memeorandum: The President's Fountain of Youth Is Drying Up (Karl Rove/Wall Street Journal)

6:35 PM ET, September 6, 2012

Top Items:

Brooks Jackson / FactCheck.org:

Our Clinton Nightmare — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former President Bill Clinton's stem-winding nomination speech was a fact-checker's nightmare: lots of effort required to run down his many statistics and factual claims, producing little for us to write about. — Republicans will find plenty of Clinton's scorching opinions objectionable.

Discussion: Bloomberg, The New Civil Rights Movement, Hit & Run, ECHIDNE of the snakes, The Right Sphere, Twitter Blog, Politifact.com Truth …, Swampland, Donklephant and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Bill Clinton: wonk-in-chief — “People ask me all the time how we delivered four surplus budgets,” former President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday night. “What new ideas did we bring? I always give a one-word answer: arithmetic.” — That's also the one-word answer to what Clinton brought to his convention speech.

Discussion: The New Republic, ThinkProgress, A Better Iowa, The Daily Beast, Balloon Juice, Washington Monthly, Washington Wire, A plain blog about politics, Wall Street Journal and First Draft

CNN:
PHOTO: Hillary Clinton watches husband deliver convention speech

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice and The Reaction

Politico:
How Bill Clinton does it

Discussion: Washington Post, AEIdeas, No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos and The Atlantic Online

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Pundits swoon over Bill Clinton's speech

Discussion: CNN, Rush Limbaugh, Hot Air, Taking Note, Associated Press, The Daily Beast, Queerty, A plain blog about politics and Grist

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:
Associated Press ‘Fact Checks’ Clinton's Speech By Bringing Up Monica Lewinsky

Discussion: New York Magazine, US Politics and Crooks and Liars, more at Mediagazer »

Bill Clinton / CNN:
On Facebook, Clinton's speech more popular than NFL kickoff game

Discussion: Politico and The Caucus

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Bill Clinton's long, long speech about the meanie Republicans

Jonathan Bernstein / A plain blog about politics:
Democrats Day 2 — I already did one item about Bill Clinton's speech …

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Associated Press, Politico, Angry Bear, CNN, The Reality-Based Community, The Daily Dish and MyDD

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Democratic National Convention Night 2: Winners and Losers

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Hot Air, ABCNEWS, Politico, Taegan Goddard's …, Applesauce, The Daily Dish, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Newsy and CNN

New York Times:
Check Point: Democrats Stretch the Truth in Talk and Text - Check Point

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Prairie Weather and The Stranger …

Daniel Larison / The American Conservative:

The Clinton Speech and the “Campaign of Ideas” — Scott Galupo identifies the main strength of Bill Clinton's convention speech: … It was, and it was all the more devastating because Romney and Ryan made no concerted effort to make the case for their ticket and their agenda last week.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Daily Dish, The Mahablog, ThinkProgress, News Desk and Outside the Beltway

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

Why Bill Clinton's Speeches Succeed — Because he treats listeners as if they are smart. — That is the significance of “They want us to think” and “The strongest argument is” and “The arithmetic says one of three things must happen” and even “Now listen to me here, this is important.”

Discussion: ThinkProgress

BuzzFeed:

Obama Campaign Won't Join Clinton In Hailing Recovery — The former president sees shades of 1996, but selling an improvement is difficult politics. “That was him. That was President Clinton talking,” says Messina. — Image by J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Discussion: Riehl World News

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Boston's response to Clinton as of midnight...(Updated)

Discussion: CNN and Daily Kos

Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo:
Romney, Ryan Double Down On False Welfare Attack Clinton Decried

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Stranger … and Washington Post

Eric Kleefeld / Talking Points Memo:

Romney, GOP Groups Pull Ads From Michigan and Pennsylvania — Republicans signaled this week that they might have given up hope in two important swing states. — TPM Slideshow: Romney Takes The Stage At The RNC — The Romney campaign and conservative groups like Crossroads GPS …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Booman Tribune, Balloon Juice and The Stranger …

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: CNN, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, Wake up America, Rumproast, Betsy's Page and WWBT-TV

Chad Livengood / detroitnews.com:

Conservatives pull ads from Michigan — Pro-Romney groups focus on key states; Obama's campaign off air for weeks — Mitt Romney's conservative allies are bypassing Michigan with their advertising while stepping up efforts in other battleground states — suggesting campaign strategists …

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Hot Air, CNBC, USA Today, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, GOP 12 and The Political Carnival

Pema Levy / Talking Points Memo:

Disillusioned Obama Supporter In Romney Ad Is Actually GOP Staffer — Republicans debuted a new ad Thursday in which a frustrated former Obama supporter expresses her disappointment with the president. The only problem: The woman in the video is actually an RNC staffer.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, msnbc.com, Hullabaloo, Naked Politics and The Stranger …

BuzzFeed:

Republican Staffer Breaks Up With Obama — Could they not find anyone else? — Source: youtube.com — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Republicans are out with a new web video today highlighting their messaging push during the Democratic convention that President Barack Obama is a disappointment …

Discussion: Washington Wire, FishbowlDC, CNN, Jammie Wearing Fools and Daily Kos

Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times: Romney cedes Ohio TV airwaves to Obama (at least for now)

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.)

Dashiell Bennett / The Atlantic Wire:

What Bill Clinton Wrote vs. What Bill Clinton Said — If you were following any journalists on Twitter last night, one of the most remarked upon aspects of Bill Clinton's nomination speech was how liberally he deviated from the prepared text. What was handed out to the media was four pages …

Discussion: USA Today, Donklephant, American Prospect, Mother Jones and Little Green Footballs

Benny Johnson / TheBlaze.com:

DEATH THREAT FROM DNC DELEGATE: ‘MITT ROMNEY... I WOULD LIKE TO KILL HIM!’ — During the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, TheBlaze took to Time Warner Cable Arena to speak with delegates about the most pressing issues of our time.

Discussion: LifeNews.com, ABCNEWS, The Daily Caller and The Right Scoop

Jeremy W. Peters / The Caucus:
Romney Isn't Planning to Watch Obama's Speech

Discussion: The Hill and Ballot Box

Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:

S.&P. 500 at 4-Year High as Stocks Jump — Decisive moves by the head of the European Central Bank sent the benchmark American stock index to a four-year high and fueled hopes that the foundation for a more lasting solution to the European debt crisis may be taking shape.

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Political Carnival and Business Insider

New York Times:
Central Bank to Snap Up Debt, Saying, ‘Euro Is Irreversible’

Discussion: Business Insider, New York Magazine, Via Meadia, FT Alphaville and Mother Jones

Ben Pershing / Washington Post:

Bartlett suggests federal student loans are unconstitutional, invokes Holocaust — Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) suggested Wednesday federally-issued student loans were unconstitutional. He also said disregarding the Constitution could lead down a “slippery slope” and cited the Holocaust …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Gawker, Outside the Beltway and The Hinterland Gazette

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Entitlement Trouble — Digby noticed it. I noticed. Maybe you noticed it, too: the one time Bill Clinton didn't get rousing applause from the Democratic Convention audience last night was when he made a favorable reference to the Simpson-Bowles Commission.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Library Grape and NationalJournal.com

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Fact checking Bill Clinton's speech and other Democrats at the convention in Charlotte

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, National Review, Wake up America and LifeNews.com

ABCNEWS:

Steelworker Featured at DNC Didn't Work for Bain — The Democratic National Convention on Wednesday featured three speakers billed as “former employees of companies controlled by Bain Capital.” — They each told compelling stories about jobs lost, allegedly because of the actions of Bain under Romney's leadership.

Discussion: 2012 Democratic National …, The Gateway Pundit, Jammie Wearing Fools, Weasel Zippers, National Review and ABCNEWS

Steve Gutterman / Reuters:

Russia's Putin defiant on Syria, says Romney “mistaken” — * Says Obama is honest, Romney could widen missile rift — President Vladimir Putin signalled in an interview aired on Thursday that Russia was not ready to shift its stance on Syria, and suggested Western nations were relying …

Discussion: Business Insider, Taylor Marsh, The Hill, The Hinterland Gazette and Jammie Wearing Fools

Wall Street Journal:
Putin Weighs In On ‘Genuine’ Obama, ‘Mistaken’ Romney

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Associated Press:

Unemployment benefits claims fall 12,000 — WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 last week, a hopeful signal that the job market may be improving. — Sponsored Links — The Labor Department says applications declined to a seasonally adjusted 365,000.

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Steve Hargreaves / CNNMoney.com:
Jobs picture brightens

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

Intelligence Committee Chair Describes Explosive Confrontation Between Netanyahu and American Ambassador — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro allegedly argued over the Obama's administration's Iran policy. — (Reuters)

Discussion: Israel Matzav

Tom Blanton / Foreign Policy:

A Classified CIA Mea Culpa on Iraq — In this exclusive from the National Security Archive, a secret agency report on its WMD failures is published for the first time. — This remarkable CIA mea culpa, just declassified this summer and published here for the first time …

Katie Glueck / Politico:

BET head: Republican Party ‘pandering’ to blacks, women — ‘Does the RNC really embrace African Americans, really embrace women?’ Debra Lee asks. Reuters — Close — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Republican Party may have featured women like Ann Romney and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers