change platform to add God, Jerusalem

Discussion: BizzyBlog, The Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org blogs, Macsmind and Vox Popoli

Washington Wire:

Text of Bill Clinton's Address to the Democratic Convention … Here is the text of President Bill Clinton's speech to the Democratic National Convention as prepared for delivery and released by the convention's press office: — We're here to nominate a President, and I've got one in mind.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Politico, Gallup, Liberal Values, Grist, JOSHUAPUNDIT, The Reaction, The Hinterland Gazette, CNN and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Bill Clinton's long, long speech about the meanie Republicans — Bill Clinton, don't get me wrong, was the best speaker Wednesday night. But that is largely because the rest of the evening was atrocious. Clinton was hoarse, and he seemed to holler for no reason at all.

Discussion: Blue Crab Boulevard and Balloon Juice

New York Times:

Transcript of Bill Clinton's Speech to the Democratic National Convention — The following is the full text of former President Bill Clinton's speech on Wednesday from the Democratic National Convention. — PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Sustained cheers, applause.)

Discussion: Slate, Sky Dancing, The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo, News Desk, The New Republic, Taylor Marsh, Washington Examiner, The Atlantic Online, Mother Jones and CNN

Alexander Burns / Politico:
Bill Clinton: ‘Of course’ country better off now

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, ABCNEWS, Weasel Zippers, Connecting.the.Dots and Sky Dancing

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Bill's effective Obama embrace

Discussion: The Hill, The Fix, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Newsy

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:
Monica Lewinsky's Former Rabbi To Deliver Benediction After Bill Clinton Speaks At DNC

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Daily Caller, Politico, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Michelle Malkin and Washington Examiner

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Republicans push to pre-empt Bill Clinton

Discussion: CNN, Politico, ABCNEWS and Daily Kos

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

Secret Service Eyes Romney Tax Return Blackmail Attempt — About 7 p.m. last Thursday, members of the Williamson County Democratic Party returned to their offices in Franklin, Tenn., for a meeting, and found a padded manila envelope that had been dropped through the mail slot.

Discussion: Tennessean.com, CANNONFIRE, Washington Wire, Newsy and New York Magazine

BuzzFeed:
PricewaterhouseCoopers On Romney's “Ransomed” Tax Returns: We're Working With The Secret Service

Discussion: Daily Dot, VentureBeat, No More Mister Nice Blog, Zandar Versus The Stupid, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Raw Story and Business Insider

Ken Whitehouse / Nashville City Paper:
Anonymous group allegedly hacked Romney tax records via Franklin firm

Discussion: Washington Wire, Wonkette and Gawker

Mashable!:
Hacker Group Claims to Have Romney's Tax Returns

Discussion: Politico, ABCNEWS, Towleroad News #gay, DownWithTyranny! and Booman Tribune

Pastebin.com:
RAW Paste Data

Discussion: Business Insider and VentureBeat

Rick Klein / ABCNEWS:

Bob Woodward Book: Debt Deal Collapse Led to ‘Pure Fury’ From President Obama — An explosive mix of dysfunction, miscommunication, and misunderstandings inside and outside the White House led to the collapse of a historic spending and debt deal that President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner …

Discussion: Politico

Miranda Green / The Daily Beast:

Speed Read: Juiciest Bits From Bob Woodward's Book ‘Price of Politics’ — How exactly did the nation's debt crisis play out behind closed doors? From Obama ‘chomping on Nicorette’ to Biden as the GOP ‘whisperer’ and Ryan's anger at the president, the highlights of Bob Woodward's The Price of Politics, out Sept. 11.

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

Maggie Haberman / Politico:

WJC: Hillary 'says she won't' run again — In another snippet from Bill Clinton's interview with NBC's Brian Williams, he was asked about whether Hillary Clinton will run again in 2016: … Clinton went on to talk about the needs of the nation, ranging from immigration to energy.

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Clinton on Obama: 'We haven't been close friends' but he knows I support him

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, New Orleans Times-Picayune and Politico

Roll Call:

Roll Call - The Newspaper of Capitol Hill Since 1955 At the Races — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will make a surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday evening, Roll Call has confirmed. — She will deliver the Pledge of Allegiance …

Discussion: Telegraph, ABCNEWS, The Hill, Reuters, Balloon Juice and ABCNEWS

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:
‘Best weather of the entire week’: Local meteorologist puzzled by Obama speech move

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, American Spectator, Daily Mail, americanthinker.com, Babalú Blog, Mediaite, Nice Deb, Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, iOwnTheWorld.com, Politico, The Jawa Report, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, Joe. My. God., Fox News and Michelle Malkin

David Hill / Washington Times:
Sununu: Democrats moved convention indoors because of poor attendance

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers, Blue Crab Boulevard and The Daily Caller

Politico:

Verdict is in: Obama levels more personal attacks — A crabby, negative campaign that has been more about misleading and marginal controversies than the major challenges facing the country? Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can both claim parenthood of this ugly child.

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Romney campaign tells Obama to ‘rein in his supporters’ on Nazi comments — Mitt Romney's campaign issued a statement Wednesday demanding Democratic officials “cease and desist from comparing those with whom they disagree to Nazis” after the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party compared …

Discussion: Politico and Jammie Wearing Fools

Kevin Bogardus / The Hill:

Lobbyists to help nominate Obama for reelection in Charlotte — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Despite President Obama's harsh rhetoric toward K Street, lobbyists will be on the convention floor as delegates in Charlotte Wednesday when he is nominated for a second term.

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

Paul Ryan, Mountaineer — UPDATE: Please see official response from the Romney campaign, below. — My mailbox has been blowing up with speculation on why Paul Ryan would have invented such an impressive “personal best” time for the marathon, and whether the invention will matter.

Discussion: CNN, The Huffington Post, Gawker, Jesus' General, Dependable Renegade and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Bryan Bishop / The Verge:

Amazon shows new Kindle Fire and backlit ‘Paperwhite’ Kindle readers in TV ad — We're expecting quite a few things out of tomorrow's Amazon event, and the company just helped heighten expectations a little bit more with a new commercial. The brief spot aired during tonight's Giants and Cowboys game …

Discussion: Gizmodo and AllThingsD